It made Isabel feel
faint; if it had been necessary to speak on the spot she would have
been quite unable. But no such necessity was distinct to her; it
seemed to her indeed that she had absolutely nothing to say to
Madame Merle. In one's relations with this lady, however, there were
never any absolute necessities; she had a manner which carried off not
only her own deficiencies but those of other people. But she was
different from usual: she came in slowly, behind the portress, and
Isabel instantly perceived that she was not likely to depend upon
her habitual resources. For her too the occasion was exceptional,
and she had undertaken to treat it by the light of the moment. This
gave her a peculiar gravity; she pretended not even to smile, and
though Isabel saw that she was more than ever playing a part it seemed
to her that on the whole the wonderful woman had never been so
natural. She looked at her young friend from head to foot, but not
harshly nor defiantly; with a cold gentleness rather, and an absence
of any air of allusion to their last meeting. It was as if she had
wished to mark a distinction. She had been irritated then, she was
reconciled now.
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