Page 204 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

He had none to suggest; which made his question seem
to himself silly as well as brutal. ‘You’ve a great many friends
that I don’t know. You’ve a whole past from which I was per-
versely excluded.’
‘You were reserved for my future. You must remember
that my past is over there across the water. There’s none of
it here in London.’
‘Very good, then, since your future is seated beside you.
Capital thing to have your future so handy.’ And Ralph
lighted another cigarette and reflected that Isabel probably
meant she had received news that Mr. Caspar Goodwood
had crossed to Paris. After he had lighted his cigarette he
puffed it a while, and then he resumed. ‘I promised just now
to be very amusing; but you see I don’t come up to the mark,
and the fact is there’s a good deal of temerity in one’s un-
dertaking to amuse a person like you. What do you care
for my feeble attempts? You’ve grand ideas—you’ve a high
standard in such matters. I ought at least to bring in a band
of music or a company of mountebanks.’
‘One mountebank’s enough, and you do very well. Pray
go on, and in another ten minutes I shall begin to laugh.’
‘I assure you I’m very serious,’ said Ralph. ‘You do really
ask a great deal.’
‘I don’t know what you mean. I ask nothing!’
‘You accept nothing,’ said Ralph. She coloured, and now
suddenly it seemed to her that she guessed his meaning. But
why should he speak to her of such things? He hesitated a
little and then he continued: ‘There’s something I should
like very much to say to you. It’s a question I wish to ask. It

204 The Portrait of a Lady