420 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. cerned. To see you under my roof " and he hesitated a moment " would be a great satisfaction." She had feared an explanation ; but that was the only one . that occurred. They talked a* little of Ralph, and in another moment Pansy came in, already dressed for dinner and with a little red spot in either cheek. She shook hands with Lord Warburton and stood looking up into his face with a fixed smile a smile that Isabel knew, though his lordship probably never suspected it, to be near akin to a burst of tears. " I am going away," he said. " I want to bid you good-bye." " Good-bye, Lord Warburton." The young girl's voice trembled a little. " And I want to tell you how much I wish you may be very happy." " Thank you, Lord Warburton," Pansy answered. He lingered a moment, and gave a glance at Isabel. " Yon ought to be very happy you have got a guardian angel." " I am sure I shall be happy," said Pansy, in the tone of a person whose certainties were always cheerful. " Such a conviction as that will take you a great way. But if it should ever fail you, remember remember " and Lord Warburton stammered a little. " Think of me sometimes, yon know," he said with a vague laugh. Then he shook hands with Isabel, in silence, and presently he was gone. When he had left the room Isabel expected an effusion of tears from her step-daughter ; but Pansy in fact treated her to something very different. " I think you are my guardian angel ! " she exclaimed, very sweetly. Isabel shook her head. " I am not an angel of any kind. I am at the most your good friend." " You are a very good friend then to have asked papa to be gentle w^fch me." " I have asked your father nothing," said Isabel, wondering. " He told me just now to come to the drawing-room, and then he gave me a very kind kiss." " Ah," said Isabel, " that was quite his own idea ! " She recognised the idea perfectly ; it was very characteristic, and she was to see a great deal more of it. Even with Pansy, Osmond could not put himself the least in the wrong. They were dining out that day, and after their dinner they went to another entertainment ; so that it was not till late in the evening that Isabel saw him alone. When Pansy kissed him, before going to bed, he returned her embrace with even more than his
