Page 538 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

have caught the dim ghost of his old ruefulness.
‘We should have been glad to see you at any time,’ Os-
mond observed with propriety.
‘Thank you very much. I haven’t been out of England
since then. Till a month ago I really supposed my travels
over.’
‘I’ve heard of you from time to time,’ said Isabel, who had
already, with her rare capacity for such inward feats, taken
the measure of what meeting him again meant for her.
‘I hope you’ve heard no harm. My life has been a remark-
ably complete blank.’
‘Like the good reigns in history,’ Osmond suggested.
He appeared to think his duties as a host now terminated-
he had performed them so conscientiously. Nothing could
have been more adequate, more nicely measured, than his
courtesy to his wife’s old friend. It was punctilious, it was
explicit, it was everything but natural-a deficiency which
Lord Warburton, who, himself, had on the whole a good
deal of nature, may be supposed to have perceived. ‘I’ll leave
you and Mrs. Osmond together,’ he added. ‘You have remi-
niscences into which I don’t enter.’
‘I’m afraid you lose a good deal!’ Lord Warburton called
after him, as he moved away, in a tone which perhaps be-
trayed overmuch an appreciation of his generosity. Then the
visitor turned on Isabel the deeper, the deepest, conscious-
ness of his look, which gradually became more serious. ‘I’m
really very glad to see you.’
‘It’s very pleasant. You’re very kind.’
‘Do you know that you’re changed-a little?’

538 The Portrait of a Lady