"You may say what you please," said Madame Merle, who had listened to this quick outbreak none the less attentively, we may believe, because her eye wandered away from the speaker and her hands busied themselves with adjusting the knots of ribbon on her dress. "You Osmonds are a fine race—your blood must 昀ow from some very pure source. Your brother,like an intelligent man, has had the conviction of it if he has not had the proofs. You＇re modest about it, but you yourself are extremely distinguished. What do you say about your niece? The child＇s a little princess.Nevertheless," Madame Merle added, "it won＇t be an easy matter for Osmond to marry Miss Archer. Yet he can try."