ng her time or hoping to circumvent her
father she must have had a prevision of success. Isabel thought this
unlikely; it was much more likely that Pansy had simply determined to
be a good girl. She had never had such a chance, and she had a proper
esteem for chances. She carried herself no less attentively than usual
and kept no less anxious an eye upon her vaporous skirts; she held her
bouquet very tight and counted over the flowers for the twentieth time.
She made Isabel feel old; it seemed so long since she had been in a
flutter about a ball. Pansy, who was greatly admired, was never in want
of partners, and very soon after their arrival she gave Isabel, who was
not dancing, her bouquet to hold. Isabel had rendered her this service
for some minutes when she became aware of the near presence of Edward
Rosier. He stood before her; he had lost his affable smile and wore a
look of almost military resolution. The change in his appearance would
have made Isabel smile if she had not felt his case to be at bottom
a hard one: he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of
gunpowder. He looked at her a moment somewhat fiercely, as if to notify
her he was dangerous, and then dropped his eyes on her bouquet. After
he had inspected it his glance softened and he said quickly: "It's all
pansies; it must be hers!"

Isabel smiled kindly. "Yes, it's hers; she gave it to me to hold."

"May I hold it a little, Mrs. Osmond?" the poor young man asked.

"No, I can't trust you; I'm afraid you wouldn't give it back."

"I'm not sure that I should; I should leave the house with it instantly.
But may I not at least have a single flower?"

Isabel hesitated a moment, and then, smiling still, held out the
bouquet. "Choose one yourself. It's frightful what I'm doing for you."

"Ah, if you do no more than this, Mrs. Osmond!" Rosier exclaimed with
his glass in one eye, carefully choosing his flower.

"Don't put it into your button-hole," she said. "Don't for the world!"

"I should like her to see it. She has refused to dance with me, but I
wish to show her that I believe in her still."

"It's very well to show it to her, but it's out of place to show it to
others. Her father has told her not to dance with you."

"And is that all YOU can do for me? I expected more from you, Mrs.
Osmond," said the young man in a tone of fine general reference. "You
know our acquaintance goes back very far--quite into the days of our
innocent childhoo