The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton (8 ebook reader .txt) 📗

having been to see his mother, but under the ancestress’s malicious eye he felt himself tongue-tied and constrained.

“Look at him⁠—in such hot haste to get married that he took French leave and rushed down to implore the silly girl on his knees! That’s something like a lover⁠—that’s the way handsome Bob Spicer carried off my poor mother; and then got tired of her before I was weaned⁠—though they only had to wait eight months for me! But there⁠—you’re not a Spicer, young man; luckily for you and for May. It’s only my poor Ellen that has kept any of their wicked blood; the rest of them are all model Mingotts,” cried the old lady scornfully.

Archer was aware that Madame Olenska, who had seated herself at her grandmother’s side, was still thoughtfully scrutinising him. The gaiety had faded from her eyes, and she said with great gentleness: “Surely, Granny, we can persuade them between us to do as he wishes.”

Archer rose to go, and as his hand met Madame Olenska’s he felt that she was waiting for him to make some allusion to her unanswered letter.

“When can I see you?” he asked, as she walked with him to the door of the room.

“Whenever you like; but it must be soon if you want to see the little house again. I am moving next week.”

A pang shot through him at the memory of his lamplit hours in the low-studded drawing-room. Few as they had been, they were thick with memories.

“Tomorrow evening?”

She nodded. “Tomorrow; yes; but early. I’m going out.”

The next day was a Sunday, and if she were “going out” on a Sunday evening it could, of course, be only to Mrs. Lemuel Struthers’s. He felt a slight movement of annoyance, not so much at her going there (for he rather liked her going where she pleased in spite of the van der Luydens), but because it was the kind of house at which she was sure to meet Beaufort, where she must have known beforehand that she would meet him⁠—and where she was probably going for that purpose.

“Very well; tomorrow evening,” he repeated, inwardly resolved that he would not go early, and that by reaching her door late he would either prevent her from going to Mrs. Struthers’s, or else arrive after she had started⁠—which, all things considered, would no doubt be the simplest solution.

It was only half-past eight, after all, when he rang the bell under the wisteria; not as late as he had intended by half an hour⁠—but a singular restlessness had driven him to her door. He reflected, however, that Mrs. Struthers’s Sunday evenings were not like a ball, and that her guests, as if to minimise their delinquency, usually went early.

The one thing he had not counted on, in entering Madame Olenska’s hall, was to find hats and overcoats there. Why had she bidden him to come early if she was having people to dine? On a closer inspection of the garments besides which Nastasia was laying his own, his resentment gave way to curiosity. The overcoats were in fact the very strangest he had ever seen under a polite roof; and it took but a glance to assure himself that neither of them belonged to Julius Beaufort. One was a shaggy yellow ulster of “reach-me-down” cut, the other a very old and rusty cloak with a cape⁠—something like what the French called a “Macfarlane.” This garment, which appeared to be made for a person of prodigious size, had evidently seen long and hard wear, and its greenish-black folds gave out a moist sawdusty smell suggestive of prolonged sessions against barroom walls. On it lay a ragged grey scarf and an odd felt hat of semiclerical shape.

Archer raised his eyebrows enquiringly at Nastasia, who raised hers in return with a fatalistic “Giá!” as she threw open the drawing-room door.

The young man saw at once that his hostess was not in the room; then, with surprise, he discovered another lady standing by the fire. This lady, who was long, lean and loosely put together, was clad in raiment intricately looped and fringed, with plaids and stripes and bands of plain colour disposed in a design to which the clue seemed missing. Her hair, which had tried to turn white and only succeeded in fading, was surmounted by a Spanish comb and black lace scarf, and silk mittens, visibly darned, covered her rheumatic hands.

Beside her, in a cloud of cigar-smoke, stood the owners of the two overcoats, both in morning clothes that they had evidently not taken off since morning. In one of the two, Archer, to his surprise, recognised Ned Winsett; the other and older, who was unknown to him, and whose gigantic frame declared him to be the wearer of the “Macfarlane,” had a feebly leonine head with crumpled grey hair, and moved his arms with large pawing gestures, as though he were distributing lay blessings to a kneeling multitude.

These three persons stood together on the hearthrug, their eyes fixed on an extraordinarily large bouquet of crimson roses, with a knot of purple pansies at their base, that lay on the sofa where Madame Olenska usually sat.

“What they must have cost at this season⁠—though of course it’s the sentiment one cares about!” the lady was saying in a sighing staccato as Archer came in.

The three turned with surprise at his appearance, and the lady, advancing, held out her hand.

“Dear Mr. Archer⁠—almost my cousin Newland!” she said. “I am the Marchioness Manson.”

Archer bowed, and she continued: “My Ellen has taken me in for a few days. I came from Cuba, where I have been spending the winter with Spanish friends⁠—such delightful distinguished people: the highest nobility of old Castile⁠—how I wish you could know them! But I was called away by our dear great friend here, Dr. Carver. You don’t know Dr. Agathon Carver, founder of the Valley of Love Community?”

Dr. Carver inclined his leonine head, and the Marchioness continued: “Ah, New York⁠—New York⁠—how little the life of the spirit has reached it!