THE WINGS OF THE DOVE
her two or three prophecies had found time to be made true? He had fairly believed himself ready to say whether or no the overture on Milly's part, promised according to the boldest of them, had taken place. But what was in fact blessedly coming to him was that, so far as such things were concerned, his readiness wouldn't be taxed. Kate's pressure on the question of what had taken place remained so admirably general that even her present inquiry kept itself free of sharpness. "So then that after Lord Mark's interference you never again met?"
It was what he had been all the while coming to. "No; we met once—so far as it could be called a meeting. I had stayed—I didn't come away."
"That," said Kate, "was no more than decent."
"Precisely"—he felt himself wonderful; "and I wanted to be no less. She sent for me, I went to her, and that night I left Venice."
His companion waited. "Wouldn't that then have been your chance?"
"To refute Lord Mark's story? No, not even if, before her there, I had wanted to. What did it matter, either? She was dying."
"Well," Kate in a manner persisted. "Why not just because she was dying?" She had, however, all her discretion. "But of course, I know, seeing her, you could judge."
"Of course, seeing her, I could judge. And I did see her! If I had denied you, moreover," Den-
352
