Page 524 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

‘Certainly, you may go,’ said Pansy; ‘and if you like I’ll
show you.’ She was not in the least frightened.
‘That’s just what I hoped you’d say; you’re so very kind,’
Rosier murmured.
They went in together; Rosier really thought the room
very ugly, and it seemed cold. The same idea appeared to
have struck Pansy. ‘It’s not for winter evenings; it’s for sum-
mer,’ she said. ‘It’s papa’s taste; he has so much.’
He had a good deal, Rosier thought; but some of it was
very bad. He looked about him; he hardly knew what to say
in such a situation.
‘Doesn’t Mrs. Osmond care how her rooms are done?
Has she no taste? he asked.
‘Oh yes, a great deal; but it’s more for literature,’ said
Pansy-”and for conversation. But papa cares also for those
things. I think he knows everything.’
Rosier was silent a little. ‘There’s one thing I’m sure he
knows!’ he broke out presently. ‘He knows that when I come
here it’s, with all respect to him, with all respect to Mrs. Os-
mond, who’s so charming-it’s really,’ said the young man,
‘to see you!’
‘To see me?’ And Pansy raised her vaguely-troubled
eyes.
‘To see you; that’s what I come for,’ Rosier repeated, feel-
ing the intoxication of a rupture with authority.
Pansy stood looking at him, simply, intently, openly;
a blush was not needed to make her face more modest. ‘I
thought it was for that.’
‘And it was not disagreeable to you?’

524 The Portrait of a Lady