This would have been rather a dry account of Mr.Osmond＇s career if Isabel had fully believed it; but her imagination supplied the human element which she was sure had not been wanting. His life had been mingled with other lives more than he admitted;naturally she couldn＇t expect him to enter into this. For the present she abstained from provoking further revelations; to intimate that he had not told her everything would be more familiar and less considerate than she now desired to be—would in fact be uproariously vulgar. He had certainly told her quite enough. It was her present inclination, however,to express a measured sympathy for the success with which he had preserved his independence. "That＇s a very pleasant life," she said, "to renounce everything but Correggio!"