shall
greatly enjoy working out the business of bringing them round."

There were moments when Charles Waterlow resented the very vocabulary
of his friend; he hated to hear a man talk about the "acceptance" by any
one but himself of the woman he loved. One's own acceptance--of one's
bliss--in such a case ended the matter, and the effort to bring round
those who gave her the cold shoulder was scarcely consistent with the
highest spirit. Young Probert explained that of course he felt his
relatives would only have to know Francina to like her, to delight
in her, yet also that to know her they would first have to make her
acquaintance. This was the delicate point, for social commerce with such
malheureux as Mr. Dosson and Delia was not in the least in their
usual line and it was impossible to disconnect the poor girl from
her appendages. Therefore the whole question must be approached by an
oblique movement--it would never do to march straight up. The wedge
should have a narrow end, which Gaston now made sure he had found. His
sister Susan was another name for this subtle engine; he would break
her in first and she would help him to break in the others. She was
his favourite relation, his intimate friend--the most modern, the most
Parisian and inflammable member of the family. She had no suite dans
les idees, but she had perceptions, had imagination and humour, and was
capable of generosity, of enthusiasm and even of blind infatuation. She
had in fact taken two or three plunges of her own and ought to allow for
those of others. She wouldn't like the Dossons superficially any better
than his father or than Margaret or than Jane--he called these ladies by
their English names, but for themselves, their husbands, their friends
and each other they were Suzanne, Marguerite and Jeanne; but there was
a good chance of his gaining her to his side. She was as fond of
beauty and of the arts as he--this was one of their bonds of union. She
appreciated highly Charles Waterlow's talent and there had been talk of
her deciding to sit to him. It was true her husband viewed the project
with so much colder an eye that it had not been carried out.

According to Gaston's plan she was to come to the Avenue de Villiers to
see what the artist had done for Miss Francie; her brother was to have
worked upon her in advance by his careful rhapsodies, bearing wholly on
the achievement itself, the dazzling example of Waterlow's powers, and
not on the you