Isabel judged best not to show this letter to her uncle; but she acquainted him with its purport, and, as she expected, he begged her instantly to assure Miss Stackpole, in his name, that he should be delighted to receive her at Gardencourt. "Though she＇s a literary lady," he said, "I suppose that, being an American, she won＇t show me up, as that other one did. She has seen others like me."
"She has seen no other so delightful!" Isabel answered; but she was not altogether at ease about Henrietta＇s reproductive instincts, which belonged to that side of her friend＇s character which she regarded with least complacency. She wrote to Miss Stackpole,however, that she would be very welcome under Mr.Touchett＇s roof; and this alert young woman lost no time in announcing her prompt approach. She had gone up to London, and it was from that centre that she took the train for the station nearest to Gardencourt,where Isabel and Ralph were in waiting to receive her."Shall I love her or shall I hate her?" Ralph asked while they moved along the platform.