He had been dining there in the company of that young
lady and her mother, as well as of other persons, and he had gone
into the petit salon, at Chad's request, on purpose to talk with her.
The young man had put this to him as a favour--"I should like so
awfully to know what you think of her. It will really be a chance
for you," he had said, "to see the jeune fille--I mean the type--as she
actually is, and I don't think that, as an observer of manners,
it's a thing you ought to miss. It will be an impression that--
whatever else you take--you can carry home with you, where you'll
find again so much to compare it with."
Strether knew well enough with what Chad wished him to compare it,
and though he entirely assented he hadn't yet somehow been so
deeply reminded that he was being, as he constantly though mutely
expressed it, used. He was as far as ever from making out exactly
to what end; but he was none the less constantly accompanied by a
sense of the service he rendered. He conceived only that this
service was highly agreeable to those who profited by it; and he
was indeed still waiting for the moment at which he should catch it
in the act of proving disagreeable, proving in some degree
intolerable, to himself.
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