I'm not afraid at all."
"My good little Pansy," said Isabel gently, "I shall be ever so kind
to you." A vague, inconsequent vision of her coming in some odd way to
need it had intervened with the effect of a chill.
"Very well then, I've nothing to fear," the child returned with
her note of prepared promptitude. What teaching she had had, it seemed
to suggest-or what penalties for non-performance she dreaded!
Her description of her aunt had not been incorrect; the Countess
Gemini was further than ever from having folded her wings. She entered
the room with a flutter through the air and kissed Isabel first on the
forehead and then on each cheek as if according to some ancient
prescribed rite. She drew the visitor to a sofa and, looking at her
with a variety of turns of the head, began to talk very much as if,
seated brush in hand before an easel, she were applying a series of
considered touches to a composition of figures already sketched in.
"If you expect me to congratulate you I must beg you to excuse me. I
don't suppose you care if I do or not; I believe you're supposed not
to care-through being so clever-for all sorts of ordinary things.
Pages:
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622