There was nothing flighty about
Mrs. Touchett, but she recognized no social superiors, and, judging
the great ones of the earth in a way that spoke of this, enjoyed the
consciousness of making an impression on a candid and susceptible
mind. Isabel at first had answered a good many questions, and it was
from her answers apparently that Mrs. Touchett derived a high
opinion of her intelligence. But after this she had asked a good many,
and her aunt's answers, whatever turn they took, struck her as food
for deep reflexion. Mrs. Touchett waited for the return of her other
niece as long as she thought reasonable, but as at six o'clock Mrs.
Ludlow bad not come in she prepared to take her departure.
"Your sister must be a great gossip. Is she accustomed to staying
out so many hours?"
"You've been out almost as long as she," Isabel replied; "she can
have left the house but a short time before you came in."
Mrs. Touchett looked at the girl without resentment; she appeared to
enjoy a bold retort and to be disposed to be gracious. "Perhaps she
hasn't had so good an excuse as I. Tell her at any rate that she
must come and see me this evening at that horrid hotel.
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