impose upon me.'

'To say how right you were would seem, under the circumstances, the
most hateful form of flattery.'

'Yes,' I said, 'I think I can dispense with your verbal
endorsement.' I felt a little bitter. It was, of course, better
that the connoisseur should have discovered the flaw before
concluding the transaction; but although I had pointed it out myself
I was not entirely pleased to have the article returned.

'I am infinitely ashamed that it should have taken me all these
days--day after day and each contributory--to discover what you saw
so easily and so completely.'

'You forget that I am her mother,' I could not resist the temptation
of saying.

'Oh, for God's sake don't jeer! Please be absolutely direct, and
tell me if you have reason to believe that to the extent of a
thought, of a breath--to any extent at all--she cares.'

He was, I could see, very deeply moved; he had not arrived at this
point without trouble and disorder not lightly to be put on or off.
Yet I did not hurry to his relief, I was still possessed by a vague
feeling of offense. I reflected that any mother would be, and I
quite plumed myself upon my annoyance. It was so satisfactory, when
one had a daughter, to know the sensations of even any mother. Nor
was it soothing to remember that the young man's whole attitude
towards Cecily had been based upon criticism of me, even though he