"Please don't talk of him," said Isabel for answer; "we've heard
so much of him of late."
Madame Merle bent her head on one side a little, protestingly, and
smiled at the left corner of her mouth. "You've heard, yes. But you
must remember that I've not, in Naples. I hoped to find him here and
to be able to congratulate Pansy."
"You may congratulate Pansy still; but not on marrying Lord
Warburton."
"How you say that! Don't you know I had set my heart on it?"
Madame Merle asked with a great deal of spirit, but still with the
intonation of good humour.
Isabel was discomposed, but she was determined to be good-humoured
too. "You shouldn't have gone to Naples then. You should have stayed
here to watch the affair."
"I had too much confidence in you. But do you think it's too late?"
"You had better ask Pansy," said Isabel.
"I shall ask her what you've said to her."
These words seemed to justify the impulse of self-defence aroused on
Isabel's part by her perceiving that her visitor's attitude was a
critical one. Madame Merle, as we know, had been very discreet
hitherto; she had never criticized; she had been markedly afraid of
intermeddling.
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