“You never do, and I’m greatly obliged to you. You’ve been very considerate.”
“It was not considerate—it was convenient,” said Mrs. Touchett. “But I shall talk to Madame Merle.”
“I don’t see why you keep bringing her in. She has been a very good friend to me.”
“Possibly; but she has been a poor one to me.”
“What has she done to you?”
“She has deceived me. She had as good as promised me to prevent your engagement.”
“She couldn’t have prevented it.”
“She can do anything; that’s what I’ve always liked her for. I knew she could play any part; but I understood that she played them one by one. I didn’t understand that she would play two at the same time.”
“I don’t know what part she may have played to you,” Isabel said; “that’s between yourselves. To me she has been honest and kind and devoted.”
“Devoted, of course; she wished you to marry her candidate. She told me she was watching you only in order to interpose.”