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had nothing to do with himā ā€”that is in this connection. Heā€™s a gentlemanā ā€”I mean all as much of one as he ought to be. And he had nothing to gain. That helps,ā€ she added, ā€œeven a gentleman. It was I who named Maggie to himā ā€”a year from last May. He had never heard of her before.ā€

ā€œThen itā€™s grave,ā€ said the Colonel.

She hesitated. ā€œDo you mean grave for me?ā€

ā€œOh, that everythingā€™s grave for ā€˜youā€™ is what we take for granted and are fundamentally talking about. Itā€™s graveā ā€”it wasā ā€”for Charlotte. And itā€™s grave for Maggie. That is it wasā ā€”when he did see her. Or when she did see him.ā€

ā€œYou donā€™t torment me as much as you would like,ā€ she presently went on, ā€œbecause you think of nothing that I havenā€™t a thousand times thought of, and because I think of everything that you never will. It would all,ā€ she recognised, ā€œhave been grave if it hadnā€™t all been right. You canā€™t make out,ā€ she contended, ā€œthat we got to Rome before the end of February.ā€

He more than agreed. ā€œThereā€™s nothing in life, my dear, that I can make out.ā€

Well, there was nothing in life, apparently, that she, at real need, couldnā€™t. ā€œCharlotte, who had been there, that year, from early, quite from November, left suddenly, youā€™ll quite remember, about the 10th of April. She was to have stayed onā ā€”she was to have stayed, naturally, more or less, for us; and she was to have stayed all the more that the Ververs, due all winter, but delayed, week after week, in Paris, were at last really coming. They were comingā ā€”that is Maggie wasā ā€”largely to see her, and above all to be with her there. It was all alteredā ā€”by Charlotteā€™s going to Florence. She went from one day to the otherā ā€”you forget everything. She gave her reasons, but I thought it odd, at the time; I had a sense that something must have happened. The difficulty was that, though I knew a little, I didnā€™t know enough. I didnā€™t know her relation with him had been, as you say, a ā€˜nearā€™ thingā ā€”that is I didnā€™t know how near. The poor girlā€™s departure was a flightā ā€”she went to save herself.ā€

He had listened more than he showedā ā€”as came out in his tone. ā€œTo save herself?ā€

ā€œWell, also, really, I think, to save him too. I saw it afterwardsā ā€”I see it all now. He would have been sorryā ā€”he didnā€™t want to hurt her.ā€

ā€œOh, I daresay,ā€ the Colonel laughed. ā€œThey generally donā€™t!ā€

ā€œAt all events,ā€ his wife pursued, ā€œshe escapedā ā€”they both did; for they had had simply to face it. Their marriage couldnā€™t be, and, if that was so, the sooner they put the Apennines between them the better. It had taken them, it is true, some time to feel this and to find it out. They had met constantly, and not always publicly, all that winter; they had met more than was knownā ā€”though it was a good deal known. More, certainly,ā€ she said, ā€œthan I then imaginedā ā€”though I donā€™t know what difference it would after all have made with me. I liked him, I thought him charming, from the first of our knowing him; and now, after more than a year, he has done nothing to spoil it. And there are things he might have doneā ā€”things that many men easily would. Therefore I believe in him, and I was right, at first, in knowing I was going to. So I havenā€™tā€ā ā€”and she stated it as she might have quoted from a slate, after adding up the items, the sum of a column of figuresā ā€”ā€œso I havenā€™t, I say to myself, been a fool.ā€

ā€œWell, are you trying to make out that Iā€™ve said you have? All their case wants, at any rate,ā€ Bob Assingham declared, ā€œis that you should leave it well alone. Itā€™s theirs now; theyā€™ve bought it, over the counter, and paid for it. It has ceased to be yours.ā€

ā€œOf which case,ā€ she asked, ā€œare you speaking?ā€

He smoked a minute: then with a groan: ā€œLord, are there so many?ā€

ā€œThereā€™s Maggieā€™s and the Princeā€™s, and thereā€™s the Princeā€™s and Charlotteā€™s.ā€

ā€œOh yes; and then,ā€ the Colonel scoffed, ā€œthereā€™s Charlotteā€™s and the Princeā€™s.ā€

ā€œThereā€™s Maggieā€™s and Charlotteā€™s,ā€ she went onā ā€”ā€œand thereā€™s also Maggieā€™s and mine. I think too that thereā€™s Charlotteā€™s and mine. Yes,ā€ she mused, ā€œCharlotteā€™s and mine is certainly a case. In short, you see, there are plenty. But I mean,ā€ she said, ā€œto keep my head.ā€

ā€œAre we to settle them all,ā€ he inquired, ā€œtonight?ā€

ā€œI should lose it if things had happened otherwiseā ā€”if I had acted with any folly.ā€ She had gone on in her earnestness, unheeding of his question. ā€œI shouldnā€™t be able to bear that now. But my good conscience is my strength; no one can accuse me. The Ververs came on to Rome aloneā ā€”Charlotte, after their days with her in Florence, had decided about America. Maggie, I daresay, had helped her; she must have made her a present, and a handsome one, so that many things were easy. Charlotte left them, came to England, ā€˜joinedā€™ somebody or other, sailed for New York. I have still her letter from Milan, telling me; I didnā€™t know at the moment all that was behind it, but I felt in it nevertheless the undertaking of a new life. Certainly, in any case, it cleared that airā ā€”I mean the dear old Roman, in which we were steeped. It left the field freeā ā€”it gave me a free hand. There was no question for me of anybody else when I brought the two others together. More than that, there was no question for them. So you see,ā€ she concluded, ā€œwhere that puts me.ā€ She got up, on the words, very much as if they were the blue daylight towards which, through a darksome tunnel, she had been pushing her way, and the elation in her voice, combined with her recovered alertness, might have signified the sharp whistle of the train that shoots at last into the open. She turned about the room; she looked

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