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lines, expressing the pleasure it would give Mr. Touchett the
elder that he should join a little party at Gardencourt, of
which Miss Stackpole was a valued member. Having sent his
letter (to the care of a banker whom Henrietta suggested) he
waited in some suspense. He had heard this fresh formida-
ble figure named for the first time; for when his mother had
mentioned on her arrival that there was a story about the
girl’s having an ‘admirer’ at home, the idea had seemed de-
ficient in reality and he had taken no pains to ask questions
the answers to which would involve only the vague or the
disagreeable. Now, however, the native admiration of which
his cousin was the object had become more concrete; it took
the form of a young man who had followed her to London,
who was interested in a cotton-mill and had manners in
the most splendid of the American styles. Ralph had two
theories about this intervener. Either his passion was a sen-
timental fiction of Miss Stackpole’s (there was always a sort
of tacit understanding among women, born of the solidar-
ity of the sex, that they should discover or invent lovers for
each other), in which case he was not to be feared and would
probably not accept the invitation; or else he would accept
the invitation and in this event prove himself a creature
too irrational to demand further consideration. The latter
clause of Ralph’s argument might have seemed incoher-
ent; but it embodied his conviction that if Mr. Goodwood
were interested in Isabel in the serious manner described
by Miss Stackpole he would not care to present himself at
Gardencourt on a summons from the latter lady. ‘On this
supposition,’ said Ralph, ‘he must regard her as a thorn on

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