He paid no heed to this remark, but spoke in his own sense. ‘She’s really very charming. I’ve scarcely known any one more graceful.’

‘It does me good to hear you say that. The better you like her the better for me.’

‘I like her very much. She’s all you described her, and into the bargain capable, I feel, of great devotion. She has only one fault.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Too many ideas.’

‘I warned you she was clever.’

‘Fortunately they’re very bad ones,’ said Osmond.

‘Why is that fortunate?’

‘Dame,⁷ if they must be sacrificed!’

Madame Merle leaned back, looking straight before her; then she spoke to the coachman. But her friend again detained her. ‘If I go to Rome what shall I do with Pansy?’

‘I’ll go and see her,’ said Madame Merle.