He reflected
constantly on what his adviser had said to him, and turned over in his
mind the impression of her rather circumspect tone. He had gone to her
de confiance, as they put it in Paris; but it was possible he had been
precipitate. He found difficulty in thinking of himself as rash-he had
incurred this reproach so rarely; but it certainly was true that he
had known Madame Merle only for the last month, and that his
thinking her a delightful woman was not, when one came to look into
it, a reason for assuming that she would be eager to push Pansy Osmond
into his arms, gracefully arranged as these members might be to
receive her. She had indeed shown him benevolence, and she was a
person of consideration among the girl's people, where she had a
rather striking appearance (Rosier had more than once wondered how she
managed it) of being intimate without being familiar. But possibly
he had exaggerated these advantages. There was no particular reason
why she should take trouble for him; a charming woman was charming
to every one, and Rosier felt rather a fool when he thought of his
having appealed to her on the ground that she had distinguished him.
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