Page 106 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

velveteen. Isabel liked them even better at home than she
had done at Gardencourt, and was more than ever struck
with the fact that they were not morbid. It had seemed to
her before that if they had a fault it was a want of play of
mind; but she presently saw they were capable of deep emo-
tion. Before luncheon she was alone with them for some
time, on one side of the room, while Lord Warburton, at a
distance, talked to Mrs. Touchett.
‘Is it true your brother’s such a great radical?’ Isabel
asked. She knew it was true, but we have seen that her inter-
est in human nature was keen, and she had a desire to draw
the Misses Molyneux out.
‘Oh dear, yes; he’s immensely advanced,’ said Mildred,
the younger sister.
‘At the same time Warburton’s very reasonable.’ Miss
Molyneux observed.
Isabel watched him a moment at the other side of the
room; he was clearly trying hard to make himself agree-
able to Mrs. Touchett. Ralph had met the frank advances
of one of the dogs before the fire that the temperature of an
English August, in the ancient expanses, had not made an
impertinence. ‘Do you suppose your brother’s sincere?’ Isa-
bel enquired with a smile.
‘Oh, he must be, you know!’ Mildred exclaimed quickly,
while the elder sister gazed at our heroine in silence.
‘Do you think he would stand the test?’
‘The test?’
‘I mean for instance having to give up all this.’
‘Having to give up Lockleigh?’ said Miss Molyneux, find-

106 The Portrait of a Lady