Afterwards, however, she always remembered that one should never regret a generous error and that if Madame Merle had not the merits she attributed to her, so much the worse for Madame Merle.
There was no doubt she had great merits--she was charming, sympathetic, intelligent, cultivated.

More than this (for it had not been Isabel's ill-fortune to go through life without meeting in her own sex several persons of whom no less could fairly be said), she was rare, superior and preeminent.

There are many amiable people in the world, and Madame Merle was far from being vulgarly good-natured and restlessly witty.

She knew how to think--an accomplishment rare in women; and she had thought to very good purpose.

Of course, too, she knew how to feel; Isabel couldn't have spent a week with her without being sure of that.