She
made him, as under the breath of some vague western whiff, homesick
and freshly restless; he could really for the time have fancied
himself stranded with her on a far shore, during an ominous calm,
in a quaint community of shipwreck. Their little interview was like
a picnic on a coral strand; they passed each other, with melancholy
smiles and looks sufficiently allusive, such cupfuls of water as
they had saved. Especially sharp in Strether meanwhile was the
conviction that his companion really knew, as we have hinted, where
she had come out. It was at a very particular place--only THAT she
would never tell him; it would be above all what he should have to
puzzle for himself. This was what he hoped for, because his interest
in the girl wouldn't be complete without it. No more would the
appreciation to which she was entitled--so assured was he that
the more he saw of her process the more he should see of her pride.
She saw, herself, everything; but she knew what she didn't want,
and that it was that had helped her. What didn't she want?--there
was a pleasure lost for her old friend in not yet knowing, as there
would doubtless be a thrill in getting a glimpse. Gently and
sociably she kept that dark to him, and it was as if she soothed
and beguiled him in other ways to make up for it.
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