There had been, at this climax, the usual preparatory talk about hours and combinations, in the midst of which poor Fanny gently approached Mrs.Verver.She said "You and the Prince, love,"-- quite, apparently, without blinking; she took for granted their public withdrawal together; she remarked that she and Bob were alike ready, in the interest of sociability, to take any train that would make them all one party.

"I feel really as if, all this time, I had seen nothing of you"-- that gave an added grace to the candour of the dear thing's approach.

But just then it was, on the other hand, that the young man found himself borrow most effectively the secret of the right tone for doing as he preferred.

His preference had, during the evening, not failed of occasion to press him with mute insistences; practically without words, without any sort of straight telegraphy, it had arrived at a felt identity with Charlotte's own.

She spoke all for their friend while she answered their friend's question, but she none the less signalled to him as definitely as if she had fluttered a white handkerchief from a window.