She has always worshipped that god.
There should be no scandal about Caesar's wife, you know; and, as I
say, she has always hoped to marry Caesar. That was one reason she
wouldn't marry Osmond; the fear that on seeing her with Pansy people
would put things together-would even see a resemblance. She has had
a terror lest the mother should betray herself. She has been awfully
careful; the mother has never done so."
"Yes, yes, the mother has done so," said Isabel, who had listened to
all this with a face more and more wan. "She betrayed herself to me
the other day, though I didn't recognize her. There appeared to have
been a chance of Pansy's making a great marriage, and in her
disappointment at its not coming off she almost dropped the mask."
"Ah, that's where she'd dish herself!" cried the Countess. "She
has failed so dreadfully that she's determined her daughter shall make
it up."
Isabel started at the words "her daughter," which her guest threw
off so familiarly. "It seems very wonderful," she murmured; and in
this bewildering impression she had almost lost her sense of being
personally touched by the story.
"Now don't go and turn against the poor innocent child!" the
Countess went on.
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