“He’s very intelligent,” said Ralph; “but it’s right he should be puzzled once in a while.”
“Isabel will enjoy puzzling a lord,” Mrs. Touchett remarked.
Her son frowned a little. “What does she know about lords?”
“Nothing at all: that will puzzle him all the more.”
Ralph greeted these words with a laugh and looked out of the window. Then, “Are you not going down to see my father?” he asked.
“At a quarter to eight,” said Mrs. Touchett.
Her son looked at his watch. “You’ve another quarter of an hour then. Tell me some more about Isabel.” After which, as Mrs. Touchett declined his invitation, declaring that he must find out for himself, “Well,” he pursued, “she’ll certainly do you credit. But won’t she also give you trouble?”
“I hope not; but if she does I shall not shrink from it. I never do that.”
“She strikes me as very natural,” said Ralph.
“Natural people are not the most trouble.”