"If Mr. Touchett had consulted me about leaving you the money,"
she frankly asserted, "I'd have said to him 'Never!"
"I see," Isabel had answered, "You think it will prove a curse in
disguise. Perhaps it will."
"Leave it to some one you care less for- that's what I should have
said."
"To yourself for instance?" Isabel suggested jocosely. And then, "Do
you really believe it will ruin me?" she asked in quite another tone.
"I hope it won't ruin you; but it will certainly confirm your
dangerous tendencies."
"Do you mean the love of luxury- of extravagance?"
"No, no," said Henrietta; "I mean your exposure on the moral side. I
approve of luxury; I think we ought to be as elegant as possible. Look
at the luxury of our western cities; I've seen nothing over here to
compare with it. I hope you'll never become grossly sensual; but I'm
not afraid of that. The peril for you is that you live too much in the
world of your own dreams. You're not enough in contact with reality-
with the toiling, striving, suffering, I may even say sinning, world
that surrounds you. You're too fastidious; you've too many graceful
illusions. Your newly-acquired thousands will shut you up more and
more to the society of a few selfish and heartless people who will
be interested in keeping them up.
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