It was in the office still that Isabel was sitting on that melancholy afternoon of early spring which I have just mentioned. At this time she might have had the whole house to choose from, and the room she had selected was the most depressed of its scenes. She had never opened the bolted door nor removed the green paper (renewed by other hands) from its sidelights; she had never assured herself that the vulgar street lay beyond. A crude, cold rain fell heavily; the spring-time was indeed an appealand it seemed a cynical, insincere appealto patience. Isabel, however, gave as little heed as possible to cosmic treacheries; she kept her eyes on her book and tried to fix her mind. It had lately occurred to her that her mind was a good deal of a vagabond, and she had spent much ingenuity in training it to a military step and teaching it to advance, to halt, to retreat, to perform even more complicated manoeuvres, at the word of command. Just now she had given it marching orders and it had been trudging over the sandy plains of a history of German Thought. Suddenly she became aware of a step very different from her own intellectual pace; she listened a little and perceived that some one was moving in the library, which communicated with the office. It struck her first as the step of a person from whom she was looking for a visit, then almost immediately announced itself as the tread of a woman and a strangerher possible visitor being neither. It had an inquisitive, experimental quality which suggested that it would not stop short of the threshold of the office; and in fact the doorway of this apartment was presently occupied by a lady who paused there and looked very hard at our heroine. She was a plain, elderly woman, dressed in a comprehensive waterproof mantle; she had a face with a good deal of rather violent point.
Oh, she began, is that where you usually sit? She looked about at the heterogeneous chairs and tables.
Not when I have visitors, said Isabel, getting up to receive the intruder.
She directed their course back to the library while the visitor continued to look about her. You seem to have plenty of other rooms; theyre in rather better condition. But everythings immensely worn.
Have you come to look at the house? Isabel asked. The servant will show it to you.
Send her away; I dont want to buy it. She has probably gone to look for you and is wandering about upstairs; she didnt seem at all intelligent. You had better tell her its no matter. And then, since the girl stood there hesitating and wondering, this unexpected critic said to her abruptly: I suppose youre one of the daughters?
Isabel thought she had very strange manners. It depends upon whose daughters you mean.
The late Mr. Archersand my poor sisters.
Ah, said Isabel slowly, you must be our crazy Aunt Lydia!
Is that what your father told you to call me? Im your Aunt Lydia, but Im not at all crazy: I havent a delusion! And which of the daughters are you?
Im the youngest of the three, and my names Isabel.
Yes; the others are Lilian and Edith. And are you the prettiest?
I havent the least idea, said the girl.
I think you must be. And in this way the aunt and the niece made friends. The aunt had quarrelled years before with her brother-in-law, after the death of her sister, taking him to task for the manner in which he brought up his three girls. Being a high-tempered man he had requested her to mind her own business, and she had taken him at his word. For many years she held no communication with him and after his death had addressed not a word to his daughters, who had been bred in that disrespectful view of her which we have just seen Isabel betray. Mrs. Touchetts behaviour was, as usual, perfectly deliberate. She intended to go to America to look after her investments (with which her husband, in spite of his great financial position, had nothing to do) and would take advantage of this opportunity to enquire into the condition of her nieces. There was no need of writing, for she should attach no importance to any account of them she should elicit by letter; she believed, always, in seeing for ones self. Isabel found, however, that she knew a good deal about them, and knew about the marriage of the two elder girls; knew that their poor father had left very little money, but that the house in Albany, which had passed into his hands, was to be sold for their benefit; knew, finally, that Edmund Ludlow, Lilians husband, had taken upon himself to attend to this matter, in consideration of which the young couple, who had come to Albany during Mr. Archers illness, were remaining there for the present and, as well as Isabel herself, occupying the old place.
How much money do you expect for it? Mrs. Touchett asked of her companion, who had brought her to sit in the front parlour, which she had inspected without enthusiasm.
I havent the least idea, said the girl.
Thats the second time you have said that to me, her aunt rejoined. And yet you dont look at all stupid.
Im not stupid; but I dont know anything about money.
Yes, thats the way you were brought upas if you were to inherit a million. What have you in point of fact inherited?
I really cant tell you. You must ask Edmund and Lilian; theyll be back in half an hour.
In Florence we should call it a very bad house, said Mrs. Touchett; but here, I dare say, it will bring a high price. It ought to make a considerable sum for each of you. In addition to that you must have something else; its most extraordinary your not knowing. The positions of value, and theyll probably pull it down and make a row of shops. I wonder you dont do that yourself; you might let the shops to great advantage.
Isabel stared; the idea of letting shops was new to her. I hope they wont pull it down, she said; Im extremely fond of it.
I dont see what makes you fond of it; your father died here.
Yes; but I dont dislike it for that, the girl rather strangely returned. I like places in which things have happenedeven if theyre sad things. A great many people have died here; the place has been full of life.
Is that what you call being full of life?
I mean full of experienceof peoples feelings and sorrows. And not of their sorrows only, for Ive been very happy here as a child.
You should go to Florence if you like houses in which things have happenedespecially deaths. I live in an old palace in which three people have been murdered; three that were known and I dont know how many more besides.
In an old palace? Isabel repeated.
Yes, my dear; a very different affair from this. This is very bourgeois.
Isabel felt some emotion, for she had always thought highly of her grandmothers house. But the emotion was of a kind which led her to say: I should like very much to go to Florence.
Well, if youll be very good, and do everything I tell you Ill take you there, Mrs. Touchett declared.
Our young womans emotion deepened; she flushed a little and smiled at her aunt in silence. Do everything you tell me? I dont think I can promise that.
No, you dont look like a person of that sort. Youre fond of your own way; but its not for me to blame you.
And yet, to go to Florence, the girl exclaimed in a moment, Id promise almost anything!
Im the youngest of the three, and my names Isabel.
Yes; the others are Lilian and Edith. And are you the prettiest?
I havent the least idea, said the girl.
I think you must be. And in this way the aunt and the niece made friends. The aunt had quarrelled years before with her brother-in-law, after the death of her sister, taking him to task for the manner in which he brought up his three girls. Being a high-tempered man he had requested her to mind her own business, and she had taken him at his word. For many years she held no communication with him and after his death had addressed not a word to his daughters, who had been bred in that disrespectful view of her which we have just seen Isabel betray. Mrs. Touchetts behaviour was, as usual, perfectly deliberate. She intended to go to America to look after her investments (with which her husband, in spite of his great financial position, had nothing to do) and would take advantage of this opportunity to enquire into the condition of her nieces. There was no need of writing, for she should attach no importance to any account of them she should elicit by letter; she believed, always, in seeing for ones self. Isabel found, however, that she knew a good deal about them, and knew about the marriage of the two elder girls; knew that their poor father had left very little money, but that the house in Albany, which had passed into his hands, was to be sold for their benefit; knew, finally, that Edmund Ludlow, Lilians husband, had taken upon himself to attend to this matter, in consideration of which the young couple, who had come to Albany during Mr. Archers illness, were remaining there for the present and, as well as Isabel herself, occupying the old place.
How much money do you expect for it? Mrs. Touchett asked of her companion, who had brought her to sit in the front parlour, which she had inspected without enthusiasm.
I havent the least idea, said the girl.
Thats the second time you have said that to me, her aunt rejoined. And yet you dont look at all stupid.
Im not stupid; but I dont know anything about money.
Yes, thats the way you were brought upas if you were to inherit a million. What have you in point of fact inherited?
I really cant tell you. You must ask Edmund and Lilian; theyll be back in half an hour.
In Florence we should call it a very bad house, said Mrs. Touchett; but here, I dare say, it will bring a high price. It ought to make a considerable sum for each of you. In addition to that you must have something else; its most extraordinary your not knowing. The positions of value, and theyll probably pull it down and make a row of shops. I wonder you dont do that yourself; you might let the shops to great advantage.
Isabel stared; the idea of letting shops was new to her. I hope they wont pull it down, she said; Im extremely fond of it.
I dont see what makes you fond of it; your father died here.
Yes; but I dont dislike it for that, the girl rather strangely returned. I like places in which things have happenedeven if theyre sad things. A great many people have died here; the place has been full of life.
Is that what you call being full of life?
I mean full of experienceof peoples feelings and sorrows. And not of their sorrows only, for Ive been very happy here as a child.
You should go to Florence if you like houses in which things have happenedespecially deaths. I live in an old palace in which three people have been murdered; three that were known and I dont know how many more besides.
In an old palace? Isabel repeated.
Yes, my dear; a very different affair from this. This is very bourgeois.
Isabel felt some emotion, for she had always thought highly of her grandmothers house. But the emotion was of a kind which led her to say: I should like very much to go to Florence.
Well, if youll be very good, and do everything I tell you Ill take you there, Mrs. Touchett declared.
Our young womans emotion deepened; she flushed a little and smiled at her aunt in silence. Do everything you tell me? I dont think I can promise that.
No, you dont look like a person of that sort. Youre fond of your own way; but its not for me to blame you.
And yet, to go to Florence, the girl exclaimed in a moment, Id promise almost anything!
Edmund and Lilian were slow to return, and Mrs. Touchett had an hours uninterrupted talk with her niece, who found her a strange and interesting figure: a figure essentiallyalmost the first she had ever met. She was as eccentric as Isabel had always supposed; and hitherto, whenever the girl had heard people described as eccentric, she had thought of them as offensive or alarming. The term had always suggested to her something grotesque and even sinister. But her aunt made it a matter of high but easy irony, or comedy, and led her to ask herself if the common tone, which was all she had known, had ever been as interesting. No one certainly had on any occasion so held her as this little thin-lipped, bright-eyed, foreign-looking woman, who retrieved an insignificant appearance by a distinguished manner and, sitting there in a well-worn waterproof, talked with striking familiarity of the courts of Europe. There was nothing flighty about Mrs. Touchett, but she recognised no social superiors, and, judging the great ones of the earth in a way that spoke of this, enjoyed the consciousness of making an impression on a candid and susceptible mind. Isabel at first had answered a good many questions, and it was from her answers apparently that Mrs. Touchett derived a high opinion of her intelligence. But after this she had asked a good many, and her aunts answers, whatever turn they took, struck her as food for deep reflexion. Mrs. Touchett waited for the return of her other niece as long as she thought reasonable, but as at six oclock Mrs. Ludlow had not come in she prepared to take her departure.
Your sister must be a great gossip. Is she accustomed to staying out so many hours?
Youve been out almost as long as she, Isabel replied; she can have left the house but a short time before you came in.
Mrs. Touchett looked at the girl without resentment; she appeared to enjoy a bold retort and to be disposed to be gracious. Perhaps she hasnt had so good an excuse as I. Tell her at any rate that she must come and see me this evening at that horrid hotel. She may bring her husband if she likes, but she neednt bring you. I shall see plenty of you later.
CHAPTER IV
Mrs. Ludlow was the eldest of the three sisters, and was usually thought the most sensible; the classification being in general that Lilian was the practical one, Edith the beauty and Isabel the intellectual superior. Mrs. Keyes, the second of the group, was the wife of an officer of the United States Engineers, and as our history is not further concerned with her it will suffice that she was indeed very pretty and that she formed the ornament of those various military stations, chiefly in the unfashionable West, to which, to her deep chagrin, her husband was successively relegated. Lilian had married a New York lawyer, a young man with a loud voice and an enthusiasm for his profession; the match was not brilliant, any more than Ediths, but Lilian had occasionally been spoken of as a young woman who might be thankful to marry at allshe was so much plainer than her sisters. She was, however, very happy, and now, as the mother of two peremptory little boys and the mistress of a wedge of brown stone violently driven into Fifty-third Street, seemed to exult in her condition as in a bold escape. She was short and solid, and her claim to figure was questioned, but she was conceded presence, though not majesty; she had moreover, as people said, improved since her marriage, and the two things in life of which she was most distinctly conscious were her husbands force in argument and her sister Isabels originality. Ive never kept up with Isabelit would have taken all my time, she had often remarked; in spite of which, however, she held her rather wistfully in sight; watching her as a motherly spaniel might watch a free greyhound. I want to see her safely marriedthats what I want to see, she frequently noted to her husband.