438 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. Henrietta made her preparations for departure, and among them she found it proper to say a few words to the Countess Gemini, who returned at Miss Stackpole's pension the visit which this lady had paid her in Florence. " You were very wrong about Lord Warburton," she remarked, to the Countess. " I think it is right you should know that." " About his making love to Isabel 1 My poor lady, he was at her house three times a day. He has left traces of his passage !" the Countess cried. " He wished to marry your niece ; that's why he came to the house." The Countess stared, and then gave an inconsiderate laugh. 11 Is that the story that Isabel tells 1 It isn't bad, as such things go. If he wishes to marry my niece, pray why doesn't he do it 1 Perhaps he has gone to buy the wedding-ring, and will come back with it next month, after I am gone." " No, he will not come back. Miss Osmond doesn't wish to marry him." " She is very accommodating ! I knew she was fond of Isabel, but I didn't kuovv she carried it so far." " I don't understand you," said Henrietta, coldly, and reflect- ing that the Counte-s was unpleasantly perverse. "I really must stick to my point that Isabel never encouraged the attentions of Lord Warburton." " My dear friend, what do you and I know about it 1 All we know is that my brother is capable of everything." " I don't know what he is capable of," said Henrietta, with dignity. " It's not her encouraging Lord Warburton that I complain of ; it's her sending him away. I want particularly to see him. Do you suppose she thought I would make him faithless ? " the Countess continued, with audacious insistence. " However, she is only keeping him, one can feel that. The house is full of him there ; he is quite in the air. Oh yes, he has left traces ; I am sure I shall s'ee him yet." "Well/ 3 said Henrietta, after a little, with one of those inspirations which had made the fortune of her letters to the Interviewer, " perhaps he will be more successful with you than with Isabel ! " When she told her friend of the offer she had made to Ralph, Isabel replied that she could have done nothing that would have pleased her more. It had always been her faith that, at bottom, Ralph and Henrietta were made to understand each other. " I don't care whether he understands me or not," said
