Page 774 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

‘It’s very strange. I suppose I ought to know, but I’m sor-
ry,’ Isabel said. ‘I’m much obliged to you.’
‘Yes, you seem to be!’ cried the Countess with a mocking
laugh. ‘Perhaps you are-perhaps you’re not. You don’t take it
as I should have thought.’
‘How should I take it?’ Isabel asked.
‘Well, I should say as a woman who has been made use
of’ Isabel made no answer to this; she only listened, and the
Countess went on. ‘They’ve always been bound to each oth-
er; they remained so even after she broke off-or he did. But
he has always been more for her than she has been for him.
When their little carnival was over they made a bargain that
each should give the other complete liberty, but that each
should also do everything possible to help the other on. You
may ask me how I know such a thing as that. I know it by the
way they’ve behaved. Now see how much better women are
than men! She has found a wife for Osmond, but Osmond
has never lifted a little finger for her. She has worked for
him, plotted for him, suffered for him; she has even more
than once found money for him; and the end of it is that
he’s tired of her. She’s an old habit; there are moments when
he needs her, but on the whole he wouldn’t miss her if she
were removed. And, what’s more, to-day she knows it. So
you needn’t be jealous!’ the Countess added humorously.
Isabel rose from her sofa again; she felt bruised and scant
of breath; her head was humming with new knowledge. ‘I’m
much obliged to you,’ she repeated. And then she added
abruptly, in quite a different tone: ‘How do you know all
this?’

774 The Portrait of a Lady