, with whom she came through and
who was now, none too soon, taking leave of her. They were followed by
Lord Mark and by the other men, but two or three things happened before
any dispersal of the company began. One of these was that Kate found
time to say to him with furtive emphasis: "You must go now!" Another
was that she next addressed herself in all frankness to Lord Mark, drew
near to him with an almost reproachful "Come and talk to _me!_"--a
challenge resulting after a minute for Densher in a consciousness of
their installation together in an out-of-the-way corner, though not the
same he himself had just occupied with her. Still another was that Mrs.
Stringham, in the random intensity of her farewells, affected him as
looking at him with a small grave intimation, something into which he
afterwards read the meaning that if he had happened to desire a few
words with her after dinner he would have found her ready. This
impression was naturally light, but it just left him with the sense of
something by his own act overlooked, unappreciated. It gathered perhaps
a slightly sharper shade from the mild formality of her "Good-night,
sir!" as she passed him; a matter as to which there was now nothing
more to be done, thanks to the alertness of the young man he by this
time had appraised as even more harmless than himself. This personage
had forestalled him in opening the door for her and was evidently--with
a view, Densher might have judged, to ulterior designs on
Milly--proposing to attend her to her carriage. What further occurred
was that Aunt Maud, having released her, immediately had a word for
himself. It was an imperative "Wait a minute," by which she both
detained and dismissed him; she was particular about her minute, but he
hadn't yet given her, as happened, a sign of withdrawal.

"Return to our little friend. You'll find her really interesting."

"If you mean Miss Theale," he said, "I shall certainly not forget her.
But you must remember that, so far as her 'interest' is concerned, I
myself discovered, I--as was said at dinner--invented her."

"Well, one seemed rather to gather that you hadn't taken out the
patent. Don't, I only mean, in the press of other things, too much
neglect her."

Affected, surprised by the coincidence of her appeal with Kate's, he
asked himself quickly if it mightn't help him with her. He at any rate
could but try. "You're all looking after my manners. That's exactly,
you know, what