“I didn’t mean to,” he answered, “but if I did a little, no matter. I came from London a while ago by the train, but I couldn’t come here directly. There was a man at the station who got ahead of me. He took a fly that was there, and I heard him give the order to drive here. I don’t know who he was, but I didn’t want to come with him; I wanted to see you alone. So I’ve been waiting and walking about. I’ve walked all over, and I was just coming to the house when I saw you here. There was a keeper, or someone, who met me; but that was all right, because I had made his acquaintance when I came here with your cousin. Is that gentleman gone? Are you really alone? I want to speak to you.” Goodwood spoke very fast; he was as excited as when they had parted in Rome. Isabel had hoped that condition would subside; and she shrank into herself as she perceived that, on the contrary, he had only let out sail. She had a new sensation; he had never produced it before; it was a feeling of danger. There was indeed something really formidable in his resolution. She gazed straight before her; he, with a hand on each knee, leaned forward, looking deeply into her face. The twilight seemed to darken round them. “I want to speak to you,” he repeated; “I’ve something particular to say. I don’t want to trouble you—as I did the other day in Rome. That was of no use; it only distressed you. I couldn’t help it; I knew I was wrong. But I’m not wrong now; please don’t think I am,” he went on with his hard, deep voice melting a moment into entreaty. “I came here today for a purpose. It’s very different. It was vain for me to speak to you then; but now I can help you.”
She couldn’t have told you whether it was because she was afraid, or because such a voice in the darkness seemed of necessity a boon; but she listened to him as she had never listened before; his words dropped deep into her soul. They produced a sort of stillness in all her being; and it was with an effort, in a moment, that she answered him. “How can you help me?” she asked in a low tone, as if she were taking what he had said seriously enough to make the enquiry in confidence.
“By inducing you to trust me. Now I know—today I know. Do you remember what I asked you in Rome? Then I was quite in the dark. But today I know on good authority; everything’s clear to me today. It was a good thing when you made me come away with your cousin. He was a good man, a fine man, one of the best; he told me how the case stands for you. He explained everything; he guessed my sentiments. He was a member of your family and he left you—so long as you should be in England—to my care,” said Goodwood as if he were making a great point. “Do you know what he said to me the last time I saw him—as he lay there where he died? He said: ‘Do everything you can for her; do everything she’ll let you.’ ”
Isabel suddenly got up. “You had no business to talk about me!”
“Why not—why not, when we talked in that way?” he demanded, following her fast. “And he was dying—when a man’s dying it’s different.” She checked the movement she had made to leave him; she was listening more than ever; it was true that he was not the same as that last time. That had been aimless, fruitless passion, but at present he had an idea, which she scented in all her being. “But it doesn’t matter!” he exclaimed, pressing her still harder, though now without touching a hem of her garment. “If Touchett had never opened his mouth I should have known all the same. I had only to look at you at your cousin’s funeral to see what’s the matter with you. You can’t deceive me any more; for God’s sake be honest with a man who’s so honest with you. You’re the most unhappy of women, and your husband’s the deadliest of fiends.”
She turned on him as if he had struck her. “Are you mad?” she cried.
“I’ve never been so sane; I see the whole thing. Don’t think it’s necessary to defend him. But I won’t say another word against him; I’ll speak only of you,” Goodwood added quickly. “How can you pretend you’re not heartbroken? You don’t know what to do—you don’t know where to turn. It’s too late to play a part; didn’t you leave all that behind you in Rome? Touchett knew all about it, and I knew it too—what it would cost you to come here. It will have cost you your life? Say it will”—and he flared almost into anger: “give me one word of truth! When I know such a horror as that, how
