or man!"--with a fillip of her thumb and her third finger. I
hasten to add, moreover, that if she couldn't at the present moment keep
from quite perversely yearning she was careful not to betray herself.
She had after all as much sympathy for Mrs. Touchett's gains as for her
losses.

"He has left me this house," the newly-made widow said; "but of course
I shall not live in it; I've a much better one in Florence. The will
was opened only three days since, but I've already offered the house for
sale. I've also a share in the bank; but I don't yet understand if I'm
obliged to leave it there. If not I shall certainly take it out. Ralph,
of course, has Gardencourt; but I'm not sure that he'll have means to
keep up the place. He's naturally left very well off, but his father has
given away an immense deal of money; there are bequests to a string of
third cousins in Vermont. Ralph, however, is very fond of Gardencourt
and would be quite capable of living there--in summer--with a
maid-of-all-work and a gardener's boy. There's one remarkable clause
in my husband's will," Mrs. Touchett added. "He has left my niece a
fortune."

"A fortune!" Madame Merle softly repeated.

"Isabel steps into something like seventy thousand pounds." Madame
Merle's hands were clasped in her lap; at this she raised them, still
clasped, and held them a moment against her bosom while her eyes, a
little dilated, fixed themselves on those of her friend. "Ah," she
cried, "the clever creature!"

Mrs. Touchett gave her a quick look. "What do you mean by that?"

For an instant Madame Merle's colour rose and she dropped her eyes. "It
certainly is clever to achieve such results--without an effort!"

"There assuredly was no effort. Don't call it an achievement."

Madame Merle was seldom guilty of the awkwardness of retracting what she
had said; her wisdom was shown rather in maintaining it and placing it
in a favourable light. "My dear friend, Isabel would certainly not
have had seventy thousand pounds left her if she had not been the most
charming girl in the world. Her charm includes great cleverness."

"She never dreamed, I'm sure, of my husband's doing anything for her;
and I never dreamed of it either, for he never spoke to me of his
intention," Mrs. Touchett said. "She had no claim upon him whatever; it
was no great recommendation to him that she was my niece. Whatever she
achieved she achieved unconsciously."

"Ah," rejoined Madame Merle, "those