Isabel took on this occasion little part in the talk; she scarcely even smiled when the others turned to her invitingly; she sat there as if she had been at the play and had paid even a large sum for her place.

Mrs.Touchett was not present, and these two had it, for the effect of brilliancy, all their own way.

They talked of the Florentine, the Roman, the cosmopolite world, and might have been distinguished performers figuring for a charity.

It all had the rich readiness that would have come from rehearsal.

Madame Merle appealed to her as if she had been on the stage, but she could ignore any learnt cue without spoiling the scene--though of course she thus put dreadfully in the wrong the friend who had told Mr.Osmond she could be depended on.