The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1 - William Dean Howells (best e reader for academics txt) 📗

Said Mrs. Corey,  Seizing her

First Chance Of Approaching the Subject With Her Son.

 

"Yes," Said Corey.  "A Dinner Was Father'S Idea,  But He

Came Down To A Call,  At My Suggestion."

 

"Oh," Said Mrs. Corey,  In a Tone Of Relief,  As If The

Statement Threw A New Light On The Fact That Corey

Had Suggested the Visit.  "He Said So Little About

It In his Letter That I Didn'T Know Just How It Came About."

 

"I Thought It Was Right They Should Meet," Explained the Son,

"And So Did Father.  I Was Glad That I Suggested it,

Afterward; It Was Extremely Gratifying to Colonel Lapham."

 

"Oh,  It Was Quite Right In every Way.  I Suppose You

Have Seen Something of The Family During the Summer."

 

"Yes,  A Good Deal.  I'Ve Been Down At Nantasket Rather Often."

 

Mrs. Corey Let Her Eyes Droop.  Then She Asked: "Are

They Well?"

 

"Yes,  Except Lapham Himself,  Now And Then.  I Went Down Once

Or Twice To See Him.  He Hasn'T Given Himself Any Vacation

This Summer; He Has Such A Passion For His Business That I

Fancy He Finds It Hard Being away From It At Any Time,

And He'S Made His New House An Excuse For Staying"

"Oh Yes,  His House! Is It To Be Something fine?"

 

"Yes; It'S A Beautiful House.  Seymour Is Doing it."

 

"Then,  Of Course,  It Will Be Very Handsome.  I Suppose

The Young Ladies Are Very Much Taken Up With It;

And Mrs. Lapham."

 

"Mrs. Lapham,  Yes.  I Don'T Think The Young Ladies Care

So Much About It."

 

"It Must Be For Them.  Aren'T They Ambitious?"

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Asked mrs. Corey,  Delicately Feeling her Way.

 

Her Son Thought A While.  Then He Answered with A Smile--

 

"No,  I Don'T Really Think They Are.  They Are Unambitious,

I Should Say." Mrs. Corey Permitted herself A Long Breath.

But Her Son Added,  "It'S The Parents Who Are Ambitious

For Them," And Her Respiration Became Shorter Again.

 

"Yes," She Said.

 

"They'Re Very Simple,  Nice Girls," Pursued corey.

"I Think You'Ll Like The Elder,  When You Come To Know Her."

 

When You Come To Know Her.  The Words Implied an Expectation

That The Two Families Were To Be Better Acquainted.

 

"Then She Is More Intellectual Than Her Sister?"

Mrs. Corey Ventured.

 

"Intellectual?" Repeated her Son.  "No; That Isn'T

The Word,  Quite.  Though She Certainly Has More Mind."

 

"The Younger Seemed very Sensible."

 

"Oh,  Sensible,  Yes.  And As Practical As She'S Pretty.

She Can Do All Sorts Of Things,  And Likes To Be Doing them.

Don'T You Think She'S An Extraordinary Beauty?"

 

"Yes--Yes,  She Is," Said Mrs. Corey,  At Some Cost.

 

"She'S Good,  Too," Said Corey,  "And Perfectly Innocent

And Transparent.  I Think You Will Like Her The Better

The More You Know Her."

 

"I Thought Her Very Nice From The Beginning," Said The

Mother Heroically; And Then Nature Asserted itself In her.

"But I Should Be Afraid That She Might Perhaps Be A

Little Bit Tiresome At Last; Her Range Of Ideas Seemed

So Extremely Limited."

 

"Yes,  That'S What I Was Afraid Of.  But,  As A Matter Of Fact,

She Isn'T. She Interests You By Her Very Limitations.

You Can See The Working of Her Mind,  Like That Of A Child.

She Isn'T At All Conscious Even Of Her Beauty."

 

"I Don'T Believe Young Men Can Tell Whether Girls

Are Conscious Or Not," Said Mrs. Corey.  "But I Am Not

Saying the Miss Laphams Are Not----" Her Son Sat Musing,

With An Inattentive Smile On His Face.  "What Is It?"

 

"Oh! Nothing.  I Was Thinking of Miss Lapham And Something

She Was Saying.  She'S Very Droll,  You Know."

 

"The Elder Sister? Yes,  You Told Me That.  Can You See

The Workings Of Her Mind Too?"

 

"No; She'S Everything that'S Unexpected." Corey Fell Into

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Another Reverie,  And Smiled again; But He Did Not Offer

To Explain What Amused him,  And His Mother Would Not Ask.

 

"I Don'T Know What To Make Of His Admiring the Girl

So Frankly," She Said Afterward To Her Husband.

"That Couldn'T Come Naturally Till After He Had Spoken

To Her,  And I Feel Sure That He Hasn'T Yet."

 

"You Women Haven'T Risen Yet--It'S An Evidence Of

The Backwardness Of Your Sex--To A Conception Of The

Bismarck Idea In diplomacy.  If A Man Praises One Woman,

You Still Think He'S In love With Another.  Do You Mean

That Because Tom Didn'T Praise The Elder Sister So Much,

He Has Spoken To Her?"

 

Mrs. Corey Refused the Consequence,  Saying that It Did

Not Follow.  "Besides,  He Did Praise Her."

 

"You Ought To Be Glad That Matters Are In such

Good Shape,  Then.  At Any Rate,  You Can Do Absolutely Nothing."

 

"Oh! I Know It," Sighed mrs. Corey.  "I Wish Tom Would

Be A Little Opener With Me."

 

"He'S As Open As It'S In the Nature Of An American-Born

Son To Be With His Parents.  I Dare Say If You'D Asked

Him Plumply What He Meant In regard To The Young Lady,

He Would Have Told You--If He Knew."

 

"Why,  Don'T You Think He Does Know,  Bromfield?"

 

"I'M Not At All Sure He Does.  You Women Think That

Because A Young Man Dangles After A Girl,  Or Girls,

He'S Attached to Them.  It Doesn'T At All Follow.

He Dangles Because He Must,  And Doesn'T Know What To

Do With His Time,  And Because They Seem To Like It.

I Dare Say That Tom Has Dangled a Good Deal In this

Instance Because There Was Nobody Else In town."

 

"Do You Really Think So?"

 

"I Throw Out The Suggestion.  And It Strikes Me That A

Young Lady Couldn'T Do Better Than Stay In or Near Boston

During the Summer.  Most Of The Young Men Are Here,

Kept By Business Through The Week,  With Evenings Available

Only On The Spot,  Or A Few Miles Off.  What Was The

Proportion Of The Sexes At The Seashore And The Mountains?"

 

"Oh,  Twenty Girls At Least For Even An Excuse Of A Man.

It'S Shameful."

 

"You See,  I Am Right In one Part Of My Theory.

Why Shouldn'T I Be Right In the Rest?"

 

"I Wish You Were.  And Yet I Can'T Say That I Do.

Those Things Are Very Serious With Girls.  I Shouldn'T

Like Tom To Have Been Going to See Those People If He

Meant Nothing by It."

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"And You Wouldn'T Like It If He Did.  You Are Difficult,

My Dear." Her Husband Pulled an Open Newspaper Toward Him

From The Table.

 

"I Feel That It Wouldn'T Be At All Like Him To Do So,"

Said Mrs. Corey,  Going on To Entangle Herself In her Words,

As Women Often Do When Their Ideas Are Perfectly Clear.

"Don'T Go To Reading,  Please,  Bromfield! I Am Really

Worried about This Matter I Must Know How Much It Means.

I Can'T Let It Go On So.  I Don'T See How You Can Rest Easy

Without Knowing."

 

"I Don'T In the Least Know What'S Going to Become Of Me

When I Die; And Yet I Sleep Well," Replied bromfield Corey,

Putting his Newspaper Aside.

 

"Ah! But This Is A Very Different Thing."

 

"So Much More Serious? Well,  What Can You Do? We Had This

Out When You Were Here In the Summer,  And You Agreed

With Me Then That We Could Do Nothing.  The Situation

Hasn'T Changed at All."

 

"Yes,  It Has; It Has Continued the Same," Said Mrs. Corey,

Again Expressing the Fact By A Contradiction In terms.

"I Think I Must Ask Tom Outright."

 

"You Know You Can'T Do That,  My Dear."

 

"Then Why Doesn'T He Tell Us?"

 

"Ah,  That'S What He Can'T Do,  If He'S Making love To Miss

Irene--That'S Her Name,  I Believe--On The American Plan.

He Will Tell Us After He Has Told Her.  That Was The Way I Did.

Don'T Ignore Our Own Youth,  Anna.  It Was A Long While Ago,

I'Ll Admit."

 

"It Was Very Different," Said Mrs. Corey,  A Little Shaken.

 

"I Don'T See How.  I Dare Say Mamma Lapham Knows Whether

Tom Is In love With Her Daughter Or Not; And No Doubt

Papa Lapham Knows It At Second Hand.  But We Shall Not

Know It Until The Girl Herself Does.  Depend Upon That.

Your Mother Knew,  And She Told Your Father; But My Poor

Father Knew Nothing about It Till We Were Engaged; And I

Had Been Hanging about--Dangling,  As You Call It----"

 

"No,  No; You Called it That."

 

"Was It I?--For A Year Or More."

 

The Wife Could Not Refuse To Be A Little Consoled by The

Image Of Her Young Love Which The Words Conjured up,

However Little She Liked its Relation To Her Son'S Interest

In Irene Lapham.  She Smiled pensively.  "Then You Think

It Hasn'T Come To An Understanding with Them Yet?"

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"An Understanding? Oh,  Probably."

 

"An Explanation,  Then?"

 

"The Only Logical Inference From What We'Ve Been Saying

Is That It Hasn'T. But I Don'T Ask You To Accept It

On That Account.  May I Read Now,  My Dear?"

 

"Yes,  You May Read Now," Said Mrs. Corey,  With One

Of Those Sighs Which Perhaps Express A Feminine Sense

Of The Unsatisfactoriness Of Husbands In general,

Rather Than A Personal Discontent With Her Own.

 

"Thank You,  My Dear; Then I Think I'Ll Smoke Too,"

Said Bromfield Corey,  Lighting a Cigar.

 

She Left Him In peace,  And She Made No Further Attempt

Upon Her Son'S Confidence.  But She Was Not Inactive For

That Reason.  She Did Not,  Of Course,  Admit To Herself,

And Far Less To Others,  The Motive With Which She Went

To Pay An Early Visit To The Laphams,  Who Had Now Come

Up From Nantasket To Nankeen Square.  She Said To Her

Daughters That She Had Always Been A Little Ashamed of Using

Her Acquaintance With Them To Get Money For Her Charity,

And Then Seeming to Drop It.  Besides,  It Seemed to Her

That She Ought Somehow To Recognise The Business Relation

That Tom Had Formed with The Father; They Must