Touchett's leaving them to
her. But to marry Gilbert Osmond and bring him such a portion-in
that there would be delicacy for her as well. There would be less
for him-that was true; but that was his affair, and if he loved her he
wouldn't object to her being rich. Had he not had the courage to say
he was glad she was rich?
Isabel's cheek burned when she asked herself if she had really
married on a factitious theory, in order to do something finely
appreciable with her money. But she was able to answer quickly
enough that this was only half the story. It was because a certain
ardour took possession of her-a sense of the earnestness of his
affection and a delight in his personal qualities. He was better
than any one else. This supreme conviction had filled her life for
months, and enough of it still remained to prove to her that she could
not have done otherwise. The finest-in the sense of being the
subtlest-manly organism she had ever known had become her property,
and the recognition of her having but to put out her hands and take it
had been originally a sort of act of devotion. She had not been
mistaken about the beauty of his mind; she knew that organ perfectly
now.
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