‘I don’t know. I’ve no plans.’
‘Happy man! That’s a little bleak, but it’s very free.’
‘Oh yes, I’m very free.’
‘Free to come back to Rome I hope,’ said Osmond as he saw a group of new visitors enter the room. ‘Remember that when you do come we count on you!’
Goodwood had meant to go away early, but the evening elapsed without his having a chance to speak to Isabel otherwise than as one of several associated interlocutors. There was something perverse in the inveteracy with which she avoided him; his unquenchable rancour discovered an intention where there was certainly no appearance of one. There was absolutely no appearance of one. She met his eyes with her clear hospitable smile, which seemed almost to ask that he would come and help her to entertain some of her visitors. To such suggestions, however, he opposed but a stiff impatience. He wandered about and waited; he talked to the few people he knew, who found him for the first time rather self-contradictory. This was indeed rare with Caspar Goodwood, though he often contradicted others. There was often music at Palazzo Roccanera, and it was usually very good. Under cover of the music he managed to contain himself; but towards the end, when he saw the people beginning to go, he drew near to Isabel and asked her in a low tone if he might not speak to her in one of the other rooms, which he had just assured himself was empty. She smiled as if she wished to oblige him but found herself absolutely prevented. ‘I’m afraid it’s impossible. People are saying good-night, and I must be where they can see me.’
‘I shall wait till they are all gone then.’
She hesitated a moment. ‘Ah, that will be delightful!’ she exclaimed.
And he waited, though it took a long time yet. There were several people, at the end, who seemed tethered to the carpet. The Countess Gemini, who was never herself till midnight, as she said, displayed no consciousness that the entertainment was over; she had still a little circle of gentlemen in front of the fire, who every now and then broke into a united laugh. Osmond had disappeared—he never bade good-bye to people; and as the Countess was extending her range, according to her custom at this period of the evening, Isabel had sent Pansy to bed. Isabel sat a little apart; she too appeared to wish her sister-in-law would sound a lower note and let the last loiterers depart in peace.
‘May I not say a word to you now?’ Goodwood presently asked her.
She got up immediately, smiling. ‘Certainly, we’ll go somewhere else if you like.’ They went together, leaving the Countess with her little circle, and for a moment after they had crossed the threshold neither of them spoke. Isabel would not sit down; she stood in the middle of the room slowly fanning herself; she had for him the same familiar grace. She seemed to wait for him to speak. Now that he was alone with her all the passion he had never stifled surged into his senses; it hummed in his eyes and made things swim round him. The bright, empty room grew dim and blurred, and through the heaving veil he felt her hover before him with gleaming eyes and parted lips. If he had seen more distinctly he would have perceived her smile was fixed and a trifle forced—that she was frightened at what she saw in his own face. ‘I suppose you wish to bid me good-bye?’ she said.
‘Yes—but I don’t like it. I don’t want to leave Rome,’ he answered with almost plaintive honesty.
‘I can well imagine. It’s wonderfully good of you. I can’t tell you how kind I think you.’
For a moment more he said nothing. ‘With a few words like that you make me go.’
‘You must come back some day,’ she brightly returned.