But at present, suddenly, Olive's
earnestness began to appear as inharmonious with the scheme of the
universe as if it had been a broken saw; and she was positively glad she
had not told her about Basil Ransom's appearance in Monadnoc Place. If
she worried so about what she knew, how much would she not have worried
about the rest! Verena had by this time made up her mind that her
acquaintance with Mr. Ransom was the most episodical, most superficial,
most unimportant of all possible relations.
Olive Chancellor watched Henry Burrage very closely that evening; she
had a special reason for doing so, and her entertainment, during the
successive hours, was derived much less from the delicate little feast
over which this insinuating proselyte presided, in the brilliant public
room of the establishment, where French waiters flitted about on deep
carpets and parties at neighbouring tables excited curiosity and
conjecture, or even from the magnificent music of _Lohengrin_, than from
a secret process of comparison and verification, which shall presently
be explained to the reader. As some discredit has possibly been thrown
upon her impartiality it is a pleasure to be able to say that on her
return from the opera she took a step dictated by an earnest
consideration of justice--of the promptness with which Verena had told
her of the note left by Basil Ransom in the afternoon. She drew Verena
into her room with her. The girl, on the way back to Tenth Street, had
spoken only of Wagner's music, of the singers, the orchestra, the
immensity of the house, her tremendous pleasure.
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