Page 700 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

else.’
The service was that he should go and see her cousin
Ralph, who was ill at the Hotel de Paris, alone, and be as
kind to him as possible. Mr. Goodwood had never seen him,
but he would know who the poor fellow was; if she was not
mistaken Ralph had once invited him to Gardencourt. Cas-
par remembered the invitation perfectly, and, though he
was not supposed to be a man of imagination, had enough
to put himself in the place of a poor gentleman who lay dy-
ing at a Roman inn. He called at the Hotel de Paris and,
on being shown into the presence of the master of Gar-
dencourt, found Miss Stackpole sitting beside his sofa. A
singular change had in fact occurred in this lady’s relations
with Ralph Touchett. She had not been asked by Isabel to go
and see him, but on hearing that he was too ill to come out
had immediately gone of her own motion. After this she had
paid him a daily visit-always under the conviction that they
were great enemies. ‘Oh yes, we’re intimate enemies,’ Ralph
used to say; and he accused her freely-as freely as the hu-
mour of it would allow-of coming to worry him to death. In
reality they became excellent friends, Henrietta much won-
dering that she should never have liked him before. Ralph
liked her exactly as much as he had always done; he had
never doubted for a moment that she was an excellent fellow.
They talked about everything and always differed; about ev-
erything, that is, but Isabel-a topic as to which Ralph always
had a thin forefinger on his lips. Mr. Bantling on the other
hand proved a great resource; Ralph was capable of discuss-
ing Mr. Bantling with Henrietta for hours. Discussion was

700 The Portrait of a Lady