110:171,01[A  ]| I note it as a wonderful case of its kind ~~ the finest of all
110:171,02[A  ]| perhaps, in fact, that I have ever chanced to encounter.  The
110:171,03[A  ]| kind, moreover, is the greatest kind, the roll recruited, for our
110:171,04[A  ]| high esteem and emulation, from history and fiction, legend
110:171,05[A  ]| and song.  In the way of service and sacrifice for love I've
110:171,06[A  ]| really known nothing go beyond it.  However, you can judge.
110:171,07[A  ]| My own sense of it happens just now to be remarkably rounded
110:171,08[A  ]| off by the sequel ~~ more or less looked for on her part ~~ of the
110:171,09[A  ]| legal step taken by Mrs*Brivet.  I hear from America that, a
110:171,10[A  ]| decent interval being held to have elapsed since her gain of her
110:171,11[A  ]| divorce, she is about to marry again ~~ an event that will, it
110:171,12[A  ]| would seem, put an end to any question of the disclosure of
110:171,13[A  ]| the real story.  It's this that's the real story, or will be, with
110:171,14[A  ]| nothing wanting, as soon as I shall have heard that her husband
110:171,15[A  ]| (who, on his side, has only been waiting for her to
110:171,16[A  ]| move first) has sanctified his union with Mrs*Cavenham.
110:171,17[A  ]| She was, of course, often in and out, Mrs*Cavenham, three
110:171,18[A  ]| years ago, when I was painting her portrait; and the more so
110:171,19[A  ]| that I found her, I remember, one of those comparatively rare
110:171,20[A  ]| sitters who present themselves at odd hours, turn up without
110:171,21[A  ]| an appointment.  The thing is to get most women to keep those
110:171,22[A  ]| they do make; but she used to 
110:171,22@c   | pop in, 
110:171,22[A  ]| as she called it, 
110:171,22@c   | on the
110:172,01@c   | chance, 
110:172,01[A  ]| letting me know that 
110:172,01@c   | if I had a moment free she was
110:172,02@c   | quite at my service.  
110:172,02[A  ]| When I hadn't the moment free she liked
110:172,03[A  ]| to stay to chatter, and she more than once expressed to me, I
110:172,04[A  ]| recollect, her theory that 
110:172,04@c   | an artist really, for the time, could
110:172,05@c   | never see too much of his model.  
110:172,05[A  ]| I must have shown her rather
110:172,06[A  ]| frankly that I understood her as meaning that a model could
110:172,07[A  ]| never see too much of her artist.  I understood in fact everything,
110:172,08[A  ]| and especially that she was, in Brivet's absence, so
110:172,09[A  ]| unoccupied and restless that she didn't know what to do with
110:172,10[A  ]| herself.  I was conscious in short that it was he who would pay
110:172,11[A  ]| for the picture, and that gives, I think, the measure of my
110:172,12[A  ]| enlightenment.  If I took such pains and bore so with her folly,
110:172,13[A  ]| it was fundamentally for Brivet.
110:172,14[A  ]| I was often at that time, as I had often been before, occupied
110:172,15[A  ]| ~~ for various "subjects" ~~ with Mrs*Dundene, in connection
110:172,16[A  ]| with which a certain occasion comes back to me as the first slide
110:172,17[A  ]| in the lantern.  If I had invented my story I couldn't have made
110:172,18[A  ]| it begin better than with Mrs*Cavenham's irruption during
110:172,19[A  ]| the presence one morning of that lady.  My door, by some
110:172,20[A  ]| chance, had been unguarded, and she was upon us without
110:172,21[A  ]| a warning.  This was the sort of thing my model hated ~~ the
110:172,22[A  ]| one, I mean, who, after all, sat mainly to oblige; but I remember
110:172,23[A  ]| how well she behaved.  She was not dressed for company,
110:172,24[A  ]| though indeed a dress was never strictly necessary to her best
110:172,25[A  ]| effect.  I recall that I had a moment of uncertainty, but I must
110:172,26[A  ]| have dropped the name of each for the other, as it was Mrs*Cavenham's
110:172,27[A  ]| line always, later on, that 
110:172,27@c   | I had made them acquainted;
110:172,28[A  ]| and inevitably, though I wished her not to stay and
110:172,29[A  ]| got rid of her as soon as possible, the two women, of such
110:172,30[A  ]| different places in the scale, but of such almost equal beauty,
110:172,31[A  ]| were face to face for some minutes, of which I was not even
110:172,32[A  ]| at the moment unaware that they made an extraordinary use
110:172,33[A  ]| for mutual inspection.  It was sufficient; they from that instant
110:172,34[A  ]| knew each other.
110:172,35@a   | "Isn't she lovely?"  
110:172,35[A  ]| I remember asking ~~ and quite without
110:173,01[A  ]| the spirit of mischief ~~ when I came back from restoring my
110:173,02[A  ]| visitor to her cab.
110:173,03@d   | "Yes, awfully pretty.  But I hate her."
110:173,04@a   | "Oh," 
110:173,04[A  ]| I laughed, 
110:173,04@a   | "she's not so bad as that."
110:173,05@d   | "Not so handsome as I, you mean?"  
110:173,05[A  ]| And my sitter protested.
110:173,06@d   | "It isn't fair of you to speak as if I were one of those
110:173,07@d   | who can't bear even at the worst ~~ or the best ~~ another
110:173,08@d   | woman's looks.  I should hate her even if she were ugly."
110:173,09@a   | "But what have you to do with her?"
110:173,10[A  ]| She hesitated; then with characteristic looseness:  
110:173,10@d   | "What
110:173,11@d   | have I to do with anyone?"
110:173,12@a   | "Well, there's no*one else I know of that you do hate."
110:173,13@d   | "That shows," 
110:173,13[A  ]| she replied, 
110:173,13@d   | "how good a reason there must
110:173,14@d   | be, even if I don't know it yet."
110:173,15[A  ]| She knew it in the course of time, but I have never seen a
110:173,16[A  ]| reason, I must say, operate so little for relief.  As a history of
110:173,17[A  ]| the hatred of Alice*Dundene my anecdote becomes wondrous
110:173,18[A  ]| indeed.  Meanwhile, at any rate, I had Mrs*Cavenham again
110:173,19[A  ]| with me for her regular sitting, and quite as curious as I had
110:173,20[A  ]| expected her to be about the person of the previous time.
110:173,21@c   | "Do you mean she isn't, so to speak, a lady?"  
110:173,21[A  ]| she asked
110:173,22[A  ]| after I had, for reasons of my own, fenced a little.  
110:173,22@c   | "Then if
110:173,23@c   | she's not ""professional"" either, what is she?"
110:173,24@a   | "Well," 
110:173,24[A  ]| I returned as I got at work, 
110:173,24@a   | "she escapes, to my
110:173,25@a   | mind, any classification save as one of the most beautiful and
110:173,26@a   | good-natured of women."
110:173,27@c   | "I see her beauty," 
110:173,27[A  ]| Mrs*Cavenham said.  
110:173,27@c   | "It's immense.
110:173,28@c   | do you mean that her good-nature's as great?"
110:173,29[A  ]| I had to think a little.  
110:173,29@a   | "On the whole, yes."
110:173,30@c   | "Then I understand.  That represents a greater quantity
110:173,31@c   | than \I\, I think, should ever have occasion for."
110:173,32@a   | "Oh, the great thing's to be sure to have enough,"  
110:173,32[A  ]| I
110:173,33[A  ]| growled.
110:173,34[A  ]| But she laughed it off.  
110:173,34@c   | "Enough, certainly, is as good as a
110:173,35@c   | feast!"
110:174,01[A  ]| It was ~~ I forget how long, some months ~~ after this that
110:174,02[A  ]| Frank*Brivet, whom I had not see for two years, knocked
110:174,03[A  ]| again at my door.  I didn't at all object to him at my other work
110:174,04[A  ]| as I did to Mrs*Cavenham, but it was not till he had been in
110:174,05[A  ]| and out several times that Alice ~~ which is what most people
110:174,06[A  ]| still really call her ~~ chanced to see him and received in such
110:174,07[A  ]| an extraordinary way the impression that was to be of such
110:174,08[A  ]| advantage to him.  She had been obliged to leave me that day
110:174,09[A  ]| before he went ~~ though he stayed but a few minutes later;
110:174,10[A  ]| and it was not till the next time we were alone together that
110:174,11[A  ]| I was struck with her sudden interest, which became frankly
110:174,12[A  ]| pressing.  I had met her, to begin with, expansively enough.
110:174,13@d   | "An American?  But what \sort\ ~~ don't you know?  There
110:174,14@d   | are so many."
110:174,15[A  ]| I didn't mean it as an offence, but in the matter of men, and
110:174,16[A  ]| though her acquaintance with them is so large, I always
110:174,17[A  ]| simplify with her.  
110:174,17@a   | "\The\ sort.  He's rich."
110:174,18@d   | "And how rich?"
110:174,19@a   | "Why, \as\ an American.  Disgustingly."
110:174,20[A  ]| I told her on this occasion more about him, but it was on
110:174,21[A  ]| that fact, I remember, that, after a short silence, she brought
110:174,22[A  ]| out with a sigh:  
110:174,22@d   | "Well, I'm sorry.  I should have liked to love
110:174,23@d   | him for himself."
110:174,24[A  ]| Quite apart from having been at school with him, I'm conscious
110:174,25[A  ]| ~~ though at times he so puts me out ~~ that I've a taste
110:174,26[A  ]| for Frank*Brivet.  I'm quite aware, by the same token ~~ that he's not
110:174,27[A  ]| everyone's affinity.  I was struck, at all events, from the first
110:174,28[A  ]| of the affair, with the way he clung to me and seemed inclined
110:174,29[A  ]| to haunt my studio.  He's fond of art, though he has some
110:175,01[A  ]| awful pictures, and more or less understands mine; but it
110:175,02[A  ]| wasn't this that brought him.  Accustomed as I was to notice
110:175,03[A  ]| what his wealth everywhere does for him, I was rather struck
110:175,04[A  ]| with his being so much thrown upon me and not giving
110:175,05[A  ]| London ~~ the big fish that rises so to the hook baited with
110:175,06[A  ]| gold ~~ more of a chance to perform to him.  I very soon, however,
110:175,07[A  ]| understood.  He had his reasons for wishing not to be
110:175,08[A  ]| seen much with Mrs*Cavenham, and, as he was in love with
110:175,09[A  ]| her, felt the want of some machinery for keeping temporarily
110:175,10[A  ]| away from her.  I was his machinery, and, when once I perceived
110:175,11[A  ]| this, was willing enough to turn his wheel.  His situation,
110:175,12[A  ]| moreover, became interesting from the moment I fairly
110:175,13[A  ]| grasped it, which he soon enabled me to do.  His old reserve
110:175,14[A  ]| on the subject of Mrs*Brivet went to the winds, and it's not
110:175,15[A  ]| my fault if I let him see how little I was shocked by his confidence.
110:175,16[A  ]| His marriage had originally seemed to me to require
110:175,17[A  ]| much more explanation than anyone could give, and indeed
110:175,18[A  ]| in the matter of women in general, I confess, I've never seized
110:175,19[A  ]| his point of view.  His inclinations are strange, and strange,
110:175,20[A  ]| too, perhaps, his indifference.  Still, I can enter into some of
110:175,21[A  ]| his aversions, and I agreed with him that his wife was odious.
110:175,22@b   | "She has hitherto, since we began practically to live apart,"
110:175,23[A  ]| he said, 
110:175,23@b   | "mortally hated the idea of doing anything so pleasant
110:175,24@b   | for me as to divorce me.  But I've reason to believe she has
110:175,25@b   | now changed her mind.  She'd like to get clear."
110:175,26[A  ]| I waited a moment.  
110:175,26@a   | "For a man?"
110:175,27@b   | "Oh, such a jolly good one!  Remson*Sturch."
110:175,28[A  ]| I wondered.  
110:175,28@a   | "Do you call \him\ good?"
110:175,29@b   | "Good for \her\.  If she only can be got to be ~~ which it
110:175,30@b   | oughtn't to be difficult to make her ~~ fool enough to marry
110:175,31@b   | him, he'll give her the real size of his foot, and I shall be
110:175,32@b   | avenged in a manner positively ideal."
110:175,33@a   | "Then will she institute proceedings?"
110:175,34@b   | "She can't, as things stand.  She has nothing to go upon.
110:175,35@b   | I've been," 
110:175,35[A  ]| said poor Brivet, 
110:175,35@b   | "I positively have, so blameless."
110:176,01[A  ]| I thought of Mrs*Cavenham, and, though I said nothing, he
110:176,02[A  ]| went on after an instant as if he knew it.  
110:176,02@b   | "They can't put a
110:176,03@b   | finger.  I've been so d***d particular."
110:176,04[A  ]| I hesitated.  
110:176,04@a   | "And your idea is now not to be particular any
110:176,05@a   | more?"
110:176,06@b   | "Oh, about \her\," 
110:176,06[A  ]| he eagerly replied, 
110:176,06@b   | "always!"  
110:176,06[A  ]| On which
110:176,07[A  ]| I laughed out and he coloured.  
110:176,07@b   | "But my idea is nevertheless,
110:176,08@b   | at present," 
110:176,08[A  ]| he went on, 
110:176,08@b   | "to pave the way; that is, I mean, if
110:176,09@b   | I can keep the person you're thinking of so totally out of it
110:176,10@b   | that not a breath in the whole business can possibly touch her."
110:176,11@a   | "I see," 
110:176,11[A  ]| I reflected.  
110:176,11@a   | "She isn't willing?"
110:176,12[A  ]| He stared.  
110:176,12@b   | "To be compromised?  Why the devil \should\ she
110:176,13@b   | be?"
110:176,14@a   | "Why shouldn't she ~~ for \you\?  Doesn't she love you?"
110:176,15@b   | "Yes, and it's because she does, dearly, that I don't feel the
110:176,16@b   | right way to repay her is by spattering her over."
110:176,17@a   | "Yet if she stands," 
110:176,17[A  ]| I argued, 
110:176,17@a   | "straight in the splash ~~ !"
110:176,18@b   | "She doesn't!"  
110:176,18[A  ]| he interrupted me, with some curtness.
110:176,19@b   | "She stands a thousand miles out of it; she stands on a pinnacle;
110:176,20@b   | she stands as she stands in your charming portrait ~~
110:176,21@b   | lovely, lonely, untouched.  And so she must remain."
110:176,22@a   | "It's beautiful, it's doubtless inevitable," 
110:176,22[A  ]| I returned after a
110:176,23[A  ]| little, 
110:176,23@a   | "that you should feel so.  Only, if your wife doesn't
110:176,24@a   | divorce you for a woman you love, I don't quite see how she
110:176,25@a   | can do it for the woman you don't."
110:176,26@b   | "Nothing is more simple," 
110:176,26[A  ]| he declared; on which I saw he
110:176,27[A  ]| had figured it out rather more than I thought.  
110:176,27@b   | "It will be quite
110:176,28@b   | enough if she \believes\ I love her."
110:176,29@a   | "If the lady in question does ~~ or Mrs*Brivet?"
110:176,30@b   | "Mrs*Brivet ~~ confound her!  If she believes I love somebody
110:176,31@b   | else.  I must have the appearance, and the appearance
110:176,32@b   | must of course be complete.  All I've got to do is to take
110:176,33@b   | up ~~ "
110:176,34@a   | "To take up ~~ ?"  
110:176,34[A  ]| I asked, as he paused.
110:176,35@b   | "Well, publicly, with someone or other; someone who
110:177,01@b   | could easily be squared.  One would undertake, after all, to
110:177,02@b   | produce the impression."
110:177,03@a   | "On your wife naturally, you mean?"
110:177,04@b   | "On my wife, and on the person concerned."
110:177,05[A  ]| I turned it over and did justice to his ingenuity.  
110:177,05@a   | "But what
110:177,06@a   | impression would you undertake to produce on ~~ ?"
110:177,07@b   | "Well?"  
110:177,07[A  ]| he inquired as I just faltered.
110:177,08@a   | "On the person \not\ concerned.  How would the lady you
110:177,09@a   | just accused me of having in mind be affected toward such a
110:177,10@a   | proceeding?"
110:177,11[A  ]| He had to think a little, but he thought with success.  
110:177,11@b   | "Oh,
110:177,12@b   | I'd answer for her."
110:177,13@a   | "To the other lady?"  
110:177,13[A  ]| I laughed.
110:177,14[A  ]| He remained quite grave.  
110:177,14@b   | "To myself.  She'd leave us alone.
110:177,15@b   | As it would be for her good, she'd understand."
110:177,16[A  ]| I was sorry for him, but he struck me as artless.  
110:177,16@a   | "Understand,
110:177,17@a   | in that interest, the ""spattering"" of another person?"
110:177,18[A  ]| He coloured again, but he was sturdy.  
110:177,18@b   | "It must of course
110:177,19@b   | be exactly the right person ~~ a special type.  Someone who, in
110:177,20@b   | the first place," 
110:177,20[A  ]| he explained, 
110:177,20@b   | "wouldn't mind, and of whom,
110:177,21@b   | in the second, she wouldn't be jealous."
110:177,22[A  ]| I followed perfectly, but it struck me as important all round
110:177,23[A  ]| that we should be clear.  
110:177,23@a   | "But wouldn't the danger be great
110:177,24@a   | that any woman who shouldn't have that effect ~~ the effect
110:177,25@a   | of jealousy ~~ upon her wouldn't have it either on your wife?"
110:177,26@b   | "Ah," 
110:177,26[A  ]| he acutely retured, 
110:177,26@b   | "My wife wouldn't be warned.
110:177,27@b   | She wouldn't be ""in the know."" "
110:177,28@a   | "I see."  
110:177,28[A  ]| I quite caught up.  
110:177,28@a   | "The two other ladies distinctly
110:177,29@a   | would."
110:177,30[A  ]| But he seemed for an instant at a loss.  
110:177,30@b   | "Wouldn't it be
110:177,31@b   | indispensable only as regards one?"
110:177,32@a   | "Then the other would be simply sacrificed?"
110:177,33@b   | "She would be," 
110:177,33[A  ]| Brivet splendidly put it, 
110:177,33@b   | "remunerated."
110:177,34[A  ]| I was pleased even with the sense of financial power betrayed
110:177,35[A  ]| by the way he said it, and I at any rate so took the
110:178,01[A  ]| measure of his intention of generosity and his characteristically
110:178,02[A  ]| big view of the matter that this quickly suggested to me what
110:178,03[A  ]| at least might be his exposure.  
110:178,03@a   | "But suppose that, in spite of
110:178,04@a   | ""remuneration,"" this secondary personage should perversely
110:178,05@a   | like you?  She would have to be indeed, as you say, a special
110:178,06@a   | type, but even special types may have general feelings.  Suppose
110:178,07@a   | she should like you too much."
110:178,08[A  ]| It had pulled him up a little.  
110:178,08@b   | "What do you mean by ""too
110:178,09@b   | much""?"
110:178,10@a   | "Well, more than enough to leave the case quite as simple
110:178,11@a   | as you'd require it."
110:178,12@b   | "Oh, money always simplifies.  Besides, I should make a
110:178,13@b   | point of being a brute."  
110:178,13[A  ]| And on my laughing at this:  
110:178,13@b   | "I
110:178,14@b   | should pay her enough to keep her down, to make her easy.
110:178,15@b   | But the thing," 
110:178,15[A  ]| he went on with a drop back to the less
110:178,16[A  ]| mitigated real ~~ 
110:178,16@b   | "the thing, hang it! is first to find her."
110:178,17@a   | "Surely," 
110:178,17[A  ]| I concurred; 
110:178,17@a   | "for she should have to lack, you
110:178,18@a   | see, no requirement whatever for plausibility.  She must be, for
110:178,19@a   | instance, not only ""squareable,"" but ~~ before anything else
110:178,20@a   | even ~~ awfully handsome."
110:178,21@b   | "Oh, ""awfully""!"  
110:178,21[A  ]| He could make light of \that\, which was
110:178,22[A  ]| what Mrs*Cavenham was.
110:178,23@a   | "It wouldn't do for her, at all events," 
110:178,23[A  ]| I maintained, 
110:178,23@a   | "to
110:178,24@a   | be a bit less attractive than ~~ "
110:178,25@b   | "Well, than who?"  
110:178,25[A  ]| he broke in, not only with a comic
110:178,26[A  ]| effect of disputing my point, but also as if he knew whom I
110:178,27[A  ]| was thinking of.
110:178,28[A  ]| Before I could answer him, however, the door opened, and
110:178,29[A  ]| we were interrupted by a visitor ~~ a visitor who, on the spot,
110:178,30[A  ]| in a flash, primed me with a reply.  But I had of course for the
110:178,31[A  ]| moment to keep it to myself.  
110:178,31@a   | "Than Mrs*Dundene!"
110:179,01[A  ]| I had nothing more than that to do with it, but before I could
110:179,02[A  ]| turn round it was done; by which I mean that Brivet, whose
110:179,03[A  ]| previous impression of her had, for some sufficient reason,
110:179,04[A  ]| failed of sharpness, now jumped straight to the perception that
110:179,05[A  ]| here to his hand for the solution of his problem was the
110:179,06[A  ]| missing quantity and the appointed aid.  They were in presence
110:179,07[A  ]| on this occasion, for the first time, half an hour, during which
110:179,08[A  ]| he sufficiently showed me that he felt himself to have found
110:179,09[A  ]| the special type.  He was certainly to that extent right that
110:179,10[A  ]| nobody could ~~ in those days in particular ~~ without a rapid
110:179,11[A  ]| sense that she was indeed "special," spend any such time in
110:179,12[A  ]| the company of our extraordinary friend.  I couldn't quarrel
110:179,13[A  ]| with his recognising so quickly what I had myself instantly
110:179,14[A  ]| recognised, yet if it did in truth appear almost at a glance that
110:179,15[A  ]| she would, through the particular facts of situation, history,
110:179,16[A  ]| aspect, tone, temper, beautifully "do," I felt from the first so
110:179,17[A  ]| affected by the business that I desired to wash my hands of it.
110:179,18[A  ]| There was something I wished to say to him before it went
110:179,19[A  ]| further, but after that I cared only to be out of it.  I may as
110:179,20[A  ]| well say at once, however, that I never \was\ out of it; for a man
110:179,21[A  ]| habitually ridden by the twin demons of imagination and
110:179,22[A  ]| observation is never ~~ enough for his peace ~~ out of anything.
110:179,23[A  ]| But I wanted to be able to apply to either, should anything
110:179,24[A  ]| happen, 
110:179,24@z   | " ""Thou canst not say \I\ did it!"" "  
110:179,24[A  ]| What might in
110:179,25[A  ]| particular happen was represented by what I said to Brivet
110:179,26[A  ]| the first time he gave me a chance.  It was what I had wished
110:179,27[A  ]| before the affair went further, but it had then already gone so
110:179,28[A  ]| far that he had been twice ~~ as he immediately let me know ~~
110:179,29[A  ]| to see her at home.  He clearly desired me to keep up with him,
110:179,30[A  ]| which I was eager to declare impossible; but he came again to
110:180,01[A  ]| see me only after he had called.  Then I instantly made my
110:180,02[A  ]| point, which was that 
110:180,02@a   | she was really, hang it!  too good for his
110:180,03@a   | fell purpose.
110:180,04@b   | "But, my dear man, my purpose is a sacred one.  And if,
110:180,05@b   | moreover, she herself doesn't think she's too good ~~ "
110:180,06@a   | "Ah," 
110:180,06[A  ]| said I, 
110:180,06@a   | "she's in love with you, and so it isn't fair."
110:180,07[A  ]| He wondered.  
110:180,07@b   | "Fair to \me\?"
110:180,08@a   | "Oh, I don't care a button for you!  What I'm thinking of
110:180,09@a   | is her risk."
110:180,10@b   | "And what do you mean by her risk?"
110:180,11@a   | "Why, her finding, of course, before you've done with
110:180,12@a   | her, that she can't do without you."
110:180,13[A  ]| He met me as if he had quite thought of that.  
110:180,13@b   | "Isn't it much
110:180,14@b   | more \my\ risk?"
110:180,15@a   | "Ah, but you take it deliberately, walk into it with your
110:180,16@a   | eyes open.  What I want to be sure of, liking her as I do, is
110:180,17@a   | that she fully understands."
110:180,18[A  ]| He had been moving about my place with his hands in his
110:180,19[A  ]| pockets, and at this he stopped short.  
110:180,19@b   | "How much do you
110:180,20@b   | like her?"
110:180,21@a   | "Oh, ten times more than she likes me; so \that\ needn't
110:180,22@a   | trouble you.  Does she understand that it can be only to help
110:180,23@a   | somebody else?"
110:180,24@b   | "Why, my dear chap, she's as sharp as a steam-whistle."
110:180,25@a   | "So that she also already knows who the other person is?"
110:180,26[A  ]| He took a turn again, then brought out, 
110:180,26@b   | "There's no other
110:180,27@b   | person for her but me.  Of course, as yet, there are things one
110:180,28@b   | doesn't say; I haven't set straight to work to dot all my i's, and
110:180,29@b   | the beauty of her, as she's really charming ~~ and would be
110:180,30@b   | charming in \any\ relation ~~ is just exactly that I don't expect to
110:180,31@b   | have to.  We'll work it out all right, I think, so that what I
110:180,32@b   | most wanted just to make sure of from you was what you've
110:180,33@b   | been good enough to tell me.  I mean that you don't object ~~
110:180,34@b   | for yourself."
110:180,35[A  ]| I could with philosophic mirth allay that scruple, but what I
110:181,01[A  ]| couldn't do was to let him see what really most worried me.
110:181,02[A  ]| It stuck, as they say, in my crop that a woman like ~~ yes,
110:181,03[A  ]| when all was said and done ~~ Alice*Dundene should simply
110:181,04[A  ]| minister to the convenience of a woman like Rose*Cavenham.
110:181,05@a   | "But there's one thing more."  
110:181,05[A  ]| This was as far as I could go.
110:181,06@a   | "I may take from you then that she not only knows it's for
110:181,07@a   | your divorce and remarriage, but can fit the shoe on the very
110:181,08@a   | person?"
110:181,09[A  ]| He waited a moment.  
110:181,09@b   | "Well, you may take from me that I
110:181,10@b   | find her no more of a fool than, as I seem to see, many other
110:181,11@b   | fellows have found her."
110:181,12[A  ]| I too was silent a little, but with a superior sense of being
110:181,13[A  ]| able to think it all out further than he.  
110:181,13@a   | "She's magnificent!"
110:181,14@b   | "Well, so am I!"  
110:181,14[A  ]| said Brivet.  And for months afterward
110:181,15[A  ]| there was much ~~ in fact everything ~~ in the whole picture to
110:181,16[A  ]| justify his claim.  I remember how it struck me as a lively sign
110:181,17[A  ]| of this that Mrs*Cavenham, at an early day, gave up her pretty
110:181,18[A  ]| house in Wilton*Street and withdrew for a time to America.
110:181,19[A  ]| That was palpable design and diplomacy, but I'm afraid that
110:181,20[A  ]| I quite as much, and doubtless very vulgarly, read into it that
110:181,21[A  ]| she had had money from Brivet to go.  I even promised myself,
110:181,22[A  ]| I confess, the entertainment of finally making out that, whether
110:181,23[A  ]| or no the marriage should come off, she would not have been
110:181,24[A  ]| the person to find the episode least lucrative.
110:181,25[A  ]| She left the others, at all events, completely together, and so,
110:181,26[A  ]| as the plot, with this, might be said definitely to thicken, it
110:181,27[A  ]| came to me in all sorts of ways that the curtain had gone up
110:181,28[A  ]| on the drama.  It came to me, I hasten to add, much less from
110:181,29[A  ]| the two actors themselves than from other quarters ~~ the usual
110:181,30[A  ]| sources, which never fail, of chatter; for after my friends'
110:181,31[A  ]| direction was fairly taken they had the good taste on either
110:181,32[A  ]| side to handle it, in talk, with gloves, not to expose it to what
110:181,33[A  ]| I should have called the danger of definition.  I even seemed
110:181,34[A  ]| to divine that, allowing for needful preliminaries, they dealt
110:181,35[A  ]| even with each other on this same unformulated plane, and
110:182,01[A  ]| that it well might be that no relation in London at that
110:182,02[A  ]| moment, between a remarkable man and a beautiful woman,
110:182,03[A  ]| had more of the general air of good manners.  I saw for a long
110:182,04[A  ]| time, directly, but little of them, for they were naturally much
110:182,05[A  ]| taken up, and Mrs*Dundene in particular intermitted, as she
110:182,06[A  ]| had never yet done in any complication of her chequered
110:182,07[A  ]| career, her calls at my studio.  As the months went by I
110:182,08[A  ]| couldn't but feel ~~ partly, perhaps, for this very reason ~~ that
110:182,09[A  ]| their undertaking announced itself as likely not to fall short
110:182,10[A  ]| of its aim.  I gathered from the voices of the air that nothing
110:182,11[A  ]| whatever was neglected that could make it a success, and just
110:182,12[A  ]| this vision it was that made me privately project wonders into
110:182,13[A  ]| it, caused anxiety and curiosity often again to revisit me, and
110:182,14[A  ]| led me in fine to say to myself that so rich an effect could be
110:182,15[A  ]| arrived at on either side only by a great deal of heroism.  As
110:182,16[A  ]| the omens markedly developed I supposed the heroism had
110:182,17[A  ]| likewise done so, and that the march of the matter was logical
110:182,18[A  ]| I inferred from the fact that even though the ordeal, all round,
110:182,19[A  ]| was more protracted than might have been feared, Mrs*Cavenham
110:182,20[A  ]| made no fresh appearance.  This I took as a sign
110:182,21[A  ]| that she knew she was safe ~~ took indeed as the feature not the
110:182,22[A  ]| least striking of the situation constituted in her interest.  I
110:182,23[A  ]| held my tongue, naturally, about her interest, but I watched
110:182,24[A  ]| it from a distance with an attention that, had I been caught in
110:182,25[A  ]| the act, might have led to a mistake about the direction of my
110:182,26[A  ]| sympathy.  I had to make it my proper secret that, while I lost
110:182,27[A  ]| as little as possible of what was being done for her, I felt
110:182,28[A  ]| more and more that I myself could never have begun to do it.
110:182,29[A  ]| She came back at last, however, and one of the first things she
110:182,30[A  ]| did on her arrival was to knock at my door and let me know
110:183,01[A  ]| immediately, to smooth the way, that 
110:183,01@c   | she was there on particular
110:183,02@c   | business.  I was not to be surprised ~~ though even if I
110:183,03@c   | were she shouldn't mind ~~ to hear that she wished to bespeak
110:183,04@c   | from me, on the smallest possible delay, a portrait, full-length
110:183,05@c   | for preference, of our delightful friend Mr*Brivet.  
110:183,05[A  ]| She
110:183,06[A  ]| brought this out with a light perfection of assurance of which
110:183,07[A  ]| the first effect ~~ I couldn't help it ~~ was to make me show
110:183,08[A  ]| myself almost too much amused for good manners.  She first
110:183,09[A  ]| stared at my laughter, then wonderfully joined in it, looking
110:183,10[A  ]| meanwhile extraordinarily pretty and elegant ~~ more completely
110:183,11[A  ]| handsome in fact, as well as more completely happy,
110:183,12[A  ]| than I had ever yet seen her.  She was distinctly the better, I
110:183,13[A  ]| quickly saw, for what was being done for her, and it was an
110:183,14[A  ]| odd spectacle indeed that while, out of her sight and to the
110:183,15[A  ]| exclusion of her very name, the good work went on, it put
110:183,16[A  ]| roses in her cheeks and rings on her fingers and the sense of
110:183,17[A  ]| success in her heart.  What had made me laugh, at all events,
110:183,18[A  ]| was the number of other ideas suddenly evoked by her
110:183,19[A  ]| request, two of which, the next moment, had disengaged
110:183,20[A  ]| themselves with particular brightness.  She wanted, for all her
110:183,21[A  ]| confidence, to omit no precaution, to close up every issue, and
110:183,22[A  ]| she had acutely conceived that the possession of Brivet's
110:183,23[A  ]| picture ~~ full-length, above all! ~~ would constitute for her the
110:183,24[A  ]| strongest possible appearance of holding his supreme pledge.
110:183,25[A  ]| If that had been her foremost thought her second then had
110:183,26[A  ]| been that if I should paint him he would have to sit, and that
110:183,27[A  ]| in order to sit he would have to return.  He had been at this
110:183,28[A  ]| time, as I knew, for many weeks in foreign cities ~~ which
110:183,29[A  ]| helped moreover to explain to me that Mrs*Cavenham had
110:183,30[A  ]| thought it compatible with her safety to reopen her London
110:183,31[A  ]| house.  Everything accordingly seemed to make for a victory,
110:183,32[A  ]| but there \was\ such a thing, her proceeding implied, as one's ~~
110:183,33[A  ]| at least as \her\ ~~ susceptibility and her nerves.  This question of
110:183,34[A  ]| his return I of course immediately put to her; on which she
110:183,35[A  ]| immediately answered that 
110:183,35@c   | it was expressed in her very
110:184,01@c   | proposal, inasmuch as this proposal was nothing but the offer
110:184,02@c   | that Brivet had himself made her.  The thing was to be his gift;
110:184,03@c   | she had only, he had assured her, to choose her artist and
110:184,04@c   | arrange the time; and she had amiably chosen me ~~ chosen me
110:184,05@c   | for the dates, 
110:184,05[A  ]| as she called them, 
110:184,05@c   | immediately before us.  
110:184,05[A  ]| I
110:184,06[A  ]| doubtless ~~ but I don't care ~~ give the measure of my native
110:184,07[A  ]| cynicism in confessing that I didn't the least avoid showing
110:184,08[A  ]| her that I saw through her game.  
110:184,08@a   | "Well, I'll do him," 
110:184,08[A  ]| I said,
110:184,09@a   | "if he'll come himself and ask me."
110:184,10[A  ]| She wanted to know, at this, of course, if I impugned her
110:184,11[A  ]| veracity.  
110:184,11@c   | "You don't believe what I tell you?  You're afraid
110:184,12@c   | for your money?"
110:184,13[A  ]| I took it in high good-humour 
110:184,13@a   | "For my money not a bit."
110:184,14@c   | "For what then?"
110:184,15[A  ]| I had to think first how much I could say, which seemed to
110:184,16[A  ]| me, naturally, as yet but little.  
110:184,16@a   | "I know perfectly that whatever
110:184,17@a   | happens Brivet always pays.  But let him come; then we'll
110:184,18@a   | talk."
110:184,19@c   | "Ah, well," 
110:184,19[A  ]| she returned, 
110:184,19@c   | "you'll see if he doesn't come."
110:184,20[A  ]| And come he did in fact ~~ though without a word from myself
110:184,21[A  ]| directly ~~ at the end of ten days; on which we immediately
110:184,22[A  ]| got to work, an idea highly favourable to it having meanwhile
110:184,23[A  ]| shaped itself in my own breast.  Meanwhile too, however, before
110:184,24[A  ]| his arrival, Mrs*Cavenham had been again to see me, and this
110:184,25[A  ]| it was precisely, I think, that determined my idea.  My present
110:184,26[A  ]| explanation of what afresh passed between us is that she really
110:184,27[A  ]| felt the need to build up her security a little higher by borrowing
110:184,28[A  ]| from my own vision of what had been happening.  I had
110:184,29[A  ]| not, she saw, been very near to that, but I had been at least,
110:184,30[A  ]| during her time in America, nearer than she.  And I had doubtless
110:184,31[A  ]| somehow "aggravated" her by appearing to disbelieve in
110:184,32[A  ]| the guarantee she had come in such pride to parade to me.  It
110:184,33[A  ]| had in any case befallen that, on the occasion of her second
110:184,34[A  ]| visit, what I least expected or desired ~~ her avowal of being
110:184,35[A  ]| "in the know" ~~ suddenly went too far to stop.  When she
110:185,01[A  ]| did speak she spoke with elation.  
110:185,01@c   | "Mrs*Brivet has filed her
110:185,02@c   | petition."
110:185,03@a   | "For getting rid of him?"
110:185,04@c   | "Yes, in order to marry again; which is exactly what he
110:185,05@c   | wants her to do.  It's wonderful ~~ and, in a manner, I think,
110:185,06@c   | quite splendid ~~ the way he has made it easy for her.  He has
110:185,07@c   | met her wishes handsomely ~~ obliged her in every particular."
110:185,08[A  ]| As she preferred, subtly enough, to put it all as if it were for
110:185,09[A  ]| the sole benefit of his wife, I was quite ready for this tone; but
110:185,10[A  ]| I privately defied her to keep it up.  
110:185,10@a   | "Well, then, he hasn't
110:185,11@a   | laboured in vain."
110:185,12@c   | "Oh, it \couldn't\ have been in vain.  What has happened has
110:185,13@c   | been the sort of thing that she couldn't possibly fail to act
110:185,14@c   | upon."
110:185,15@a   | "Too great a scandal, eh?"
110:185,16[A  ]| She but just paused at it.  
110:185,16@c   | "Nothing neglected, certainly, or
110:185,17@c   | omitted.  He was not the man to undertake it ~~ "
110:185,18@a  ]| "And not put it through?  No, I should say he wasn't the
110:185,19@a   | man.  In any case he apparently hasn't been.  But he must have
110:185,20@a   | found the job ~~ "
110:185,21@c   | "Rather a bore?"  
110:185,21[A  ]| she asked as I had hesitated.
110:185,22@a   | "Well, not so much a bore as a delicate matter."
110:185,23[A  ]| She seemed to demur.  
110:185,23@c   | "Delicate?"
110:185,24@a   | "Why, your sex likes him so."
110:185,25@c   | "But isn't just that what has made it easy?"
110:185,26@a   | "Easy for \him\ ~~ yes," 
110:185,26[A  ]| I after a moment admitted.
110:185,27[A  ]| but it wasn't what she meant.  
110:185,27@c   | "And not difficult, also, for
110:185,28@c   | \them\."
110:185,29[A  ]| This was the nearest approach I was to have heard her
110:185,30[A  ]| make, since the day of the meeting of the two women at my
110:185,31[A  ]| studio, to naming Mrs*Dundene.  She never, to the end of the
110:185,32[A  ]| affair, came any closer to her in speech than by the collective
110:185,33[A  ]| and promiscuous plural pronoun.  There might have been a
110:185,34[A  ]| dozen of them, and she took cognizance, in respect to them,
110:185,35[A  ]| only of quantity.  It was as if it had been a way of showing how
110:186,01[A  ]| little of anything else she imputed.  Quality, as distinguished
110:186,02[A  ]| from quantity, was what \she\ had.  
110:186,02@a   | "Oh, I think," 
110:186,02[A  ]| I said, 
110:186,02@a   | "that
110:186,03@a   | we can scarcely speak for them."
110:186,04@c   | "Why not?  They must certainly have had the most beautiful
110:186,05@c   | time.  Operas, theatres, suppers, dinners, diamonds, carriages,
110:186,06@c   | journeys hither and yon with him, poor dear, telegrams
110:186,07@c   | sent by each from everywhere to everywhere and always lying
110:186,08@c   | about, elaborate arrivals and departures at stations for everyone
110:186,09@c   | to see, and, in fact, quite a crowd usually collected ~~ as many
110:186,10@c   | witnesses as you like.  Then," 
110:186,10[A  ]| she wound up, 
110:186,10@c   | "his brougham
110:186,11@c   | standing always ~~ half the day and half the night ~~ at their
110:186,12@c   | doors.  He has had to keep a brougham, and the proper sort
110:186,13@c   | of man, just for that alone.  In other words unlimited publicity."
110:186,14@c   |
110:186,15@a   | "I see.  What more can they have wanted?  Yes," 
110:186,15[A  ]| I pondered,
110:186,16@a   | "they like, for the most part, we suppose, a studied, outrageous
110:186,17@a   | \9affichage\, and they must have thoroughly enjoyed it."
110:186,18@c   | "Ah, but it was only that."
110:186,19[A  ]| I wondered.  
110:186,19@a   | "Only what?"
110:186,20@c   | "Only \9affiche=\.  Only outrageous.  Only the \form\ of ~~ well, of
110:186,21@c   | what would definitely serve.  He never saw them alone."
110:186,22[A  ]| I wondered ~~ or at least appeared to ~~ still more.  
110:186,22@a   | "Never?"
110:186,23@c   | "Never.  Never once."  
110:186,23[A  ]| She had a wonderful air of answering
110:186,24[A  ]| for it.  
110:186,24@c   | "I know."
110:186,25[A  ]| I saw that, after all, she really believed she knew, and I had
110:186,26[A  ]| indeed, for that matter, to recognise that I myself believed her
110:186,27[A  ]| knowledge to be sound.  Only there went with it a complacency,
110:186,28[A  ]| an enjoyment of having really made me see what
110:186,29[A  ]| could be done for her, so little to my taste that for a minute
110:186,30[A  ]| or two I could scarce trust myself to speak:  she looked somehow,
110:186,31[A  ]| as she sat there, so lovely, and yet, in spite of her loveliness
110:186,32[A  ]| ~~ or perhaps even just because of it ~~ so smugly selfish;
110:186,33[A  ]| she put it to me with so small a consciousness of anything but
110:186,34[A  ]| her personal triumph that, while she had kept her skirts clear,
110:186,35[A  ]| her name unuttered and her reputation untouched, "they"
110:187,01[A  ]| had been in it even more than her success required.  It was their
110:187,02[A  ]| skirts, their name and their reputation that, in the proceedings
110:187,03[A  ]| at hand, would bear the brunt.  It was only after waiting a
110:187,04[A  ]| while that I could at last say:  
110:187,04@a   | "You're perfectly sure then of
110:187,05@a   | Mrs*Brivet's intention?"
110:187,06@c   | "Oh, we've had formal notice."
110:187,07@a   | "And he's himself satisfied of the sufficiency ~~ ?"
110:187,08@c   | "Of the sufficiency ~~ ?"
110:187,09@a   | "Of what he has done."
110:187,10[A  ]| She rectified.  
110:187,10@c   | "Of what he has \appeared\ to do."
110:187,11@a   | "That \is\ then enough?"
110:187,12@c   | "Enough," 
110:187,12[A  ]| she laughed, 
110:187,12@c   | "to send him to the gallows!"  
110:187,12[A  ]| To
110:187,13[A  ]| which I could only reply that 
110:187,13@a   | all was well that ended well.
110:187,14[A  ]| All for me, however, as it proved, had not ended yet.  Brivet,
110:187,15[A  ]| as I have mentioned, duly reappeared to sit for me, and Mrs*Cavenham,
110:187,16[A  ]| on his arrival, as consistently went abroad.  He
110:187,17[A  ]| confirmed to me that lady's news of how he had 
110:187,17@b   | "fetched," 
110:187,17[A  ]| as
110:187,18[A  ]| he called it, 
110:187,18@b   | his wife ~~ 
110:187,18[A  ]| let me know, as decently owing to me
110:187,19[A  ]| after what had passed, on the subject, between us, that the
110:187,20[A  ]| forces set in motion had logically operated; but he made no
110:187,21[A  ]| other allusion to his late accomplice ~~ for I now took for
110:187,22[A  ]| granted the close of the connection ~~ than was conveyed in
110:187,23[A  ]| this intimation.  He spoke ~~ and the effect was almost droll ~~
110:187,24[A  ]| as if he had had, since our previous meeting, a busy and
110:187,25[A  ]| responsible year and wound up an affair (as he was accustomed
110:187,26[A  ]| to wind up affairs) involving a mass of detail; he even dropped
110:187,27[A  ]| into occasional reminiscence of what he had seen and enjoyed
110:187,28[A  ]| and disliked during a recent period of rather far-reaching
110:187,29[A  ]| adventure; but he stopped just as short as Mrs*Cavenham had
110:187,30[A  ]| done ~~ and, indeed, much shorter than she ~~ of introducing
110:188,01[A  ]| Mrs*Dundene by name into our talk.  And what was singular
110:188,02[A  ]| in this, I soon saw, was ~~ apart from a general discretion ~~
110:188,03[A  ]| that he abstained not at all because his mind was troubled,
110:188,04[A  ]| but just because, on the contrary, it was so much at ease. It
110:188,05[A  ]| was perhaps even more singular still, meanwhile, that, though
110:188,06[A  ]| I had scarce been able to bear Mrs*Cavenham's manner in this
110:188,07[A  ]| particular, I found I could put up perfectly with that of her
110:188,08[A  ]| friend.  She had annoyed me, but he didn't ~~ I give the inconsistency
110:188,09[A  ]| for what it is worth.  The obvious state of his
110:188,10[A  ]| conscience had always been a strong point in him and one that
110:188,11[A  ]| exactly irritated some people as much as it charmed others; so
110:188,12[A  ]| that if, in general, it was positively, and in fact quite aggressively
110:188,13[A  ]| approving, this monitor, it had never held its head so
110:188,14[A  ]| high as at the juncture of which I speak.  I took all this in with
110:188,15[A  ]| eagerness, for I saw how it would play into my work.  Seeking
110:188,16[A  ]| as I always do, instinctively, to represent sitters in the light of
110:188,17[A  ]| the thing, whatever it may be, that facially, least wittingly or
110:188,18[A  ]| responsibly, gives the pitch of their aspect, I felt immediately
110:188,19[A  ]| that I should have the clue for making a capital thing of Brivet
110:188,20[A  ]| were I to succeed in showing him in just this freshness of his
110:188,21[A  ]| cheer.  His cheer was that of his being able to say to himself
110:188,22[A  ]| that he had got all he wanted precisely \as\ he wanted:  without
110:188,23[A  ]| having harmed a fly.  He had arrived so neatly where most men
110:188,24[A  ]| arrive besmirched, and what he seemed to cry out as he stood
110:188,25[A  ]| before my canvas ~~ wishing everyone well all round ~~ was:
110:188,26@b   | "See how clever and pleasant and practicable, how jolly and
110:188,27@b   | lucky and rich I've been!"  
110:188,27[A  ]| I determined, at all events, that I
110:188,28[A  ]| would make some such characteristic words as these cross,
110:188,29[A  ]| at any cost, the footlights, as it were, of my frame.
110:188,30[A  ]| Well, I can't but feel to this hour that I really hit my nail ~~
110:188,31[A  ]| that the man \is\ fairly painted in the light and that the work remains
110:188,32[A  ]| as yet my high-water mark.  He himself was delighted
110:188,33[A  ]| with it ~~ and all the more, I think, that before it was finished
110:188,34[A  ]| he received from America the news of his liberation.  He had
110:188,35[A  ]| not defended the suit ~~ as to which judgment, therefore, had
110:189,01[A  ]| been expeditiously rendered; and he was accordingly free as
110:189,02[A  ]| air and with the added sweetness of every augmented appearance
110:189,03[A  ]| that his wife was herself blindly preparing to seek chastisement
110:189,04[A  ]| at the hands of destiny.  There being at last no 
110:189,05[A  ]| obstacle to his open association with Mrs*Cavenham, he
110:189,06[A  ]| called her directly back to London to admire my achievement,
110:189,07[A  ]| over which, from the very first glance, she as amiably let
110:189,08[A  ]| herself go.  It was the very view of him she had desired to
110:189,09[A  ]| possess; it was the dear man in his intimate essence for those
110:189,10[A  ]| who knew him; and for any*one who should ever be deprived
110:189,11[A  ]| of him it would be the next best thing to the sound of his voice.
110:189,12[A  ]| We of course by no means lingered, however, on the contingency
110:189,13[A  ]| of privation, which was promptly swept away in the
110:189,14[A  ]| rush of Mrs*Cavenham's vision of how straight also, above
110:189,15[A  ]| and beyond, I had, as she called it, attacked.  I couldn't quite
110:189,16[A  ]| myself, I fear, tell how straight, but Mrs*Cavenham perfectly
110:189,17[A  ]| could, and did, for everybody:  she had at her fingers' ends all
110:189,18[A  ]| the reasons why the thing would be a treasure even for those
110:189,19[A  ]| who had never seen "Frank."
110:189,20[A  ]| I had finished the picture, but was, according to my practice,
110:189,21[A  ]| keeping it near me a little, for afterthoughts, when I
110:189,22[A  ]| received from Mrs*Dundene the first visit she had paid me
110:189,23[A  ]| for many a month.  
110:189,23@d   | "I've come," 
110:189,23[A  ]| she immediately said, 
110:189,23@d   | "to
110:189,24@d   | ask you a favour"; 
110:189,24[A  ]| and she turned her eyes, for a minute, as
110:189,25[A  ]| if contentedly full of her thought, round the large workroom
110:189,26[A  ]| she already knew so well and in which her beauty had really
110:189,27[A  ]| rendered more services than could ever be repaid.  There were
110:189,28[A  ]| studies of her yet on the walls; there were others thrust away
110:189,29[A  ]| in corners; others still have gone forth from where she stood
110:189,30[A  ]| and carried to far-away places the reach of her lingering look.
110:189,31[A  ]| I had greatly, almost inconveniently missed her, and I don't
110:189,32[A  ]| know why it was that she struck me now as more beautiful
110:189,33[A  ]| than ever.  She had always, for that matter, had a way of seeming
110:189,34[A  ]| each time a little different and a little better.  Dressed very
110:189,35[A  ]| simply in black materials, feathers and lace, that gave the
110:190,01[A  ]| impression of being light and fine, she had indeed the air of a
110:190,02[A  ]| special type, but quite as some great lady might have had it.
110:190,03[A  ]| She looked like a princess in Court mourning.  Oh, she had
110:190,04[A  ]| been a case for the petitioner ~~ was everything the other side
110:190,05[A  ]| wanted!  
110:190,05@d   | "Mr*Brivet," 
110:190,05[A  ]| she went on to say, 
110:190,05@d   | "has kindly offered
110:190,06@d   | me a present.  I'm to ask of him whatever in the world I most
110:190,07@d   | desire."
110:190,08[A  ]| I knew in an instant, on this, what was coming, but I was at
110:190,09[A  ]| first wholly taken up with the simplicity of her allusion to her
110:190,10[A  ]| late connection.  Had I supposed that, like Brivet, she wouldn't
110:190,11[A  ]| allude to it at all?  or had I stupidly assumed that if she did it
110:190,12[A  ]| would be with ribaldry and rancour?  I hardly know; I only
110:190,13[A  ]| know that I suddenly found myself charmed to receive from
110:190,14[A  ]| her thus the key of my own freedom.  There was something I
110:190,15[A  ]| wanted to say to her, and she had thus given me leave.  But
110:190,16[A  ]| for the moment I only repeated as with amused interest:
110:190,17@a   | "Whatever in the world ~~ ?"
110:190,18@d   | "Whatever in all the world."
110:190,19@a   | "But that's immense, and in what way can poor \I\
110:190,20@a   | help ~~ ?"
110:190,21@d   | "By painting him for me.  I want a portrait of him."
110:190,22[A  ]| I looked at her a moment in silence.  She was lovely.
110:190,23@a   | "That's what ~~ ""in all the world"" ~~ you've chosen?"
110:190,24@d   | "Yes ~~ thinking it over:  full-length.  I want it for remembrance,
110:190,25@d   | and I want it as you will do it.  It's the only thing I
110:190,26@d   | do want."
110:190,27@a   | "Nothing else?"
110:190,28@d   | "Oh, it's enough."  
110:190,28[A  ]| I turned about ~~ she was wonderful.  I
110:190,29[A  ]| had whisked out of sight for a month the picture I had produced
110:190,30[A  ]| for Mrs*Cavenham, and it was now completely covered
110:190,31[A  ]| with a large piece of stuff.  I stood there a little, thinking of it,
110:190,32[A  ]| and she went on as if she feared I might be unwilling.  
110:190,32@d   | "\Can't\
110:190,33@d   | you do it?"
110:190,34[A  ]| It showed me that she had not heard from him of my having
110:190,35[A  ]| painted him, and this, further, was an indication that, his
110:191,01[A  ]| purpose effected, he had ceased to see her.  
110:191,01@a   | "I suppose you
110:191,02@a   | know," 
110:191,02[A  ]| I presently said, 
110:191,02@a   | "what you've done for him?"
110:191,03@d   | "Oh yes; it was what I wanted."
110:191,04@a   | "It was what \he\ wanted!"  
110:191,04[A  ]| I laughed.
110:191,05@d   | "Well, I want what he wants."
110:191,06@a   | "Even to his marrying Mrs*Cavenham?"
110:191,07[A  ]| She hesitated.  
110:191,07@d   | "As well her as anyone, from the moment he
110:191,08@d   | couldn't marry \me\."
110:191,09@a   | "It was beautiful of you to be so sure of that," 
110:191,09[A  ]| I returned.
110:191,10@d   | "How could I be anything else but sure?  He doesn't so
110:191,11@d   | much as \know\ me!"  
110:191,11[A  ]| said Alice*Dundene.
110:191,12@a   | "No," 
110:191,12[A  ]| I declared, 
110:191,12@a   | "I verily believe he doesn't.  There's
110:191,13@a   | your picture," 
110:191,13[A  ]| I added, unveiling my work.
110:191,14[A  ]| She was amazed and delighted.  
110:191,14@d   | "I may have \that\?"
110:191,15@a   | "So far as I'm concerned ~~ absolutely."
110:191,16@d   | "Then he had himself the beautiful thought of sitting for
110:191,17@d   | me?"
110:191,18[A  ]| I faltered but an instant.  
110:191,18@a   | "Yes."
110:191,19[A  ]| Her pleasure in what I had done was a joy to me.  
110:191,19@d   | "Why, it's
110:191,20@d   | of a truth ~~ !  It's perfection."
110:191,21@a   | "I think it is."
110:191,22@d   | "It's the whole story. It's life."
110:191,23@a   | "That's what I tried for," 
110:191,23[A  ]| I said; and I added to myself:
110:191,24@a   | "Why the deuce \do\ we?"
110:191,25@d   | "It will be \him\ for me," 
110:191,25[A  ]| she meanwhile went on.  
110:191,25@d   | "I shall
110:191,26@d   | \live\ with it, keep it all to myself, and ~~ do you know what it
110:191,27@d   | will do? ~~ it will seem to make up."
110:191,28@a   | "To make up?"
110:191,29@d   | "I never saw him alone," 
110:191,29[A  ]| said Mrs*Dundene.
110:191,30[A  ]| I am still keeping the thing to send to her, punctually, on
110:191,31[A  ]| the day he's married; but I had of course, on my understanding
110:191,32[A  ]| with her, a tremendous bout with Mrs*Cavenham, who protested
110:191,33[A  ]| with indignation against my 
110:191,33@c   | "base treachery" 
110:191,33[A  ]| and
110:191,34[A  ]| made to Brivet an appeal for redress which, enlightened, face
110:191,35[A  ]| to face with the magnificent humility of his other friend's
110:192,01[A  ]| selection, he couldn't, for shame, entertain.  All he was able to
110:192,02[A  ]| do was to suggest to me that 
110:192,02@b   | I might for one or other of the
110:192,03@b   | ladies, at my choice, do him again; 
110:192,03[A  ]| but I had no difficulty in
110:192,04[A  ]| replying that 
110:192,04@a   | my best was my best and that what was done
110:192,05@a   | was done.  
110:192,05[A  ]| He assented with the awkwardness of a man in
110:192,06[A  ]| dispute between women, and Mrs*Cavenham remained furious.
110:192,07@c   | "Can't ""they"" ~~ of \all\ possible things, think! ~~ take something
110:192,08@c   | else?"
110:192,09@a   | "Oh, they want \him\!"
110:192,10@c   | "Him?"  
110:192,10[A  ]| It was monstrous.
110:192,11@a   | "To live with," 
110:192,11[A  ]| I explained ~~ 
110:192,11@a   | "To make up."
110:192,12@c   | "To make up for what?"