Page 89 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

bours and some of our friends, because we have really got
a few, though you would never suppose it’—when he of-
fered to invite what he called a ‘lot of people’ and make her
acquainted with English society, she encouraged the hospi-
table impulse and promised in advance to hurl herself into
the fray. Little, however, for the present, had come of his of-
fers, and it may be confided to the reader that if the young
man delayed to carry them out it was because he found the
labour of providing for his companion by no means so se-
vere as to require extraneous help. Isabel had spoken to him
very often about ‘specimens”; it was a word that played a
considerable part in her vocabulary; she had given him to
understand that she wished to see English society illustrat-
ed by eminent cases.
‘Well now, there’s a specimen,’ he said to her as they
walked up from the riverside and he recognized Lord War-
burton.
‘A specimen of what?’ asked the girl.
‘A specimen of an English gentleman.’
‘Do you mean they’re all like him?’
‘Oh no; they’re not all like him.’
‘He’s a favourable specimen then,’ said Isabel; ‘because
I’m sure he’s nice.’
‘Yes, he’s very nice. And he’s very fortunate.’
The fortunate Lord Warburton exchanged a handshake
with our heroine and hoped she was very well. ‘But I needn’t
ask that,’ he said, ‘since you’ve been handling the oars.’
‘I’ve been rowing a little,’ Isabel answered; ‘but how
should you know it?’

89