d to Lord Warburton that they should come in search of her. She
was in no humour for visitors and, if she had had a chance, would have
drawn back behind one of the great trees. But she saw she had been seen
and that nothing was left her but to advance. As the lawn at Gardencourt
was a vast expanse this took some time; during which she observed that,
as he walked beside his hostess, Lord Warburton kept his hands rather
stiffly behind him and his eyes upon the ground. Both persons apparently
were silent; but Mrs. Touchett's thin little glance, as she directed it
toward Isabel, had even at a distance an expression. It seemed to say
with cutting sharpness: "Here's the eminently amenable nobleman you
might have married!" When Lord Warburton lifted his own eyes, however,
that was not what they said. They only said "This is rather awkward, you
know, and I depend upon you to help me." He was very grave, very proper
and, for the first time since Isabel had known him, greeted her without
a smile. Even in his days of distress he had always begun with a smile.
He looked extremely selfconscious.

"Lord Warburton has been so good as to come out to see me," said Mrs.
Touchett. "He tells me he didn't know you were still here. I know he's
an old friend of yours, and as I was told you were not in the house I
brought him out to see for himself."

"Oh, I saw there was a good train at 6.40, that would get me back
in time for dinner," Mrs. Touchett's companion rather irrelevantly
explained. "I'm so glad to find you've not gone."

"I'm not here for long, you know," Isabel said with a certain eagerness.

"I suppose not; but I hope it's for some weeks. You came to England
sooner than--a--than you thought?"

"Yes, I came very suddenly."

Mrs. Touchett turned away as if she were looking at the condition of the
grounds, which indeed was not what it should be, while Lord Warburton
hesitated a little. Isabel fancied he had been on the point of asking
about her husband--rather confusedly--and then had checked himself. He
continued immitigably grave, either because he thought it becoming in a
place over which death had just passed, or for more personal reasons. If
he was conscious of personal reasons it was very fortunate that he had
the cover of the former motive; he could make the most of that. Isabel
thought of all this. It was not that his face was sad, for that was
another matter; but it was strangely inexpressive.

"My sisters would have