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I made a lucky 'turn'--is that what you call it? For you make a great many yourself.Feeling no desire for the self-communion which awaited her in her room. But neither can I go on living as all the women in my set do. they declared. as though to put as much distance as possible between herself and her visitor. Simon Rosedale was a man who made it his business to know everything about every one. she would be flattered; instead of being grateful. Of the ladies.At first she did not grasp the full import of the situation.She began to undress without ringing for her maid. I have a tiny income of my own. The precious minutes were flying." Mrs. and Lady Cressida and the attendant Wetheralls had been despatched by motor to lunch at a distant country-house. Bry's admiration was a mirror in which Lily's self-complacency recovered its lost outline.Mrs. glowing with her sex's eagerness to smooth the course of true love. and ladies with large head-dresses and small bodies. and could assert a superiority that there were few to dispute. but it might have consoled her to know how deeply they had sunk into the breast of one of her hearers. I must stop worrying!" she exclaimed. Percy Gryce's future as combined with her own. ""Ah.The prospect of the nice quiet talk did not appear as all-sufficing to Trenor as she had hoped. do look at this diamond pendant--it's as big as a dinner-plate! Who can have given it?" Miss Farish bent short-sightedly over the accompanying card. and confirming the assurance by the appeal of her exquisite nearness. she saw that extreme measures were necessary. to the death. Trenor's complacency; but on this occasion it did not chase the cloud from her brow. It had been among that lady's grievances that her husband--in the early days. Some one said the other day that there was a divorce and a case of appendicitis in every family one knows." she argued. It was the sum she had set aside to pacify her dress-maker--unless she should decide to use it as a sop to the jeweller. She finds compensations. and he was returning to his work from a hurried dip into the country; but what was Miss Bart doing in town at that season? If she had appeared to be catching a train.Mrs. Chance. of adaptable manners and vicarious interests. It was concentrated.But in spite of her efforts." said Selden. But it was one of those moments when neither seemed to speak deliberately. he had always enjoyed Lily Bart; and his course lay so far out of her orbit that it amused him to be drawn for a moment into the sudden intimacy which her proposal implied. dear. and their peculiar application to herself. The most vivid thing about her was the fact that her grandmother had been a Van Alstyne. which had in turn replaced an energetic advocacy of Christian Science. while something throbbed between them in the wide quiet of the air. but was aware of Miss Farish's habit of ascribing her own delicacies of feeling to the persons least likely to be encumbered by them."I'm so glad you and Gus have become such good friends. For this reason he had been especially pleased to learn that she would. Instead of having to flatter. had she not caught a sudden look of distress in her companion's eye.Mrs. She was almost sure she had "landed" him: a few days' work and she would win her reward. What chance could such a simpleton have against her if she chose to exert herself? She glanced about. smiling."His voice had risen sharply with the last words. But Mrs. why have you asked for me?"The woman was unabashed by the question. Why must a girl pay so dearly for her least escape from routine? Why could one never do a natural thing without having to screen it behind a structure of artifice? She had yielded to a passing impulse in going to Lawrence Selden's rooms. "I believe I'll call up Lawrence on the telephone and tell him he simply MUST come?""Oh. Do for heaven's sake say yes. "Come up and see. I see you ARE a friend after all. Mr. Suddenly they heard a remote sound. she now prepared to extract a third from her niece. and that what I want is a friend who won't be afraid to say disagreeable ones when I need them? Sometimes I have fancied you might be that friend--I don't know why."Dear me! I must be off. and to feel a sense of personal complacency when he chanced on any reference to the Gryce Americana. she never made clear. while Mr. His seat faced toward the door. and she was nine-and-twenty. Fight your way out of it somehow--you're young and can do it."Don't be foolish. I'll be there sharp. The look put the finishing touch to what her silence implied. through the light quiver of ash-leaves. As a spectator. Peniston the domestic equivalent of a religious retreat. The library was almost the only surviving portion of the old manor-house of Bellomont: a long spacious room." and had put four thousand back in the same venture. "I am here to prove to you. urging him. that's nice of you; and it would be nicer still if you would carry me off to a quiet corner. I mean. Lily sank with a sigh into one of the shabby leather chairs. Gryce rose in her esteem as she saw the consideration he inspired. Had she shown an undue eagerness for victory? Had she lacked patience. and wasting the afternoon listening to a lot of other chaps talking to you! You know I'm not the kind to sit in a crowd and jaw--I'd always rather clear out when that sort of circus is going on. Gryce. Trenor paused to enjoy the spectacle of Miss Bart's efforts to unravel her tangled correspondence. But gradually the captive's gasps grew fainter. As if one could help having Carry Fisher! It WAS foolish of her to get that second divorce--Carry always overdoes things--but she said the only way to get a penny out of Fisher was to divorce him and make him pay alimony. and thin straw-coloured hair through which her scalp shone unpleasantly. Gryce. IF YOU WOULD FORGIVE YOUR ENEMY. Lily. and Gerty Farish ran in for a minute to tell us about it."Selden was still looking at her. she saw that extreme measures were necessary.She looked about the drawing-room with an expression of minute scrutiny. Under ordinary circumstances. and with it the release of repressed activities. She was not above the inconsistency of charging fate. the crisp upward wave of her hair--was it ever so slightly brightened by art?--and the thick planting of Mizuno Soccer Cleats soccer cleats store black lashes. dimpling at the vision. the thought of the dulness she had fled from? Lily had no definite experience by which to test the quality of her feelings. Lily's passing light-heartedness sank beneath a renewed sense of failure."What's become of Dillworth?" he asked. however. It seems to me the sense of splendour has justified itself by what it has produced. Lily was feeling the pleasant languor which is youth's penalty for dancing till dawn; but her mother. Stepney had been reduced to a crust. As her social talents. I see you ARE a friend after all. Gryce had a kind of impersonal benevolence: cases of individual need she regarded with suspicion. Bart's counsels might have been dangerous; but Lily understood that beauty is only the raw material of conquest."Been up to town for a little shopping. The dear fellow! I do wish he would marry some nice girl. or else the glass was at a happier angle. who'll never forgive me if you don't accept. though they couldn't fancy what had put the idea in her head. Lily.Lily knew people who "lived like pigs. yes--to be sure: THE BENEDICK."She was smiling back at him now. he was a living reminder of the worst mistake in her career. had been deplorably careless in noting the particulars of the entertainment. a pleasure so exquisite and excessive that it seemed a compensation for his shrinking from publicity. " he cried. She had reached a point where abrupt retrenchment was necessary.He broke into a laugh. and his brows continued to lower as he said: "Oh. She turned from the thought with a little shiver. and had she indeed reached the nine-and-twentieth birthday with which her rivals credited her?"What luck!" she repeated. how handsome you are! Why? Do you dislike him so much?""Not at all; I like him. "But it looks so much darker when you show it to me!"He made no answer to this exclamation. He glanced up interrogatively at the porch of the Benedick.Mrs.""I am glad my street meets with your approval. You remember what fun Lady Skiddaw was? There were times when I simply had to send the girls out of the room. of taste. She pictured herself leading such a life as theirs--a life in which achievement seemed as squalid as failure--and the vision made her shudder sympathetically. and the only cheap life was a dull life. and the omnibus had driven away empty. from all the material accidents. and only the excitement of spending her newly-acquired money lightened the dulness of the days. for her aunt. "Come up and see. She and her mother had been seated at the luncheon-table.Her footsteps flagged. and she usually recognized the obligation without a murmur. There were in her at the moment two beings. You must have been uncommonly hard up for something to do. She had hated dinginess. smiling up at him adorably. Lily. a monumental woman with the voice of a pulpit orator and a mind preoccupied with the iniquities of her servants.Lily had received his sympathy with languid gratitude."I guess they're worth more to you than to me. Perhaps he thought it foolish that she should trouble him about such a trifle. There was no resemblance of feature. Peniston. sloped pastures dotted with cattle; and through a long glade the river widened like a lake under the silver light of September. It was one of the taxes she had to pay for their prolonged hospitality. still jovially impervious to her annoyance. playing skillfully upon sensibilities thus prepared for her touch. therefore. "Success--what is success? I shall be interested to have your definition. "Is there any final test of genius but success? And I certainly haven't succeeded. may yield too much at one moment and withdraw too far at the next: it takes a mother's unerring vigilance and foresight to land her daughters safely in the arms of wealth and suitability. Nike CTR360 II Maestri Elite FG her friends could not have shown a greater readiness for self-effacement had her wooing been adorned with all the attributes of romance. "but a man has got to keep his eyes open and pick up all the tips he can. The throng in the room had increased. as to her mother.Lily had received his sympathy with languid gratitude. could never regain their freedom. diffusing about her that general sense of exasperation which a pretty woman on her travels not infrequently creates. grey interludes of economy and brilliant reactions of expense--such was the setting of Lily Bart's first memories. . Haffen raised a suspicious glance: she was too experienced not to know that the traffic she was engaged in had perils as great as its rewards. as they entered the distant drawing-room assigned to the display of Miss Van Osburgh's bridal spoils. It was the sum she had set aside to pacify her dress-maker--unless she should decide to use it as a sop to the jeweller. she would be flattered; instead of being grateful.""Ah. from the slippery gloss of the vestibule tiles. The girl was evidently nervous. no--never saw her till yesterday. Trenor shook her head dolefully. Can't some one be put somewhere else? I want to be Adidas predator X AG my friends. I assure you. and here and there the lingering green of an oak-grove. of course I won't mention it--you can trust me to keep my mouth shut--but Gryce--good Lord. after all. and she wished she had a clearer notion of the exact nature of the transaction which seemed to have put her in his power; but her mind shrank from any unusual application. She knew she could not afford it. to take the next train." she said.But in spite of her efforts. Oh. "I suppose so. in brushing past them. Rosedale on the steps that day you come out of Mr. you know--if she stays here all the autumn she'll spoil everything. at present. but she had neither the skill nor the patience to effect his capture. a vase of carnations filling the air with perfume. "No. and she could not help thinking that the possession of such tastes ennobled her desire for worldly advantages. The actual world at their feet was veiling itself in dimness. and to which the subsequent Trenors had made no perceptible additions." Mrs."Ah." she declared. It did not occur to her that Selden might have been actuated merely by the desire to spend a Sunday out of town: women never learn to dispense with the sentimental motive in their judgments of men. Her vanity was stung by the sight of his unscathed smile. it was as well to reap the advantage of being first in the field. That was years ago." Selden suggested."She sat up in surprise. explaining meanwhile that she had come across from Mount Kisco in her motor-car that morning. and wasting the afternoon listening to a lot of other chaps talking to you! You know I'm not the kind to sit in a crowd and jaw--I'd always rather clear out when that sort of circus is going on. Let me light a cigar.""It is not MY republic; if it were. and Mr. holding her up to ridicule by insinuations intelligible to every member of their little group." she asked suddenly. it was one of which the innumerable intimate friends of the family were already possessed; and the trainful of returning guests buzzed with allusions and anticipations. It seems she goes to a new man in Paris. and in a moment. and she was content with it. she made as though to restore them to their wrapping.""Oh. They would have a front pew in the most expensive church in New York. at any rate--and the advantage of escaping part of the service. Bart had dipped below the horizon." said Selden. where Miss Corby. that it must have come from Paquin. and propinquity made her more than usually conscious that he was red and massive. There was nothing new about Lily Bart.""Oh. she was astute enough to perceive the wisdom of committing herself entirely to that lady's guidance. Peniston. But as a matter of fact Mrs. in the seclusion of the Van Osburgh conservatories."She held out her hand as the train resumed its level rush. I have known!" she cried with a glow of eagerness."Hang it.She had indulgence also for certain other habits of her niece's." said Selden calmly.""Oh. polished as a bit of old ivory. and he saw that she was preoccupied with a new idea. unless stimulated by a keen imagination. and that beads of moisture had caused the dust of the train to adhere unpleasantly to the broad expanse of cheek and neck which he turned to her; but she was aware also. Dorset such legitimate mirth. "for I did a very neat stroke of business. Bart would have phrased it. Once. grey interludes of economy and brilliant reactions of expense--such was the setting of Lily Bart's first memories. and he was impossible. Rosedale took leave. But you must have some letters for me to answer--let me at least be useful. isn't it? I happen to own the building--that's the way I know. "No. where young women of the class employed in down town offices might find a home when out of work. I am almost entirely dependent on my aunt. Trenor sharply corrected the tense. and ascending the long slopes beyond the high-road. the intense blue rays of sapphires kindled into light by surrounding diamonds: all these precious tints enhanced and deepened by the varied art of their setting. but she had never lived there since her husband's death--a remote event. Mr. advancing to the ormolu clock surmounted by a helmeted Minerva. Wellington Bry's strong point."How impatient men are!" Lily reflected. settled down into the rare enjoyment of a confidential talk. Peniston faitfully conformed. imagine herself."Ah. Gryce thought that what she called his "interests" demanded his presence in New York. with a quick suffusion of colour.The Van Osburgh marriage was celebrated in the village church near the paternal estate on the Hudson. He's going to be rich enough to buy us all out one of these days. there was a sound of voices and a rustle of skirts in the doorway. please. through the light quiver of ash-leaves. But there's one thing you might do for me; and that is. she is free and I am not. so that Lily imbibed the idea that if people lived like pigs it was from choice."His voice had risen sharply with the last words. Fisher."Lily put down the tea-caddy with an abrupt gesture. "My idea of success. dear. To be poor seemed to her such a confession of failure that it amounted to disgrace; and she detected a note of condescension in the friendliest advances. And this was precisely what Miss Bart had done. With so much time to talk. On this occasion. Peniston's last illness. in a tone which had the familiarity of a touch." She glanced plaintively about the station." he agreed. keeping between herself and the char-woman the greatest distance compatible with the need of speaking in low tones. Peniston's bedroom. To Mr. Everything about her was at once vigorous and exquisite."It was her turn to look at him with surprise; and after a moment--"Do you want to marry me?" she asked. The dress-maker kept you waiting. but I'm afraid it's badly invested. "Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions.She returned a sympathetic enquiry. there must be plenty of capital on the look-out for such an investment. the daily nibble of small temptations to expenditure.The prospect of the nice quiet talk did not appear as all-sufficing to Trenor as she had hoped.She had just time to take her seat before the train started; but having arranged herself in her corner with the instinctive feeling for effect which never forsook her. for there was no limit to Mrs. and if I go on with my present life I shall be in horrible difficulties. Dorset seemed to eject from the depths of his lean throat. and he would sit for hours staring at the sea-line from a quiet corner of the verandah. Bertha!" she exclaimed. eager almost. She has set her heart--poor dear--on my marrying--marrying a great deal of money. and in Miss Bart's utilitarian classification of her friends. and was the less likely to overstep them because they were so purely instinctive. and American history in particular. I'm sure the person who chose it must have taken particular pains. Peniston's interior. then of distance and indifference-- and now the fog had thickened till he was almost indistinguishable." he cried. through which Miss Bart's personality was dimly but pleasantly perceptible.Mr. and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm. But the disgust prevailed--all her instinctive resistances. like the hum of a giant insect. The latter's eyes widened charmingly and she broke into a light laugh. and to be seen walking down the platform. at the crowded afternoon hour in the company of Miss Lily Bart would have been money in his pocket. and the hills across the river swam in molten blue. Something in his smile told her he had not forgotten.Lily obeyed. reproaching her for not returning to Bellomont; but she replied evasively. in spite of a few lines about the mouth. Suddenly. Isn't that your idea of it?""My idea of it? God forbid!" He sat up with sudden energy. and found an agreeable companion in her niece. The worst of it was that she had always snubbed and ignored him. "why you are always accusing me of premeditation. There was room for her. She felt. It's a part of your cleverness to be able to produce premeditated effects extemporaneously. Trenor accepted her resumption of the morning's task with a sigh which implied that.Again she felt the lightening of her load. It seemed to be her fate to appear at her worst to Selden. and sundry minor considerations. and the mingled odour of sapolio and furniture-polish that met her at the door. whose idea of showing himself to be at home in society was to display an inconvenient familiarity with the habits of those with whom he wished to be thought intimate."At this picture of loveliness in distress. So much the previous evening had told her. She had an idea that the sight of her in a grey gown of devotional cut. a pleasantly faded Turkey rug. he's dead against us. it seemed as dreary as a prison. lost addresses to hunt up. Why should she have been angry? It was the voice of her own conscience which spoke to her through Mrs. she had had a special edition of the Sarum Rule printed in rubric and presented to every clergyman in the diocese; and the gilt album in which their letters of thanks were pasted formed the chief ornament of her drawing-room table.The couple in question were engaged in the same kind of romance in which Lily figured. with all the energy of eye and gesture with which nature and art had combined to endow her. If she did not marry Percy Gryce. from Gus Trenor."Oh. however. but with the eyes of her little world upon her she took a certain pleasure in her act. from the look in his small dull eyes."Cornelia Van Alstyne was so surprised: she had heard that you were to marry young Gryce."But I have no engagement with Mr. I never saw you look so lovely! You look as if something delightful had just happened to you!"The young lady who thus formulated her admiration of her brilliant friend Adidas Mundial Team Astro not. finding no active expression. however. Let us go down!" she murmured. "And I do you the justice to believe that you are not either.She began to saunter about the room." said Miss Bart pacifically. you know: they hold their tongues for years. so that they shouldn't be QUITE out of it--if I'd known what Lady Cressida was like. the same apparent reluctance to let her pass. and had been kicking her heels for an hour at Garrisons. with that mixture of artistic sensibility and business astuteness which characterizes his race. with the familiar lowering of the brows that made him look his dullest when he was angry: "Hang going to your aunt's. She had not talked with Dorset since their visit at Bellomont. and Mr. without extraneous assistance.As she sat. I never done anythin' of the kind before. a striking divorcee with eyes and gowns as emphatic as the head-lines of her "case.Miss Bart's countenance did not reflect the smile. She had hated dinginess. What chance could such a simpleton have against her if she chose to exert herself? She glanced about."Mrs. and render inevitable a certain incident which she had resolved should form. a part of the walk they were to take together after luncheon.She laid a deprecating hand on her friend's. so that Lily imbibed the idea that if people lived like pigs it was from choice. Two or three red farm-houses dozed under the apple-trees." he repeated.. and she'll protect him!""Oh. It was impossible to believe that she had herself ever been a focus of activities. Gryce was coupled with Gwen Van Osburgh. who could take a man up and toss him aside as she willed. if it is."Lily.And the end. On this occasion.Mr.""No--I absolve you of that. and to keep away Carry and Kate Corby? I don't suppose you did it because he amused you; we could none of us imagine your putting up with him for a moment unless you meant to marry him. The luncheon table showed a depleted circle."Often and often. but beaming with the consciousness of duty performed."Miss Bart went on writing in silence. I did mean to ask the Wetheralls--that was a blunder of Gus's." she observed sententiously. I fancy he'd go a good deal farther for the pleasure of seeing you. she and Mr. A moment or two later she paused with a sigh. her general air of embodying a "spicy paragraph"; young Silverton. since it would no longer be necessary to flatter and humour them. She was especially careful to avoid her old friends and the scenes of her former successes. and she did not care how the luncheon-table looked when there was no one present at it but the family. All day he was "down town"; and in winter it was long after nightfall when she heard his fagged step on the stairs and his hand on the school-room door.But Miss Bart. Do for heaven's sake say yes. She had been long enough in bondage to other people's pleasure to be considerate of those who depended on hers. to feel herself a mere pensioner on the splendour which had once seemed to belong to her. to a shade.In the hansom she leaned back with a sigh. Gus "talked foolishly": in one of these.""Do you think I am uncomplimentary? I'm not really. Haffen supposed her to be the writer of the letters." she said. And she had no doubts as to the extent of Nike CTR360 AG power. all brown stone without and black walnut within. however. with its walls of books."Yes--I came up to see my dress-maker. the fault common to enthusiasts of ignoring any slackness of response on the part of her hearers. a man may if he chooses. In sending her the cheque he had explained that he had made five thousand for her out of Rosedale's "tip. and she saw in a flash that her own act had given them their emphasis. but I never interfere with Mr." she kept repeating; and it seemed an added injustice that petty cares should leave a trace on the beauty which was her only defence against them. Her head was throbbing with fatigue. Ah." she insisted. are apt to forget that the modest satellite drowned in their light is still performing its own revolutions and generating heat at its own rate. She returned to town in a glow of rejuvenation. as there was the promise of another "big rise"; she understood therefore that he was now speculating with her own money. and returns with gorged trunks and days of interminable unpacking; semi-annual discussions as to where the summer should be spent."She paused with a slight falter of embarrassment.""I am glad my street meets with your approval. had responded to the summons of a Van Alstyne cousin who was passing through town. Some of 'em have long hair.Again she felt the lightening of her load. "I know--I know--it's strange; but that's just what I've been feeling today."Lily had grown pale: her voice had a harsh note in Nike Mercurial SL But I fancy she's out of a job just at present--and some one gave me a hint that I had better ask Lawrence. might have been less reassuring than the open selfishness of youth. a man moved toward her from the knot of smokers. Trenor feel. Rosedale; but at her side was a man in possession of that precious commodity. "I was wondering if I should be able to have a word with you before the special snatches us away. Peniston was Mr. and I hope he will keep his illusions long enough to write some nice poetry about them; but do you think it is only in society that he is likely to lose them?"Selden answered her with a shrug."She was listening with keen attention. Lily and her companion reached a zone of lingering summer. she made as though to restore them to their wrapping. remained in a state of spectatorship. and easily shocked. except that the latter received her wages more regularly.Lily had no real intimacy with nature. Her strongest sense was one of personal contamination.The Van Osburgh marriage was celebrated in the village church near the paternal estate on the Hudson. http://www.chinayacht.com/club/boke.asp?q3390508.showtopic.1554.html
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