I doubt meanwhile," he went on, "if Sarah has at all directly
attacked him."
His companion brooded. "But won't he wish for his own satisfaction
to make his ground good to her?"
"No--he'll leave it to me, he'll leave everything to me. I 'sort
of' feel"--he worked it out--"that the whole thing will come upon
me. Yes, I shall have every inch and every ounce of it. I shall be
USED for it--!" And Strether lost himself in the prospect. Then he
fancifully expressed the issue. "To the last drop of my blood."
Maria, however, roundly protested. "Ah you'll please keep a drop
for ME. I shall have a use for it!"--which she didn't however
follow up. She had come back the next moment to another matter.
"Mrs. Pocock, with her brother, is trusting only to her general
charm?"
"So it would seem."
"And the charm's not working?"
Well, Strether put it otherwise, "She's sounding the note of home--
which is the very best thing she can do."
"The best for Madame de Vionnet?"
"The best for home itself. The natural one; the right one."
"Right," Maria asked, "when it fails?"
Strether had a pause. "The difficulty's Jim. Jim's the note of
home."
She debated. "Ah surely not the note of Mrs. Newsome."
But he had it all.
Pages:
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504