Gwen's countenance

"She knows he wouldn't mind. prepared for the look of lassitude which usually crept over his listeners' faces.As they reached the gates of Bellomont she turned to Trenor with a smile. and the seven-by-five painting of Niagara which represented the one artistic excess of Mr."The Trenors are my best friends--I think we should all go a long way to see each other. with candid shrewdness. I don't want to--but perhaps I should if you did!""That's what I told you--you're so sure of me that you can amuse yourself with experiments."Ah--and here is the porter."Well. success had developed in her an unscrupulous good nature toward the rest of her sex."Oh. But she IS dangerous--and if I ever saw her up to mischief it's now. It's a relative quality. Mr. she almost felt that other girls were plain and inferior from choice. the entire house was swathed in penitential white and deluged with expiatory soapsuds. But he thought it a very materialistic society; there were times when he was frightened by the talk of the men and the looks of the ladies.How long ago and how far off it all seemed! Those ambitions were hardly more futile and childish than the earlier ones which had centred about the possession of a French jointed doll with real hair." he continued with unconscious penetration."Oh. don't you? And no wishing of mine can alter that. if it did not declare him to be still in Mrs. and went without sugar in their tea to keep their darling afloat. But how destroy them so effectually that there should be no second risk of their falling in such hands? Mrs. "Is there any final test of genius but success? And I certainly haven't succeeded. Lily had such an air of always getting what she wanted that she was used to being appealed to as an intermediary." She leaned forward. A few days after her return to town she had the unpleasant surprise of a visit from Mr. Dorset unaccounted for. a weather-beaten person in Liberty silk and ethnological trinkets. a few hours since. or even perhaps to perceive that certain points in them were slurred; the haziness enveloping the transaction served as a veil for her embarrassment. no such opportunities were possible."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. She liked to think of her beauty as a power for good. and Mr. seen in an assemblage of his kind he was not ridiculous-looking: a friendly critic might have called his heaviness weighty. instead of the mystically veiled figure occupying the centre of attention. Lily? I wish the men would always stop away--it's really much nicer without them. but she had neither the skill nor the patience to effect his capture. As she did so a step sounded behind her. and I only mention them because I want you to do me a favour--the very greatest of favours. there must be plenty of capital on the look-out for such an investment. In his own mind there was only a lazy sense of pleasure." he continued. all I can say is that the people who are clever enough to be civil to him now will make a mighty good thing of it.His object in calling was to ask her to go to the opera in his box on the opening night. and if you'd only let her think he came for HER it would have never occurred to her to play you this trick. Their waste-paper baskets 'd be fairly brimming. Gryce's only occupation. who stood in the doorway looking after her with an air of puzzled amusement." he grumbled."Six dozen what?" asked her father's voice in the doorway.""I am glad my street meets with your approval. That is true enough in a sense; but your lungs are thinking about the air. If she had destroyed Mrs.She was roused from her musings by the approach of her cousin Jack Stepney who. and it's just the nicest possible marriage for dear Evie. would have provoked a less ready response. Miss. an acceptance of their limitations. and I naturally supposed she was the same sort; but you never can tell in those English families." he declared; and she caught a twinkle of amused curiosity between his screwed-up lids. and addressed. he subscribed to all the reviews dealing with book-collecting in general. losing herself elusively and luring him on from depth to depth of unconscious intimacy.But Miss Bart. Lily had tried to mitigate this charmless background by a few frivolous touches. The library was almost the only surviving portion of the old manor-house of Bellomont: a long spacious room."She stood talking with her cousin and Miss Van Osburgh. She felt a stealing sense of fatigue as she walked; the sparkle had died out of her." he began complainingly. HAS it started. Bart had died---died of a deep disgust. it was doubly stupid to snub the witness of her discomfiture. lost addresses to hunt up. when he came. she took refuge in the conventional formula. without a word of excuse."She held out her hand as the train resumed its level rush. they could have had her and welcome! But I thought any friend of the Skiddaws' was sure to be amusing. He followed her across the room to the entrance-hall; but on the threshold she held out her hand with a gesture of leave-taking. She had so long been accustomed to pass from one country-house to another."She sat up in surprise." it ran. "You're very kind. had she not caught a sudden look of distress in her companion's eye."Did you really come to Bellomont to see me?""Of course I did. Fisher's latest hobby was municipal reform. it was in a tone of perfect lightness. and a confirmation of his suspicions. she had felt the centripetal force of their standards. He knew that if she did not wish to be seen she would contrive to elude him; and it amused him to think of putting her skill to the test. and had been kicking her heels for an hour at Garrisons. to raise the first sum. It seems to me the sense of splendour has justified itself by what it has produced. and the morning paper folded beneath her letters. during the last three or four weeks. Rosedale. Bart had died---died of a deep disgust. during which Selden meditated one or two replies calculated to add a momentary zest to the situation; but he rejected them in Nike Total 90 Laser III AG of the simple question: "Well.But her course was too purely reasonable not to contain the germs of rebellion.Mr.""Not in the least: you might expiate your enjoyment of them by founding a hospital." she exclaimed after a long pause. and her clothes looked excessively new and yet slightly old-fashioned. I suppose?""I should fancy so--except to the historian. If these people paid court to her it proved that she was still conspicuous in the world to which they aspired; and she was not above a certain enjoyment in dazzling them by her fineness. she never made clear. she seated herself on one of the glossy purple arm-chairs; Mrs. But you will marry some one very rich. I have paid my card debts. the door never clanged: it stood always open; but most of the captives were like flies in a bottle. scanning the street for a hansom. She returned wearily to the thought of Percy Gryce. the latter had not sufficient poetry in his composition to lose sight of these prosaic facts. There was nothing especially arduous in this round of relgious obligations; but it stood for a fraction of that great bulk of boredom which loomed across her path. Lily. and the light from the great central lantern overhead shed a brightness on the women's hair and struck sparks from their jewels as they moved.She had on a hat and walking-dress. It shows that he's run away from you; that Bertha's done her work and poisoned him thoroughly. "You know they say he has eight hundred thousand a year--and spends nothing. rather than herself. during the brief course of her youthful romance. sat staring at her with puzzled eyes. having far-reaching fears about the future of his progeny."Hang it. he might have inferred that he had come on her in the act of transition between one and another of the country-houses which disputed her presence after the close of the Newport season; but her desultory air perplexed him. She was able to tell her mother exactly how the wedding-dress was cut. And this week is going to be a horrid failure too--and Gwen Van Osburgh will go back and tell her mother how bored people were. that it must be ended as promptly as possible." Mrs. "Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions. he insisted on fetching me himself and driving me to the station." she said at length. but so great was her interest in the event that. 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. If you can spare the time. "And Americana are horribly dull."How delicious! Let us walk a little. passed her lace handkerchief between the helmet and its visor. and went without sugar in their tea to keep their darling afloat. for her own irony cut deeper: no one could hurt her as much as she was hurting herself. as usual." she continued. Suddenly her expression changed from desultory enjoyment to active conjecture. after having let herself be surprised in a falsehood." he interrupted himself. Rosedale on the steps that day you come out of Mr. with all the energy of eye and gesture with which nature and art had combined to endow her.""H'm--I see. my dear Miss Bart." Selden raised himself on his elbow. as one of her friends observed. except that the women have got new clothes and the singers haven't got new voices. that she could show herself abroad without wondering whether some penetrating eye would detect in her dress the traces of Judy Trenor's refurbished splendour."Mrs. however. perhaps Lady Cressida will reconcile the Wetheralls to meeting Carry Fisher."Six dozen what?" asked her father's voice in the doorway. and she had a vision of the elaborate machinery of revenge which a word of this commanding young lady's might set in motion."Good gracious. For this reason he had been especially pleased to learn that she would. and wants to tinker up the old ship before Nike CTR360 AG adidas Absolute TRX AG aboard.""But I should never have found my way there if you hadn't told me. turning to him for sympathy. a girl who married him would always have enough to be comfortable. presumably. a disbelief in the things they did not believe in. The price of the dressing-case was still in her pocket; and drawing out her little gold purse she slipped a liberal fraction of the amount into Miss Farish's hand. and recalled the image she had brought away from her own glass. fluttering the pages between her fingers.Of course."It spoke much for the depth of Mrs. Even to the eyes of infancy. but at no very quick pace; a fact not lost on one of her observers. though they formed a part of her atmosphere. and was given to telling anecdotes about his children. without subjecting one's self to some odious conjecture? Half way down the next flight. The boles of the trees stood well apart. She could not even pause to smile over the heiress's view of a colossal fortune as a mere shelter against want: her mind was filled with the vision of what that shelter might have been to her. if you've nothing special to do. a vase of carnations filling the air with perfume. as long as things were well done; and doing things well (under competent direction) was Mrs. but she drew her hand away. She no longer meant to destroy them: that intention had been effaced by the quick corrosion of Mrs. Dorset never came down till luncheon: her doctors. But Lily was not easily disconcerted; competition put her on her mettle. and render inevitable a certain incident which she had resolved should form. a part of the walk they were to take together after luncheon. Bart's few economies to consume in private the expensive remnants of her hospitality. Her vivid head. and departed clutching a box of wedding-cake. had not Mrs.In this desultory yet agitated fashion life went on through Lily's teens: a zig-zag broken course down which the family craft glided on a rapid current of amusement.The sight of Selden's dark head. neither. "Oh. Everything about him accorded with the fastidious element in her taste. whatever their source. that's the name: I believe it's an old word for bachelor. but at no very quick pace; a fact not lost on one of her observers. For this reason he had been especially pleased to learn that she would. managed it for me."The afternoon was perfect. were starting in automobiles on a visit to the Van Osburghs at Peekskill. Van Osburgh. Trenor. she turned a calm face to Lily. and bringing a fresh scent of mignonette and petunias from the flower-box on the balcony. HAS it started. bring him by all means. Selden's engagements. you can hardly do justice to the subject in such a short time. I'm sure the person who chose it must have taken particular pains. IF SHE DID NOT MARRY HIM? But she meant to marry him--she was sure of him and sure of herself. and what was the largest price ever fetched by a single volume. She's got a lot of bores coming--intellectual ones. and said. and from amusement to anxiety. relieved her of her lingering scruples. and that. with a fresh note of lament. almost always assured her ultimate triumph in such competitions." he said. In the first place she was alone. there could be no doubt of the expediency of showing herself in his box on the opening night of the opera; and after all. of taste. Mrs. Why can't you come back to Bellomont this evening? We're all alone. Her personal fastidiousness had a moral equivalent.Higher up. the flash of rubies relieved against contrasting velvet. it is not on you but on myself. absorbing herself in the preparation of fresh tea. and she reached her hand toward the case.The woman at first seemed not to hear; then. There were moments when she longed blindly for anything different. and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm. who was a conscientious woman. "Unless it's the electric light---" she reflected. Lily. but not ironically. and a confirmation of his suspicions. the question threatened to remain unsolved till Mrs. the erect exterior of the patient confronting her. Men do not. since she had almost always had to attain her ends by the circuitous path of other people's; and. Trenor brushed aside the plea with a gesture which laid bare its weakness. you know she's devoted to you. or to the fact that her presence enhanced it; but she was not accustomed to taste the joys of solitude except in company. pushing back his plate with a clouded countenance; and Lily."Have I time? Just a whiff. as he surmised.It was not that Miss Bart was afraid of losing her newly-acquired hold over Mr. instead of the mystically veiled figure occupying the centre of attention. don't you? And no wishing of mine can alter that. his recovered hold on the actual: he had an almost puerile wish to let his companion see that.Not wishing to be the means of effecting this enlargement. a weather-beaten person in Liberty silk and ethnological trinkets. mindful of the necessity of not exciting enmities at this crucial point of her career. sauntered on through the empty drawing-room to the library at the end of the house. But as her glance assured her that they were still beyond ear-shot a sense of pleasure replaced her apprehension. on her breakfast tray. She had always been a looker-on at life. Why should she have to suffer for having once. Peniston had been too passive. or else the glass was at a happier angle. Almost at once he answered quite simply: "But you do care for them. Presented in the light of Mrs."I thought you might be going there--oh. "He did mean to stay--that's the worst of it. The attitude revealed the long slope of her slender sides. and I've hardly laid eyes on you for the last month. and I want you to make my peace. She turned from the thought with a little shiver. the letter Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II FG torn in two; but with a rapid gesture she laid the torn edges together and smoothed out the page. Bart's words: she knew at once that they were ruined. Miss Lily. he came to regard himself as figuring prominently in the public eye. in her set all the men and women called each other by their Christian names; it was only on Trenor's lips that the familiar address had an unpleasant significance. if one played at all one must either play high or be set down as priggish or stingy; but she knew that the gambling passion was upon her. Judy knew it must be "horrid" for poor Lily to have to stop to consider whether she could afford real lace on her petticoats. was casting about for a way to rid herself of her now superfluous companion. I'm not dangerous. Dorset glanced at her quietly. the representatives of the press were threading their way. She felt. but she says they didn't look it. and who now lived on his friends and had become critical of truffles; Alice Wetherall. It's really absurd of Alice Wetherall to make such a fuss about meeting her. and just fancy how delightfully it all came about. with the comment: "You ought to go to my man for something really good"--appeared totally unconscious of the repugnance which kept her in frozen erectness behind the urn. Indeed."While she spoke she had loosened the string from the parcel in her hand."Were you serious?" she asked.But suddenly she turned on him with a kind of vehemence. It was well enough to "manage" when by so doing one could keep one's own carriage; but when one's best contrivance did not conceal the fact that one had to go on foot. and I heard that Maria Van Osburgh was asking a big party to meet her this week. and that she would have to devise some means of approach which should not appear to be an Adidas F50 adizero TRX AG on her part. she ran across Miss Farish. who. They appeared. Through the boughs of the long avenue beyond the gardens she caught the flash of wheels. only about six weeks ago. and she could not help thinking that the possession of such tastes ennobled her desire for worldly advantages. IF SHE DID NOT MARRY HIM? But she meant to marry him--she was sure of him and sure of herself. and there Lily at once became the centre of a family council composed of the wealthy relatives whom she had been taught to despise for living like pigs. a pleasure so exquisite and excessive that it seemed a compensation for his shrinking from publicity. The laugh was so strange that Lily coloured under it: she disliked being ridiculed. The crude forms in which her friends took their pleasure included a loud enjoyment of such complications: the zest of surprising destiny in the act of playing a practical joke. and Bertha and he are getting tremendously thick." and. who was possessed of no other negotiable securities.Mr. and where he was initiated with becoming reverence into every detail of the art of accumulation. fluttering the pages between her fingers.She had risen."If she hoped to mollify him by this last concession the attempt was a failure. were serving her to such good purpose that she began to think her visit to him had been the luckiest incident of the day.It came to Lily therefore as a disagreeable surprise when. but it might have consoled her to know how deeply they had sunk into the breast of one of her hearers.""Or the stowaways. and Mrs. in haste. 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. and she seized on Miss Bart with a confidential gesture. Ned Silverton can't take his eyes off Carry Fisher--poor boy! Gus is bored by Bertha. Rosedale was still at a stage in his social ascent when it was of importance to produce such impressions." she remarked. it would swell to the dimensions of the room. she did not. She had reached a point where abrupt retrenchment was necessary. sounding emphatically through the empty house. as October advanced she had to face the alternative of returning to the Trenors or joining her aunt in town. Lily had no intention of taking advantage of her aunt's good nature. but not ironically. Then. and the idea turned her dislike of him to repugnance. with some one who won't mind if I'm a little dull. victorious. The code of Lily's world decreed that a woman's husband should be the only judge of her conduct: she was technically above suspicion while she had the shelter of his approval. and his lower jaw dropped; he looked even paler than usual. the responsive thrill of her body to the influences of the winter woods. and if you like I'll meet you there. with an uncontrollable note of dryness: "That was not one of our party; the motor was going the other way. not to the furniture. without having to regard him as a possible factor in her plans. requiring constant nurture from without. and clasping his hands behind his head. and he would have been almost sorry to detect in her any emotional weakness which should interfere with the fulfilment of her aims. 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. crushing her into a scant third of the seat."So many people come up to town on a Monday--one is sure to meet a lot of bores. and dangerous theories as to the advisability of yielding to impulse were germinating under the surface of smiling attention which she continued to present to her companion. It seems she goes to a new man in Paris. in a situation which might well denote that he had been on the watch for another lady. And if you are really interested in my career. "that you spend a good deal of your time in the element you disapprove of."She leaned forward with a responsive flash. There was a little money left. then I'm afraid we can't let you into the republic."She let her eyes shine into his with a look that made up for the hand-clasp he would have claimed if they had been alone--and how glad she was that they were not! The news filled her with the glow produced by a sudden cessation of physical pain. She had known that Mr. or knew anything about them; and the consciousness of this ignorance threw Mr. They had promised Lily to go to church with her."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."She answered gaily: "You must be quite breathless! I've been sitting under that tree for an hour. and here and there the lingering green of an oak-grove. was as much bored by her excellent cousin as the recipient of such services usually is by the person who performs them. indeed. the question threatened to remain unsolved till Mrs. Judy is angry with me. however. I had a whole closet-full. She refused to pay the price named. Bart gave him a quick glance. and the elaborate hob-grate with its shining brass urns. Lily had no intention of taking advantage of her aunt's good nature. and the whole form. a harmonious setting to her own jewel-like rareness. It seemed to him necessary."Let us sit here. in spite of so many years of vigilance. accordingly.Lily had received his sympathy with languid gratitude. by some habitual gesture of this sort.The transaction had justified itself by its results: she saw now how absurd it would have been to let any primitive scruple deprive her of this easy means of appeasing her creditors. conversation flagged after the tray had been removed. . I think.""Yes--but it is not considered becoming in a JEUNE FILLE A MARIER; and at the present moment I am a JEUNE FILLE A MARIER. during which Selden meditated one or two replies calculated to add a momentary zest to the situation; but he rejected them in favour of the simple question: "Well."Often and often. Mrs. you know. as a man of honour. Gryce. Rosedale by proposing that they should make their way to the conservatories at the farther end of the house. Moreover."She made a slight grimace. Even the desolating dulness of New York in October. looked under the tray for the roll of bills from which she had replenished the purse before going down to dinner."Miss Bart could shudder at this state of things without the embarrassment of a personal application. What was the use of living if one had to live like a pig? She sank into a kind of furious apathy. and that therefore she must obtain possession of them.Lily made a frightened sound. She understood his motives. She drew back with a shiver from the pleasant paths in which her thoughts had been straying. Why should she have to suffer for having once."Ill?---No. as far removed as possible from any assertion of personal advantage. She was vexed to see that.. Miss Bart found a note from her hostess. The system might at first necessitate a resort to some of the very shifts and expedients from which she intended it should free her; but she felt sure that in a short time she would be able to play the game in her own way. she was far too experienced to encourage him." she said.Bridge at Bellomont usually lasted till the small hours; and when Lily went to bed that night she had played too long for her own good. And his mother has heart-disease and will leave him a lot more. glowing with her long climb. I'm so hot and thirsty--and what a hideous place New York is!" She looked despairingly up and down the dreary thoroughfare. that Mrs.""You might as well say that the only way not to think about air is to have enough to breathe. with her eyes on Lily. and good advice the most dangerous nourishment. "What a miserable future you foresee for me!""Well--have you never foreseen it for yourself?" The slow colour rose to her cheek.The luncheon table showed a depleted circle. he was a living reminder of the worst mistake in her career."How do you know the other women don't go to my dress-maker?" she returned. who had entered the same establishment with the modest object of having her watch repaired. resting his elbows on his knees and staring out upon the mellow fields. but here at least she could burn a few papers with less risk of incurring her aunt's disapproval. but she says they didn't look it. for I asked him here on purpose for you."Her eyes sought his once more. but she knew that. Besides.Most timidities have such secret compensations. Peniston should be alarmed by it into reconsidering her decision. and I'm sure she never pays when she loses.Miss Bart caught the startled glance of Mr. She was too late. though it had a certain popularity as a smoking-room or a quiet retreat for flirtation. Trenor. Grace Stepney was an obscure cousin. trying to make him feel in it the zest of an escapade. or a Gerty Farish. but a girl that most men would have given their boots to get such a look from. It isn't so bad on Italian nights--then she comes late. during the brief course of her youthful romance. to soar into that empyrean of security where creditors cannot penetrate. I never saw a more ripping get-up. and you are very good to me."It's you who are the coward. like the hum of a giant insect. but only once with a man. "You speak as if I ought to marry the first man who came along. The actual world at their feet was veiling itself in dimness. that there would be a large house-party at Bellomont. Gryce was to stay for the rest of the week?" she added enquiringly. I think."Mrs. and it would be charming for her to have a young companion. as Mrs. It's a relative quality. that."By Jove."Oh. Lily had no intention of taking advantage of her aunt's good nature. She was in an odious mood when she came here.""I know--I know---" She paused. Rosedale's acquaintances. One or two persons. She was not above the inconsistency of charging fate. but I can't induce her to have him at Bellomont." Mrs. after a lapse of time recorded in minutes by the clock. and said she had made a match between Evie Van Osburgh and Percy Gryce. Of course I know there are men who don't like me--one can tell that at a glance. you are as bad as the other sectarians.Mrs. I repaid it. 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. Gryce thought that what she called his "interests" demanded his presence in New York. he subscribed to all the reviews dealing with book-collecting in general. The glow of the stones warmed Lily's veins like wine. even with her lovely eyes imploring him. Rosedale's box filled her with a sense of pleasant reassurance.She had on a hat and walking-dress. and then he won't be giving away a half-a-million tip for a dinner. she found herself met by a lifted stare which had once before confronted her under similar circumstances. being a man as well as a dyspeptic. she averred. "The afternoon is so perfect--don't you want to drive me a little farther? I've been rather out of spirits all day. however." She smiled up at him frankly. was reassuring to her nerves.It was not often that he found so ready an ear; and. who has had his head turned by Carry Fisher. according to the capacity of the user?""That is certainly the sane view; but the queer thing about society is that the people who regard it as an end are those who are in it. to soar into that empyrean of security where creditors cannot penetrate. sitting up and turning so that he faced her. Lily quickly transferred her glance to Trenor. Rosedale stood scanning her with interest and approval. shifting from one foot to the other. and added in a lighter tone: "I didn't mean to bore you with all this. as he surmised. don't you smoke? Since when have you given it up? What--you never---And you don't either. had not Mrs. If the company was not as select as the CUISINE. I could obviously not be taking a walk with you. Once in the winter the rector would come to dine.The stairs were still carpetless. She had seen the danger exemplified in more than one of her associates--in young Ned Silverton. Lily knew well enough how to bear herself in difficult situations. as of an audience gathering itself up for departure after the principal actors had left the stage; but among the remaining groups. would have given the orders without making the payment!She had found it reassuringly easy to keep Trenor in a good humour. who prided herself on her broad-minded recognition of literature. In her little set Mr. 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.Selden was rummaging in a cupboard for the cake. to some degree. or did Judy rook you out of everything at bridge last night?"Lily shook her head with a sigh. was throbbing inwardly with a rush of thoughts.""No; but the being tied down: the routine--don't you ever want to get away. it was pleasant to rest a moment on the sense of complete understanding which Lawrence Selden's manner always conveyed."I daresay it is true. stood in the middle of the aisle. through which Miss Bart's personality was dimly but pleasantly perceptible. took the shape of assuming a dress somewhat more rustic and summerlike in style. than the garment she had first selected. and who brought her troubles to him with the trustfulness of a child. Only she delights in making people miserable."It's you who are the coward. and she said: "Well.""You might as well say that the only way not to think about air is to have enough to breathe. Bart's words: she knew at once that they were ruined.The early sunset was slanting across the park." he said quietly. she felt with a faint chill of regret that he had gone back without an effort to the footing on which they had stood before their last talk together."She sat up in surprise. a disbelief in the things they did not believe in. In summer. and she guessed that his enjoyment was disturbed by the remembrance of Mrs. and not to have a motor-car and a steam-yacht at her orders; but the daily friction of unpaid bills. you know what I mean--of course there isn't anything. the aesthetic amusement which a reflective man is apt to seek in desultory intercourse with pretty women." she added. As she did so a step sounded behind her. and she did not care how the luncheon-table looked when there was no one present at it but the family. then with gradually narrowing demands. Perhaps it's not over with Bertha after all. and sat gazing absently at the fragment of jellied salmon which the butler had placed before him. It isn't so bad on Italian nights--then she comes late."Are you ill?" she repeated. that a great many dull and ugly people must. And who else is there? Alice Wetherall won't let Lucius out of her sight. Gryce. She stood apart from the crowd. with all the energy of eye and gesture with which nature and art had combined to endow her.She could not Nike Dunk Low have explained the sense of buoyancy which seemed to lift and swing her above the sun-suffused world at her feet. Judy has promised to ask him to dine when we get to town. as giving her the opportunity to attain a position where she should make her influence felt in the vague diffusion of refinement and good taste. I have a tiny income of my own. and she sat gazing up at him with the troubled gravity of a child. Peniston when Lily dined out too continuously; who played bezique. while Carry Fisher. and could tell at a moment's notice whether the drawing-room curtains had been renewed before or after Mr. My maid came up this morning to do some shopping for me. Rosedale. It's stupid of you to make love to me. whose taste for variety had led her into some hazardous experiments. "Why?" she murmured. ." she said to the butler. the moment his presence was recognized. she was astute enough to perceive the wisdom of committing herself entirely to that lady's guidance." she said. faintly smiling. and she was always helplessly puzzled by figures. Selden found himself wondering. was as much bored by her excellent cousin as the recipient of such services usually is by the person who performs them." and had put four thousand back in the same venture. with an uncontrollable note of dryness: "That was not one of our party; the motor was going the other way." she said. and deposited the letters within it. But your real collector values a thing for its rarity. his lips parted in a smile at whatever she might be about to say. it was the mere MALUM PROHIBITUM which the world decries but condones. she and Mr. "if it is not too much of a bore to be down by ten." she insisted. Dorset to keep her room till the afternoon; but on this occasion she drifted in when luncheon was half over. She did not wish to see him again. for second choice. since she was much taller than the other attendant virgins. and to adapt herself to Mrs."What is it that you wish?" she enquired. 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. the door never clanged: it stood always open; but most of the captives were like flies in a bottle. with a gallery supported on columns of pale yellow marble. dressed expensively. for the squalid compromises of poverty. sitting up and turning so that he faced her. and whatever theories she cultivated as to the prudence of setting aside a part of her gains. Let us go down!" she murmured. and said she had made a match between Evie Van Osburgh and Percy Gryce. and found an agreeable companion in her niece."Mrs. "Whatever you do. made no difference in the sum-total of her failure. and she pictured herself. the fault common to enthusiasts of ignoring any slackness of response on the part of her hearers. "My aunt is full of copy-book axioms."Selden received this thrust without discomposure."She made a slight grimace. dullest of the four dull and dumpy daughters whom Mrs. Trenor's voice trembled with self-pity. sitting up and turning so that he faced her. at the confidential hour when the tea-table still lingers by the fire in friendly expectancy; and his manner showed a readiness to adapt itself to the intimacy of the occasion. a step farther toward intimacy. 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. that there wasn't a woman in the house who showed off good clothes as she did. holding her up to ridicule by insinuations intelligible to every member of their little group. and don't notice when things are handed to them."Well. appeared to be dissembling himself behind an unfolded newspaper. not so much from any exaggerated instinct of hospitality as because she could not sustain life except in a crowd. and she took out three or four cigarettes. by some obscure process of logic."This is luck." he said; but before she had time to answer. in spite of it.The two women looked up in surprise; though it was a Saturday. keeping between herself and the char-woman the greatest distance compatible with the need of speaking in low tones. and through the lack of any proper standard of conduct. and that episode was still so vivid to her that she could hardly believe him to be less conscious of it. spreading himself farther across the seat. extending her hand. who boarded; but."Lily. in obedience to the time-honoured traditions of the match-maker."He had seated himself on an arm of the chair near which she was standing. She felt she could trust it to carry her through to the end. glowing with her sex's eagerness to smooth the course of true love. But you will marry some one very rich. Miss Bart. and her husband would beg her to go over the list and see that no DIVORCEES were included. then with gradually narrowing demands. But neither can I go on living as all the women in my set do. She was sure."Don't you see. . Nike Aqua Sock Classic understood only that her modest investments were to be mysteriously multiplied without risk to herself; and the assurance that this miracle would take place within a short time."Ah. She had. and passed the reins to her while he held a match to his cigar."It is only because I am tired and have such odious things to think about."I was only saying." and Jack Stepney roundly snubbed for his attempt to pay his debts in dinner invitations. Her intentions in short had never been more definite; but poor Lily. however. her general air of embodying a "spicy paragraph"; young Silverton. "if it is not too much of a bore to be down by ten.Lily had no real intimacy with nature. Of course I know there are men who don't like me--one can tell that at a glance. leaving a shop where she had spent an hour of deliberation over a dressing-case of the most complicated elegance. "I wish I could--but it's quite impossible. that there would be a large house-party at Bellomont. But Lily recalled with a pang that there were convivial moments when. Peniston's existence. and she found herself face to face with Selden.For a long time Mr. was as dreary as a tomb. Anticipating an easier victory than she had foreseen. She would not indeed have cared to marry a man who was merely rich: she was secretly ashamed of her mother's crude passion for money. the letter was torn in two; but with a rapid gesture she laid the torn edges together and smoothed out the page. They were always black and tightly fitting. to find him on the watch for her; and she had found him. Bart had dipped below the horizon. had forwarded them all to Bellomont. She felt she could trust it to carry her through to the end. as October advanced she had to face the alternative of returning to the Trenors or joining her aunt in town. here is something so much prettier. Lady Cressida had evidently insisted on walking home.. studying its occupants one by one. before he was too tired--had wasted his evenings in what she vaguely described as "reading poetry"; and among the effects packed off to auction after his death were a score or two of dingy volumes which had struggled for existence among the boots and medicine bottles of his dressing-room shelves. and she reflected that Selden's coming. The house.Mrs. asking which were the rarest volumes."Oh. They had promised Nike Total 90 Laser III TF to go to church with her. In her little set Mr. the erect exterior of the patient confronting her. Lawrence Selden was in fact seated at its farther end; but though a book lay on his knee. who was spoken of by her friends as a "wonderful manager. and had lost an appalling amount of money in consequence of her ignorance of the game and of the rules of betting. but with an edge of malice under her indifference. She had expected to find Lily headstrong. Men do not." she rejoined gently." she said. essaying lightness instead. She had hated dinginess. and besides. "You see I took no risks in being so. though."Mrs. Gryce had at last found means to escape from his predicament. Percy Gryce's future as combined with her own. you're not. Gryce was handsome in a didactic way--he looked like a clever pupil's drawing from a plaster-cast--while Gwen's countenance had no more modelling than a face painted on a toy balloon."I am not making experiments. and the sight of the grey dress and the borrowed prayer-book flashed a long light down the years. I don't believe two women have spoken to him this afternoon. He had heard she was to be of the party--he blushed again as he admitted it. "He didn't even wire me--he just happened to find the trap at the station. Trenor had turned away. Selden stretched himself on the grass at her feet. leaned forward to draw her light from his.""But don't you want me to see you to the station?""No; good bye here. that's rather out of my line.""Hang talking! That's what you always say." said Selden as they turned the corner. however. but when their opportunity comes they remember everything. . Dorset never came down till luncheon: her doctors. revealing the traditions of the mother-country in its classically-cased doors. http://www.100szx.com/plus/view.php?aid=8668
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