e said nothing; and then,
"Is it true you're going to London?" he asked.

"I believe it has been arranged."

"And when shall you come back?"

"In a few days; but probably for a very short time. I'm going to Paris
with my aunt."

"When, then, shall I see you again?"

"Not for a good while," said Isabel. "But some day or other, I hope."

"Do you really hope it?"

"Very much."

He went a few steps in silence; then he stopped and put out his hand.
"Good-bye."

"Good-bye," said Isabel.

Miss Molyneux kissed her again, and she let the two depart. After it,
without rejoining Henrietta and Ralph, she retreated to her own room; in
which apartment, before dinner, she was found by Mrs. Touchett, who had
stopped on her way to the salon. "I may as well tell you," said that
lady, "that your uncle has informed me of your relations with Lord
Warburton."

Isabel considered. "Relations? They're hardly relations. That's the
strange part of it: he has seen me but three or four times."

"Why did you tell your uncle rather than me?" Mrs. Touchett
dispassionately asked.

Again the girl hesitated. "Because he knows Lord Warburton better."

"Yes, but I know you better."

"I'm not sure of that," said Isabel, smiling.

"Neither am I, after all; especially when you give me that rather
conceited look. One would think you were awfully pleased with yourself
and had carried off a prize! I suppose that when you refuse an offer
like Lord Warburton's it's because you expect to do something better."

"Ah, my uncle didn't say that!" cried Isabel, smiling still.

CHAPTER XV

It had been arranged that the two young ladies should proceed to London
under Ralph's escort, though Mrs. Touchett looked with little favour on
the plan. It was just the sort of plan, she said, that Miss Stackpole
would be sure to suggest, and she enquired if the correspondent of
the Interviewer was to take the party to stay at her favourite
boarding-house.

"I don't care where she takes us to stay, so long as there's local
colour," said Isabel. "That's what we're going to London for."

"I suppose that after a girl has refused an English lord she may do
anything," her aunt rejoined. "After that one needn't stand on trifles."

"Should you have liked me to marry Lord Warburton?" Isabel enquired.

"Of course I should."

"I thought you disliked the English so much."

"So I do; but it's all the greater reason for making use of them."

"Is that your idea