Page 822 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

no assistance; she appeared to be absorbed in considering,
without enthusiasm but with perfect lucidity, the new con-
veniences of her own situation. Mrs. Touchett was not an
optimist, but even from painful -occurrences she managed
to extract a certain utility. This consisted in the reflexion
that, after all, such things happened to other people and not
to herself. Death was disagreeable, but in this case it was
her son’s death, not her own; she had never flattered her-
self that her own would be disagreeable to any one but Mrs.
Touchett. She was better off than poor Ralph, who had left
all the commodities of life behind him, and indeed all the
security; since the worst of dying was, to Mrs. Touchett’s
mind, that it exposed one to be taken advantage of. For her-
self she was on the spot; there was nothing so good as that.
She made known to Isabel very punctually-it was the eve-
ning her son was buried several of Ralph’s testamentary
arrangements. He had told her everything, had consulted
her about everything. He left her no money; of course she
had no need of money. He left her the furniture of Garden-
court, exclusive of the pictures and books and the use of
the place for a year; after which it was to be sold. The mon-
ey produced by the sale was to constitute an endowment
for a hospital for poor persons suffering from the malady
of which he died; and of this portion of the will Lord War-
burton was appointed executor. The rest of his property,
which was to be withdrawn from the bank, was disposed
of in various bequests, several of them to those cousins in
Vermont to whom his father had already been so bountiful.
Then there were a number of small legacies.

822 The Portrait of a Lady