The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1 by William Dean Howells (read dune txt) 📕

Further

In Her Throat.

 

"I Never Felt The Way You Did About Rogers,  But I Know How You

Always Did Feel,  And I Guess I Surprised him With My Answer.

He Had Brought Along A Lot Of Stock As Security----"

 

"You Didn'T Take It,  Silas!" His Wife Flashed out.

 

"Yes,  I Did,  Though," Said Lapham.  "You Wait.  We Settled

Our Business,  And Then We Went Into The Old Thing,

From The Very Start.  And We Talked it All Over.

And When We Got Through We Shook Hands.  Well,  I Don'T Know

When It'S Done Me So Much Good To Shake Hands With Anybody."

 

"And You Told Him--You Owned up To Him That You Were

In The Wrong,  Silas?"

 

"No,  I Didn'T," Returned the Colonel Promptly; "For I

Wasn'T. And Before We Got Through,  I Guess He Saw It

The Same As I Did."

 

"Oh,  No Matter! So You Had The Chance To Show How You Felt."

 

"But I Never Felt That Way," Persisted the Colonel.

"I'Ve Lent Him The Money,  And I'Ve Kept His Stocks.

And He Got What He Wanted out Of Me."

 

"Give Him Back His Stocks!"

 

"No,  I Shan'T. Rogers Came To Borrow.  He Didn'T Come

To Beg.  You Needn'T Be Troubled about His Stocks. 

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They'Re Going to Come Up In time; But Just Now They'Re

So Low Down That No Bank Would Take Them As Security,

And I'Ve Got To Hold Them Till They Do Rise.  I Hope You'Re

Satisfied now,  Persis," Said Her Husband; And He Looked

At Her With The Willingness To Receive The Reward Of A Good

Action Which We All Feel When We Have Performed one.

"I Lent Him The Money You Kept Me From Spending on

The House."

 

"Truly,  Si? Well,  I'M Satisfied," Said Mrs. Lapham,

With A Deep Tremulous Breath.  "The Lord Has Been Good

To You,  Silas," She Continued solemnly.  "You May Laugh

If You Choose,  And I Don'T Know As I Believe In his

Interfering a Great Deal; But I Believe He'S Interfered

This Time; And I Tell You,  Silas,  It Ain'T Always He Gives

People A Chance To Make It Up To Others In this Life.

I'Ve Been Afraid You'D Die,  Silas,  Before You Got The Chance;

But He'S Let You Live To Make It Up To Rogers."

 

"I'M Glad To Be Let Live," Said Lapham Stubbornly,

"But I Hadn'T Anything to Make Up To Milton K. Rogers.

And If God Has Let Me Live For That----"

 

"Oh,  Say What You Please,  Si! Say What You Please,

Now You'Ve Done It! I Shan'T Stop You.  You'Ve Taken

The One Spot--The One Speck--Off You That Was Ever There,

And I'M Satisfied."

 

"There Wa'N'T Ever Any Speck There," Lapham Held Out,

Lapsing more And More Into His Vernacular; "And What I

Done I Done For You,  Persis."

 

"And I Thank You For Your Own Soul'S Sake,  Silas."

 

"I Guess My Soul'S All Right," Said Lapham.

 

"And I Want You Should Promise Me One Thing more."

 

"Thought You Said You Were Satisfied?"

 

"I Am.  But I Want You Should Promise Me This: That You

Won'T Let Anything tempt You--Anything!--To Ever Trouble

Rogers For That Money You Lent Him.  No Matter What

Happens--No Matter If You Lose It All.  Do You Promise?"

 

"Why,  I Don'T Ever Expect To Press Him For It.

That'S What I Said To Myself When I Lent It.  And Of Course

I'M Glad To Have That Old Trouble Healed up.  I Don'T Think

I Ever Did Rogers Any Wrong,  And I Never Did Think So;

But If I Did Do It--If I Did--I'M Willing to Call It Square,

If I Never See A Cent Of My Money Back Again."

 

"Well,  That'S All," Said His Wife.

 

They Did Not Celebrate His Reconciliation With His Old

Enemy--For Such They Had Always Felt Him To Be Since He

Ceased to Be An Ally--By Any Show Of Joy Or Affection.

It Was Not In their Tradition,  As Stoical For The Woman

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As For The Man,  That They Should Kiss Or Embrace Each

Other At Such A Moment.  She Was Content To Have Told

Him That He Had Done His Duty,  And He Was Content With

Her Saying that.  But Before She Slept She Found Words

To Add That She Always Feared the Selfish Part He Had

Acted toward Rogers Had Weakened him,  And Left Him Less

Able To Overcome Any Temptation That Might Beset Him;

And That Was One Reason Why She Could Never Be Easy About It.

Now She Should Never Fear For Him Again.

 

This Time He Did Not Explicitly Deny Her Forgiving impeachment.

"Well,  It'S All Past And Gone Now,  Anyway; And I Don'T

Want You Should Think Anything more About It."

 

He Was Man Enough To Take Advantage Of The High Favour

In Which He Stood When He Went Up To Town,  And To Abuse It

By Bringing corey Down To Supper.  His Wife Could Not Help

Condoning the Sin Of Disobedience In him At Such A Time.

Penelope Said That Between The Admiration She Felt

For The Colonel'S Boldness And Her Mother'S Forbearance,

She Was Hardly In a State To Entertain Company That Evening;

But She Did What She Could.

 

Irene Liked being talked to Better Than Talking,  And When

Her Sister Was By She Was Always,  Tacitly Or Explicitly,

Referring to Her For Confirmation Of What She Said.

She Was Content To Sit And Look Pretty As She Looked

At The Young Man And Listened to Her Sister'S Drolling.

She Laughed and Kept Glancing at Corey To Make Sure That He

Was Understanding her.  When They Went Out On The Veranda

To See The Moon On The Water,  Penelope Led the Way And

Irene Followed.

 

They Did Not Look At The Moonlight Long.  The Young

Man Perched on The Rail Of The Veranda,  And Irene Took

One Of The Red-Painted rocking-Chairs Where She Could

Conveniently Look At Him And At Her Sister,  Who Sat

Leaning forward Lazily And Running on,  As The Phrase Is.

That Low,  Crooning note Of Hers Was Delicious; Her Face,

Glimpsed now And Then In the Moonlight As She Turned it

Or Lifted it A Little,  Had A Fascination Which Kept His Eye.

Her Talk Was Very Unliterary,  And Its Effect Seemed

Hardly Conscious.  She Was Far From Epigram In her Funning.

She Told Of This Trifle And That; She Sketched the

Characters And Looks Of People Who Had Interested her,

And Nothing seemed to Have Escaped her Notice; She Mimicked

A Little,  But Not Much; She Suggested,  And Then The

Affair Represented itself As If Without Her Agency.

She Did Not Laugh; When Corey Stopped she Made A Soft

Cluck In her Throat,  As If She Liked his Being amused,

And Went On Again.

 

The Colonel,  Left Alone With His Wife For The First Time

Since He Had Come From Town,  Made Haste To Take The Word.

"Well,  Pert,  I'Ve Arranged the Whole Thing with Rogers,

And I Hope You'Ll Be Satisfied to Know That He Owes Me

Twenty Thousand Dollars,  And That I'Ve Got Security From Him

To The Amount Of A Fourth Of That,  If I Was To Force His

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Stocks To A Sale."

 

"How Came He To Come Down With You?" Asked mrs. Lapham.

 

"Who? Rogers?"

 

"Mr. Corey."

 

"Corey? Oh!" Said Lapham,  Affecting not To Have Thought

She Could Mean Corey.  "He Proposed it."

 

"Likely!" Jeered his Wife,  But With Perfect Amiability.

 

"It'S So," Protested the Colonel.  "We Got Talking about

A Matter Just Before I Left,  And He Walked down To The Boat

With Me; And Then He Said If I Didn'T Mind He Guessed

He'D Come Along Down And Go Back On The Return Boat.

Of Course I Couldn'T Let Him Do That."

 

"It'S Well For You You Couldn'T."

 

"And I Couldn'T Do Less Than Bring him Here To Tea."

 

"Oh,  Certainly Not."

 

"But He Ain'T Going to Stay The Night--Unless,"

Faltered lapham,  "You Want Him To."

 

"Oh,  Of Course,  I Want Him To! I Guess He'Ll Stay,  Probably."

 

"Well,  You Know How Crowded that Last Boat Always Is,

And He Can'T Get Any Other Now."

 

Mrs. Lapham Laughed at The Simple Wile.  "I Hope You'Ll

Be Just As Well Satisfied,  Si,  If It Turns Out He Doesn'T

Want Irene After All."

 

"Pshaw,  Persis! What Are You Always Bringing that Up For?"

Pleaded the Colonel.  Then He Fell Silent,  And Presently

His Rude,  Strong Face Was Clouded with An Unconscious Frown.

 

"There!" Cried his Wife,  Startling him From His Abstraction.

"I See How You'D Feel; And I Hope That You'Ll Remember

Who You'Ve Got To Blame."

 

"I'Ll Risk It," Said Lapham,  With The Confidence Of A Man

Used to Success.

 

From The Veranda The Sound Of Penelope'S Lazy Tone Came

Through The Closed windows,  With Joyous Laughter From

Irene And Peals From Corey.

 

"Listen To That!" Said Her Father Within,  Swelling up With

Inexpressible Satisfaction.  "That Girl Can Talk For Twenty,

Right Straight Along.  She'S Better Than A Circus Any Day.

I Wonder What She'S Up To Now."

 

"Oh,  She'S Probably Getting off Some Of Those Yarns

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Of Hers,  Or Telling about Some People.  She Can'T Step

Out Of The House Without Coming back With More Things

To Talk About Than Most Folks Would Bring back From Japan.

There Ain'T A Ridiculous Person She'S Ever Seen But What

She'S Got Something from Them To Make You Laugh At;

And I Don'T Believe We'Ve Ever Had Anybody In the House

Since The Girl Could Talk That She Hain'T Got Some

Saying from,  Or Some Trick That'Ll Paint 'Em Out So'T You

Can See 'Em And Hear 'Em. Sometimes I Want To Stop Her;

But When She Gets Into One Of Her Gales There Ain'T Any

Standing up Against Her.  I Guess It 'S Lucky For Irene

That She'S Got Pen There To Help Entertain Her Company.

I Can'T Ever Feel Down Where Pen Is."

 

"That'S So," Said The Colonel.  "And