The Ambassadors Henry James (novel24 txt) đ
- Author: Henry James
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He had stopped, leaving his friend to wonder a little what point he wished to make; and this it was that enabled Strether meanwhile to make one. âOh weâve never pretended to go into detail. We werenât in the least bound to that. It was âfilling outâ enough to miss you as we did.â
But Chad rather oddly insisted, though under the high lamp at their corner, where they paused, he had at first looked as if touched by Stretherâs allusion to the long sense, at home, of his absence. âWhat I mean is you must have imagined.â
âImagined what?â
âWellâ âhorrors.â
It affected Strether: horrors were so littleâ âsuperficially at leastâ âin this robust and reasoning image. But he was none the less there to be veracious. âYes, I dare say we have imagined horrors. But whereâs the harm if we havenât been wrong?â
Chad raised his face to the lamp, and it was one of the moments at which he had, in his extraordinary way, most his air of designedly showing himself. It was as if at these instants he just presented himself, his identity so rounded off, his palpable presence and his massive young manhood, as such a link in the chain as might practically amount to a kind of demonstration. It was as ifâ âand how but anomalously?â âhe couldnât after all help thinking sufficiently well of these things to let them go for what they were worth. What could there be in this for Strether but the hint of some self-respect, some sense of power, oddly perverted; something latent and beyond access, ominous and perhaps enviable? The intimation had the next thing, in a flash, taken on a nameâ âa name on which our friend seized as he asked himself if he werenât perhaps really dealing with an irreducible young Pagan. This descriptionâ âhe quite jumped at itâ âhad a sound that gratified his mental ear, so that of a sudden he had already adopted it. Paganâ âyes, that was, wasnât it? what Chad would logically be. It was what he must be. It was what he was. The idea was a clue and, instead of darkening the prospect, projected a certain clearness. Strether made out in this quick ray that a Pagan was perhaps, at the pass they had come to, the thing most wanted at Woollett. Theyâd be able to do with oneâ âa good one; heâd find an openingâ âyes; and Stretherâs imagination even now prefigured and accompanied the first appearance there of the rousing personage. He had only the slight discomfort of feeling, as the young man turned away from the lamp, that his thought had in the momentary silence possibly been guessed. âWell, Iâve no doubt,â said Chad, âyouâve come near enough. The details, as you say, donât matter. It has been generally the case that Iâve let myself go. But Iâm coming roundâ âIâm not so bad now.â With which they walked on again to Stretherâs hotel.
âDo you mean,â the latter asked as they approached the door, âthat there isnât any woman with you now?â
âBut pray what has that to do with it?â
âWhy itâs the whole question.â
âOf my going home?â Chad was clearly surprised. âOh not much! Do you think that when I want to go anyone will have any powerâ ââ
âTo keep youââ âStrether took him straight upâ ââfrom carrying out your wish? Well, our idea has been that somebody has hithertoâ âor a good many persons perhapsâ âkept you pretty well from âwanting.â Thatâs whatâ âif youâre in anybodyâs handsâ âmay again happen. You donât answer my questionââ âhe kept it up; âbut if you arenât in anybodyâs hands so much the better. Thereâs nothing then but what makes for your going.â
Chad turned this over. âI donât answer your question?â He spoke quite without resenting it. âWell, such questions have always a rather exaggerated side. One doesnât know quite what you mean by being in womenâs âhands.â Itâs all so vague. One is when one isnât. One isnât when one is. And then one canât quite give people away.â He seemed kindly to explain. âIâve never got stuckâ âso very hard; and, as against anything at any time really better, I donât think Iâve ever been afraid.â There was something in it that held Strether to wonder, and this gave him time to go on. He broke out as with a more helpful thought. âDonât you know how I like Paris itself?â
The upshot
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