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less,’ Madame Merle added, ‘it won’t be an easy matter for
Osmond to marry Miss Archer. Yet he can try.’
‘I hope she’ll refuse him. It will take him down a little.’
‘We mustn’t forget that he is one of the cleverest of men.’
‘I’ve heard you say that before, but I haven’t yet discov-
ered what he has done.’
‘What he has done? He has done nothing that has had to
be undone. And he has known how to wait.’
‘To wait for Miss Archer’s money? How much of it is
there?’
‘That’s not what I mean,’ said Madame Merle. ‘Miss Ar-
cher has seventy thousand pounds.’
‘Well, it’s a pity she’s so charming,’ the Countess de-
clared. ‘To be sacrificed, any girl would do. She needn’t be
superior.’
‘If she weren’t superior your brother would never look at
her. He must have the best.’
‘Yes,’ returned the Countess as they went forward a little
to meet the others, ‘he’s very hard to satisfy. That makes me
tremble for her happiness!’

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