THE LESSON OF THE MASTER
by Henry James


CHAPTER I


He had been told the ladies were at church, but this was corrected by
what he saw from the top of the steps--they descended from a great height
in two arms, with a circular sweep of the most charming effect--at the
threshold of the door which, from the long bright gallery, overlooked the
immense lawn. Three gentlemen, on the grass, at a distance, sat under
the great trees, while the fourth figure showed a crimson dress that told
as a "bit of colour" amid the fresh rich green. The servant had so far
accompanied Paul Overt as to introduce him to this view, after asking him
if he wished first to go to his room. The young man declined that
privilege, conscious of no disrepair from so short and easy a journey and
always liking to take at once a general perceptive possession of a new
scene. He stood there a little with his eyes on the group and on the
admirable picture, the wide grounds of an old country-house near
London--that only made it better--on a splendid Sunday in June. "But
that lady, who's _she_?" he said to the servant before the man left him.

"I think she's Mrs. St. George, sir."

"Mrs. St. George, the wife of the distinguished--" Then Paul Overt
checked himself, doubting if a footman would know.

"Yes, sir--probably, sir," said his guide, who appeared to wish to
intimate that a person staying at Summersoft would naturally be, if only