chances they
had already, a couple of times, arrived at by waiting persistently
till the last other loiterers had gone to dress, and by being prepared
themselves to dress so expeditiously that they might, a little later on,
be among the first to appear in festal array. The hall then was
empty, before the army of rearranging, cushion-patting housemaids were
marshalled in, and there was a place by the forsaken fire, at one end,
where they might imitate, with art, the unpremeditated. Above all, here,
for the snatched instants, they could breathe so near to each other that
the interval was almost engulfed in it, and the intensity both of the
union and the caution became a workable substitute for contact. They
had prolongations of instants that counted as visions of bliss; they had
slow approximations that counted as long caresses. The quality of these
passages, in truth, made the spoken word, and especially the spoken word
about other people, fall below them; so that our young woman's tone had
even now a certain dryness. "It's very good of her, my dear, to trust
us. But what else can she do?"

"Why, whatever people do when they don't trust. Let one see they don't."

"But let whom see?"

"Well, let ME, say, to begin with."

"And should you mind that?"

He had a slight show of surprise. "Shouldn't you?"

"Her letting you see? No," said Charlotte; "the only thing I can imagine
myself minding is what you yourself, if you don't look out, may let HER
see." To which she added: "You may let her see, you know, that you're
afraid."

"I'm only afraid of you, a little, at moments," he presently returned.
"But I shan't let Fanny see that."

It was clear, however, that neither the limits nor the extent of
Mrs. Assingham's vision were now a real concern to her, and she gave
expression to this as she had not even yet done. "What in the world
can she do against us? There's not a word that she can breathe. She's
helpless; she can't speak; she would be herself the first to be dished
by it." And then as he seemed slow to follow: "It all comes back to her.
It all began with her. Everything, from the first. She introduced you to
Maggie. She made your marriage."

The Prince might have had his moment of demur, but at this, after a
little, as with a smile dim but deep, he came on. "Mayn't she also
be said, a good deal, to have made yours? That was intended, I think,
wasn't it? for a kind of rectification."

Charlotte, on her side, for