The truth is that
the moment she had crossed the threshold she received an impression
that Mr. Touchett's death had had subtle consequences and that these
consequences had been profitable to a little circle of persons among
whom she was not numbered. Of course it was an event which would
naturally have consequences; her imagination had more than once rested
upon this fact during her stay at Gardencourt. But it had been one
thing to foresee such a matter mentally and another to stand among its
massive records. The idea of a distribution of property- she would
almost have said of spoils- just now pressed upon her senses and
irritated her with a sense of exclusion. I am far from wishing to
picture her as one of the hungry mouths or envious hearts of the
general herd, but we have already learned of her having desires that
had never been satisfied. If she had been questioned, she would of
course have admitted- with a fine proud smile- that she had not the
faintest claim to a share in Mr. Touchett's relics. "There was never
anything in the world between us," she would have said. "There was
never that, poor man!"- with a fillip of her thumb and her third
finger.
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