Page 182 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

saying nothing; and then he suddenly broke out: ‘I hoped
you wouldn’t write to me that way.’
‘It was the only way, Lord Warburton,’ said the girl. ‘Do
try and believe that.’
‘If I could believe it of course I should let you alone. But
we can’t believe by willing it; and I confess I don’t under-
stand. I could understand your disliking me; that I could
understand well. But that you should admit you do-.’
‘What have I admitted?’ Isabel interrupted, turning
slightly pale.
‘That you think me a good fellow; isn’t that it?’ She said
nothing, and he went on: ‘You don’t seem to have any rea-
son, and that gives me a sense of injustice.’
‘I have a reason, Lord Warburton.’ She said it in a tone
that made his heart contract.
‘I should like very much to know it.’
‘I’ll tell you some day when there’s more to show for it.’
‘Excuse my saying that in the mean time I must doubt
of it.’
‘You make me very unhappy,’ said Isabel.
‘I’m not sorry for that; it may help you to know how I
feel. Will you kindly answer me a question?’ Isabel made
no audible assent, but he apparently saw in her eyes some-
thing that gave him courage to go on. ‘Do you prefer some
one else?’
‘That’s a question I’d rather not answer.’
‘Ah, you do then!’ her suitor murmured with bitterness.
The bitterness touched her, and she cried out: ‘You’re
mistaken! I don’t.’

182 The Portrait of a Lady