Page 516 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

in Mrs. Osmond’s warm, rich-looking reception-rooms,
which were on the second floor. He acknowledged that these
people were very strong in ‘good things.’ It was a taste of Os-
mond’s own-not at all of hers; this she had told him the first
time he came to the house, when, after asking himself for
a quarter of an hour whether they had even better ‘French’
than he in Paris, he was obliged on the spot to admit that
they had, very much, and vanquished his envy, as a gentle-
man should, to the point of expressing to his hostess his
pure admiration of her treasures. He learned from Mrs. Os-
mond that her husband had made a large collection before
their marriage and that, though he had annexed a number
of fine pieces within the last three years, he had achieved
his greatest finds at a time when he had not the advantage
of her advice. Rosier interpreted this information according
to principles of his own. For ‘advice’ read ‘cash,’ he said to
himself; and the fact that Gilbert Osmond had landed his
highest prizes during his impecunious season confirmed
his most cherished doctrine-the doctrine that a collector
may freely be poor if he be only patient. In general, when
Rosier presented himself on a Thursday evening, his first
recognition was for the walls of the saloon; there were three
or four objects his eyes really yearned for. But after his talk
with Madame Merle he felt the extreme seriousness of his
position; and now, when he came in, he looked about for the
daughter of the house with such eagerness as might be per-
mitted a gentleman whose smile, as he crossed a threshold,
always took everything comfortable for granted.

516 The Portrait of a Lady