The Wings of the Dove Henry James (android based ebook reader TXT) đ
- Author: Henry James
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She gave no look to thank himâ âshe rather looked away; she only said at once to her servant, âIn ten minutesâ; and then to her visitor, as the man went out, âWeâll go somewhereâ âI shall like that. But I must ask of you timeâ âas little as possibleâ âto get ready.â She looked over the room to provide for him, keep him there. âThere are books and thingsâ âplenty; and I dress very quickly.â He caught her eyes only as she went, on which he thought them pretty and touching.
Why especially touching at that instant he could certainly scarce have said; it was involved, it was lost in the sense of her wishing to oblige him. Clearly what had occurred was her having wished it so that she had made him simply wish, in civil acknowledgement, to oblige her; which he had now fully done by turning his corner. He was quite round it, his corner, by the time the door had closed upon her and he stood there alone. Alone he remained for three minutes moreâ âremained with several very living little matters to think about. One of these was the phenomenonâ âtypical, highly American, he would have saidâ âof Millyâs extreme spontaneity. It was perhaps rather as if he had sought refugeâ ârefuge from another questionâ âin the almost exclusive contemplation of this. Yet this, in its way, led him nowhere; not even to a sound generalisation about American girls. It was spontaneous for his young friend to have asked him to drive with her aloneâ âsince she hadnât mentioned her companion; but she struck him after all as no more advanced in doing it than Kate, for instance, who wasnât an American girl, might have struck him in not doing it. Besides, Kate would have done it, though Kate wasnât at all, in the same sense as Milly, spontaneous. And then in addition Kate had done itâ âor things very like it. Furthermore he was engaged to Kateâ âeven if his ostensibly not being put her public freedom on other grounds. On all grounds, at any rate, the relation between Kate and freedom, between freedom and Kate, was a different one from any he could associate or cultivate, as to anything, with the girl who had just left him to prepare to give herself up to him. It had never struck him before, and he moved about the room while he thought of it, touching none of the books placed at his disposal. Milly was forward, as might be said, but not advanced; whereas Kate was backwardâ âbackward still, comparatively, as an English girlâ âand yet advanced in a high degree. Howeverâ âthough this didnât straighten it outâ âKate was of course two or three years older; which at their time of life considerably counted.
Thus ingeniously discriminating, Densher continued slowly to wander; yet without keeping at bay for long the sense of having rounded his corner. He had so rounded it that he felt himself lose even the option of taking advantage of Millyâs absence to retrace his steps. If he might have turned tail, vulgarly speaking, five minutes before, he couldnât turn tail now; he must simply wait there with his consciousness charged to the brim. Quickly enough moreover that issue was closed from without; in the course of three minutes more Miss Thealeâs servant had returned. He preceded a visitor whom he had met, obviously, at the foot of the stairs and whom, throwing open the door, he loudly announced as Miss Croy. Kate, on following him in, stopped short at sight of Densherâ âonly, after an instant, as the young man saw with free amusement, not from surprise and still less from discomfiture. Densher immediately gave his explanationâ âMiss Theale had gone to prepare to driveâ âon receipt of which the servant effaced himself.
âAnd youâre going with her?â Kate asked.
âYesâ âwith your approval; which Iâve taken, as you see, for granted.â
âOh,â she laughed, âmy approvalâs complete!â She was thoroughly consistent and handsome about it.
âWhat I mean is of course,â he went onâ âfor he was sensibly affected by her gaietyâ ââat your so lively instigation.â
She had looked about the roomâ âshe might have been vaguely looking for signs of the duration, of the character of his visit, a momentary aid in taking a decision. âWell, instigation then, as much as you like.â She treated it as pleasant, the success of her plea with him; she made a fresh joke of this direct impression of it. âSo much so as that? Do you know I think I wonât wait?â
âNot to see herâ âafter coming?â
âWell, with you in the fieldâ â! I came for news of her, but she must be all right. If she isâ ââ
But he took her straight up. âAh how do I know?â He was moved to say more. âItâs not I who am responsible for her, my dear. It seems to me itâs you.â She struck him as making light of a matter that had been costing him sundry qualms; so that they couldnât both be quite just. Either she was too easy or he had been too anxious. He didnât want at all events to feel a fool for that. âIâm doing nothingâ âand shall not, I assure you, do anything but what Iâm told.â
Their eyes met with some intensity over the emphasis he had given his words; and he had taken it from her the next moment that
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