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take nothing. Isabel’s hospitality, however, raised no ques-
tions, and she found no great difficulty in appearing happy
enough to deceive him. It was her conviction at least that
she deceived him, made him say to himself that he had been
misinformed. But she also saw, so she believed, that he was
not disappointed, as some other men, she was sure, would
have been; he had not come to Rome to look for an oppor-
tunity. She never found out what he had come for; he offered
her no explanation; there could be none but the very simple
one that he wanted to see her. In other words he had come
for his amusement. Isabel followed up this induction with
a good deal of eagerness, and was delighted to have found a
formula that would lay the ghost of this gentleman’s ancient
grievance. If he had come to Rome for his amusement this
was exactly what she wanted; for if he cared for amusement
he had got over his heartache. If he had got over his heart-
ache everything was as it should be and her responsibilities
were at an end. It was true that he took his recreation a little
stiffly, but he had never been loose and easy and she had
every reason to believe he was satisfied with what he saw.
Henrietta was not in his confidence, though he was in hers,
and Isabel consequently received no side-light upon his
state of mind. He was open to little conversation on general
topics; it came back to her that she had said of him once,
years before, ‘Mr. Goodwood speaks a good deal, but he
doesn’t talk.’ He spoke a good deal now, but he talked per-
haps as little as ever; considering, that is, how much there
was in Rome to talk about. His arrival was not calculated
to simplify her relations with her husband, for if Mr. Os-

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