ve headed straight. She would have friends, certainly--and
very good ones. There she was at all events--and it was very
interesting. Her knowing Mr. Chad didn't in the least prove she hadn't
friends; what it proved was what good ones HE had. "I saw that," said
Miss Gostrey, "that night at the Francais; it came out for me in three
minutes. I saw HER--or somebody like her. And so," she immediately
added, "did you."

"Oh no--not anybody like her!" Strether laughed. "But you mean," he as
promptly went on, "that she has had such an influence on him?"

Miss Gostrey was on her feet; it was time for them to go. "She has
brought him up for her daughter."

Their eyes, as so often, in candid conference, through their settled
glasses, met over it long; after which Strether's again took in the
whole place. They were quite alone there now. "Mustn't she rather--in
the time then--have rushed it?"

"Ah she won't of course have lost an hour. But that's just the good
mother--the good French one. You must remember that of her--that as a
mother she's French, and that for them there's a special providence. It
precisely however--that she mayn't have been able to begin as far back
as she'd have liked--makes her grateful for aid."

Strether took this in as they slowly moved to the house on their way
out. "She counts on me then to put the thing through?"

"Yes--she counts on you. Oh and first of all of course," Miss Gostrey
added, "on her--well, convincing you."

"Ah," her friend returned, "she caught Chad young!"

"Yes, but there are women who are for all your 'times of life.' They're
the most wonderful sort."

She had laughed the words out, but they brought her companion, the next
thing, to a stand. "Is what you mean that she'll try to make a fool of
me?"

"Well, I'm wondering what she WILL--with an opportunity--make."

"What do you call," Strether asked, "an opportunity? My going to see
her?"

"Ah you must go to see her"--Miss Gostrey was a trifle evasive. "You
can't not do that. You'd have gone to see the other woman. I mean if
there had been one--a different sort. It's what you came out for."

It might be; but Strether distinguished. "I didn't come out to see
THIS sort."

She had a wonderful look at him now. "Are you disappointed she isn't
worse?"

He for a moment entertained the question, then found for it the
frankest of answers. "Yes. If she were worse she'd be better for our
purpose. It would be