have nobody else. Madame de Vionnet may very well be
going off, mayn't she? - and Mr. Newsome by the same stroke: unless indeed
you've had an assurance from them to the contrary. So that if your idea's to
stay for them« - it was her duty to suggest it - »you may be left in the lurch.
Of course if they do stay« - she kept it up - »they would be part of the
picturesqueness. Or else indeed you might join them somewhere.«
    Strether seemed to face it as if it were a happy thought; but the next
moment he spoke more critically. »Do you mean that they'll probably go off
together?«
    She just considered. »I think it will be treating you quite without ceremony
if they do; though after all,« she added, »it would be difficult to see now
quite what degree of ceremony properly meets your case.«
    »Of course,« Strether conceded, »my attitude toward them is extraordinary.«
    »Just so; so that one may ask one's self what style of proceeding on their
own part can altogether match it. The attitude of their own that won't pale in
its light they've doubtless still to work out. The really handsome thing
perhaps,« she presently threw off, »would be for them to withdraw into more
secluded conditions, offering at the same time to share them with you.« He
looked at her, on this, as if some generous irritation - all in his interest -
had suddenly again flickered in her; and what she next said indeed half -
explained it. »Don't really be afraid to tell me if what now holds you is the
pleasant prospect of the empty town, with plenty of seats in the shade, cool
drinks, deserted museums, drives to the Bois in the evening, and our wonderful
woman all to yourself.« And she kept it up still more. »The handsomest thing of
all, when one makes it out, would, I dare say, be that Mr. Chad should for a
while go off by himself. It's a pity, from that point of view,« she wound up,
»that he doesn't pay his mother a visit. It would at least occupy your
interval.« The thought in fact held her a moment. »Why doesn't he pay his mother
a visit? Even a week, at this good moment, would do.«
    »My dear lady,« Strether
