Page 532 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

Chapter 38

He went to see Madame Merle on the morrow, and to
his surprise she let him off rather easily. But she made him
promise that he would stop there till something should
have been decided. Mr. Osmond had had higher expecta-
tions; it was very true that as he had no intention of giving
his daughter a portion such expectations were open to criti-
cism or even, if one would, to ridicule. But she would advise
Mr. Rosier not to take that tone; if he would possess his soul
in patience he might arrive at his felicity. Mr. Osmond was
not favourable to his suit, but it wouldn’t be a miracle if he
should gradually come round. Pansy would never defy her
father, he might depend on that; so nothing was to be gained
by precipitation. Mr. Osmond needed to accustom his mind
to an offer of a sort that he had not hitherto entertained, and
this result must come of itself-it was useless to try to force
it. Rosier remarked that his own situation would be in the
meanwhile the most uncomfortable in the world, and Mad
Merle assured him that she felt for him. But, as she justly
declared, one couldn’t have everything one wanted; she had
learned that lesson for herself. There would be no use in his
writing to Gilbert Osmond, who had charged her to tell him
as much. He wished the matter dropped for a few weeks and
would himself write when he should have anything to com-
municate that it might please Mr. Rosier to hear.

532 The Portrait of a Lady