He stared a moment
at the image of such a conjunction; then, for Miss Barrace's
benefit, he wondered. "Is she too then under the charm--?"
"No, not a bit"--Miss Barrace was prompt. "She makes nothing of him.
She's bored. She won't help you with him."
"Oh," Strether laughed, "she can't do everything.
"Of course not--wonderful as she is. Besides, he makes nothing of
HER. She won't take him from me--though she wouldn't, no doubt,
having other affairs in hand, even if she could. I've never," said
Miss Barrace, "seen her fail with any one before. And to-night,
when she's so magnificent, it would seem to her strange--if she
minded. So at any rate I have him all. Je suis tranquille!''
Strether understood, so far as that went; but he was feeling for
his clue. "She strikes you to-night as particularly magnificent?"
"Surely. Almost as I've never seen her. Doesn't she you?
Why it's FOR you."
He persisted in his candour. "'For' me--?"
"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Miss Barrace, who persisted in the opposite of
that quality.
"Well," he acutely admitted, "she IS different. She's gay. "
"She's gay!" Miss Barrace laughed. "And she has beautiful
shoulders--though there's nothing different in that."
"No," said Strether, "one was sure of her shoulders.
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