"Yes, I guess I do rather like her." Which she accepted for the first case she could recall of their not being affected by a person in the same way.

It came back therefore to his pretending; but she had gone far enough, and to add to her appearance of levity she further observed that, though they were so far from a novelty, she should also immediately desire, at Fawns, the presence of the Assinghams.

That put everything on a basis independent of explanations; yet it was extraordinary, at the same time, how much, once in the country again with the others, she was going, as they used to say at home, to need the presence of the good Fanny.

It was the strangest thing in the world, but it was as if Mrs.Assingham might in a manner mitigate the intensity of her consciousness of Charlotte.

It was as if the two would balance, one against the other; as if it came round again in that fashion to her idea of the equilibrium.