Certainly the clothes
which, as you say, I choose to wear, don't express me; and heaven
forbid they should!"
"You dress very well," Madame Merle lightly interposed.
"Possibly; but I don't care to be judged by that. My clothes may
express the dressmaker, but they don't express me. To begin with
it's not my own choice that I wear them; they're imposed upon me by
society."
"Should you prefer to go without them?" Madame Merle enquired in a
tone which virtually terminated the discussion.
I am bound to confess, though it may cast some discredit on the
sketch I have given of the youthful loyalty practiced by our heroine
toward this accomplished woman, that Isabel had said nothing
whatever to her about Lord Warburton and had been equally reticent
on the subject of Caspar Goodwood. She had not, however, concealed the
fact that she had had opportunities of marrying and had even let her
friend know of how advantageous a kind they had been. Lord Warburton
had left Lockleigh and was gone to Scotland, taking his sisters with
him; and though he had written to Ralph more than once to ask about
Mr. Touchett's health the girl was not liable to the embarrassment
of such enquiries as, had he still been in the neighbourhood, he would
probably have felt bound to make in person.
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