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It stood for one of the many hatedpossibilities hovering on the edge of life. If she did not marry PercyGryce, the day might come when she would have to be civil to such men asRosedale. But she meant to marry him—she wassure of him and sure of herself. She drew back with a shiver from thepleasant paths in which her thoughts had been straying, and set her feetonce more in the middle of the long white road....
The House of Mirth, By Edith Wharton - The Independent
The House of Mirth, By Edith Wharton.
Posted: Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Vivan Beaumont Theater, 1,047 seats, $179 top. Opened April 24, 2024. Reviewed April 20. Running time: 2 HOURS, 25 MIN.
He led her through the house to the large room at the back, where Mrs.Trenor usually sat, and where, even in her absence, there was an air ofoccupancy. Here, as usual, were flowers, newspapers, a litteredwriting-table, and a general aspect of lamp-lit familiarity, so that itwas a surprise not to see Judy’s energetic figure start up from thearm-chair near the fire. She waited long enough on the doorstep to wonder that Judy’s presence intown was not signalized by a greater promptness in admitting her; and hersurprise was increased when, instead of the expected footman, pushing hisshoulders into a tardy coat, a shabby care-taking person in calico lether into the shrouded hall.
Also by Edith Wharton
He felt that the real Lily wasstill there, close to him, yet invisible and inaccessible; and thetenuity of the barrier between them mocked him with a sense ofhelplessness. There had never been more than a little impalpable barrierbetween them—and yet he had suffered it to keep them apart! And now,though it seemed slighter and frailer than ever, it had suddenly hardenedto adamant, and he might beat his life out against it in vain. In silence they mounted the three flights, and walked along the passageto a closed door. Gerty opened the door, and Selden went in after her.Though the blind was down, the irresistible sunlight poured a temperedgolden flood into the room, and in its light Selden saw a narrow bedalong the wall, and on the bed, with motionless hands and calmunrecognizing face, the semblance of Lily Bart.
About Edith Wharton
She put back thedresses one by one, laying away with each some gleam of light, some noteof laughter, some stray waft from the rosy shores of pleasure. She wasstill in a state of highly-wrought impressionability, and every hint ofthe past sent a lingering tremor along her nerves. The baby, feeling herself detached from her habitual anchorage, made aninstinctive motion of resistance; but the soothing influences ofdigestion prevailed, and Lily felt the soft weight sink trustfullyagainst her breast.
The first two weeks after her return represented to Mrs. Peniston thedomestic equivalent of a religious retreat. She “went through” the linenand blankets in the precise spirit of the penitent exploring the innerfolds of conscience; she sought for moths as the stricken soul seeks forlurking infirmities. The topmost shelf of every closet was made to yieldup its secret, cellar and coal-bin were probed to their darkest depthsand, as a final stage in the lustral rites, the entire house was swathedin penitential white and deluged with expiatory soapsuds. Trenor paused abruptly, and his eyes fixed themselves on hers with a lookwhich made her change colour.
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Lily, lingering for a moment on the corner, looked out on the afternoonspectacle of Fifth Avenue. It was a day in late April, and the sweetnessof spring was in the air. It mitigated the ugliness of the long crowdedthoroughfare, blurred the gaunt roof-lines, threw a mauve veil over thediscouraging perspective of the side streets, and gave a touch of poetryto the delicate haze of green that marked the entrance to the Park.
Setting
Here were Dorset and his wife oncemore presenting their customary faces to the world, she engrossed inestablishing her relation with an intensely new gown, he shrinking withdyspeptic dread from the multiplied solicitations of the MENU. The merefact that they thus showed themselves together, with the utmost opennessthe place afforded, seemed to declare beyond a doubt that theirdifferences were composed. How this end had been attained was stillmatter for wonder, but it was clear that for the moment Miss Bart restedconfidently in the result; and Selden tried to achieve the same view bytelling himself that her opportunities for observation had been amplerthan his own.
“The Trenors are my best friends—I think we should all go a long way tosee each other,” she said, absorbing herself in the preparation of freshtea. Instead, she approached her desk, and lighting a taper, tied and sealedthe packet; then she opened the wardrobe, drew out a despatch-box, anddeposited the letters within it. As she did so, it struck her with aflash of irony that she was indebted to Gus Trenor for the means ofbuying them.
She indulges and passively enables Lily's habit of gallivanting with her fashionable friends, and ignores the way Lily avoids and abandons her. Although Lily is clearly Julia's favorite, displacing her previous favorite Grace Stepney, Julia never makes any verbal or written promise to provide for Lily in the long term. Although Lily and her friends believe that is "understood" that she will inherit most if not all of Julia's fortune, Julia herself never made such a statement. Indeed, her forbearance is stretched to the limit when rumors reach her that Lily gambles for money and is encouraging attention from married men who compensate her for it.
The woman, without answering, pushed her pail aside, and continued tostare as Miss Bart swept by with a murmur of silken linings. Could onenever do the simplest, the most harmless thing, without subjecting one’sself to some odious conjecture? Half way down the next flight, she smiledto think that a char-woman’s stare should so perturb her. The poor thingwas probably dazzled by such an unwonted apparition. Miss Bart was not familiar withthe moral code of bachelors’ flat-houses, and her colour rose again as itoccurred to her that the woman’s persistent gaze implied a groping amongpast associations.
Hewas sensitive to shades of difference which Miss Bart would never havecredited him with perceiving, because he had no corresponding variationsof manner; and it was becoming more and more clear to him that Miss Bartherself possessed precisely the complementary qualities needed to roundoff his social personality. The gist of this strange communication gave Lily a distinct thrill ofpleasure. Under ordinary circumstances, there would have been nothingsurprising in an invitation from Bertha Dorset; but since the Bellomontepisode an unavowed hostility had kept the two women apart. Now, with astart of inner wonder, Lily felt that her thirst for retaliation had diedout. IF YOU WOULD FORGIVE YOUR ENEMY, says the Malay proverb, FIRSTINFLICT A HURT ON HIM; and Lily was experiencing the truth of theapothegm.
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