You don't always take it; then one
has to let you alone. It's not to do you a kindness, however, that
I've come to-day; it's quite another affair. I've come to get rid of a
trouble of my own-to make it over to you. I've been talking to your
husband about it."
"I'm surprised at that; he doesn't like troubles."
"Especially other people's; I know very well. But neither do you,
I suppose. At any rate, whether you do or not, you must help me.
It's about poor Mr. Rosier."
"Ah," said Isabel reflectively, "it's his trouble then, not yours."
"He has succeeded in saddling me with it. He comes to see me ten
times a week, to talk about Pansy."
"Yes, he wants to marry her. I know all about it."
Madame Merle hesitated. "I gathered from your husband that perhaps
you didn't."
"How should he know what I know? He has never spoken to me of the
matter."
"It's probably because he doesn't know how to speak of it."
"It's nevertheless the sort of question in which he's rarely at
fault."
"Yes, because as a general thing he knows perfectly well what to
think.
To-day he doesn't."
"Haven't you been telling him?" Isabel asked.
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