Page 492 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

uttered her last words with a low solemnity of conviction
which virtually terminated the discussion, and she closed
it formally by turning away and walking back to the house.
Ralph walked beside her, and they passed into the court to-
gether and reached the big staircase. Here he stopped and
Isabel paused, turning on him a face of elation-absolutely
and perversely of gratitude. His opposition had made her
own conception of her conduct clearer to her. ‘Shall you not
come up to breakfast?’ she asked.
‘No; I want no breakfast; I’m not hungry.’
‘You ought to eat,’ said the girl; ‘you live on air.’
‘I do, very much, and I shall go back into the garden and
take another mouthful. I came thus far simply to say this. I
told you last year that if you were to get into trouble I should
feel terribly sold. That’s how I feel to-day.’
‘Do you think I’m in trouble?’
‘One’s in trouble when one’s in error.’
‘Very well,’ said Isabel; ‘I shall never complain of my
trouble to you!
And she moved up the staircase.
Ralph, standing there with his hands in his pockets
followed her with his eyes; then the lurking chill of the
high-walled court struck him and made him shiver, so that
he returned to the garden to breakfast on the Florentine
sunshine.

492 The Portrait of a Lady