"For any one but yourself," Madame Merle mentally observed; but the re昀exion was perfectly inaudible.
"I never sacrificed my husband to another," Mrs.Touchett continued with her stout curtness.
"Oh no," thought Madame Merle; "you never did anything for another!"
There was a certain cynicism in these mute comments which demands an explanation; the more so as they are not in accord either with the view—somewhat super昀cial perhaps—that we have hitherto enjoyed of Madame Merle＇s character or with the literal facts of Mrs. Touchett＇s history; the more so,too, as Madame Merle had a well-founded conviction that her friend＇s last remark was not in the least to be construed as a side-thrust at herself. The truth is that the moment she had crossed the threshold she received an impression that Mr. Touchett＇s death had had subtle consequences and that these consequences had been pro昀table to a little circle of persons among whom she was not numbered. Of course it was an event which would naturally have consequences; her imagination had more than once rested upon this fact during her stay at Gardencourt. But it had been one thing to foresee such a matter mentally and another to stand among its massive records. The idea of a distribution of property—she would almost have said of spoils—just now pressed upon her senses and irritated her with a sense of exclusion. I am far from wishing to picture her as one of the hungry mouths or envious hearts of the general herd, but we have already learned of her having desires that had never been satis昀ed. If she had been questioned, she would of course have admitted—with a 昀ne proud smile—that she had not the faintest claim to a share in Mr. Touchett＇s relics. "There was never anything in the world between us," she would have said. "There was never that, poor man!"—with a fillip of her thumb and her third finger. I hasten to add, moreover, that if she couldn＇t at the present moment keep from quite perversely yearning she was careful not to betray herself. She had after all as much sympathy for Mrs. Touchett＇s gains as for her losses.