"
"If I like my cage, that needn't trouble you," she answered.
"That's what I wonder at; that's what I've been thinking of."
"If you've been thinking you may imagine how I've thought! I'm
satisfied that I'm doing well."
"You must have changed immensely. A year ago you valued your liberty
beyond everything. You wanted only to see life."
"I've seen it," said Isabel. "It doesn't look to me now, I admit,
such an inviting expanse."
"I don't pretend it is; only I had an idea that you took a genial
view of it and wanted to survey the whole field."
"I've seen that one can't do anything so general. One must choose
a corner and cultivate that."
"That's what I think. And one must choose as good a corner as
possible. I had an idea, all winter, while I read your delightful
letters, that you were choosing. You said nothing about it, and your
silence put me off my guard."
"It was not a matter I was likely to write to you about. Besides,
I knew nothing of the future. It has all come lately. If you had
been on your guard, however," Isabel asked, "what would you have
done?"
"I should have said 'Wait a little longer.'
"Wait for what?"
"Well, for a little more light," said Ralph with rather an absurd
smile, while his hands found their way into his pockets.
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