THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 259 is nobody. But I like it in a church as little as anywhere else." " You ought indeed to be a Pope ! " Isabel exclaimed, remem- bering something he had said to her in Florence. " Ah, I should have enjoyed that ! " said Gilbert Osmond. Lord Warburton meanwhile had joined Ralph Touchett, and the two strolled away together. " Who is the gentleman speaking to Miss Archer? " his lord- ship inquired. " His name is Gilbert Osmond he lives in Florence," Ralph said. " What is he besides 1 " " Nothing at all. Oh yes, he is an American; but one forgets that ; he is so little of one." " Has he known Miss Archer long 1 " " No, about a fortnight." " Does she like him 1 " " Yes, I think she does." " Is he a good fellow 1 " Ralph hesitated a moment. " N"o, he's not," he said, at last. " Why then does she like him ? " pursued Lord Warburton, with noble naivete. " Because she's a woman." Lord Warburton was silent a moment. " There are other men who are good fellows," he presently said, " and them and them " " And them she likes also ! " Ralph interrupted, smiling. " Oh, if you mean she likes him in that way ! " And Lord Warburton turned round again. As far as he was concerned, however, the party was broken up. Isabel remained in con- versation with the gentleman from Florence till they left the church, and her English lover consoled himself by lending such attention as he might to the strains which continued to proceed from the choir. XXVIII. ON the morrow, in the evening, Lord Warburton went again to see his friends at their hotel, and at this establishment he learned that they had gone to the opera. He drove to the opera, with the idea of paying them a visit in their box, in accordance with the time-honoured Italian custom ; and after he had obtained his admittance it was one of the secondary s 2
