She might come back to Italy and find him different--this strange man who pleased her just as he was; and it would be better not to come than run the risk of that.

But if she was not to come the greater the pity that the chapter was closed; she felt for a moment a pang that touched the source of tears.

The sensation kept her silent, and Gilbert Osmond was silent too; he was looking at her.

"Go everywhere," he said at last, in a low, kind voice; "do everything; get everything out of life.

Be happy,--be triumphant." "What do you mean by being triumphant ?" "Well, doing what you like." "To triumph, then, it seems to me, is to fail! Doing all the vain things one likes is often very tiresome." "Exactly," said Osmond with his quiet quickness.