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

Not

Think That His Family Disapproved of What He Had Done.

"Yes,  Business Is Business," Said Nanny,  With A Laugh.

"Do You Wish Us To Go With You Again?"

 

"No; I Will Go Alone This Time," Replied the Mother

With Dignity.

 

Her Coupe Now Found Its Way To Nankeen Square Without

Difficulty,  And She Sent Up A Card,  Which Mrs. Lapham

Received in the Presence Of Her Daughter Penelope.

 

"I Presume I'Ve Got To See Her," She Gasped.

 

"Well,  Don'T Look So Guilty,  Mother," Joked the Girl;

"You Haven'T Been Doing anything so Very Wrong."

 

"It Seems As If I Had.  I Don'T Know What'S Come Over Me.

I Wasn'T Afraid Of The Woman Before,  But Now I Don'T Seem

To Feel As If I Could Look Her In the Face.  He'S Been Coming

Here Of His Own Accord,  And I Fought Against His Coming

Long Enough,  Goodness Knows.  I Didn'T Want Him To Come.

And As Far Forth As That Goes,  We'Re As Respectable

As They Are; And Your Father'S Got Twice Their Money,

Any Day.  We'Ve No Need to Go Begging for Their Favour.

I Guess They Were Glad Enough To Get Him In with

Your Father."

 

"Yes,  Those Are All Good Points,  Mother," Said The Girl;

"And If You Keep Saying them Over,  And Count A Hundred every

Time Before You Speak,  I Guess You'Ll Worry Through."

 

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Mrs. Lapham Had Been Fussing distractedly With Her Hair

And Ribbons,  In preparation For Her Encounter With Mrs. Corey.

She Now Drew In a Long Quivering breath,  Stared at Her

Daughter Without Seeing her,  And Hurried downstairs.

It Was True That When She Met Mrs. Corey Before She Had

Not Been Awed by Her; But Since Then She Had Learned at

Least Her Own Ignorance Of The World,  And She Had Talked

Over The Things She Had Misconceived and The Things She

Had Shrewdly Guessed so Much That She Could Not Meet Her

On The Former Footing of Equality.  In spite Of As Brave

A Spirit And As Good A Conscience As Woman Need have,

Mrs. Lapham Cringed inwardly,  And Tremulously Wondered

What Her Visitor Had Come For.  She Turned from Pale

To Red,  And Was Hardly Coherent In her Greetings;

She Did Not Know How They Got To Where Mrs. Corey Was

Saying exactly The Right Things About Her Son'S Interest

And Satisfaction In his New Business,  And Keeping her Eyes

Fixed on Mrs. Lapham'S,  Reading her Uneasiness There,

And Making her Feel,  In spite Of Her Indignant Innocence,

That She Had Taken A Base Advantage Of Her In her Absence

To Get Her Son Away From Her And Marry Him To Irene.

Then,  Presently,  While This Was Painfully Revolving itself

In Mrs. Lapham'S Mind,  She Was Aware Of Mrs. Corey'S Asking

If She Was Not To Have The Pleasure Of Seeing miss Irene.

 

"No; She'S Out,  Just Now," Said Mrs. Lapham.  "I Don'T

Know Just When She'Ll Be In.  She Went To Get A Book."

And Here She Turned red again,  Knowing that Irene Had

Gone To Get The Book Because It Was One That Corey Had

Spoken Of.

 

"Oh! I'M Sorry," Said Mrs. Corey.  "I Had Hoped to See Her.

And Your Other Daughter,  Whom I Never Met?"

 

"Penelope?" Asked mrs. Lapham,  Eased a Little.  "She Is

At Home.  I Will Go And Call Her." The Laphams Had Not Yet

Thought Of Spending their Superfluity On Servants Who

Could Be Rung For; They Kept Two Girls And A Man To Look

After The Furnace,  As They Had For The Last Ten Years.

If Mrs. Lapham Had Rung In the Parlour,  Her Second Girl

Would Have Gone To The Street Door To See Who Was There.

She Went Upstairs For Penelope Herself,  And The Girl,

After Some Rebellious Derision,  Returned with Her.

 

Mrs. Corey Took Account Of Her,  As Penelope Withdrew

To The Other Side Of The Room After Their Introduction,

And Sat Down,  Indolently Submissive On The Surface

To The Tests To Be Applied,  And Following mrs. Corey'S

Lead Of The Conversation In her Odd Drawl.

 

"You Young Ladies Will Be Glad To Be Getting into Your

New House," She Said Politely.

 

"I Don'T Know," Said Penelope.  "We'Re So Used to This One."

 

Mrs. Corey Looked a Little Baffled,  But She Said Sympathetically,

"Of Course,  You Will Be Sorry To Leave Your Old Home."

 

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Mrs. Lapham Could Not Help Putting in on Behalf Of Her

Daughters: "I Guess If It Was Left To The Girls To Say,

We Shouldn'T Leave It At All."

 

"Oh,  Indeed!" Said Mrs. Corey; "Are They So Much Attached?

But I Can Quite Understand It.  My Children Would Be

Heart-Broken Too If We Were To Leave The Old Place."

She Turned to Penelope.  "But You Must Think Of The Lovely

New House,  And The Beautiful Position."

 

"Yes,  I Suppose We Shall Get Used to Them Too,"

Said Penelope,  In response To This Didactic Consolation.

 

"Oh,  I Could Even Imagine Your Getting very Fond Of Them,"

Pursued mrs. Corey Patronisingly.  "My Son Has Told Me

Of The Lovely Outlook You'Re To Have Over The Water.

He Thinks You Have Such A Beautiful House.  I Believe He

Had The Pleasure Of Meeting you All There When He First

Came Home."

 

"Yes,  I Think He Was Our First Visitor."

 

"He Is A Great Admirer Of Your House," Said Mrs. Corey,

Keeping her Eyes Very Sharply,  However Politely,

On Penelope'S Face,  As If To Surprise There The Secret

Of Any Other Great Admiration Of Her Son'S That Might

Helplessly Show Itself.

 

"Yes," Said The Girl,  "He'S Been There Several Times

With Father; And He Wouldn'T Be Allowed to Overlook

Any Of Its Good Points."

 

Her Mother Took A Little More Courage From Her Daughter'S Tranquillity.

 

"The Girls Make Such Fun Of Their Father'S Excitement

About His Building,  And The Way He Talks It Into Everybody."

 

"Oh,  Indeed!" Said Mrs. Corey,  With Civil Misunderstanding

And Inquiry.

 

Penelope Flushed,  And Her Mother Went On: "I Tell Him

He'S More Of A Child About It Than Any Of Them."

 

"Young People Are Very Philosophical Nowadays,"

Remarked mrs. Corey.

 

"Yes,  Indeed," Said Mrs. Lapham.  "I Tell Them They'Ve Always

Had Everything,  So That Nothing'S A Surprise To Them.

It Was Different With Us In our Young Days."

 

"Yes," Said Mrs. Corey,  Without Assenting.

 

"I Mean The Colonel And Myself," Explained mrs. Lapham.

 

"Oh Yes--Yes!" Said Mrs. Corey.

 

"I'M Sure," The Former Went On,  Rather Helplessly,

"We Had To Work Hard Enough For Everything we Got. 

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And So We Appreciated it."

 

"So Many Things Were Not Done For Young People Then,"

Said Mrs. Corey,  Not Recognising the Early-Hardships

Standpoint Of Mrs. Lapham.  "But I Don'T Know That They

Are Always The Better For It Now," She Added vaguely,

But With The Satisfaction We All Feel In uttering a

Just Commonplace.

 

"It'S Rather Hard Living up To Blessings That You'Ve

Always Had," Said Penelope.

 

"Yes," Replied mrs. Corey Distractedly,  And Coming back

To Her Slowly From The Virtuous Distance To Which She Had

Absented herself.  She Looked at The Girl Searchingly Again,

As If To Determine Whether This Were A Touch Of The

Drolling her Son Had Spoken Of.  But She Only Added:

"You Will Enjoy The Sunsets On The Back Bay So Much."

"Well,  Not Unless They'Re New Ones," Said Penelope.

"I Don'T Believe I Could Promise To Enjoy Any Sunsets

That I Was Used to,  A Great Deal."

 

Mrs. Corey Looked at Her With Misgiving,  Hardening

Into Dislike.  "No," She Breathed vaguely.  "My Son

Spoke Of The Fine Effect Of The Lights About The Hotel

From Your Cottage At Nantasket," She Said To Mrs. Lapham.

 

"Yes,  They'Re Splendid!" Exclaimed that Lady.  "I Guess

The Girls Went Down Every Night With Him To See Them

From The Rocks."

 

"Yes," Said Mrs. Corey,  A Little Dryly; And She Permitted

Herself To Add: "He Spoke Of Those Rocks.  I Suppose Both

You Young Ladies Spend A Great Deal Of Your Time On Them

When You'Re There.  At Nahant My Children Were Constantly On Them."

 

"Irene Likes The Rocks," Said Penelope.  "I Don'T Care

Much About Them,--Especially At Night."

 

"Oh,  Indeed! I Suppose You Find It Quite As Well Looking

At The Lights Comfortably From The Veranda."

 

"No; You Can'T See Them From The House."

 

"Oh," Said Mrs. Corey.  After A Perceptible Pause,

She Turned to Mrs. Lapham.  "I Don'T Know What My Son

Would Have Done For A Breath Of Sea Air This Summer,

If You Had Not Allowed him To Come To Nantasket.

He Wasn'T Willing to Leave His Business Long Enough To Go

Anywhere Else."

 

"Yes,  He'S A Born Business Man," Responded mrs. Lapham

Enthusiastically.  "If It'S Born In you,  It'S Bound To Come Out.

That'S What The Colonel Is Always Saying about Mr. Corey.

He Says It'S Born In him To Be A Business Man,  And He

Can'T Help It." She Recurred to Corey Gladly Because She

Felt That She Had Not Said Enough Of Him When His Mother

First Spoke Of His Connection With The Business. 

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"I Don'T Believe," She Went On Excitedly,  "That Colonel

Lapham Has Ever Had Anybody With Him That He Thought More Of."

 

"You Have All Been Very Kind To My Son," Said Mrs. Corey

In Acknowledgment,  And Stiffly Bowing a Little,  "And We

Feel Greatly Indebted to You.  Very Much So." At These

Grateful Expressions Mrs. Lapham Reddened once More,

And Murmured that It Had Been Very Pleasant To Them,

She Was Sure.  She Glanced at Her Daughter For Support,

But Penelope Was Looking at Mrs. Corey,  Who Doubtless Saw

Her From The Corner Of Her Eyes,  Though She Went On Speaking

To Her Mother.

 

"I Was Sorry To Hear From Him That Mr.--Colonel?--Lapham

Had Not Been Quite Well This Summer.  I Hope He'S Better Now?"

 

"Oh Yes,  Indeed," Replied mrs. Lapham; "He'S All Right Now.

He'S Hardly Ever Been Sick,  And He Don'T Know How To Take

Care Of Himself.  That'S All.  We