Pansy would never defy her father, he might depend on that; so nothing was to be gained by precipitation.

Mr.Osmond needed to accustom his mind to an offer of a sort that he had not hitherto entertained, and this result must come of itself--it was useless to try to force it.

Rosier remarked that his own situation would be in the meanwhile the most uncomfortable in the world, and Madame Merle assured him that she felt for him.

But, as she justly declared, one couldn't have everything one wanted; she had learned that lesson for herself.

There would be no use in his writing to Gilbert Osmond, who had charged her to tell him as much.