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clared your sentiments?’
‘Never!’ cried Rosier, lifting his neatly-gloved hand.
‘Never till I’ve assured myself of those of the parents.’
‘You always wait for that? You’ve excellent principles;
you observe the proprieties.’
‘I think you’re laughing at me,’ the young man mur-
mured, dropping back in his chair and feeling his small
moustache. ‘I didn’t expect that of you, Madame Merle.’
She shook her head calmly, like a person who saw things
as she saw them. ‘You don’t do me justice. I think your con-
duct in excellent taste and the best you could adopt. Yes,
that’s what I think.’
‘I wouldn’t agitate her-only to agitate her; I love her too
much for that,’ said Ned Rosier.
‘I’m glad, after all, that you’ve told me,’ Madame Merle
went on.
‘Leave it to me a little; I think I can help you.’
‘I said you were the person to come to!’ her visitor cried
with prompt elation.
‘You were very clever,’ Madame Merle returned more
dryly. ‘When I say I can help you I mean once assuming
your cause to be good. Let us think a little if it is.’
‘I’m awfully decent, you know,’ said Rosier earnestly. ‘I
won’t say I’ve no faults, but I’ll say I’ve no vices.’
‘All that’s negative, and it always depends, also, on what
people call vices. What’s the positive side? What’s the virtu-
ous? What have you got besides your Spanish lace and your
Dresden teacups?’
‘I’ve a comfortable little fortune-about forty thousand

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