Mr. Osmond was not favourable to his
suit, but it wouldn't be a miracle if he should gradually come
round. Pansy would never defy her father, he might depend on that;
so nothing was to be gained by precipitation. Mr. Osmond needed to
accustom his mind to an offer of a sort that he had not hitherto
entertained, and this result must come of itself-it was useless to try
to force it. Rosier remarked that his own situation would be in the
meanwhile the most uncomfortable in the world, and Mad Merle assured
him that she felt for him. But, as she justly declared, one couldn't
have everything one wanted; she had learned that lesson for herself.
There would be no use in his writing to Gilbert Osmond, who had
charged her to tell him as much. He wished the matter dropped for a
few weeks and would himself write when he should have anything to
communicate that it might please Mr. Rosier to hear.
"He doesn't like your having spoken to Pansy. Ah, he doesn't like it
at all," said Madame Merle.
"I'm perfectly willing to give him a chance to tell me so!
"If you do that he'll tell you more than you care to hear. Go to the
house, for the next month, as little as possible, and leave the rest
to me.
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