The Portrait of a Lady

Isabel meets and is charmed by the Misses Molyneux, Lord Warburton’s quiet sisters. She visits Lockleigh, Lord Warburton’s home. Isabel comments on the disparity between their brother’s wealth and his progressive political position, which Lord Warburton’s sisters don’t understand. She and Lord Warburton walk alone, and she gets an ominous feeling that he is going to make a romantic scene.

Isabel receives a message from her friend, Henrietta. The journalist has arrived in England and is eager to meet with Isabel. Mr. Touchett tells Isabel to invite her friend to Gardencourt, and Henrietta comes to stay.

Ralph is immediately impressed by Henrietta and considers whether he is in love with her. Henrietta plans to write about Gardencourt and its inhabitants, and Isabel attempts to dissuade her. Henrietta and Ralph speak while he shows her the home’s art. He thinks she is trying to attract him, though unconventionally. Isabel later tells him she was not, and he has offended her. He comments facetiously about the difficulty of conversing with such women.

Ralph vows not to misinterpret Henrietta again. Mrs. Touchett and Henrietta form a dislike for each other, arguing about American hotels and servants. Henrietta is annoyed at Isabel for not asking about the news she insinuated in her original letter. She tells Isabel it is that Caspar Goodwood has come to England to follow Isabel. Henrietta reports that she spoke positively about Isabel to him on the way over, which annoys Isabel. Isabel receives a letter from Caspar, telling her he didn’t accept her dismissal when they last met, and that he wants to see her.

Lord Warburton comes to Gardencourt and finds Isabel in the garden. She has just finished Caspar’s letter and hesitates at the company. Lord Warburton insists they walk together. He tells her he has come only for her, that he was in love with her from the moment they met, and he asks her to marry him. She hesitates and tells him she isn’t sure she wants to marry anyone. He asks whether it’s his Englishness that makes her hesitate and tells her she doesn’t need to answer him right away. She attempts to clarify that she doesn’t need time to think about her answer, but just about how to let him down easily. He goes away upset, and she feels sure of her choice but somewhat “frightened at herself” (122) in terms of what it says about her.

Isabel discusses Lord Warburton’s proposal with Mr. Touchett. He tells his niece that Lord Warburton had written him a letter about the impending proposal and asks if she accepted it. She tells him she did not, and Mr. Touchett asks several sanguine questions about why, but then notes that he doesn’t know why Englishmen attempt to entice Americans away from their country of origin.

Isabel then thinks about Caspar’s letter and her annoyance at his decision to follow her, which she views as a “disagreeably strong push” (125). She thinks about Caspar dismissively, and the narrator interjects with a description of his merits: His father had success in the cotton mill industry, and Caspar attended Harvard then invented a cotton-spinning mechanism for which he received a patent. Isabel decides not to answer Caspar’s letter yet.

She writes to Lord Warburton three days later with a definitive refusal of his proposal. Henrietta tells Ralph she thinks Isabel has changed since coming to England. She tells him she is afraid of Isabel marrying a European and asks him to help prevent it by inviting Caspar to Gardencourt. He is hesitant but agrees after she suggests he is in love with Isabel. He invites Caspar in part to prove her wrong.

Caspar writes back, declining the invitation. Henrietta instead urges Isabel to accompany her to London.

Isabel delays the start of their London trip, because Lord Warburton replied to her letter by saying he would come to Gardencourt in two days. He comes with his eldest sister. During lunch, he and Henrietta talk. She tells him she disapproves of the aristocracy of which he is a part, and he agrees in a distracted tone. He and Isabel adjourn to the gallery to talk, and he again attempts to understand her decision to reject his proposal. She tells him she believes she is fated to unhappiness, and marrying him would be trying to escape it.