Easy English ↔ Source English

Chapter 27

Source paragraphs anchor each row. Semantically matched easy-English paragraphs stay grouped beside the source they rewrite.

Easy-1500 · B1 Easy English only 한국어 읽기판

Easy-English paragraphs are matched to the source by meaning; numbering follows the source text.

01

Easy English

The next day, Wall Street heard better news about Beaufort. The reports gave no clear facts. Still, they offered hope. People believed that powerful friends could save him.
They also believed those friends agreed to help. That evening, Mrs. Beaufort came to the Opera. Her old smile was back. A new emerald necklace lay around her neck.
An emerald was a bright green jewel. Society saw those green stones and felt safe again.

Source English

Wall Street, the next day, had more reassuring reports of Beaufort's situation. They were not definite, but they were hopeful. It was generally understood that he could call on powerful influences in case of emergency, and that he had done so with success; and that evening, when Mrs. Beaufort appeared at the Opera wearing her old smile and a new emerald necklace, society drew a breath of relief.
02

Easy English

New York showed no mercy for bad business acts. Its silent rule allowed no exceptions. People who broke the law of honesty must pay. Everyone knew that even Beaufort must face this rule.
His wife would also pay. But society did not want to lose them. Their fall would be painful and hard for everyone. It would leave a large hole in their small group.
Some people did not understand the moral ruin. Others did not care. Yet they all feared one loss. New York's best room for dances would close.

Source English

New York was inexorable in its condemnation of business irregularities. So far there had been no exception to its tacit rule that those who broke the law of probity must pay; and every one was aware that even Beaufort and Beaufort's wife would be offered up unflinchingly to this principle. But to be obliged to offer them up would be not only painful but inconvenient. The disappearance of the Beauforts would leave a considerable void in their compact little circle; and those who were too ignorant or too careless to shudder at the moral catastrophe bewailed in advance the loss of the best ball-room in New York.
03

Easy English

Archer now firmly planned to visit Washington. He only waited for the law case. He told May that this case caused his trip. He wanted its date to match his visit.
On Tuesday, Mr. Letterblair gave him bad news. The court might wait several weeks. Still, Archer went home with a fixed plan. He would leave on Wednesday evening in any case.
May knew almost nothing about his work. She never seemed interested in it. She might not hear about the delay. She would not remember the names in the case.
None of that mattered now. Archer could not wait longer to see Ellen. He needed to tell her many things.

Source English

Archer had definitely made up his mind to go to Washington. He was waiting only for the opening of the law-suit of which he had spoken to May, so that its date might coincide with that of his visit; but on the following Tuesday he learned from Mr. Letterblair that the case might be postponed for several weeks. Nevertheless, he went home that afternoon determined in any event to leave the next evening. The chances were that May, who knew nothing of his professional life, and had never shown any interest in it, would not learn of the postponement, should it take place, nor remember the names of the litigants if they were mentioned before her; and at any rate he could no longer put off seeing Madame Olenska. There were too many things that he must say to her.
04

Easy English

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Letterblair met him at the office. His face looked deeply troubled. Beaufort failed to save the bank after all.
First, he spread a false story about powerful help. That story made his customers feel safe. They paid large sums into the bank. This continued until Tuesday evening.
Then darker reports filled the street. Crowds came to demand their money. The bank might close before the day's end. People spoke of Beaufort's act with great anger.
His plan tricked his own customers. His failure might become Wall Street's most shameful one. The size of the trouble made Mr. Letterblair white and weak.
"I have seen bad events in my time," he said. "But I never saw one this bad. Everyone we know will suffer somehow."

Source English

On the Wednesday morning, when he reached his office, Mr. Letterblair met him with a troubled face. Beaufort, after all, had not managed to "tide over"; but by setting afloat the rumour that he had done so he had reassured his depositors, and heavy payments had poured into the bank till the previous evening, when disturbing reports again began to predominate. In consequence, a run on the bank had begun, and its doors were likely to close before the day was over. The ugliest things were being said of Beaufort's dastardly manœuvre, and his failure promised to be one of the most discreditable in the history of Wall Street.
05

Easy English

"And what will happen to Mrs. Beaufort? What can anyone do for her?"
Then he thought of old Catherine. "I pity Mrs. Manson Mingott just as much. This comes when she is very old. No one knows how it may affect her."
"She always trusted Beaufort," he continued. "She made him her friend. And think of all the Dallas relations. Poor Mrs. Beaufort is related to all your families."
"Her only hope may be to leave her husband. But who can tell her to do that? Her duty puts her beside him."

Source English

The extent of the calamity left Mr. Letterblair white and incapacitated. "I've seen bad things in my time; but nothing as bad as this. Everybody we know will be hit, one way or another. And what will be done about Mrs. Beaufort? What can be done about her? I pity Mrs. Manson Mingott as much as anybody: coming at her age, there's no knowing what effect this affair may have on her. She always believed in Beaufort--she made a friend of him! And there's the whole Dallas connection: poor Mrs. Beaufort is related to every one of you. Her only chance would be to leave her husband--yet how can any one tell her so? Her duty is at his side; and luckily she seems always to have been blind to his private weaknesses."
06

Easy English

"Luckily, she never saw his private faults. At least, she seems blind to them."
Someone knocked at the door. Mr. Letterblair quickly turned his head.
"What is it? No one must trouble me now."

Source English

There was a knock, and Mr. Letterblair turned his head sharply. "What is it? I can't be disturbed."
07

Easy English

A young office worker brought Archer a letter. Then the man left. Archer knew May's writing and opened it.
"Please come uptown as soon as you can," May wrote. "Granny had a small stroke last night. A stroke is a sudden injury inside the brain. It can stop part of the body from moving."
"Somehow, she heard the terrible bank news first. Uncle Lovell is away shooting. The shame has made poor Papa sick with fear. He has a high body heat and cannot leave his room."
"Mamma needs you very much. Please leave at once and go straight to Granny's."

Source English

A clerk brought in a letter for Archer and withdrew. Recognising his wife's hand, the young man opened the envelope and read: "Won't you please come up town as early as you can? Granny had a slight stroke last night. In some mysterious way she found out before any one else this awful news about the bank. Uncle Lovell is away shooting, and the idea of the disgrace has made poor Papa so nervous that he has a temperature and can't leave his room. Mamma needs you dreadfully, and I do hope you can get away at once and go straight to Granny's."
08

Easy English

Archer handed the letter to his older partner. A few minutes later, he rode north. The crowded street car moved slowly. Horses pulled it through the streets.
At Fourteenth Street, he changed to a high omnibus. An omnibus was a large public carriage with many seats. It rocked along Fifth Avenue. The slow trip ended after twelve at old Catherine's house.
Mrs. Welland sat at the front room window. Old Catherine usually ruled from that place. Her daughter's smaller figure looked wrong there.
Mrs. Welland saw Archer and gave a tired sign of welcome.
May met him at the door. Illness made the neat house look strange. Coats and furs lay in piles on chairs. A doctor's bag and coat covered the hall table.
Letters and cards already formed another pile. No one had touched them.

Source English

Archer handed the note to his senior partner, and a few minutes later was crawling northward in a crowded horse-car, which he exchanged at Fourteenth Street for one of the high staggering omnibuses of the Fifth Avenue line. It was after twelve o'clock when this laborious vehicle dropped him at old Catherine's. The sitting-room window on the ground floor, where she usually throned, was tenanted by the inadequate figure of her daughter, Mrs. Welland, who signed a haggard welcome as she caught sight of Archer; and at the door he was met by May. The hall wore the unnatural appearance peculiar to well-kept houses suddenly invaded by illness: wraps and furs lay in heaps on the chairs, a doctor's bag and overcoat were on the table, and beside them letters and cards had already piled up unheeded.
09

Easy English

May looked pale but kept smiling. Dr. Bencomb just made his second visit. He now felt more hope.
Mrs. Mingott's fierce wish to live also gave the family strength.
May led Archer into the old lady's sitting room. Large sliding doors shut off the bedroom. Heavy yellow cloth curtains covered those doors. Mrs. Welland spoke in a low, shocked voice.
She told him every part of the terrible event.
The trouble began on Tuesday evening. Mrs. Mingott finished her usual card game after dinner. She played solitaire, a card game for one person. At about eight, the front door bell rang.

Source English

May looked pale but smiling: Dr. Bencomb, who had just come for the second time, took a more hopeful view, and Mrs. Mingott's dauntless determination to live and get well was already having an effect on her family. May led Archer into the old lady's sitting-room, where the sliding doors opening into the bedroom had been drawn shut, and the heavy yellow damask portières dropped over them; and here Mrs. Welland communicated to him in horrified undertones the details of the catastrophe. It appeared that the evening before something dreadful and mysterious had happened. At about eight o'clock, just after Mrs. Mingott had finished the game of solitaire that she always played after dinner, the door-bell had rung, and a lady so thickly veiled that the servants did not immediately recognise her had asked to be received.
10

Easy English

A lady stood outside under a thick veil. The servants did not know her at first. Then the chief servant heard a well-known voice. He opened the sitting room door.
"Mrs. Julius Beaufort," he announced.
He shut the door behind her. The two women stayed alone for about an hour. Then Mrs. Mingott rang her bell.
Mrs. Beaufort already slipped away without being seen.
Old Catherine sat alone in her great chair. She looked white, huge, and terrible. She made a sign to the servant. He helped her into her bedroom.
She looked very upset. Yet she still controlled her mind and body. Her maid helped her into bed. The maid was a woman of mixed race.
She brought the usual cup of tea. Then she put the room in order and left. At three in the morning, the bell rang again.
Two servants hurried into the room. Old Catherine usually slept like a baby. They never heard her bell at that hour.
Now she sat up against her pillows. One side of her mouth held a bent smile. One small hand hung without strength. It rested beside her great arm.

Source English

The butler, hearing a familiar voice, had thrown open the sitting-room door, announcing: "Mrs. Julius Beaufort"--and had then closed it again on the two ladies. They must have been together, he thought, about an hour. When Mrs. Mingott's bell rang Mrs. Beaufort had already slipped away unseen, and the old lady, white and vast and terrible, sat alone in her great chair, and signed to the butler to help her into her room. She seemed, at that time, though obviously distressed, in complete control of her body and brain. The mulatto maid put her to bed, brought her a cup of tea as usual, laid everything straight in the room, and went away; but at three in the morning the bell rang again, and the two servants, hastening in at this unwonted summons (for old Catherine usually slept like a baby), had found their mistress sitting up against her pillows with a crooked smile on her face and one little hand hanging limp from its huge arm.
11

Easy English

The stroke was not a large one. Catherine could speak and make her wishes clear. After Dr. Bencomb's first visit, her face improved. Still, the family felt great fear.
Soon they understood her broken words. Then fear changed to anger. Regina Beaufort came to ask for help. The family could hardly believe her bold act.
She wanted Catherine to support Beaufort. Regina asked the whole family not to leave them. In truth, she wanted them to hide his shame. She wanted them to accept his terrible acts.
Old Catherine told Mrs. Welland about their talk. Her stroke made her voice thick.

Source English

The stroke had clearly been a slight one, for she was able to articulate and to make her wishes known; and soon after the doctor's first visit she had begun to regain control of her facial muscles. But the alarm had been great; and proportionately great was the indignation when it was gathered from Mrs. Mingott's fragmentary phrases that Regina Beaufort had come to ask her--incredible effrontery!--to back up her husband, see them through--not to "desert" them, as she called it--in fact to induce the whole family to cover and condone their monstrous dishonour.
12

Easy English

"I told her that honor is always honor," Catherine said. "Honesty is always honesty in Manson Mingott's house. That will stay true until they carry me out dead."
"Then she said, 'But think of my name, Auntie. My name is Regina Dallas.'"
"I answered her. 'Your name was Beaufort when he covered you with jewels. It must stay Beaufort now. He has covered you with shame.'"

Source English

"I said to her: 'Honour's always been honour, and honesty honesty, in Manson Mingott's house, and will be till I'm carried out of it feet first,'" the old woman had stammered into her daughter's ear, in the thick voice of the partly paralysed. "And when she said: 'But my name, Auntie--my name's Regina Dallas,' I said: 'It was Beaufort when he covered you with jewels, and it's got to stay Beaufort now that he's covered you with shame.'"
13

Easy English

Mrs. Welland told this story through tears. Shock made her face white. At last, she had to look straight at something ugly and shameful.
"If only I could hide this from your father-in-law," she said. "He always begs me not to destroy his last happy beliefs. How can I stop him from learning these horrors?"

Source English

So much, with tears and gasps of horror, Mrs. Welland imparted, blanched and demolished by the unwonted obligation of having at last to fix her eyes on the unpleasant and the discreditable. "If only I could keep it from your father-in-law: he always says: 'Augusta, for pity's sake, don't destroy my last illusions'--and how am I to prevent his knowing these horrors?" the poor lady wailed.
14

Easy English

"After all, Mamma, he will not see them," May said.
Mrs. Welland gave a long breath.
"No, thank heaven. He is safe in bed. Dr. Bencomb promised to keep him there."
"He will stay until poor Mamma improves," she continued. "By then, someone must send Regina away."

Source English

"After all, Mamma, he won't have seen them," her daughter suggested; and Mrs. Welland sighed: "Ah, no; thank heaven he's safe in bed. And Dr. Bencomb has promised to keep him there till poor Mamma is better, and Regina has been got away somewhere."
15

Easy English

Archer sat near the window. He stared at the empty street. The women called him for moral support. He could offer no special kind of help.
Someone sent a telegram to Mr. Lovell Mingott. Other messages went by hand to New York relations. No one could do anything else. So the women quietly discussed the family's shame.
They spoke about Beaufort's acts and Regina's visit. To them, neither act could be excused.

Source English

Archer had seated himself near the window and was gazing out blankly at the deserted thoroughfare. It was evident that he had been summoned rather for the moral support of the stricken ladies than because of any specific aid that he could render. Mr. Lovell Mingott had been telegraphed for, and messages were being despatched by hand to the members of the family living in New York; and meanwhile there was nothing to do but to discuss in hushed tones the consequences of Beaufort's dishonour and of his wife's unjustifiable action.
16

Easy English

Mrs. Lovell Mingott came back from another room. She was writing more notes there. Now she joined the talk.
The older ladies remembered their own youth. A wife disappeared when her husband brought business shame. She went away with him. No other choice entered her mind.
"Think of poor Grandmamma Spicer," Mrs. Welland said. "She was your great-grandmother, May. Her husband's money trouble was private, of course."
"Perhaps he lost money at cards," she continued. "Perhaps he signed a paper for someone. I never knew the truth. Mamma refused to speak of it."
"Grandmamma Spicer had to leave New York after the shame. So Mamma grew up in the country. They lived alone beside the Hudson in every season. Mamma stayed there until she was sixteen."
"Grandmamma never asked the family to accept her," Mrs. Welland said. "Regina uses that word now. But Grandmamma's private shame hurt no one else."
"Beaufort destroyed the lives of hundreds of innocent people. That is far worse."

Source English

Mrs. Lovell Mingott, who had been in another room writing notes, presently reappeared, and added her voice to the discussion. In their day, the elder ladies agreed, the wife of a man who had done anything disgraceful in business had only one idea: to efface herself, to disappear with him. "There was the case of poor Grandmamma Spicer; your great-grandmother, May. Of course," Mrs. Welland hastened to add, "your great-grandfather's money difficulties were private--losses at cards, or signing a note for somebody--I never quite knew, because Mamma would never speak of it. But she was brought up in the country because her mother had to leave New York after the disgrace, whatever it was: they lived up the Hudson alone, winter and summer, till Mamma was sixteen. It would never have occurred to Grandmamma Spicer to ask the family to 'countenance' her, as I understand Regina calls it; though a private disgrace is nothing compared to the scandal of ruining hundreds of innocent people."
17

Easy English

"Yes," Mrs. Lovell Mingott said. "Regina should hide her own face. She should not talk about other people's faces."
"I heard about her green necklace at the Opera," she continued. "Ball and Black's sent it that afternoon. They only wanted her to try it. Will the shop ever get it back?"

Source English

"Yes, it would be more becoming in Regina to hide her own countenance than to talk about other people's," Mrs. Lovell Mingott agreed. "I understand that the emerald necklace she wore at the Opera last Friday had been sent on approval from Ball and Black's in the afternoon. I wonder if they'll ever get it back?"
18

Easy English

Archer listened without much feeling. Complete honesty with money was a gentleman's first law. This belief lived too deep inside him. Pity could not weaken it.
Lemuel Struthers was different. He began with nothing and made millions from Shoe Polish. He might use dark business plans. But old New York received its high place at birth.
That gift brought a duty. Its men must keep their business names clean.
Archer felt some pity for Regina. He felt more than her angry relations. Still, her future did not greatly move him.
A husband and wife might break apart in good times. During trouble, they must stay together. Mr. Letterblair was right about that. A wife belonged beside her husband then.
But society did not belong beside a guilty man. Regina seemed to expect its support. That almost made her a partner in Beaufort's acts. No woman could ask her family to hide such business shame.
The Family could do many things. It could never do that.

Source English

Archer listened unmoved to the relentless chorus. The idea of absolute financial probity as the first law of a gentleman's code was too deeply ingrained in him for sentimental considerations to weaken it. An adventurer like Lemuel Struthers might build up the millions of his Shoe Polish on any number of shady dealings; but unblemished honesty was the noblesse oblige of old financial New York. Nor did Mrs. Beaufort's fate greatly move Archer. He felt, no doubt, more sorry for her than her indignant relatives; but it seemed to him that the tie between husband and wife, even if breakable in prosperity, should be indissoluble in misfortune. As Mr. Letterblair had said, a wife's place was at her husband's side when he was in trouble; but society's place was not at his side, and Mrs. Beaufort's cool assumption that it was seemed almost to make her his accomplice. The mere idea of a woman's appealing to her family to screen her husband's business dishonour was inadmissible, since it was the one thing that the Family, as an institution, could not do.
19

Easy English

Old Catherine's maid called Mrs. Lovell Mingott into the hall. The older woman soon came back. A deep line showed between her eyes.

Source English

The mulatto maid called Mrs. Lovell Mingott into the hall, and the latter came back in a moment with a frowning brow.
20

Easy English

"Mamma wants me to send a telegram to Ellen Olenska," she said. "I already wrote to Ellen and Medora. But that is not enough."
"I must send a telegram at once. It must tell Ellen to come alone."

Source English

"She wants me to telegraph for Ellen Olenska. I had written to Ellen, of course, and to Medora; but now it seems that's not enough. I'm to telegraph to her immediately, and to tell her that she's to come alone."
21

Easy English

No one spoke. Mrs. Welland gave a tired sigh. May stood and gathered some newspapers from the floor.

Source English

The announcement was received in silence. Mrs. Welland sighed resignedly, and May rose from her seat and went to gather up some newspapers that had been scattered on the floor.
22

Easy English

"I suppose we must do it," Mrs. Lovell Mingott said.
She sounded as if she wanted someone to disagree. May turned to the center of the room.

Source English

"I suppose it must be done," Mrs. Lovell Mingott continued, as if hoping to be contradicted; and May turned back toward the middle of the room.
23

Easy English

"Of course we must," May said. "Granny knows what she wants. We must obey every wish."
"Shall I write the telegram for you, Auntie?" she asked. "If it leaves now, Ellen can take tomorrow morning's train."
May spoke the two parts of El-len very clearly. Each part sounded like a small silver bell.

Source English

"Of course it must be done," she said. "Granny knows what she wants, and we must carry out all her wishes. Shall I write the telegram for you, Auntie? If it goes at once Ellen can probably catch tomorrow morning's train." She pronounced the syllables of the name with a peculiar clearness, as if she had tapped on two silver bells.
24

Easy English

"It cannot leave at once," Mrs. Lovell Mingott said. "Jasper is out with messages. The boy from the food room is also out."

Source English

"Well, it can't go at once. Jasper and the pantry-boy are both out with notes and telegrams."
25

Easy English

May turned to Archer and smiled. "But Newland is here and ready to help. Will you carry the telegram? There is just enough time before lunch."

Source English

May turned to her husband with a smile. "But here's Newland, ready to do anything. Will you take the telegram, Newland? There'll be just time before luncheon."
26

Easy English

Archer stood and quietly agreed. May sat at Catherine's Bonheur du Jour. It was a small French writing desk. May wrote the message in her large young hand.
She carefully dried the wet ink. Then she gave the paper to Archer.

Source English

Archer rose with a murmur of readiness, and she seated herself at old Catherine's rosewood "Bonheur du Jour," and wrote out the message in her large immature hand. When it was written she blotted it neatly and handed it to Archer.
27

Easy English

"What a pity that you and Ellen will pass each other," she said.
Then she faced her mother and aunt. "Newland must go to Washington. A case about an inventor is coming before the Supreme Court."
"Uncle Lovell will return by tomorrow night," she continued. "Granny is getting much better. Newland should not miss an important work meeting. Do you agree?"

Source English

"What a pity," she said, "that you and Ellen will cross each other on the way!--Newland," she added, turning to her mother and aunt, "is obliged to go to Washington about a patent law-suit that is coming up before the Supreme Court. I suppose Uncle Lovell will be back by tomorrow night, and with Granny improving so much it doesn't seem right to ask Newland to give up an important engagement for the firm--does it?"
28

Easy English

She waited for an answer.
"Of course, darling," Mrs. Welland said quickly. "Your Granny would never ask that."
Archer left the room with the telegram. Behind him, Mrs. Welland spoke to her sister-in-law.
"Why in the world does Mamma want Ellen Olenska?"
May's clear voice answered. "Perhaps Granny will speak about Ellen's duty again. After all, Ellen's duty is beside her husband."

Source English

She paused, as if for an answer, and Mrs. Welland hastily declared: "Oh, of course not, darling. Your Granny would be the last person to wish it." As Archer left the room with the telegram, he heard his mother-in-law add, presumably to Mrs. Lovell Mingott: "But why on earth she should make you telegraph for Ellen Olenska--" and May's clear voice rejoin: "Perhaps it's to urge on her again that after all her duty is with her husband."
29

Easy English

The front door closed behind Archer. He walked quickly toward the telegram office.

Source English

The outer door closed on Archer and he walked hastily away toward the telegraph office.