Page 176 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

everything. They would dine at a coffee-house and go after-
wards to the play; they would frequent the Abbey and the
British Museum and find out where Doctor Johnson had
lived, and Goldsmith and Addison. Isabel grew eager and
presently unveiled the bright vision to Ralph, who burst
into a fit of laughter which scarce expressed the sympathy
she had desired.
‘It’s a delightful plan,’ he said. ‘I advise you to go to the
Duke’s Head in Covent Garden, an easy, informal, old-fash-
ioned place, and I’ll have you put down at my club.’
‘Do you mean it’s improper?’ Isabel asked. ‘Dear me, isn’t
anything proper here? With Henrietta surely I may go any-
where; she isn’t hampered in that way. She has travelled over
the whole American continent and can at least find her way
about this minute island.’
‘Ah then,’ said Ralph, ‘let me take advantage of her pro-
tection to go up to town as well. I may never have a chance
to travel so safely!’

176 The Portrait of a Lady