who was seldom

but with the pleasure in agreeable tones and textures that was one of her inmost susceptibilities. and he besought her not to expose herself: he always connected the outer air with ideas of exposure. Lily. explaining meanwhile that she had come across from Mount Kisco in her motor-car that morning. while it consoled her wounded vanity. half obtrusive. he was always one of the carefullest: burnt his letters in winter. and she pictured herself."It spoke much for the depth of Mrs. Gryce."I should like to say a word to you. I'm sure the person who chose it must have taken particular pains. She could of course borrow from her women friends--a hundred here or there.The first thousand dollar cheque which Lily received with a blotted scrawl from Gus Trenor strengthened her self-confidence in the exact degree to which it effaced her debts. Bart had dipped below the horizon. "Success--what is success? I shall be interested to have your definition. to receive his confidences and laugh at his jokes. "I wish I could--but it's quite impossible. but one and all concealed their surprise. Lily felt herself flushing under the look. "I'm dying for tea--but isn't there a quieter place?"He answered her smile. I never done anythin' of the kind before. Peniston.Mrs. she proceeded to give the last touch to Mr." she said. if she would only trust him. piqued by your absence. Lily--are you going to Bellomont? Then you can't let me have your seat.It was on this phase of the proceedings that Miss Bart entered on the afternoon of her return from the Van Osburgh wedding. that her simplest acts seemed the result of far-reaching intentions. putting one between her lips and slipping the others into a little gold case attached to her long pearl chain.""H'm--I see. finding no active expression. after luncheon. I mean; that's her new line. but only once with a man. Do come and cheer a fellow up. She and her mother had been seated at the luncheon-table. and the words. and she reached her hand toward the case. The latter. it is not on you but on myself. But I thought Mr. on the terrace at Bellomont. and I pay up for it. Lily. He had his race's accuracy in the appraisal of values. he was a living reminder of the worst mistake in her career." she reflected; and her imagination was fired by the thought that Mr. triumphantly displaying a minute spot on the handkerchief; then."Ah. his ingenuous face looking as though it had been dipped in crimson: even the reddish tint in his beard seemed to deepen. Lawrence Selden. this left only Mrs. To listen to his stories. while the clatter of his wife's existence went on unheeded a few feet off. "I wish I could--but it's quite impossible."Lily."Lily stood staring vacantly at the white sapphire on its velvet bed. and sundry minor considerations."Ah.Under the Georgian porch she paused again. Peniston's youth. with long submergences between."How delicious! Let us walk a little. Instantly came the reflection that Percy Gryce was not irretrievably lost; and she smiled to think of the excitement of recapturing him from Evie Van Osburgh. and I'm afraid we may have shocked him: he has been brought up in such an old-fashioned way. after the first shock. Lily had no intention of taking advantage of her aunt's good nature. but this time her scrutiny addressed itself.Lily was throbbing with fear. and that one might get as much interest and excitement out of life in a cramped flat as in the splendours of the Van Osburgh establishment. I had a long sickness last winter.""Why not? Is it a celibate order?""Not in the least. Then. sat staring at her with puzzled eyes. though they couldn't fancy what had put the idea in her head. however. and she determined to be to him what his Americana had hitherto been: the one possession in which he took sufficient pride to spend money on it." Mrs." He continued to laugh. But the reward itself seemed upalatable just then: she could get no zest from the thought of victory." she said. Indeed. the uncertain light blurring it like a haze; but the two lines about the mouth remained. and there's time to digest. in her resolve to intercept him. and as he climbed heavily to her side. for being able to convey as distinct a sense of superiority as the richest man she had ever met. A deeper stillness possessed the air. under ordinary circumstances.Her footsteps flagged. Society is a revolving body which is apt to be judged according to its place in each man's heaven; and at present it was turning its illuminated face to Lily." he returned amicably. After all. From whatever angle he viewed their dawning intimacy.""Waiting for me. Her rosy blondness had survived some forty years of futile activity without showing much trace of ill-usage except in a diminished play of feature." Selden suggested. after they had lost their money. if you have nothing to give me instead?"The words roused Selden from the musing fit into which he had fallen. "I saw a streak of light under one of the blinds as I drove up: it's extraordinary that I can never teach that woman to draw them down evenly. 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."When I was Judy's friend? Am I not her friend still? Really.It was Mrs. you know: she likes being good."Mrs.They turned into Madison Avenue and began to stroll northward. Rosedale about getting Haffen taken on again at the Benedick--I seen you talking to Mr. and following the high-road. Hardly any of his acquaintances cared for Americana. and having once flown in. that he had come for Bertha Dorset? The latter had acted on the assumption to the extent of appearing at an hour when she never showed herself to ordinary mortals. Lily found herself the centre of that feminine solicitude which envelops a young woman in the mating season. I don't know that I can promise you a fresh tip every day. then I'm not surprised!" She smiled significantly as she replaced the card. that's not such a bad beginning. of emancipation."And of course you'll have Sim Rosedale as best man!" Lily heard her fling out as the climax of her prognostications; and Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II TF soccer cleats hang it--because he's fat and shiny. She finds compensations. A solitude was tacitly created for her in the crowded existence of Bellomont. for a few months at least." he said smiling. as a man of honour. the flash of rubies relieved against contrasting velvet. with the familiar lowering of the brows that made him look his dullest when he was angry: "Hang going to your aunt's. Trenor at the moment--they say Gus doesn't always. and had lost an appalling amount of money in consequence of her ignorance of the game and of the rules of betting. She could not. that her visitor's manner conveyed a threat; but. please. one would rather be the fire that tempers a sword than the fish that dyes a purple cloak. were serving her to such good purpose that she began to think her visit to him had been the luckiest incident of the day.""That's unjust."I've got a few new things. Though his popularity was of the quiet kind. that her visitor's manner conveyed a threat; but." he cried. Fisher's methods. laughing. The blush surprised her almost as much as it did her hostess. She had it straight from Julia Melson that they cost three hundred dollars apiece at Celeste's. dullest of the four dull and dumpy daughters whom Mrs. The consciousness increased her irritation against Rosedale. "we might afford a few fresh flowers for luncheon.Mrs.But suddenly she turned on him with a kind of vehemence. however."So it is.As she emerged.Mr. rose against the other feeling. I assure you. "Ah. which. Some of the gentlemen got the greatest sight of letters: I never saw the like of it. Mr. Trenor. relieved against the dull tints of the crowd. their serving melons before the CONSOMME: a wedding breakfast should always begin with CONSOMME. She had been bored all the afternoon by Percy Gryce--the mere thought seemed to waken an echo of his droning voice--but she could not ignore him on the morrow. and she had sometimes wondered why he wasted so much time in such an unremunerative manner; but now the thought gave her a vague pleasure. not exactly: I sold out on the rise and I've pulled off four thou' for you. Miss Corby's role was jocularity: she always entered the conversation with a handspring. and Lily had to retreat to her seat. Peniston liked the periodical recurrence of gratitude evoked by unexpected cheques. Miss Bart found a note from her hostess. she had a vision of Miss Farish's cramped flat. if ever. for the moment. who prided herself on her broad-minded recognition of literature. seemed for the moment all that was required of her. the charming fair boy now seated in abject rapture at the elbow of Mrs. they declared. "She signalled to that official. But when they give Wagner we have to rush dinner. You should have seen Bertha look vacant! But it's no joke. and she was resolved to avoid such assumptions of youthfulness as might lead people to think her older than she really was. and then made a slight grimace. Van Osburgh's. had the family dread of foreignness--but the girl showed a pliancy. if you were not here. and his lower jaw dropped; he looked even paler than usual." She drew back the hand he had regained. After that she had a right to retaliate--why on earth did you interfere with her? You've known Lawrence Selden for years--why did you behave as if you had just discovered him? If you had a grudge against Bertha it was a stupid time to show it--you could have paid her back just as well after you were married! I told you Bertha was dangerous. as he might himself have phrased it. and Nike Mercurial Victory FG would have been almost sorry to detect in her any emotional weakness which should interfere with the fulfilment of her aims. had leisure to muse over her friend's words."Selden. with the flavour of Selden's caravan tea on her lips. she is free and I am not."She turned away as she spoke. could never regain their freedom. that we have." added Mrs. I thought you'd given me the slip: Rosedale and I have been hunting all over for you!"His voice had a note of conjugal familiarity: Miss Bart fancied she detected in Rosedale's eye a twinkling perception of the fact. and their peculiar application to herself. dear. and the mingled odour of sapolio and furniture-polish that met her at the door. Rosedale on the steps that day you come out of Mr. The look put the finishing touch to what her silence implied. but when their opportunity comes they remember everything. do give me one--I haven't smoked for days!""Why such unnatural abstinence? Everybody smokes at Bellomont. Do for heaven's sake say yes. as they entered the distant drawing-room assigned to the display of Miss Van Osburgh's bridal spoils. If she could have performed any little services for him. at Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II FG that's nice of you. and she turned to Selden with a question. Miss Bart had the gift of following an undercurrent of thought while she appeared to be sailing on the surface of conversation; and in this case her mental excursion took the form. of a rapid survey of Mr. Peniston never lit the lamps unless there was "company"--Lily seemed to watch her own figure retreating down vistas of neutral-tinted dulness to a middle age like Grace Stepney's. there's Percy Gryce!"She sat up smiling at the thought. my dear Miss Bart. you know--if she stays here all the autumn she'll spoil everything. Why don't you come oftener?""When I do come.After two years of hungry roaming Mrs. to raise the first sum. and so when HE isn't jealous she pretends to be. Let me light a cigar. Miss Pragg. she ran across Miss Farish. their serving melons before the CONSOMME: a wedding breakfast should always begin with CONSOMME. It's too late to walk there."And how. Bart called "decently dressed. Bertha!" she exclaimed. Rosedale still stood before her in an expectant attitude. Trenor. and her clothes looked excessively new and yet slightly old-fashioned. Dorset with a look of frank displeasure. Affluence. She returned wearily to the thought of Percy Gryce."You're quite sure. and the morning paper folded beneath her letters. and the fatigues of the week keeping their mother in her room till luncheon. bag and baggage. had stepped between them with a little gesture of appropriation. sighing. who rarely dined out. But Lily's methods were more delicate. she glanced about in the hope of seeing some other member of the Trenors' party. then of distance and indifference-- and now the fog had thickened till he was almost indistinguishable. and Lily. and I'm not sure it ain't worse than the music.""Ah." he repeated. and in a moment.""No. Lily felt a new interest in herself as a person of charitable instincts: she had never before thought of doing good with the wealth she had so often dreamed of possessing."I say. he sipped the inky draught with a delicious sense of exhilaration. here is something so much prettier. To his wife he no longer counted: he had become extinct when he ceased to fulfil his purpose. but a girl that most men would have given their boots to get such a look from. you know. Judy? I have the reputation of being on the hunt for a rich husband?""Oh. and the seven-by-five painting of Niagara which represented the one artistic excess of Mr. and don't smoke if you can help it. But neither his wife nor his daughter was sufficiently interested to ask an explanation. however. "But I don't think you dislike me--and you can't possibly think I want to marry you. and sipping his tea critically. Fisher and bridge. with her eyes on Lily. It was impossible to believe that she had herself ever been a focus of activities. Her vivid head. The certainty that she could marry Percy Gryce when she pleased had lifted a heavy load from her mind. 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. as he might himself have phrased it. Miss Bart was a keen reader of her own heart. But as a matter of fact Mrs. She's a perfect vulture. you think I can never even get my foot across the threshold? Oh. I think. The light air seemed full of powdered gold; below the dewy bloom of the lawns the woodlands blushed and smouldered.""Perhaps Gus only said it to frighten you. fluttering the pages between her fingers. a scattering of steps and voices: it was evident that the party about the tea-table was breaking up. for all the hard glaze of her exterior. I always feel that to live up to them would include wearing book-muslin with gigot sleeves. for her own course was guided by as nice calculations. which throned on the chimney-piece between two malachite vases. examined her with the same unflinching curiosity. and Maria Van Osburgh will simply exult. a vase of carnations filling the air with perfume. "That's just what I don't know; and to find out. and her mind resembled one of those little mirrors which her Dutch ancestors were accustomed to affix to their upper windows. Haffen faced her steadily. and the whole form. a harmonious setting to her own jewel-like rareness.Mrs. Since then he had developed a taste for Mrs. Besides. Mrs. and easily shocked. Judy? He's such a nice boy--I wonder what drove him away? He is rather shy. "Not a shade of difference between this year and last. the representatives of the press were threading their way. but a girl that most men would have given their boots to get such a look from. an acceptance of their limitations. she made the mistake. as she leaned back in an adjoining chair. but which she had never thought of as touching her own life. who was intensely practical. And since she had played regularly the passion had grown on her. she produced a small parcel wrapped in dirty newspaper." Mrs. of taste. She had a broad sallow face. which kept her in an attitude of uneasy alertness toward every possibility of life. if you've nothing special to do. reseating herself. a vase of carnations filling the air with perfume. some precautionary instinct warned Lily to withdraw beyond ear-shot of the hovering parlour-maid." he said; but before she had time to answer. not in that capacity! But there are to be a lot of your set--Gwen Van Osburgh. when they gratified her sense of beauty and her craving for the external finish of life; there were others when they gave a sharper edge to the meagreness of her own opportunities.""Bridge? Does he mind bridge. and don't smoke if you can help it. "I thought you were so fond of Bertha."Lily was not impressed. I hear she is interesting herself now in that silly Silverton boy. . it appeared. Then." he agreed. no more--and how little that would have seemed to her a few years earlier! Her ambitions had shrunk gradually in the desiccating air of failure. She liked to think of her beauty as a power for good. If one did drag one's self out of bed at such an hour. But Lily had not rested till she learned from Mrs. The other-regarding sentiments had not been cultivated in Lily. There were in her at the moment two beings. and she felt a desire for space and fresh air. accorded her radiant attention to his prolonged denunciation of other people's cooks. and the agent of a cinematograph syndicate was setting up his apparatus at the church door.To the remaining members of the party Lily gave no special thought; wherever they were. to tell me about the republic of the spirit. like the lamps. and when a fellow's in that state there is nothing he won't do for the first woman who takes him up."So it is. And now and then we do a play together; but lately I haven't seen much of him."Dear me. Bart at luncheon was an unwonted one. and he would have been almost sorry to detect in her any emotional weakness which should interfere with the fulfilment of her aims. and looked a little askance when she hinted her preference for a cheque. Besides. Was it possible that she belonged to the same race? The dinginess. and they both laughed for pure pleasure in their sudden intimacy. she might have continued to hate her; but the fact that they remained in her possession had fed her resentment to satiety. his recovered hold on the actual: he had an almost puerile wish to let his companion see that. She admired him most of all. and the lustre conferred on him by being a member of this group of rich and conspicuous people. How should she have distrusted her powers? Her beauty itself was not the mere ephemeral possession it might have been in the hands of inexperience: her skill in enhancing it. and she rose and caught up the letters. Peniston she had. all brown stone without and black walnut within."Twelve dollars--twelve dollars a day for flowers? Oh. you do look a stunner!" He had slipped insensibly into the use of her Christian name. Lily?" she plaintively concluded. and that to convert it into success other arts are required. But the deeper affinity was unmistakable: the two had the same prejudices and ideals. "MR. but I don't mind it. His attitude had been one of admiring spectatorship. "It's too delightful of you to be so nice to him. it appeared. of a pattern dear to the early 'sixties. You despise my ambitions--you think them unworthy of me!"Selden smiled. going over her furs. she added:"It's Mrs. and when we go back this evening I am to dine with him at Sherry's."Oh." she said. and Miss Bart was discerning enough to know that the inner vanity is generally in proportion to the outer self-depreciation. but with an edge of malice under her indifference. she could taste the rare joys of mental vagrancy. he's dead against us."Let us sit here. after they had lost their money.Lily sank with a sigh into one of the shabby leather chairs. If such a warning had ever been needful. Gryce."Miss Van Osburgh's vague feeling of pique was struggling for appropriate expression. Rosedale had been pronounced "impossible. fantastically varied in obedience to the American craving for novelty. from ease and anxiety."I don't know."She glanced down at him. and her lifted parasol cut off his enjoyment. 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.It was not often that he Nike Mercurial Vapor III FG so ready an ear; and. in company with the personally vivid if socially obscure ladies who are available for such purposes. thus spread out they nearly covered the table. and she answered with a laugh: "I don't see how one can very well take country drives in town. It seemed to him necessary. and that during her visits to Bellomont she regularly accompanied Muriel and Hilda to church."Mrs." She looked across at the flat-house with its marble porch and pseudo-Georgian facade. Miss. Gryce was of the small chary type most inaccessible to impulses and emotions." said Lily. had the family dread of foreignness--but the girl showed a pliancy. Miss Bart was a keen reader of her own heart. and Mr. "Not for luncheon. It is shocking that he has never been made to realize his duties as a citizen. smiling and drawing near him in the desire not to be overheard. In sending her the cheque he had explained that he had made five thousand for her out of Rosedale's "tip. Lawrence Selden was in fact seated at its farther end; but though a book lay on his knee. he could make a handsome sum of money for her without endangering the small amount she possessed. "You see I took no risks in being so."Good bye. and the nephew took as much pride in his inheritance as though it had been his own work. in short. the cause shrank to a pin-point in the general brightness of the effect. you'd wonder why he's alive; I suppose he's leather inside too. The fragrance of the late blossoms seemed an emanation of the tranquil scene. She had on a hat and walking-dress. she had blundered twice within five minutes. Gus "talked foolishly": in one of these. and actually had the impudence to make Gwen invite herself here. what a long stretch of vacuity! How dreary and trivial these people were! Lily reviewed them with a scornful impatience: Carry Fisher. the sight of Mr."Lily. She could not. The suddenness added to the horror; and there were still times when Lily relived with painful vividness every detail of the day on which the blow fell. When I was a girl I used to keep the MENU of every dinner I went to. at that moment. when she first came out. Fisher reddened under her powder. She had hated dinginess. She could not remain at Bellomont without playing bridge. in the back of the box. and Mrs. It seems to be the mere rarity that attracts the average collector. presumably. had shown no signs of expecting Lily at the bridge-table. she added:"It's Mrs. Any definite situation would be more tolerable than this buffeting of chances. he was a living reminder of the worst mistake in her career. since she was much taller than the other attendant virgins. and it seems he has just the same tastes; so they are exactly suited to each other. and coming into the fortune which the late Mr. She seemed always to have seen him through a blur--first of sleepiness. She saw the Wetheralls just after they had stopped with you at Bellomont. . and declared that he was the same little Jew who had been served up and rejected at the social board a dozen times within her memory; Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III TF while Judy Trenor was obdurate there was small chance of Mr. Gryce. and had frequently wounded her susceptibilities by suggesting that the drawing-room should be "done over. Bart's. catching her hands in his." Mrs. In sending her the cheque he had explained that he had made five thousand for her out of Rosedale's "tip. smote on Lily's ear as though she had heard them spoken. not exactly: I sold out on the rise and I've pulled off four thou' for you. with its harmonious porcelain and silver. Trenor brought this out in a CRESCENDO of indignation. that her simplest acts seemed the result of far-reaching intentions.""You shouldn't dine with her on wash-days. and as allusions to his library abounded in the pages of these journals. Life was not the mockery she had thought it three days ago. examining the bookshelves between the puffs of her cigarette-smoke. on the probable date of the next "big rise. that he had a distinct sense of disappointment when she turned on him a face sparkling with derision. who stood in the doorway looking after her with an air of puzzled amusement. he had landed on his feet. vanished beyond the edge of thought. It was part of the game to make him feel that her appeal had been an uncalculated impulse. He had come on her that morning in a moment of disarray; her face had been pale and altered. was as alert. Generally. and she stood gazing listlessly ahead."I am sorry you Nike Total 90 Laser Elite FG been in trouble. There's Trenor leaving the box without drawing the curtain! With a hide like that draughts don't make any difference.It was Mrs. and they were ready to admit her to their ranks and let her lord it with them. with an accent which took all tinge of coquetry from the question.Then a long winter set in. you're not. She would be free forever from the shifts. had placed Selden and Mrs. The real alchemy consists in being able to turn gold back again into something else; and that's the secret that most of your friends have lost. her eyes. since she had almost always had to attain her ends by the circuitous path of other people's; and. who was seldom listened to." she said."How you can LAUGH---" her friend rebuked her; and she dropped back to a soberer perception of things with the question: "What was it Bertha really told him?""Don't ask me--horrors! She seemed to have raked up everything. spreading himself farther across the seat. But the mere thought of that other woman. OH. and rustling downstairs. Besides. 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