Madame Merle took a sheet of music—she was seated at the piano and had abruptly wheeled about on the stool when she 昀rst spoke—and mechanically turned the leaves. "I＇m very ambitious!" she at last replied.
"And your ambitions have not been satis昀ed? They must have been great."
"They were great. I should make myself ridiculous by talking of them."
Isabel wondered what they could have been—whether Madame Merle had aspired to wear a crown."I don＇t know what your idea of success may be, but you seem to me to have been successful. To me indeed you＇re a vivid image of success."