"'The best part of a kiss, I think, 'is when you see that head coming towards you 'and you know that you're going to get kissed." "'That moment just before is so exquisite.'" "'I'd never felt the touch of another person my age." "'The sensation flew through me.'" "'I love it." "I love kissing.'" "'We were addicted to that being entwined with each other, 'whether it was really positive or negative.'" "'I get this intense look that says "I'm so mysterious," ""'and there's so much more to me than meets the eye to find out..."'" "'I believe in fate, 'so that person will find me, or we'll find each other somehow.'" "'It means finding a mirror, the clearest mirror 'and the most loyal mirror, 'so when I love that person, I know that they'll shine that back to me.'" "There's one thing more, Miss Archer." "You know, if you don't like Lockleigh, if you think it's too damp or anything of that sort, you need never go within 50 miles of it." "It's not damp, by the way." "I've had the house thoroughly examined, and it's perfectly safe, but if you shouldn't fancy it, you needn't dream of living in it." "There's no difficulty about that." "I've plenty of houses." "I thought to let you know." "Some people don't like a moat, you know." "I adore a moat." "I'm very sure you know..." "I don't go off easily... but when I'm touched, it's for life, Miss Archer." "It's for life." "Look, here comes Miss Archer." "No..." "She's going up to the house." "So she is." "Where is Lord Warburton?" "He was with her." "Bunchie, go back." "Back." "Shall I sit with you until dinner, Daddy?" "I would like that, but Isabel has asked to talk with me." "Come in, my dear." "Do sit down." "Hmm?" "Ahem." "Uncle, I..." "I ought to let you know that..." "Lord Warburton has asked me to marry him." "Well!" "I told you you'd be a success over here." "Americans are highly appreciated... and you're very beautiful, you know." "Oh, yes, of course." "I'm lovely." "I..." "I know it seems tasteless and ungrateful... but I can't marry him." "You didn't find his proposal sufficiently attractive?" "It was attractive." "There was a moment when I would have given my little finger to say yes, but..." "I think I have to begin by getting a general impression of life." "Do you see?" "And there's a light that has to dawn." "I can't explain it, but..." "I know it's there." "I'm not afraid, you know." "He's a very fine man." "He earns 100,000 a year... about half a dozen houses to live in... and a seat in Parliament as I have one at my own dinner table." "Well..." "I hope very much I have no more offers." "They upset me completely." "Isabel, your uncle is quite right." "You certainly cannot go to London without a proper escort." "Well, my friend Henrietta will be with me." "Your friend sounds rather bohemian, and no doubt she will want to stay at a boarding house." "Ralph has put you down at his club." "With Ralph, you can go anywhere." "Isn't anything proper here?" "You're too fond of your own ways, miss." "Yes, I'm very fond of them." "Isabel, I do not expect you to always heed my advice." "But as you have neither mother nor father," "I do expect you to listen to it." "Hup, hup, hup." "Shall I love your reporter friend or hate her?" "Whichever you do will matter little to Henrietta." "She doesn't care a straw what men think of her." " Will she interview me?" " You're not important enough." "Henrietta!" " So sad." " Morbid, isn't it?" "When I wrote to you from Liverpool," "I said I had something in particular to tell you." "You haven't asked me what it is yet." "Is it because you suspected?" "Mmm..." "Suspected what?" "What have you to tell me?" "What I have to tell you is about your American admirer." "Mr Goodwood has come over on the steamer with me." "Oh!" "You say that right." "He's come after you." "Did he tell you so?" "No." "He told me... nothing." " But I spoke of you a great deal." " I'm sorry you did that." "Oh, no." "It was a pleasure to me." "I like the way he listened." "He was so quiet, so intense." "He drank it all in." "He thinks too well of me already." "He oughtn't be encouraged." "He's dying for a little encouragement." "Shh!" "I can see his face now." "And his look while we talked." "I..." "I've never seen an ugly man look so handsome." "He's very simple-minded... and he's not so ugly." "Does your cousin go around all day with his hands in his pockets?" "What does he do for a living?" "He's terribly ill." "He's quite unfit for work." "Don't you believe it." "I work when I'm sick." "I should like to show him up." "He'd make a beautiful specimen." "Daddy and I lived here when he worked at the bank." "We don't use it now." "I love this time of day, just as it gets dark." "Don't you?" " Ralph?" " Huh?" " May I light a cigarette?" " You may do what you please, as long as you'll amuse me." "What had you in mind when you refused Warburton?" "I have his leave to let you know he has told me." "Did...?" "Did he ask you to talk to me?" "No, not that." "He... told me because he couldn't help it." "We're old friends, and he was very heavy-hearted." "What had I in mind when I refused him?" "What logic dictated so remarkable an act?" "Why do you call it remarkable?" "As a man, Warburton is hardly at fault." "I refused him because he was too perfect, then." "If you've really given Warburton his final answer, I'm rather glad." "I don't mean I'm glad for you, and still less, of course, for him." "I'm glad for myself." "Are you thinking of proposing to me?" "What I mean is that I shall have the thrill of seeing what a young lady does who won't marry Lord Warburton." "You asked about logic." "I'll tell you." " It's that I can't escape my fate." " Your fate?" "It's not my fate to give up." "You call marrying Lord Warburton giving up?" "It's getting a great deal, but it's giving up other chances." "Chances for what?" "I don't mean chances to marry." "I mean... from life... from the usual chances and dangers." "You've answered my question." "It seems to me I've told you very little." "You've told me the great thing." "The world interests you." "You want to throw yourself into it." " I never said that." " You meant it." "Don't repudiate it." "It's so fine." "There he is, the Great Santini." "Go on." "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "How did you know I was here?" "Miss Stackpole let me know." "That is not kind of her." "You said you hoped never to hear from me again." "I know that." "But I never accepted any such rule as my own." "I didn't say I hoped never to hear from you." "Not for five years, then." "Ten, twenty, it's the same thing." "What good do you expect to get by insisting?" "I disgust you very much." "Yes." "You don't at all delight me." "You don't fit in, not in any way." "Not now." "Think of me or not." "Only leave me alone." "Until when?" "For a year... or two." "Well, which?" "Between one year and two, there's all the difference in the world." "Call it two, then." "You'll marry someone else as sure as I stand here." "I don't wish to be a mere sheep in the flock." "I shall probably never marry." "If you hear it rumoured I'm near marrying, remember what I've said... and doubt it." "I hate to lose sight of you." "Goodbye." "Hmm." "I love you." "You acted very wrongly." "You don't mean to tell me you've sent him off?" "I asked him to leave me alone, and I ask you the same, Henrietta." "If you marry one of these people," "I'll never speak to you again." "You better wait till I'm asked." "Oh, you'll be asked quick enough." "Annie Climber was asked three times in Italy." "Poor, plain, little Annie." "Well, if Annie Climber wasn't captured, why should I be?" "Well, I don't believe Annie was pressed, but you'll be." "Do you know where you're going, Isabel Archer?" "No, and it's very pleasant not to." "You're drifting off to some great mistake." "You make me shudder." "My father's had an attack of his old malady." "It's quite severe, I'm afraid." "By great good luck, Dr Matthew Hope is in town, and I shall make sure of his coming down to Gardencourt." "There's... an express train at 2.45, and you shall come with me or not, as you prefer." "I shall go with you." "I'll pack now." "I'm not at peace about Isabel." "I fear she may marry one of these Europeans, and I want to prevent it." "What a rage you have for organising people." "I simply want her to marry Mr Caspar Goodwood." "He's followed her all the way from Boston." "He was here, last night." " In Pratt's?" "Mmm." "It was a little plot of mine." "Is she very fond of him?" "If she isn't, she ought to be." "He's simply wrapped up in her." "Three months ago, she gave him every reason to suspect he was acceptable, and it's not really of Isabel to go back on a friend simply because she's changed the scene." "Isabel... was cruel?" "She gave him no satisfaction." "Her only idea was to be rid of him." "Poor Mr Goodwood." "Sir Matthew, he had some kind of seizure last night, but I feel a dreadful cold coming on." " You will leave me a powder?" " Of course." "Oh, my great friend from Rome has arrived." "You will stay for tea?" "It's very beautiful, and your playing makes it more beautiful still." "You don't think I disturbed Mr Touchett, then?" "His room is so far away, and I play just... just un peu des doigts." "No, I..." "I should think that to hear such lovely music would make him feel better." "I'm afraid there are moments in life when even Schubert has nothing to say to us." "Would... would you play something more?" "If it will give you pleasure, delighted." "Are you the niece, the young American?" " I'm my aunt's niece." " C'est bon." "We're compatriots." "I'm Madame Merle." "Mmm." "Who's that with me?" "Is it my son?" "Yes, it's your son, Daddy." " Is there no one else?" " No one else." "Cigarette." "What you should do when I'm gone is to marry." "What do you think of your cousin?" "Do I... do I understand you to propose that I should marry Isabel?" "Well, that's what it comes to in the end." "Don't you like Isabel?" "Yes, very much." "I like Isabel very much." " I've thought a great deal about it." " So have I." "I don't mind telling you that." "You're in love with her, then?" "I should think you would be." "It's as if she came over on purpose." "No, I'm not in love with her, but..." "I should be, if..." "certain things were different." "Things are always different from what they might be." "I shall not live many years... but I hope long enough to see what Isabel does with herself." "I should like to do something for her." " I should like to make her rich." " What do you mean by rich?" "I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination." "To do what she likes with it?" "Absolutely what she likes." "Good boy." "You win." "Down." "Who is this Madame Merle?" "She's very charming." "She plays beautifully." " She does everything beautifully." " You don't like her." "On the contrary, I was once in love with her." "And she didn't care for you?" "That's why you don't like her?" "How can we have discussed such things?" "Monsieur Merle was then living." "Is he dead now?" "So she says." "Don't you believe her?" "Yes, because... the husband of Madame Merle would be likely to pass away." "Am I late?" "I do apologise." "No, not at all." "Are you aware of the beautiful walking paths round the estate?" "Americans certainly make poor Europeans." "We've no natural place here." "But a woman, it seems to me, has no natural place anywhere." "Wherever she finds herself, she must stay on the surface, and more or less crawl." "I shall never crawl." "Yes." "On the whole, I don't see you crawling." "But the men, the Americans?" "Look at poor Ralph Touchett." "What sort of figure do you call that?" "Fortunately, he has consumption." "I say fortunately because it gives him something to do." "His consumption's his... carrière." "It's a kind of position." "If he were not ill, he'd do something." "He'd take his father's place in the bank." "I doubt it." "He's not at all fond of the bank." " Are you not good friends?" " Perfectly!" "But he doesn't like me." "What have you done to him?" "Nothing whatever, but one has no need of a reason for that." "For not liking you?" "I think one has need of a very good reason." "Ah." "I love the English rain." "There's always a little of it and never too much at once." "And it always... smells good." "Ah, delicious!" "Mmm, delicious!" "Mmm, it is!" "I'd give a good deal to be your age again, to have my life before me." "Your life's before you yet." "No." "The best part's gone, and gone for nothing." "Oh, surely not for nothing." "Why not?" "What have I got?" "Neither husband nor child nor fortune." "Nor even a house of my own." "What should you like to do that you've not done?" "I'm very ambitious." "To me, you're the vivid image of success." "My dreams were so... great." "I should make myself ridiculous by talking of them." "I should like you to have this." "I am going to six places in succession, and I shall meet no one I like so well as you." "Ahem." "He has left me this house, but naturally, I shall not live in it." "I have a much better one in Florence, as you know." "And Ralph gets Gardencourt." "Serena, there is one remarkable clause in my husband's will." "I'll ring for tea?" "He has left my niece a fortune." " A fortune?" " Mm-hmm." "Isabel steps into something like £70,000." "The clever creature." "She seems to me very genteel." "She's really pretty." "When her mother died, I sent her to see what you'd make of her." "I had faith, you know." "She's perfect." "She has no faults." "We've had her since she was so small." " It's not certain you'll lose her." " Monsieur, good as she is, she's not one of us." "She's made for the world." "Nothing's settled yet." " Buon giorno." " Buon giorno." "It's only the colour that's different, Mama." "There are just as many in one bunch as in the other." "Grazie." "Is there someone here?" "Yes, there is." "Someone you may see." " Madame Merle." " I've come to welcome you home." "May I not go to the carriage?" "It would please me better if you'd remain with me." "I do hope they see that you wear gloves." "Little girls usually dislike them." "I used to dislike them, but I like them now." "I'll make you a present of a dozen." " And will they be very pretty?" " Not too pretty." "She's going to give me some gloves." "You're very kind to her." "But she has everything she needs." "I'd think she's had enough of the nuns." "If we're discussing it, she should leave." "Let her stay." "We'll talk of something else." "Go into the garden, mignonne, and pluck a flower for our friend?" "That's just what I want to do." "There's something I should like you to do in Florence." "There's a friend of mine I want you to know." "What good will that do me?" "It will amuse you." "Oh, if only I could induce you to make an effort." "Ah, I knew something tiresome was coming." "What in the world that's likely to show up here is worth an effort?" "Don't be foolish, Osmond." "The person I came to Florence to see." "She's a niece of Mrs Touchett." "She's young, 23 years old." "I met her in England six months ago." "I like her immensely." "And I do what I don't do every day, I... admire her." "You'll do the same." "Not if I can help it." "You won't be able to help it." "Is she beautiful, clever, rich, splendid, universally intelligent, unprecedentedly virtuous?" "It's only on those conditions that I care to make her acquaintance." "I know plenty of dingy people." "I don't want to know any more." "Miss Archer isn't dingy." "She fills all your requirements." "More or less, of course." "No." "Quite literally." "What do you want to do with her?" "What you see." "Put her in your way." "Isn't she meant for something better than that?" "I don't pretend to know what people are meant for." "I only know what I can do with them." "I'm sorry for Miss Archer." "If that's the beginning of interest in her, I take note of it." "You're looking very well." "You never look so well as when you've got an idea." "They're always becoming to you." "I wish very much you were not so heartless." "It's always been against you, and it will be against you now." "I'm not so heartless as you think." "Every now and then something... touches me." "As for instance, your ambitions for me." "Why would you think Mrs Touchett's niece should matter to me when I myself have mattered so little?" "That is not what I meant to say, of course." "When I have known and appreciated such a woman as you." "Isabel Archer is better than I." "Have you seen my latest?" "Isn't that one of last year's sketches?" "The one you did in Spain?" "I've made improvements since then." "I don't care for your drawings." "They're much better than other peoples'." "But as the only thing you do, it's so little." "I should have liked you to do so many other things." "I had my ambitions." " Things that were impossible." " Things that were impossible." "Your room, at least, is perfect." "I'm struck with that afresh whenever I come back here." "You've such adorable taste." "I'm sick of my adorable taste." "You must let Miss Archer come and see it." "As cicerone of your museum, you appear to particular advantage." "Did you say she was rich?" "There's no doubt whatever about her fortune." "Do you think it good for me to be made so rich?" "Henrietta doesn't." "Oh, hang Henrietta." "If you ask me, I'm delighted at it." "Did you know your father intended to leave me so much money?" "What does it matter?" "My father was very obstinate." "So you did know?" "Yes, he told me." "How did he know I'll make good uses of a large fortune?" "How did he know I'm not weak?" "Don't ask yourself so much whether this or that is good for you." "Live as you like best, and your character will take care of itself." "I wonder if you know what you say." "If you do, you take a great responsibility." "The façade is 16th century, but the interior is much older." "I must tell you that Osmond doesn't often invite me." "It was quite my own idea, coming today." "I like to see new people, and I'm sure you're very new." "Oh!" "But don't sit there." "That chair's not what it looks." "There are very good seats here, but there are also some horrors." "Pipi." "I don't see any." "Everything seems to me beautiful and precious." "Thank you." "I've a few good things." "Indeed, I've nothing very bad." "Poor Osmond with his old curtains and crucifixes." "Won't you have some tea?" "You must be very tired." "No, I'm not tired." "What have I done to tire me?" "You'll be tired when you go home if he shows you all his bibelots and gives you a lecture on each." "Then I'll have learned something." "Oh, well, for me, one should like a thing or not, but one shouldn't try to reason it out." "Some very good feelings may have very bad reasons, don't you know?" "It's a lovely day." "Shall we go for a walk?" "Oh!" "And then there are some very bad feelings that have very good reasons." "This hill of my brother's is impossible." "It's terrible to hear one's horses wheeze." "What do you think of my sister?" "Don't ask me that, I" " I..." "I've seen your sister too little." "Yes, it's true, you've seen her very little, but I should like to know how she strikes a fresh, unprejudiced mind." "I sometimes think we've gotten into a rather bad way, living here amongst people and things not our own." "My sister's rather unhappy, and as she's not of a serious turn, she doesn't tend to show it tragically, but comically instead." "Shall I take that painting down?" "You'll want more light." "This is one of the first paintings I bought when I came to Italy." "I've seen the girl but this once, I like her very much." "So do I." "You have a strange way of showing it." "Do not agitate yourself." "The matter concerns three persons stronger in purpose than yourself." "Three persons?" "You and Osmond, of course." "But is Miss Archer also very strong?" "Quite as much so as we." "You're capable of anything, you and Osmond." " You're dangerous." " Better leave us alone, then." "Madame Merle spoke of you having some plan of going around the world?" "I'm rather ashamed of my plans." "I make a new one every day." "I don't think you should be ashamed." "It's the greatest of pleasures." "I made a plan years ago and I'm acting on it today." "Must have been a very pleasant one." "Mmm, it was." "Very simple." "It was to be as quiet as possible." "As quiet?" "Not to worry, not to strive nor struggle." "To content myself with little." "I've spent many years here on that plan, and been not at all unhappy." "It polishes me up a bit to talk to you." "But you'll be gone before I see you three times." "That's what it is to live in a country that people come to." "Have you had the opportunity to wander in Florence at all?" "Serena, you know everything." "Is that curious creature making love to my niece?" "Gilbert Osmond?" "Heaven help us, that's an idea." "It hadn't occurred to you?" "Hmm?" "He's called five times in the course of a fortnight." "You make me feel an idiot, but I confess it hadn't." "I wonder if it has occurred to Isabel?" "I shall ask her." "Don't put it in her head." "The thing would be to ask Mr Osmond." "I cannot." "I'll not have him inquire of me with that air of his." "I'll ask him myself." "I'll investigate and report to you." "She'd marry him for the beauty of his opinions or his autograph of Michelangelo." "Excuse me." "Which day is that?" "She wants me to go to Caparola with her." "To go with her?" "To be there while she's there." "She proposed it." "Of course, I gave her the chance." "I rejoice to hear it, but don't cry victory too soon." "Of course you'll go." "It makes me work, this idea of yours." "Don't pretend you don't enjoy it." "You've made a very good impression." "And I can see you've received one." "You've not come to Mrs Touchett's so often to oblige me." "The girl's not disagreeable." "She has only one fault." " What's that?" " Too many ideas." "I warned you she was clever." "Fortunately, they're very bad ones." "Why is that fortunate?" " No loss if they must be sacrificed." "You're unfathomable." "I'm frightened at the abyss into which I've cast her." "You can't draw back now." "You're in too far." "Very good." "But you must do the rest yourself." "It's incredible." "There's so much work, and they would have been paid a pittance for it." "I forgot my parasol." "I must go back." " I'll get it." " No, it's fine." " Do you want some caffé?" " Yes, thank you." "Oh!" "So you decided to come?" "Mm-hmm." "I came last night." "Hmm." "The others are up above." "I didn't come here for the others." "I came to say goodbye." "Who knows if you'll come back?" "You're under no obligation to." " You think my travels ridiculous?" " No." "Go everywhere, do everything." "Be happy, be triumphant." " What do you mean by triumphant?" " Well, doing what you like." "Doing all the vain things one likes may be tiresome." "Exactly." "And you'll be tired someday." "I don't know whether I'd better not wait until then for something I want to say to you." "I can't advise you without knowing what it is." "But I'm horrid when I'm tired." "I don't believe that." "You're angry sometimes, that I can believe, but I'm sure you're never horrid." "Not even when I lose my temper?" "You don't lose your temper, you find it." "And that must be beautiful." "If only I could find it now." "I'm not afraid." "I should fold my arms and admire you." "What I wish to say is that I find I'm in love with you." "Oh..." "No, that had better wait." "No." "You may heed it now or never, as you please." "But after all, I must say it." "I'm absolutely in love with you." "Don't say that, please." "It will not matter to you." "I have neither fame nor fortune, so I offer nothing." "I think I'm glad that we're separating." "If you weren't going away, you'd know me better." "I shall do that some other time." "There's one thing more, a little service I should like to ask." "I'm going to Rome for a few days." "Would you visit my daughter before you leave Florence?" "Yes, of course." "Oh..." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Isabel, are you down there?" "We've got your coffee waiting!" "Hello?" "Can you see her down there?" " It's dark." " Hello?" "Oh, hello." "I think they're the most beautiful gardens in the world." "Not that I've been everywhere in the world." "Papà says while he's away, I'm not to go beyond this line." "Your father says that?" "He thinks I will get scorched." "Hmm." "Here... share my parasol." "What is it?" "No, you're right to do as your father says." "He'll never ask you anything unreasonable." "Want tea?" "There it is!" "'Nine, ten." "Excuse me.' 'No, no, no.'" "'What I wish to say is that" "'I'm absolutely in love with you.'" "'I'm absolutely in love with you... in love with you.'" "'I'm absolutely in love with you.'" "'Absolutely in love with you." "'I'm absolutely in love with you.'" "'I'm absolutely in love with you." "'Absolutely in love with you.'" "'I'm absolutely in love with you.'" "'I'm absolutely in love with you.'" "'I'm absolutely in love with you.'" "Oh, oh, oh..." "I can't tell you how I hoped you wouldn't come." "I've no doubt of that." "I gave you forewarning I'd do as I choose." "I wanted to hear your explanation of you having changed your mind." "An explanation?" " Do you think I'm bound to explain?" " You were very positive." "I did believe it." "I've not deceived you." "I was perfectly free." "When I had your letter, I thought there might be some mistake." "There's no mistake whatever." "Well..." "I've done what I wished." "I've seen you." "Do you mean you came simply to look at me?" "You didn't come up for lunch." "I'm not hungry." "You ought to eat." "You live on air." "I haven't congratulated you." "I wondered why you were silent." "I hardly got over my surprise since my mother told me." "You're the last person I expected to see caught." "I don't see why you call it "caught"." "Because you're going to be put into a cage." "If I like my cage, that needn't trouble you." "I'd treated myself..." "To a charming vision of your future." "I'd amused myself with planning out high destiny for you." "There was to be nothing of this sort in it." "You were not to come down so easily or so soon." ""Come down"?" "It hurts me." "Hurts me as if I'd fallen myself." "I don't understand you." "I should have said... the man for you would have had a more... active, larger... freer sort of nature." "I can't get over the sense that Osmond is... is somehow  well, small." ""Small."" "I think he's narrow... selfish." "He takes himself so seriously." "He's the incarnation of taste." "His taste is exquisite." "You ever seen such a taste, a really exquisite one, ruffled?" "I hope I will never fail to gratify my husband's." "Oh." "That's... that's capital, that's... wonderful!" "That's what every wife would wish for." "But weren't you meant for something better than to guard the sensibilities of a sterile dilettante?" "I've said what I've had on my mind." "Said it because I love you." "Then you're not disinterested." "I love you, but without hope." "I see Mr Osmond in quite another way." "He's not important, no." "He's not rich." "He has no titles nor honours nor property." "If that's what you mean by small, he's as small as you please." "I call that large." "It's the largest thing I know." "He... he has the gentlest, kindest, lightest spirit." "You've got hold of a false idea." "It's a pity, but I can't help it." "They think I'm in love with your money." "How do you know?" "You've not told me they're pleased, and if they had been, I should have had some sign of it." "I care for only one thing, for you not having the shadow of a doubt." "You know I have not, not one shadow." "I have never in my life tried to earn a penny." "I ought to be less subject to suspicion than most people one sees grubbing." "I won't pretend I'm sorry you're rich, I'm delighted." "At moments I'd like to kneel by my uncle's grave and thank him." "It has made me better, loving you." "I'm not a failure, as I used to think." "I've succeeded in two things." "I am to marry the woman I adore, and I've brought up my child in the old way." "We'll amuse ourselves making up some little life for her." "That's why I wanted your advice... as an old friend of Miss Osmond's family." "What have you got besides your Spanish lace and Dresden teacups?" "My collection's well thought of and I've a comfortable little fortune, about 40,000 francs a year." "Miss Osmond and I can live beautifully on that." "Beautifully?" "No." "Sufficiently, yes." "Her father can give you nothing." "He, uh, he lives like a rich man." "The money's his wife's." "She brought him a large fortune." "Mrs Osmond is fond of her stepdaughter, she may do something." "For a lovesick man, you have your wits about you." "No, she will probably prefer to keep her money for her own children." "Her own children?" "Surely she has none." "She may have yet." "She had a poor little boy who died almost two years ago." "I'm... very sorry." "Uh, she's a splendid woman." "I don't say your offer's to be jumped at, but there might be a worse one." "Mr Osmond, however, will believe he can do better." "He can do better, perhaps, but his daughter can do no better than marry the man she loves." "Well, she does, you know." "And, in the meanwhile, I'll say a word to Mrs Osmond." "No." "No, don't set her going, or you'll spoil everything." "Her husband's sure to have other views." "I advise you not to multiply the points of difference between them." "Let the matter alone until I've taken a few soundings." "Let the matter alone?" "But I'm in love!" "Oh, you won't burn up." "Where is Pansy?" "She has already come down." "I hate his proposal." "I let him see that." "I was rude to him on purpose." "I'll tell him you'll think it over." "No!" "Don't do that, he'll hang on." "I hate talking with a donkey..." "He's a gentleman." "He has a charming temper... and, after all, a comfortable income." "It's misery, genteel misery." "It's not what I dreamed of for Pansy." "Fortunately, this doesn't find me unprepared." "It's what I educated her for." "It's all for this, that when a case like this should come up, she should do what I prefer." "I've never been treated so." "I don't know what's against me." "It's not how I'm considered." "I could have married 2O times." "You're not rich enough for Pansy." " She doesn't care about money." " No." "But her father does." "Oh, yes." "Well, you would know that." "You're offended." "And now you'll never help me." "It's not that I won't..." "I simply can't." "Isabel, I bring you an old friend." "Lord Warburton." "I've only just arrived this afternoon." "I knew you were at home on Thursdays, so..." "I came." "You see, the fame of your Thursdays has spread to England." "Excuse me." "We're greatly flattered." "I'm really very glad to see you." "There's something I must tell you without further delay." "I've brought Ralph Touchett with me." "No, no, he's not here." "He's at the hotel." "He was too tired to come." "Why has he come to Rome?" "He's very far gone, Mrs Osmond." "He can't keep warm." "And the further south we come, the colder he feels." "If you don't mind my saying, it was the most extraordinary time for Mrs Touchett to go to America." "Do you know what your father said to me just now?" "Don't speak so loud." "Everyone will hear." "He says you've forgotten me." "No..." "I don't forget." "Everything's just the same?" "Not the very same." "Papà's been terribly severe." "He forbids me to marry you." "Need you mind that?" "I can't disobey Papà." "You sacrifice me like that?" "I love you just as much." "What good will that do me?" "Please don't talk any more." "Papà said I was not to talk to you." "It's too much." " May I introduce you to some people?" " Oh, no, please don't." "Unless it be to that young lady at the tea table." "She has a charming face." "That's my husband's daughter." "What a dear little maid." " You must meet her." " Oh, in a... in a moment." "I like looking at her from here." "You know... you've changed a bit." "Yes, a good deal." "I don't mean for the worse, of course." "And yet how can I say for the better?" "Oh." "I think, after all, that I shan't go to Sicily." "Won't go to Sicily?" "Where will you go?" "I guess I won't go anywhere." "You'll return to England?" "Oh, dear, no." " I'll stay in Rome." " Rome won't do." " Rome's too cold." " It will have to do." "Try Sicily." "I can't try." "I can't move further." "I can't face the journey." "And I haven't a cousin in Sicily." "What does the doctor say?" "I haven't asked him, and I don't care a fig." "If I die here, you'll bury me." "You shan't die here." "I can't believe she's so cold." "She's utterly changed." "It's Osmond." "I recommend that you get the doctor's consent all the same." "The doctor's consent would spoil it." "You're sacrificing your health to your curiosity, then?" "I'm not interested in my health, I'm deeply interested in Mrs Osmond." "So am I." "Not as I once was." "Permit to ask whether it's to bring out that fact that you're so very civil to the little girl?" "Does that strike you as ridiculous?" "Of course, there's the difference in our ages... more than 20 years." "My dear Warburton... are you serious?" "Perfectly serious..." "as far as I've got." "I'm glad." "And heaven help us how cheered up Osmond will be." "I say, don't spoil it." "Do you judge she'll be pleased?" "The girl?" "Delighted, surely." "No, no." "I mean Mrs Osmond." "Lord Warburton was here?" "Yes." "He stayed half an hour." "Did he talk to Pansy?" "He talked almost only to her." "It seems to me he's attentive." "Isn't that what you call it?" "I don't call it anything." "I'm waiting for you to give it a name." "Will you excuse us?" "That's a consideration you don't always show." "I..." "I had determined this time to try and act as you'd like." "Are you trying to quarrel with me?" "No." "I'm trying to live at peace." "An excellent resolve." "Your temper isn't good." "That's partly why I've not spoken about this business of my daughter's." "I was afraid I should encounter opposition." "I've sent little Rosier about his business." "You see, I believe my daughter only has to sit perfectly quiet to become Lady Warburton." "Perhaps she won't sit perfectly still." "If she loses Mr Rosier, she may jump up." "Pansy would like to be a great lady." "She wishes above all to please." "To please Mr Rosier, perhaps?" "No." "To please me." "Meantime, I should like our distinguished visitor to speak." "He has spoken." "He said it would be a great pleasure to believe she could care for him." "Why didn't you tell me that?" "There was no opportunity." "You know how we live." "Why didn't he speak to me, then?" "You should have patience." "Englishmen are shy." "This one's not, not when he made love to you." "I beg your pardon?" "He was extremely so." "Oh, I see." "You must have a great deal of influence with him." "I'm sure the moment you really wish it, you can bring him to the point." "Well..." "It lies in your hands." "I shall leave it there." "With a little goodwill, you may manage it." "Think that over." "Hmm?" "And remember how much I count on you." "It's all Pansy's." "It must be hers." "Yes." "She gave it to me to hold." "May I hold it?" "May I at least have a flower?" "It's frightful what I'm doing for you." "Don't put it in your buttonhole, don't for the world." "You pity me." "But don't you pity her a little?" "'She's promised a dance with me later.'" "'For the cotillion?" "'" "'No, I didn't ask her for that." "It's a quadrille.'" "You're not clever." "I told her to keep the cotillion in case you should ask for it." "Poor little maid." "Fancy that." "She didn't say." "Of course I will, if you like." "If I like?" "Oh, you dance with her only because I like it." "I'm afraid I bore her." "She has a lot of young fellows on her book." "Please, let me understand." "Understand what?" "You told me you'd like to marry my stepdaughter, you've not forgotten it?" "Forgotten it?" "No." "I wrote to Mr Osmond this morning." "He didn't mention to me that he'd heard from you." "It's an awkward sort of letter to write." "Don't forget to send it." "Oh, most certainly." "Are you not dancing?" "Certainly not, if I can't dance with her." " You should leave, then." " Not until she does." "Who's your dismal friend?" "He has a face a yard long." "He has reason." " My husband won't listen to him." " Oh, dear me." "He looked a well set-up young fellow." "You've a kind thought even for a rival." "A rival?" "You don't mean that she cares for him?" "Well, yes..." "I think she does." "You said she'd have no wish but her father's and that he favoured me." "I told you she had an immense wish to please her father." "That seems very proper." "Very proper... but hardly the sort of feeling a man would wish to be indebted for a wife." "Why are you so unwilling, so... sceptical?" " You're the most wonderful dancer." " Oh, thank you." "I want you to answer me a question." "It's about Lord Warburton." "Is..." "Is he really in love?" "Yes, I think, very much." "I can make that out." "Oh." "You seem disappointed." "No..." "No, only mistaken." "I'd made out that he doesn't really care for Pansy." "Oh, for Pansy, no." "But you just said now that he did." "That he cared for you." " That is nonsense, you know." " To me, he's denied it." "Ralph... you give me no help." "How unhappy you must be." "When..." "When I talk of your helping me, I..." "I" " I talk great nonsense." "The idea of troubling you with my domestic embarrassments..." "Your husband may think you haven't... pushed enough." "It's a matter we can hardly quarrel about, for almost all of the interest is on his side." "You know what his interest will make him say?" "It will make him say that your lack of zeal is owing to jealousy." " To jealousy?" " To jealousy of his daughter." "Oh, you're not kind." "Be frank with me, and you'll see." "If I try to learn what you want... what you desire... it's only so that I may act accordingly." "The only thing I want in life..." "is to marry Mr Rosier." "Your father would like you to make a better marriage." "What should you like me to do?" "Lord Warburton... has shown you great attention." "If you mean that he'll propose for me," "I think you're mistaken." "Your father would like it extremely." "Lord Warburton won't propose simply to please Papà." "Oh, no." "There's no danger." "There's no danger." "It's as if he said to me," ""I like you very much, but if it doesn't please you," ""I would never say it again."" "And... he doesn't care for me, either." "Oh, no." "There's no danger." "You must tell your father that." "I'd rather not." "You wouldn't let him have false hopes?" "But it will be good for me that he should." "Then Papà won't propose anyone else... and that will be a great advantage for me." "Rosier." "Does Warburton form his words with such difficulty?" "Hmm?" "When he told you he intended to write, what did you say to him?" "I think I told him not to forget it." "Apparently, he has forgotten." "Please remind him." "If hands are to be laid on Lord Warburton, lay them yourself." "It's hard with you working against me." "I told you I'd do what I could." "Yes, that gained you time." "My husband and I were just now talking of you." "We wondered what had become of you." "We thought perhaps you'd gone away." "I'm only on the point of going." "I find myself suddenly recalled to England." "I'm awfully sorry to leave poor Touchett." "Take poor Touchett with you." "He'd better wait for warmer weather." "I shouldn't advise him to... to travel just now." "Hmm." "I have a letter to write before dinner." "Will you excuse me?" "Of course, when you come to Rome, you'll always look us up." "I'm glad it's the last time." "So am I." "She doesn't care for me." "Good night, Papà." "Good night." "Sleep well." "Don't go." "I have something to say to you." "I don't understand what you wish to do." "I wish to go to bed." "I'm very tired." "I think you're trying to humiliate me." "You're playing a very deep game." "You've managed it beautifully." "What have I managed?" "You've kept this matter quite in your own hands." "Will you tell me in the plainest words of what it is you accuse me?" "Of having prevented Pansy's marriage to Warburton." "Are those words plain enough?" "On the contrary, I took great interest in it." "When you counted on me, I accepted the obligation." "I was a fool, but I did it." "You pretended to do it." "Where is the letter you told me he'd written?" "I haven't the least idea." "No, you destroyed it." "Oh, Gilbert, for a man who was so fine..." "I was never so fine as you." "You've done everything that you wanted." "You got him out of the way without appearing to, and you've placed me in the position in which you wish to see me." "As a man who tried to marry his daughter to a Lord, but grotesquely failed." " Pansy doesn't care for him." " That has nothing to do with it!" " And he doesn't..." " That won't do!" "You told me he did!" "After this, you must attend to such things yourself." "I always thought you were fond of my daughter." "I have never been more so than now." "Your affection has immense limitations." "However, that, perhaps, is natural." "Is that all you wish to say to me?" "Are you satisfied?" "Huh?" "Am I sufficiently disappointed?" "I don't think, on the whole, you're disappointed." "You've had another opportunity to try to stupefy me." "It's not that." "It's proved that Pansy can aim high." "I suppose you know you can't go back to England alone." "I had no idea of doing that." "I'll have people with me." "What do you mean by people?" "Servants whom you pay?" "After all, they're human beings." "I guess I'll go with you." " Go with me?" " Yes." "I know you don't like me but I'll go with you." "And what's more, I'll take care of you." "I like you very much." "You needn't think you can buy me off." "I'm afraid I shall be a fifth wheel to the coach." "Mrs Osmond wants me to travel with you." "But that isn't the principal thing." "The principal thing is she wants me to leave Rome." "She wants us all to leave Rome." "It's wonderfully good of you." "I can't tell you how kind I think you." "With a few words like that, you make me go?" " You must come back someday." " I don't care for your cousin." "Is that what you wish to tell me?" "No." "No, I don't want to TELL you anything." "I can't understand." "What am I to believe?" "What do you want me to think?" "If you're happy, I'd like to know it." "That would be something for me." "You SAY you're happy, and yet, somehow, you're so... still, so smooth... so hard." "You're completely changed." "You conceal everything." " I haven't really come near you." " You come very near." "You seem uncommonly glad to get rid of us all." "My dear Ralph." "I've seen less of you than I might have, but it's been better than nothing." "I've heard a great deal about you." "I don't know from whom, living the life you've done." "From the voices of the air." "You've been my best friend." "It was for you that I wanted to live, but I'm of no use to you." "If you should send for me..." "I'd come." "Your husband won't consent to that." "No, he won't like it, but I might go all the same." "I'd hoped to find Lord Warburton here and to be able to congratulate Pansy." "You shouldn't have gone to Naples, but stayed to watch." "Is it too late?" "It's all over." "Please... just let it rest." "I've no doubt Osmond will happily discuss it with you." "Oh, I know what he thinks." "He came to see me last evening." "As soon as you arrived?" "Your husband judges you severely." "Wait." "Please." "I want, if possible, to learn the truth." "What truth do you speak of?" "Just this... whether Lord Warburton changed his mind quite of his own accord or because you recommended it." "To please himself, I mean, or to please you?" "Now, don't be unreasonable." "Don't take offence." "If Lord Warburton simply got tired of the child, that's one thing, and it's a pity." "But if he gave her up to please you, that's another." "If that's the case... let him off, let us have him." "Who are you?" "Ah, you take it like that." "What have you to do with me?" "Everything." "I would give my right hand to be able to weep." "What good would it do you to weep?" "It would make me feel... as I felt before I knew you." "If I've dried up your tears, that's something, but I've seen you shed them." "You'll make me cry still, make me howl like a wolf." "I've a great need of that." "I was vile this afternoon." "I was horrid." "You may have said things that were in bad taste." "I was full of something bad... or something good, I don't know, I couldn't help it." "You've not only dried up my tears, you've dried up my soul." "You're very bad." "Is this the way we're to end?" "How do bad people end?" "Especially as to their common crimes?" "You have made me as bad as yourself." "You seem to me quite good enough." "Oh, God!" "God!" "So you're going to weep after all?" "Have I ever complained to you?" "Of course you haven't, you've enjoyed your triumph too much." "You made your wife afraid of you, she was..." "She was afraid of me today, but it was really you she feared." "This whole idea didn't originate with me." "Your genius brought it about." "I only ask that my wife should like me." "Oh, Jesus, she should like you so much?" "If you'll make a tragedy of that, the tragedy is hardly for her." "It's for me." "I live with the consequences, so must you." "Please be careful with that precious object." "It already has a wee bit of a tiny crack." "However, since my wife doesn't like me," "I shall look for compensation in Pansy." "Fortunately, I haven't a fault to find with her." "Mia!" "Listen to me." "Oh!" "Leave me." "Pansy!" " Oh..." " Pansy." "Pansy?" "Pansy?" " Mrs Osmond?" "Mrs Osmond!" " Pansy." "Mrs Osmond!" "I've been in Paris!" "I've sold my bibelots!" "The result's magnificent, $50,000!" "Will Mr Osmond think me rich enough now?" "Oh..." "Pipi... eat your food." "Very good." "Pipi." "Oh." "Is Pansy not well?" "No." "She is quite well, but I've sent her to the convent." "I didn't speak of it to you because I doubt if I can make you understand." "One's daughter should be fresh and fair." "Pansy's a little dusty, a little dishevelled." "She'll have time to think, and there's something I want her to think about." "It's very absurd, my dear Osmond." "Why don't you just say you want to get her out of my way?" "My dear Amy, if that were the case, it would be much simpler to banish you." "You know I think very well of Mr Rosier." "I do, indeed." "He seems to be simpaticissimo." "He's made me believe in, ah, true love." "Oh..." "Excuse me for disturbing you." "When I come into your room, I always knock." "I forgot." "I had something else to think of." "My cousin's dying." "I don't believe that." "He was dying when we married." "He'll outlive us all." "My aunt telegraphed for me." "I must go to England." " I don't see the need of it." " I must see Ralph before he dies." "I shall not like it if you do." "You won't like it if I don't." "You like nothing I do or don't do." "You pretend to think I lie." "That's why you go, then?" "Not to see your cousin, but to take revenge on me?" "You wish immensely I would commit some folly." "If you leave Rome today, it will be an act of the most deliberate, the most calculated opposition." "I can't tell you how unjust you seem to me." "It's your own opposition that's calculated." "It's malignant." "I have an ideal of what my wife should do and should not do." "She should not travel across Europe to sit at the bedside of other men." "Your cousin is nothing to you." "He's nothing to us." "You smile most expressively when I talk about us, but I assure you that we... we, Mrs Osmond... is all I know." "You are nearer to me than any other human creature, and I am nearer to you." "It may be a disagreeable proximity, but it is one of our own deliberate making." "You don't like to be reminded of that, I know... but I am perfectly willing, because... because I believe we should accept the consequences of our actions... and what I value most in life is the honour of the thing." "Oh!" "My dear." "Do tell me some amusing book to read." "Would this do me any good?" "My cousin, Ralph Touchett, is dying." "Oh..." "He was so simpatico." "I'm awfully sorry for you." "You look very badly." "Osmond says it's impossible I should go to England." "And why does Osmond say it's impossible?" "Because we're so happy together that we can't separate, even for a fortnight." "You're very unhappy." "Yes." "But I don't think you can comfort me." "Will you give me leave to try?" "There is something I want you to know." "Perhaps you do." "Perhaps you've guessed it." "Oh, in your place I should have guessed it ages ago." "Have you never really suspected?" "Suspected what?" "My first sister-in-law had no children." "The poor woman was married hardly three years and died childless." "Pansy's not my husband's child, then?" "Oh, your husband's in perfection, but not his wife's." "Oh, my dear Isabel, with you, one must dot one's i's." "Whose child?" "Oh, she's been wonderfully clever, magnificent about Pansy." "Had it never occurred to you that Serena Merle was for six or seven years his lover?" "At last you understand." "You're surprised to find me here." "And I'm afraid you're not pleased." "I confess I've been indiscreet, I ought to have asked permission." "I came to see Pansy." "It occurred to me this afternoon that she must be rather lonely." "That it's a little dismal." "So I came, on... the chance..." "Don't you think I've made it pretty?" "Yes." "It seems... it seems comfortable." "I've come to bid you goodbye." "I'm going to England." "Not to come back?" "My cousin is very ill." "Don't leave me here." "Will you come with me now?" "Did Papà tell you to ask me that?" "No." "It's my own proposal." "I had better wait, then." "He thinks I have not had enough, but I have." "He wished me to think a little, and I have thought a great deal." "What have you thought?" "That I must never displease Papà." "Grazie." " I found I wished to wait for you." "But it's not to talk about Pansy." "Are you very fond of your cousin?" " I don't understand you." " It's hard to explain." "Your cousin once did you a great service." "Have you... never guessed it?" "He made you rich." "He made me?" "It was your uncle's money, but it was your cousin's idea." "He brought his father over to it." "I don't know why you say such things." " I don't know how you know." " I know only what I've guessed, and I've guessed that." "At bottom, it's him you've to thank." "I believed it was you I had to thank." "You're very unhappy, I know." "But I'm more so." "Hello." "Isn't it wonderful she's come?" " How was the channel?" " Very fine." "No." "No, I believe it was very rough." "Will he see me?" "Can he speak to me?" "You can try him." " Is there really no hope?" " None whatsoever." "There never has been." "It's very good of you to come." "I thought you would, but I wasn't sure." "I wasn't sure, either... till I came." "With me it's all over." "Isabel..." "I wish it were over for you." "What is it you have done for me in leaving Rome?" "What is it you did for me?" "You did something once." "You know it." "Oh..." "Ralph." "Keep me in your heart." "I shall be nearer to you than I've ever been." "I never thanked you." "I..." "I never spoke." "I never was what I should be." "Yet how could I know?" "I only know today because there are people less stupid than I." "Don't mind people." "Is it true?" "That you've been stupid?" "No." "He married me for the money." "I only want you to understand." "I always tried to keep you from understanding." "But that's all over." "Was he very bad about your coming?" "He made it very hard for me... but I don't care." "Here... with you..." "I'm happier than I've been in a long time." "I want you to be happy." "To feel that I'm near you." "That I love you." "Why should there be pain?" "That's not the deepest thing." "You must stay here." "Pain's deep... but it... passes, after all." " It's passing now." " Oh..." "But love remains." "I don't know why we should suffer so much, perhaps I should find out." "Shh..." "I don't believe..." "I don't believe such a generous mistake as yours can hurt you for more than a little." "And remember this... that if you have been hated, you've also been loved." "Oh, but, Isabel adored." "Man that is born of woman has but a short time to live and is full of misery." "He cometh up and is cut down like a flower." "He fleeth as it were a shadow and never continueth upon this day." "In the midst of life we are in death." "Of whom may we seek for succour but of thee, o Lord, who for our sins art justly mispleased?" "I adore him." "I adore him." "I adore him." "Oh." "You frightened me." "I wanted to see you alone." "So I've been waiting and, uh, walking about." "I don't wish to trouble you as I did in Rome." "That was no use." "It only distressed you." "I knew I was wrong." "But I'm not wrong now." "It's very different now." "I can help you." "How can you help me?" "It was good when you made me come away with your cousin." "He was a good man." "A fine man." "He told me how the case stands for you." "He explained everything." "He guessed my sentiments." "Do you know what he told me here the last time I saw him?" "He said, "Do everything you can for her."" ""Everything she'll let you."" "You had no business to talk of me." "Why not?" "Why not, when we talked in that way?" "He was dying." "It's too late to play a part." "Touchett knew and I knew what it cost you to come here." "It will cost you your life." "Give me one word of truth." "You're afraid to go back." "You're perfectly alone." "Now I want you to think of me." " To think of you." " Turn to me." "Why should you go back?" "Why go through that ghastly form?" " To get away from you." " I want to prevent that!" "If you'd only for once listen to me." "Why shouldn't we be happy?" "Why?" "Why, when it's here before us?" "When it's so easy?" "We can do absolutely as we please." "To whom under the sun do we owe anything?" "I beg you to go away." "Don't say that, don't kill me."