Page 90 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

‘Oh, I know he doesn’t row; he’s too lazy,’ said his lord-
ship, indicating Ralph Touchett with a laugh.
‘He has a good excuse for his laziness,’ Isabel rejoined,
lowering her voice a little.
‘Ah, he has a good excuse for everything!’ cried Lord
Warburton, still with his sonorous mirth.
‘My excuse for not rowing is that my cousin rows so well,’
said Ralph. ‘She does everything well. She touches nothing
that she doesn’t adorn!’
‘It makes one want to be touched, Miss Archer,’ Lord
Warburton declared.
‘Be touched in the right sense and you’ll never look the
worse for it,’ said Isabel, who, if it pleased her to hear it said
that her accomplishments were numerous, was happily able
to reflect that such complacency was not the indication of a
feeble mind, inasmuch as there were several things in which
she excelled. Her desire to think well of herself had at least
the element of humility that it always needed to be support-
ed by proof.
Lord Warburton not only spent the night at Garden-
court, but he was persuaded to remain over the second day;
and when the second day was ended he determined to post-
pone his departure till the morrow. During this period he
addressed many of his remarks to Isabel, who accepted this
evidence of his esteem with a very good grace. She found her-
self liking him extremely; the first impression he had made
on her had had weight, but at the end of an evening spent in
his society she scarce fell short of seeing him—though quite
without luridity—as a hero of romance. She retired to rest

90 The Portrait of a Lady