be mentioned, was the quick perception that what would be of
most service was, so to speak, her own native wood-note. She had long
been conscious with shame for her thin blood, or at least for her poor
economy, of her unused margin as an American girl--closely indeed as,
in English air, the text might appear to cover the page. She still had
reserves of spontaneity, if not of comicality; so that all this cash in
hand could now find employment. She became as spontaneous as possible
and as American as it might conveniently appeal to Mr. Densher, after
his travels, to find her. She said things in the air, and yet flattered
herself that she struck him as saying them not in the tone of agitation
but in the tone of New York. In the tone of New York agitation was
beautifully discounted, and she had now a sufficient view of how much
it might accordingly help her.

The help was fairly rendered before they left the place; when her
friends presently accepted her invitation to adjourn with her to
luncheon at her hotel, it was in the Fifth Avenue that the meal might
have waited. Kate had never been there so straight, but Milly was at
present taking her; and if Mr. Densher had been he had at least never
had to come so fast. She proposed it as the natural thing--proposed it
as the American girl; and she saw herself quickly justified by the pace
at which she was followed. The beauty of the case was that to do it all
she had only to appear to take Kate's hint. This had said, in its fine
first smile, "Oh yes, our look is queer--but give me time;" and the
American girl could give time as nobody else could. What Milly thus
gave she therefore made them take--even if, as they might surmise, it
was rather more than they wanted. In the porch of the museum she
expressed her preference for a four-wheeler; they would take their
course in that guise precisely to multiply the minutes. She was more
than ever justified by the positive charm that her spirit imparted even
to their use of this conveyance; and she touched her highest
point--that is, certainly, for herself--as she ushered her companions
into the presence of Susie. Susie was there with luncheon, with her
return, in prospect; and nothing could now have filled her own
consciousness more to the brim than to see this good friend take in how
little she was abjectly anxious. The cup itself actually offered to
this good friend might in truth well be startling, for it was composed
beyond question