The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1 by William Dean Howells (read dune txt) π
For The "Solid Men Of Boston" Series, Which He Undertook
To Finish Up In the Events, After He Replaced their
Original Projector On That Newspaper, Lapham Received
Him In his Private Office By Previous Appointment.
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- Author: William Dean Howells
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Looks With Each Other, And Then With Their Mother.
Irene Curved her Pretty Chin In comment Upon Her
Father'S Incorrigibility, And Penelope Made A Droll Mouth,
But The Colonel Remained serenely Content With His Finesse.
"I Got 'Em Out Of The Way," He Said, As Soon As They
Were Gone, And Before His Wife Had Time To Fall Upon Him,
"Because I'Ve Got Through My Talk With Him, And Now I Want
To Talk With You. It'S Just As I Said, Persis; He Wants
To Go Into The Business With Me."
"It'S Lucky For You," Said His Wife, Meaning that Now He
Would Not Be Made To Suffer For Attempting to Hoax Her.
But She Was Too Intensely Interested to Pursue That
Matter Further. "What In the World Do You Suppose He
Means By It?"
"Well, I Should Judge By His Talk That He Had Been Trying
A Good Many Different Things Since He Left College,
And He Hain'T Found Just The Thing he Likes--Or The Thing
That Likes Him. It Ain'T So Easy. And Now He'S Got An Idea
That He Can Take Hold Of The Paint And Push It In other
Countries--Push It In mexico And Push It In south America.
He'S A Splendid Spanish Scholar,"--This Was Lapham'S Version
Of Corey'S Modest Claim To A Smattering of The Language,--"And
He'S Been Among The Natives Enough To Know Their Ways.
And He Believes In the Paint," Added the Colonel.
"I Guess He Believes In something else Besides The Paint,"
Said Mrs. Lapham.
"What Do You Mean?"
"Well, Silas Lapham, If You Can'T See Now That He'S
After Irene, I Don'T Know What Ever Can Open Your Eyes.
That'S All."
The Colonel Pretended to Give The Idea Silent Consideration,
As If It Had Not Occurred to Him Before. "Well, Then,
All I'Ve Got To Say Is, That He'S Going a Good Way Round.
I Don'T Say You'Re Wrong, But If It'S Irene, I Don'T See
Why He Should Want To Go Off To South America To Get Her.
And That'S What He Proposes To Do. I Guess There'S
Some Paint About It Too, Persis. He Says He Believes
In It,"--The Colonel Devoutly Lowered his Voice,--"And He'S
Willing to Take The Agency On His Own Account Down There,
And Run It For A Commission On What He Can Sell."
"Of Course! He Isn'T Going to Take Hold Of It Any Way
of 1 Part 7 Pg 74So As To Feel Beholden To You. He'S Got Too Much Pride
For That."
"He Ain'T Going to Take Hold Of It At All, If He Don'T
Mean Paint In the First Place And Irene Afterward.
I Don'T Object To Him, As I Know, Either Way, But The Two
Things Won'T Mix; And I Don'T Propose He Shall Pull The Wool
Over My Eyes--Or Anybody Else. But, As Far As Heard From,
Up To Date, He Means Paint First, Last, And All The Time.
At Any Rate, I'M Going to Take Him On That Basis.
He'S Got Some Pretty Good Ideas About It, And He'S Been
Stirred up By This Talk, Just Now, About Getting our
Manufactures Into The Foreign Markets. There'S An Overstock
In Everything, And We'Ve Got To Get Rid Of It, Or We'Ve
Got To Shut Down Till The Home Demand Begins Again.
We'Ve Had Two Or Three Such Flurries Before Now,
And They Didn'T Amount To Much. They Say We Can'T Extend
Our Commerce Under The High Tariff System We'Ve Got Now,
Because There Ain'T Any Sort Of Reciprocity On Our Side,--We
Want To Have The Other Fellows Show All The Reciprocity,--And
The English Have Got The Advantage Of Us Every Time.
I Don'T Know Whether It'S So Or Not; But I Don'T See
Why It Should Apply To My Paint. Anyway, He Wants
To Try It, And I'Ve About Made Up My Mind To Let Him.
Of Course I Ain'T Going to Let Him Take All The Risk.
I Believe In the Paint Too, And I Shall Pay His Expenses
Anyway."
"So You Want Another Partner After All?" Mrs. Lapham
Could Not Forbear Saying.
"Yes, If That'S Your Idea Of A Partner. It Isn'T Mine,"
Returned her Husband Dryly.
"Well, If You'Ve Made Up Your Mind, Si, I Suppose You'Re
Ready For Advice," Said Mrs. Lapham.
The Colonel Enjoyed this. "Yes, I Am. What Have You
Got To Say Against It?"
"I Don'T Know As I'Ve Got Anything. I'M Satisfied
If You Are."
"Well?"
"When Is He Going to Start For South America?"
"I Shall Take Him Into The Office A While. He'Ll Get
Off Some Time In the Winter. But He'S Got To Know
The Business First."
"Oh, Indeed! Are You Going to Take Him To Board In the Family?"
"What Are You After, Persis?"
"Oh, Nothing! I Presume He Will Feel Free To Visit
In The Family, Even If He Don'T Board With Us."
of 1 Part 7 Pg 75
"I Presume He Will."
"And If He Don'T Use His Privileges, Do You Think He'Ll
Be A Fit Person To Manage Your Paint In south America?"
The Colonel Reddened consciously. "I'M Not Taking him
On That Basis."
"Oh Yes, You Are! You May Pretend You Ain'T To Yourself,
But You Mustn'T Pretend So To Me. Because I Know You."
The Colonel Laughed. "Pshaw!" He Said.
Mrs. Lapham Continued: "I Don'T See Any Harm In
Hoping that He'Ll Take A Fancy To Her. But If You
Really Think It Won'T Do To Mix The Two Things,
I Advise You Not To Take Mr. Corey Into The Business.
It Will Do All Very Well If He Does Take A Fancy To Her;
But If He Don'T, You Know How You'Ll Feel About It.
And I Know You Well Enough, Silas, To Know That You Can'T
Do Him Justice If That Happens. And I Don'T Think It'S
Right You Should Take This Step Unless You'Re Pretty Sure.
I Can See That You'Ve Set Your Heart On This Thing"
"I Haven'T Set My Heart On It At All," Protested lapham.
"And If You Can'T Bring it About, You'Re Going to Feel
Unhappy Over It," Pursued his Wife, Regardless Of His Protest.
"Oh, Very Well," He Said. "If You Know More About
What'S In my Mind Than I Do, There'S No Use Arguing,
As I Can See."
He Got Up, To Carry Off His Consciousness, And Sauntered
Out Of The Door On To His Piazza. He Could See The
Young People Down On The Rocks, And His Heart Swelled
In His Breast. He Had Always Said That He Did Not Care
What A Man'S Family Was, But The Presence Of Young Corey
As An Applicant To Him For Employment, As His Guest,
As The Possible Suitor Of His Daughter, Was One Of The
Sweetest Flavours That He Had Yet Tasted in his Success.
He Knew Who The Coreys Were Very Well, And, In his Simple,
Brutal Way, He Had Long Hated their Name As A Symbol
Of Splendour Which, Unless He Should Live To See At
Least Three Generations Of His Descendants Gilded with
Mineral Paint, He Could Not Hope To Realise In his Own.
He Was Acquainted in a Business Way With The Tradition
Of Old Phillips Corey, And He Had Heard A Great Many
Things About The Corey Who Had Spent His Youth Abroad
And His Father'S Money Everywhere, And Done Nothing
But Say Smart Things. Lapham Could Not See The Smartness
Of Some Of Them Which Had Been Repeated to Him. Once He
Had Encountered the Fellow, And It Seemed to Lapham That
The Tall, Slim, White-Moustached man, With The Slight Stoop,
Was Everything that Was Offensively Aristocratic.
He Had Bristled up Aggressively At The Name When His Wife
Told How She Had Made The Acquaintance Of The Fellow'S
Family The Summer Before, And He Had Treated the Notion
of 1 Part 7 Pg 76Of Young Corey'S Caring for Irene With The Contempt
Which Such A Ridiculous Superstition Deserved.
He Had Made Up His Mind About Young Corey Beforehand;
Yet When He Met Him He Felt An Instant Liking for Him,
Which He Frankly Acknowledged, And He Had Begun To Assume
The Burden Of His Wife'S Superstition, Of Which She Seemed
Now Ready To Accuse Him Of Being the Inventor.
Nothing had Moved his Thick Imagination Like This Day'S
Events Since The Girl Who Taught Him Spelling and Grammar
In The School At Lumberville Had Said She Would Have Him
For Her Husband.
The Dark Figures, Stationary On The Rocks, Began To Move,
And He Could See That They Were Coming toward The House.
He Went Indoors, So As Not To Appear To Have Been
Watching them.
of 1 Part 8 Pg 77
A Week After She Had Parted with Her Son At Bar Harbour,
Mrs. Corey Suddenly Walked in upon Her Husband In their
House In boston. He Was At Breakfast, And He Gave Her
The Patronising welcome With Which The Husband Who Has
Been Staying in town All Summer Receives His Wife When She
Drops Down Upon Him From The Mountains Or The Sea-Side. For
A Little Moment She Feels Herself Strange In the House,
And Suffers Herself To Be Treated like A Guest, Before Envy
Of His Comfort Vexes Her Back Into Possession And Authority.
Mrs. Corey Was A Lady, And She Did Not Let Her Envy Take
The Form Of Open Reproach.
"Well, Anna, You Find Me Here In the Luxury You Left Me To.
How Did You Leave The Girls?"
"The Girls Were Well," Said Mrs. Corey, Looking absently At
Her Husband'S Brown Velvet Coat, In which He Was So Handsome.
No Man Had Ever Grown Grey More Beautifully. His Hair,
While Not Remaining dark Enough To Form A Theatrical
Contrast With His Moustache, Was Yet Some Shades Darker,
And, In becoming a Little Thinner, It Had Become A Little
More Gracefully Wavy. His Skin Had The Pearly Tint
Which That Of Elderly Men Sometimes Assumes, And The Lines
Which Time Had
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