ed, with the perfect good faith of his apparent blankness,
something definite enough; though her bravery was not thereby too
blighted for her to feel herself calling him to witness that the only
witchcraft her companion had used, within the few minutes, was that of
attending Maggie, who had withdrawn from the scene, to her carriage.
Notified, at all events, of Fanny's probable presence, Charlotte was,
for a while after this, divided between the sense of it as a fact
somehow to reckon with and deal with, which was a perception that made,
in its degree, for the prudence, the pusillanimity of postponement, of
avoidance--and a quite other feeling, an impatience that presently ended
by prevailing, an eagerness, really, to BE suspected, sounded, veritably
arraigned, if only that she might have the bad moment over, if only that
she might prove to herself, let alone to Mrs. Assingham also, that she
could convert it to good; if only, in short, to be "square," as they
said, with her question. For herself indeed, particularly, it wasn't a
question; but something in her bones told her that Fanny would treat it
as one, and there was truly nothing that, from this friend, she was not
bound in decency to take. She might hand things back with every tender
precaution, with acknowledgments and assurances, but she owed it to
them, in any case, and it to all Mrs. Assingham had done for her, not to
get rid of them without having well unwrapped and turned them over.

To-night, as happened--and she recognised it more and more, with the
ebbing minutes, as an influence of everything about her--to-night
exactly, she would, no doubt, since she knew why, be as firm as she
might at any near moment again hope to be for going through that process
with the right temper and tone. She said, after a little, to the Prince,
"Stay with me; let no one take you; for I want her, yes, I do want her
to see us together, and the sooner the better"--said it to keep her hand
on him through constant diversions, and made him, in fact, by saying
it, profess a momentary vagueness. She had to explain to him that it was
Fanny Assingham, she wanted to see--who clearly would be there, since
the Colonel never either stirred without her or, once arrived, concerned
himself for her fate; and she had, further, after Amerigo had met
her with "See us together? why in the world? hasn't she often seen us
together?" to inform him that what had elsewhere and otherwise happened
didn't no