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Then one day May told hiott had asked to see hi in the request, for the old lady was steadily recovering, and she had always openly declared that she preferred Archer to any of her other grandsons-in-law May gave the e with evident pleasure: she was proud of old Catherine's appreciation of her husband

There was a moment's pause, and then Archer felt it incuether this afternoon?"

His wife's face brightened, but she instantly answered: "Oh, you'd o alone It bores Granny to see the sa violently when he rang old Mrs Mingott's bell He had wanted above all things to go alone, for he felt sure the visit would give hi a word in private to the Countess Olenska He had determined to wait till the chance presented itself naturally; and here it was, and here he was on the doorstep Behind the door, behind the curtains of the yellow da him; in another moment he should see her, and be able to speak to her before she led him to the sick-room

He wanted only to put one question: after that his course would be clear What he wished to ask was siton; and that question she could hardly refuse to answer

But in the yellow sitting-roo like a keyboard, she pushed back the sliding doors and ushered him into old Catherine's presence

The old woman sat in a vast throne-like ar a cast bronze lareen paper shade had been balanced There was not a book or a newspaper in reach, nor any evidence of feott's sole pursuit, and she would have scorned to feign an interest in fancywork

Archer saw no trace of the slight distortion left by her stroke She merely looked paler, with darker shadows in the folds and recesses of her obesity; and, in the fluted mob-cap tied by a starched boeen her first two chins, and the own, she seeht have yielded too freely to the pleasures of the table

She held out one of the little hands that nestled in a hollow of her huge lap like pet animals, and called to the hters call, say I'm asleep"