"Of his mother? Yes, a great deal--immensely. But not from your point
of view."

"He can't," our friend returned, "have said any ill of her."

"Not the least bit. He has given me, like you, the assurance that
she's really grand. But her being really grand is somehow just what
hasn't seemed to simplify our case. Nothing," she continued, "is
further from me than to wish to say a word against her; but of course I
feel how little she can like being told of her owing me anything. No
woman ever enjoys such an obligation to another woman."

This was a proposition Strether couldn't contradict. "And yet what
other way could I have expressed to her what I felt? It's what there
was most to say about you."

"Do you mean then that she WILL be good to me?"

"It's what I'm waiting to see. But I've little doubt she would," he
added, "if she could comfortably see you."

It seemed to strike her as a happy, a beneficent thought. "Oh then
couldn't that be managed? Wouldn't she come out? Wouldn't she if you
so put it to her? DID you by any possibility?" she faintly quavered.

"Oh no"--he was prompt. "Not that. It would be, much more, to give an
account of you that--since there's no question of YOUR paying the
visit--I should go home first."

It instantly made her graver. "And are you thinking of that?"

"Oh all the while, naturally."

"Stay with us--stay with us!" she exclaimed on this. "That's your only
way to make sure."

"To make sure of what?"

"Why that he doesn't break up. You didn't come out to do that to him."

"Doesn't it depend," Strether returned after a moment, "on what you
mean by breaking up?"

"Oh you know well enough what I mean!"

His silence seemed again for a little to denote an understanding. "You
take for granted remarkable things."

"Yes, I do--to the extent that I don't take for granted vulgar ones.
You're perfectly capable of seeing that what you came out for wasn't
really at all to do what you'd now have to do."

"Ah it's perfectly simple," Strether good-humouredly pleaded. "I've
had but one thing to do--to put our case before him. To put it as it
could only be put here on the spot--by personal pressure. My dear
lady," he lucidly pursued, "my work, you see, is really done, and my
reasons for staying on even another day are none of the best. Chad's
in possession of our case and professes to do it full justice. What
remains is with himself. I've had my rest, my amusemen