Easy English ↔ Source English
Chapter 22
Source paragraphs anchor each row. Semantically matched easy-English paragraphs stay grouped beside the source they rewrite.
Easy-English paragraphs are matched to the source by meaning; numbering follows the source text.
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01
Easy English
"A party for the Blenkers? The Blenkers?"
Source English
"A party for the Blenkers--the Blenkers?"
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02
Easy English
Mr. Welland put down his knife and fork. He looked across the lunch table in worried disbelief. Mrs. Welland fixed her gold eye-glasses and read the invitation aloud.
Source English
Mr. Welland laid down his knife and fork and looked anxiously and incredulously across the luncheon-table at his wife, who, adjusting her gold eye-glasses, read aloud, in the tone of high comedy:
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03
Easy English
Her voice made the words sound like a high comedy. "Professor and Mrs. Emerson Sillerton request Mr. and Mrs. Welland's company."
"The Wednesday Afternoon Club meets on August twenty-fifth. It begins at three o'clock exactly. The guests are Mrs. Blenker and her daughters."
Source English
"Professor and Mrs. Emerson Sillerton request the pleasure of Mr. and Mrs. Welland's company at the meeting of the Wednesday Afternoon Club on August 25th at 3 o'clock punctually. To meet Mrs. and the Misses Blenker.
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04
Easy English
The party would be at Red Gables on Catherine Street. The card asked for an answer.
Source English
"Red Gables, Catherine Street. R. S. V. P."
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05
Easy English
"Good heavens," Mr. Welland breathed. A second reading made the strange news feel real.
Source English
"Good gracious--" Mr. Welland gasped, as if a second reading had been necessary to bring the monstrous absurdity of the thing home to him.
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06
Easy English
Mrs. Welland sighed. "Poor Amy Sillerton. No one can guess what her husband will do next. He has just discovered the Blenkers, I suppose."
Source English
"Poor Amy Sillerton--you never can tell what her husband will do next," Mrs. Welland sighed. "I suppose he's just discovered the Blenkers."
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07
Easy English
Professor Emerson Sillerton caused Newport society much pain. Yet no one could push him out. His roots grew from a very old and respected family.
People said he received every possible social gift. His father was Sillerton Jackson's uncle. His mother came from the rich Pennilows of Boston.
Both sides brought money and position. Both seemed to fit each other perfectly. Emerson could have lived a safe and usual life.
Nothing forced him to become an archaeologist, a person who studied old human places and objects. Nothing forced him to become any kind of professor.
He even lived in Newport during winter. This was another act against good sense. Mrs. Welland often listed these needless wrongs.
If he must fight custom, he could remain unmarried. Instead, he married poor Amy Dagonet. She deserved a different life.
Amy also had enough money for her own carriage. No one understood why she calmly accepted her strange husband.
Source English
Professor Emerson Sillerton was a thorn in the side of Newport society; and a thorn that could not be plucked out, for it grew on a venerable and venerated family tree. He was, as people said, a man who had had "every advantage." His father was Sillerton Jackson's uncle, his mother a Pennilow of Boston; on each side there was wealth and position, and mutual suitability. Nothing--as Mrs. Welland had often remarked--nothing on earth obliged Emerson Sillerton to be an archæologist, or indeed a Professor of any sort, or to live in Newport in winter, or do any of the other revolutionary things that he did. But at least, if he was going to break with tradition and flout society in the face, he need not have married poor Amy Dagonet, who had a right to expect "something different," and money enough to keep her own carriage.
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08
Easy English
Emerson filled their house with long-haired men and short-haired women. When they traveled, he took Amy to study graves in Yucatan. He did not take her to Paris or Italy.
The pair followed their own path. They seemed unaware that other people found them strange. Each year, they held a dull garden party.
Every family on the Cliffs needed to send someone. The Sillerton, Pennilow, and Dagonet names required it. Families almost drew lots to choose the unlucky guest.
Source English
No one in the Mingott set could understand why Amy Sillerton had submitted so tamely to the eccentricities of a husband who filled the house with long-haired men and short-haired women, and, when he travelled, took her to explore tombs in Yucatan instead of going to Paris or Italy. But there they were, set in their ways, and apparently unaware that they were different from other people; and when they gave one of their dreary annual garden-parties every family on the Cliffs, because of the Sillerton-Pennilow-Dagonet connection, had to draw lots and send an unwilling representative.
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09
Easy English
"They might choose the Cup Race day next," Mrs. Welland said. "Remember their party two years ago?"
"They gave it for a black man. They chose the day of Julia Mingott's tea dance. At least nothing else happens this time."
Source English
"It's a wonder," Mrs. Welland remarked, "that they didn't choose the Cup Race day! Do you remember, two years ago, their giving a party for a black man on the day of Julia Mingott's thé dansant? Luckily this time there's nothing else going on that I know of--for of course some of us will have to go."
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10
Easy English
She accepted the painful truth. "Of course, some of us must go."
Mr. Welland gave a nervous sigh. "Some of us? Must more than one go? Three o'clock is very difficult."
"I must return by half past three for my medicine drops. Bencomb's new treatment requires perfect order. Missing one time may ruin it."
"If I join you later, I shall miss my drive."
He put down his knife and fork again. Worry reddened his finely lined face.
Source English
Mr. Welland sighed nervously. "'Some of us,' my dear--more than one? Three o'clock is such a very awkward hour. I have to be here at half-past three to take my drops: it's really no use trying to follow Bencomb's new treatment if I don't do it systematically; and if I join you later, of course I shall miss my drive." At the thought he laid down his knife and fork again, and a flush of anxiety rose to his finely-wrinkled cheek.
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11
Easy English
"You have no reason to go, dear," his wife said brightly. This kind of calm answer now came without thought.
"I must leave some cards near the end of Bellevue Avenue. I can visit Amy at half past three. A short stay will show respect."
Mrs. Welland looked carefully at May. "Perhaps May can drive you with the ponies. She can try their new brown leather straps."
"That will work if Newland's afternoon has a plan."
Source English
"There's no reason why you should go at all, my dear," his wife answered with a cheerfulness that had become automatic. "I have some cards to leave at the other end of Bellevue Avenue, and I'll drop in at about half-past three and stay long enough to make poor Amy feel that she hasn't been slighted." She glanced hesitatingly at her daughter. "And if Newland's afternoon is provided for perhaps May can drive you out with the ponies, and try their new russet harness."
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12
Easy English
In the Welland family, every hour needed a plan. Mrs. Welland feared empty time. Neither card games nor games for one person pleased everyone.
Without a plan, those people might need to kill time. This thought followed her like a ghost. She worried over it as rich helpers worried over jobless people.
Another rule protected married children from their parents. Parents must never openly control their plans. Mrs. Welland needed great skill to follow both rules.
May must seem free. Mr. Welland must receive full care. Solving both needs left no free second in Mrs. Welland's own day.
Source English
It was a principle in the Welland family that people's days and hours should be what Mrs. Welland called "provided for." The melancholy possibility of having to "kill time" (especially for those who did not care for whist or solitaire) was a vision that haunted her as the spectre of the unemployed haunts the philanthropist. Another of her principles was that parents should never (at least visibly) interfere with the plans of their married children; and the difficulty of adjusting this respect for May's independence with the exigency of Mr. Welland's claims could be overcome only by the exercise of an ingenuity which left not a second of Mrs. Welland's own time unprovided for.
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13
Easy English
"Of course I shall drive Papa," May said. "Newland will surely find something to do."
Her gentle voice reminded Newland that he gave no answer. His poor planning always troubled Mrs. Welland.
For two weeks, she often asked about his afternoons. Sometimes he gave a playful answer. "Today I may save my afternoon instead of spending it."
Once, May and her mother made several delayed visits. Newland spent those hours under a rock below the house. He calmly told them so.
Source English
"Of course I'll drive with Papa--I'm sure Newland will find something to do," May said, in a tone that gently reminded her husband of his lack of response. It was a cause of constant distress to Mrs. Welland that her son-in-law showed so little foresight in planning his days. Often already, during the fortnight that he had passed under her roof, when she enquired how he meant to spend his afternoon, he had answered paradoxically: "Oh, I think for a change I'll just save it instead of spending it--" and once, when she and May had had to go on a long-postponed round of afternoon calls, he had confessed to having lain all the afternoon under a rock on the beach below the house.
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14
Easy English
"Newland never looks ahead," Mrs. Welland once told May.
May answered without worry. "It does not matter. When nothing needs doing, he reads a book."
Source English
"Newland never seems to look ahead," Mrs. Welland once ventured to complain to her daughter; and May answered serenely: "No; but you see it doesn't matter, because when there's nothing particular to do he reads a book."
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15
Easy English
"Yes, like his father," Mrs. Welland said. She accepted this as a family strangeness. After that, she stopped speaking about Newland's empty time.
Source English
"Ah, yes--like his father!" Mrs. Welland agreed, as if allowing for an inherited oddity; and after that the question of Newland's unemployment was tacitly dropped.
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16
Easy English
The Sillerton party came closer. May began to worry about leaving Newland alone. She suggested a tennis match at the Chiverses'.
She also suggested sailing on Julius Beaufort's small fast boat. Either pleasure could pay for her absence.
"I shall return by six, dear," May said. "Papa never drives after that."
Still, she worried until Newland offered a plan. He would rent a light carriage and drive north. A stud-farm there might have a horse for May's brougham.
A stud-farm was a place that raised horses. The Archers needed a second matching horse. They searched for one for some time.
May looked at her mother with quiet victory. Her face seemed to say Newland could plan as well as anyone.
Source English
Nevertheless, as the day for the Sillerton reception approached, May began to show a natural solicitude for his welfare, and to suggest a tennis match at the Chiverses', or a sail on Julius Beaufort's cutter, as a means of atoning for her temporary desertion. "I shall be back by six, you know, dear: Papa never drives later than that--" and she was not reassured till Archer said that he thought of hiring a run-about and driving up the island to a stud-farm to look at a second horse for her brougham. They had been looking for this horse for some time, and the suggestion was so acceptable that May glanced at her mother as if to say: "You see he knows how to plan out his time as well as any of us."
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17
Easy English
Newland first formed the stud-farm plan after hearing about the party. He kept it secret. Some hidden part of the plan seemed wrong.
He feared that discovery might stop him. So he rented the carriage well in advance. Two old fast horses came with it.
The horses could still cover eighteen miles on level roads. At two o'clock, Newland quickly left the lunch table. He jumped into the light carriage and drove away.
Source English
The idea of the stud-farm and the brougham horse had germinated in Archer's mind on the very day when the Emerson Sillerton invitation had first been mentioned; but he had kept it to himself as if there were something clandestine in the plan, and discovery might prevent its execution. He had, however, taken the precaution to engage in advance a run-about with a pair of old livery-stable trotters that could still do their eighteen miles on level roads; and at two o'clock, hastily deserting the luncheon-table, he sprang into the light carriage and drove off.
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18
Easy English
The day was perfect. A north wind moved small white clouds across a deep blue sky. Below them, the bright sea moved and shone.
Bellevue Avenue was empty. Newland left the stable boy at Mill Street. Then he turned onto Old Beach Road and crossed Eastman's Beach.
Source English
The day was perfect. A breeze from the north drove little puffs of white cloud across an ultramarine sky, with a bright sea running under it. Bellevue Avenue was empty at that hour, and after dropping the stable-lad at the corner of Mill Street Archer turned down the Old Beach Road and drove across Eastman's Beach.
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19
Easy English
He felt the excitement of a school holiday. In childhood, a free afternoon opened an unknown world. This drive gave him the same feeling.
He let the pair move at an easy speed. The farm stood just beyond Paradise Rocks. He expected to reach it before three.
He would study the horse and test it if needed. Afterward, four golden hours would remain. He could use them as he wished.
Source English
He had the feeling of unexplained excitement with which, on half-holidays at school, he used to start off into the unknown. Taking his pair at an easy gait, he counted on reaching the stud-farm, which was not far beyond Paradise Rocks, before three o'clock; so that, after looking over the horse (and trying him if he seemed promising) he would still have four golden hours to dispose of.
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20
Easy English
When he first heard of the party, he thought of Medora. She would surely visit Newport with the Blenkers. Ellen might visit her grandmother again.
At least the Blenker house would probably stand empty. Then Newland could satisfy his strange interest without causing talk.
He did not know whether he wanted to see Ellen. Yet the sight of her above the bay changed him. Since then, he wanted to see where she lived.
He imagined her moving through each room and path. At the shore, he watched her real body from far away. Now he wanted to follow its imagined path.
The need stayed with him through day and night. It was like a sick man's sudden need for one lost taste. He could not name the food or drink.
Newland could not see where this desire led. He did not clearly want to speak to Ellen. He did not even ask to hear her voice.
He only wanted a picture of her small piece of earth. He wanted the sky and sea around it. Perhaps that image could make the world less empty.
Source English
As soon as he heard of the Sillerton's party he had said to himself that the Marchioness Manson would certainly come to Newport with the Blenkers, and that Madame Olenska might again take the opportunity of spending the day with her grandmother. At any rate, the Blenker habitation would probably be deserted, and he would be able, without indiscretion, to satisfy a vague curiosity concerning it. He was not sure that he wanted to see the Countess Olenska again; but ever since he had looked at her from the path above the bay he had wanted, irrationally and indescribably, to see the place she was living in, and to follow the movements of her imagined figure as he had watched the real one in the summer-house. The longing was with him day and night, an incessant undefinable craving, like the sudden whim of a sick man for food or drink once tasted and long since forgotten. He could not see beyond the craving, or picture what it might lead to, for he was not conscious of any wish to speak to Madame Olenska or to hear her voice. He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the world might seem less empty.
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21
Easy English
One look at the farm horse ended his hope. It was not right for May's brougham. Still, Newland drove it once around the field.
He wanted to prove that he was not in a hurry. At three, he took his rented horses again. He turned onto the country roads toward Portsmouth.
The wind stopped. A weak line in the distance showed fog gathering. The changing water would soon pull it up the Saconnet.
Source English
When he reached the stud-farm a glance showed him that the horse was not what he wanted; nevertheless he took a turn behind it in order to prove to himself that he was not in a hurry. But at three o'clock he shook out the reins over the trotters and turned into the by-roads leading to Portsmouth. The wind had dropped and a faint haze on the horizon showed that a fog was waiting to steal up the Saconnet on the turn of the tide; but all about him fields and woods were steeped in golden light.
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22
Easy English
Around Newland, fields and woods lay in golden light. He passed grey farmhouses among fruit trees. Cut grass dried in open fields.
Groups of oak trees lined the road. White church towers rose above small towns. Their points cut sharply into the fading sky.
Newland stopped and asked field workers for directions. Soon he entered a narrow road between high banks. Yellow flowers and wild thorny plants grew there.
At its end, the river shone blue. On the left stood a long, broken house. Its old white paint fell from the wooden walls.
Source English
He drove past grey-shingled farm-houses in orchards, past hay-fields and groves of oak, past villages with white steeples rising sharply into the fading sky; and at last, after stopping to ask the way of some men at work in a field, he turned down a lane between high banks of goldenrod and brambles. At the end of the lane was the blue glimmer of the river; to the left, standing in front of a clump of oaks and maples, he saw a long tumble-down house with white paint peeling from its clapboards.
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23
Easy English
An open farm building faced the gate. Local farmers kept tools there. Visitors also left their horses inside it.
Newland jumped down and led his pair under its roof. He tied them safely to a post. Then he turned toward the house.
The front grass grew tall like a field. An old square garden lay to the left. Its paths disappeared under too much growth.
Large bright flowers and old rose bushes filled it. They surrounded a pale summer-house made from crossed wood. Once, its wood was white.
Source English
On the road-side facing the gateway stood one of the open sheds in which the New Englander shelters his farming implements and visitors "hitch" their "teams." Archer, jumping down, led his pair into the shed, and after tying them to a post turned toward the house. The patch of lawn before it had relapsed into a hay-field; but to the left an overgrown box-garden full of dahlias and rusty rose-bushes encircled a ghostly summer-house of trellis-work that had once been white, surmounted by a wooden Cupid who had lost his bow and arrow but continued to take ineffectual aim.
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24
Easy English
A wooden Cupid stood on top. Cupid was the little god of love in old Roman stories. This Cupid lost his bow and arrow.
Still, his empty hands continued to aim. The useless act seemed to guard the garden.
Newland leaned against the gate. No person appeared. No sound came through the house's open windows.
An old grey Newfoundland dog slept before the door. The huge dog guarded the house no better than Cupid. This quiet broken place seemed wrong for the noisy Blenkers.
Source English
Archer leaned for a while against the gate. No one was in sight, and not a sound came from the open windows of the house: a grizzled Newfoundland dozing before the door seemed as ineffectual a guardian as the arrowless Cupid. It was strange to think that this place of silence and decay was the home of the turbulent Blenkers; yet Archer was sure that he was not mistaken.
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25
Easy English
Yet Newland knew he found the right house. He stood there for a long time. The sleepy scene slowly held him.
Then he remembered the passing hours. Should he look until satisfied and drive away? Suddenly, he wanted to enter the house.
He could then imagine the exact room where Ellen sat. Nothing stopped him from ringing the bell. If everyone was away, he could ask to write a message inside.
Source English
For a long time he stood there, content to take in the scene, and gradually falling under its drowsy spell; but at length he roused himself to the sense of the passing time. Should he look his fill and then drive away? He stood irresolute, wishing suddenly to see the inside of the house, so that he might picture the room that Madame Olenska sat in. There was nothing to prevent his walking up to the door and ringing the bell; if, as he supposed, she was away with the rest of the party, he could easily give his name, and ask permission to go into the sitting-room to write a message.
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26
Easy English
Instead, Newland crossed the tall grass toward the old garden. Something bright waited in the summer-house. He soon saw a pink parasol.
A parasol was a small sunshade carried by a woman. It pulled Newland forward like a strong magnet. He felt sure it belonged to Ellen.
He entered the summer-house and sat on its weak seat. Then he picked up the soft pink object. He studied its handle.
Someone carved the handle from rare wood. A warm, sweet smell rose from it. Newland lifted the handle to his lips.
Source English
But instead, he crossed the lawn and turned toward the box-garden. As he entered it he caught sight of something bright-coloured in the summer-house, and presently made it out to be a pink parasol. The parasol drew him like a magnet: he was sure it was hers. He went into the summer-house, and sitting down on the rickety seat picked up the silken thing and looked at its carved handle, which was made of some rare wood that gave out an aromatic scent. Archer lifted the handle to his lips.
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27
Easy English
Women's clothes moved softly against the garden bushes. Newland did not move. He held the parasol handle in both hands.
The sound came closer. Still, he did not raise his eyes. He always knew this meeting must happen.
Source English
He heard a rustle of skirts against the box, and sat motionless, leaning on the parasol handle with clasped hands, and letting the rustle come nearer without lifting his eyes. He had always known that this must happen ...
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28
Easy English
"Oh, Mr. Archer!" cried a loud young voice.
Newland looked up. The youngest and largest Blenker daughter stood there. She had fair hair and a full, soft face.
Her dirty white dress hung badly. A red mark covered one cheek. That cheek seemed to rest on a pillow moments before.
Source English
"Oh, Mr. Archer!" exclaimed a loud young voice; and looking up he saw before him the youngest and largest of the Blenker girls, blonde and blowsy, in bedraggled muslin. A red blotch on one of her cheeks seemed to show that it had recently been pressed against a pillow, and her half-awakened eyes stared at him hospitably but confusedly.
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29
Easy English
Her half-awake eyes studied him with welcome and confusion. "Good heavens, where did you come from?"
"I must have slept deeply in the hanging bed. Everyone else went to Newport. Did you ring the bell?"
Source English
"Gracious--where did you drop from? I must have been sound asleep in the hammock. Everybody else has gone to Newport. Did you ring?" she incoherently enquired.
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30
Easy English
Newland felt more confused than she did. "No, but I was about to ring. I came north to see a horse."
"Then I drove here hoping to find Mrs. Blenker and her guests. The house looked empty, so I sat down to wait."
Source English
Archer's confusion was greater than hers. "I--no--that is, I was just going to. I had to come up the island to see about a horse, and I drove over on a chance of finding Mrs. Blenker and your visitors. But the house seemed empty--so I sat down to wait."
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31
Easy English
Miss Blenker became more awake and interested. "The house is empty. Mother and the Marchioness are away. Everyone is gone but me."
She looked slightly hurt. "Did you forget the Sillertons' garden party? They are giving it for Mother and all of us today."
"I was very unlucky. My throat hurts, and Mother feared the evening drive. Can anything be more disappointing?"
Then she smiled too brightly. "Of course, knowing about your visit would help."
Miss Blenker began trying to charm him. Her efforts were heavy and clear. Newland quickly broke into her speech.
Source English
Miss Blenker, shaking off the fumes of sleep, looked at him with increasing interest. "The house is empty. Mother's not here, or the Marchioness--or anybody but me." Her glance became faintly reproachful. "Didn't you know that Professor and Mrs. Sillerton are giving a garden-party for mother and all of us this afternoon? It was too unlucky that I couldn't go; but I've had a sore throat, and mother was afraid of the drive home this evening. Did you ever know anything so disappointing? Of course," she added gaily, "I shouldn't have minded half as much if I'd known you were coming."
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32
Easy English
"But Madame Olenska went to Newport too?"
Source English
Symptoms of a lumbering coquetry became visible in her, and Archer found the strength to break in: "But Madame Olenska--has she gone to Newport too?"
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33
Easy English
Miss Blenker stared. "Madame Olenska? Did you not know someone called her away?"
Source English
Miss Blenker looked at him with surprise. "Madame Olenska--didn't you know she'd been called away?"
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34
Easy English
"Called her away?"
Source English
"Called away?--"
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35
Easy English
Miss Blenker noticed the object in his hands. "Oh, my best parasol! I lent it to foolish Katie. It matched the bands on her dress."
"She must have dropped it here. We Blenkers are all like that. We are true Bohemians."
Bohemians were people who ignored usual social rules. Miss Blenker opened the parasol with one strong hand. Its pink top spread above her head.
"Yes, Ellen left yesterday. She lets us call her Ellen. A telegram came from Boston."
"She may be gone for two days. I love how she arranges her hair. Do you?"
Source English
"Oh, my best parasol! I lent it to that goose of a Katie, because it matched her ribbons, and the careless thing must have dropped it here. We Blenkers are all like that ... real Bohemians!" Recovering the sunshade with a powerful hand she unfurled it and suspended its rosy dome above her head. "Yes, Ellen was called away yesterday: she lets us call her Ellen, you know. A telegram came from Boston: she said she might be gone for two days. I do love the way she does her hair, don't you?" Miss Blenker rambled on.
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36
Easy English
Newland looked through the girl as if she were clear glass. He saw only the cheap pink parasol above her laughing face. It did not belong to Ellen.
Source English
Archer continued to stare through her as though she had been transparent. All he saw was the trumpery parasol that arched its pinkness above her giggling head.
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37
Easy English
After a moment, he found another question. "Do you know why Madame Olenska went to Boston? Was there bad news?"
Source English
After a moment he ventured: "You don't happen to know why Madame Olenska went to Boston? I hope it was not on account of bad news?"
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38
Easy English
Miss Blenker found the idea unlikely. "I do not think so. She never told us what the telegram said."
"I think she wanted to hide it from the Marchioness. Ellen looks like a woman in a love story, does she not?"
"She reminds me of Mrs. Scott-Siddons reading Lady Geraldine's Courtship. Did you ever hear her?"
Source English
Miss Blenker took this with a cheerful incredulity. "Oh, I don't believe so. She didn't tell us what was in the telegram. I think she didn't want the Marchioness to know. She's so romantic-looking, isn't she? Doesn't she remind you of Mrs. Scott-Siddons when she reads 'Lady Geraldine's Courtship'? Did you never hear her?"
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39
Easy English
Thoughts crowded through Newland's mind. His whole future suddenly opened before him. It was an endless empty road.
Far down that road walked a man growing smaller. Nothing would ever happen to him. Newland knew that man was himself.
He looked at the wild garden and falling house. Evening gathered under the oak trees. This seemed exactly where Ellen should be.
Yet she was far away. Even the pink parasol was not hers.
Source English
Archer was dealing hurriedly with crowding thoughts. His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever to happen. He glanced about him at the unpruned garden, the tumble-down house, and the oak-grove under which the dusk was gathering. It had seemed so exactly the place in which he ought to have found Madame Olenska; and she was far away, and even the pink sunshade was not hers ...
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40
Easy English
Newland frowned and waited. "Perhaps you know where she is staying. I shall be in Boston tomorrow. I might see her."
Source English
He frowned and hesitated. "You don't know, I suppose--I shall be in Boston tomorrow. If I could manage to see her--"
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41
Easy English
Miss Blenker's interest in him was already fading. Her smile remained. "How lovely of you. She is at the Parker House."
"It must be terrible there in this weather."
Source English
He felt that Miss Blenker was losing interest in him, though her smile persisted. "Oh, of course; how lovely of you! She's staying at the Parker House; it must be horrible there in this weather."
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42
Easy English
Newland remembered little of their later talk. Miss Blenker begged him to wait for her family. She wanted him to share their large late tea.
He firmly refused. At last, he walked back across the garden with her beside him. They passed beyond the reach of the arrowless Cupid.
Newland untied his horses and drove away. At the turn, he looked back. Miss Blenker stood at the gate, waving her pink parasol.
Source English
After that Archer was but intermittently aware of the remarks they exchanged. He could only remember stoutly resisting her entreaty that he should await the returning family and have high tea with them before he drove home. At length, with his hostess still at his side, he passed out of range of the wooden Cupid, unfastened his horses and drove off. At the turn of the lane he saw Miss Blenker standing at the gate and waving the pink parasol.