The Age of Innocence · Parallel

01

Easy English

That evening, Archer came downstairs before dinner. He found the drawing room empty.

Source English

That evening when Archer came down before dinner he found the drawing-room empty.

02

Easy English

He and May were dining alone. The family had stopped all social plans during Mrs. Mingott's illness. May was usually more exact about time than he was. So her empty chair surprised him.

He knew that she was home. While dressing, he heard her moving in her room. He began to wonder what delayed her.

Source English

He and May were dining alone, all the family engagements having been postponed since Mrs. Manson Mingott's illness; and as May was the more punctual of the two he was surprised that she had not preceded him. He knew that she was at home, for while he dressed he had heard her moving about in her room; and he wondered what had delayed her.

03

Easy English

Such small questions now helped him hold onto real life. He often filled his mind with little facts about the house. Then other thoughts could not carry him away. Perhaps Mr. Welland protected himself in the same way.

Maybe May's father once knew dreams and secret ways of escape. Perhaps he called up every small family duty against them. The idea made Archer understand him with new fear.

Source English

He had fallen into the way of dwelling on such conjectures as a means of tying his thoughts fast to reality. Sometimes he felt as if he had found the clue to his father-in-law's absorption in trifles; perhaps even Mr. Welland, long ago, had had escapes and visions, and had conjured up all the hosts of domesticity to defend himself against them.

04

Easy English

May finally entered. She looked tired and pale.

She wore a low dinner dress, pulled tight around her body. Even a private Mingott dinner required such formal clothes. Her fair hair rose in its usual shining coils. Yet her face looked almost without color.

She gave Archer her usual loving smile. Her eyes still held yesterday's clear blue light.

Source English

When May appeared he thought she looked tired. She had put on the low-necked and tightly-laced dinner-dress which the Mingott ceremonial exacted on the most informal occasions, and had built her fair hair into its usual accumulated coils; and her face, in contrast, was wan and almost faded. But she shone on him with her usual tenderness, and her eyes had kept the blue dazzle of the day before.

05

Easy English

"What happened to you, dear?" she asked. "I waited at Granny's house."

"Ellen came alone. She said you left her on the way for some business. Nothing is wrong, is it?"

Source English

"What became of you, dear?" she asked. "I was waiting at Granny's, and Ellen came alone, and said she had dropped you on the way because you had to rush off on business. There's nothing wrong?"

06

Easy English

"I forgot some letters. I wanted to send them before dinner."

Source English

"Only some letters I'd forgotten, and wanted to get off before dinner."

07

Easy English

"Oh," May said. After a moment, she added, "I am sorry you missed Granny. Unless those letters truly could not wait."

Source English

"Ah--" she said; and a moment afterward: "I'm sorry you didn't come to Granny's--unless the letters were urgent."

08

Easy English

"They could not," he answered. Her firm question surprised him. "Besides, why should I go there? I did not know you were waiting."

Source English

"They were," he rejoined, surprised at her insistence. "Besides, I don't see why I should have gone to your grandmother's. I didn't know you were there."

09

Easy English

May crossed to the glass above the fireplace. One soft piece of hair had fallen loose. She raised her long arm and fixed it. Something in her movement seemed weak and heavy.

Could their empty, repeated life have tired her too? Then Archer remembered what happened that morning. May called down the stairs before he left.

She said they would meet at her grandmother's house. They could drive home together afterward. He called back a cheerful yes.

Then his dreams filled his mind, and he forgot. Now he felt guilty. Yet he was also angry over such a small forgotten promise.

They were married for almost two years. Still, May seemed to remember every little failure. Their life felt like one long, warm but lifeless first month of marriage.

It had all the duties of love, but none of its fire. May must have carried many private hurts. If she named them, he might answer them. Instead, her training taught her to hide them behind a brave smile.

Archer hid his anger with a question. "How is your grandmother?"

Source English

She turned and moved to the looking-glass above the mantel-piece. As she stood there, lifting her long arm to fasten a puff that had slipped from its place in her intricate hair, Archer was struck by something languid and inelastic in her attitude, and wondered if the deadly monotony of their lives had laid its weight on her also. Then he remembered that, as he had left the house that morning, she had called over the stairs that she would meet him at her grandmother's so that they might drive home together. He had called back a cheery "Yes!" and then, absorbed in other visions, had forgotten his promise. Now he was smitten with compunction, yet irritated that so trifling an omission should be stored up against him after nearly two years of marriage. He was weary of living in a perpetual tepid honeymoon, without the temperature of passion yet with all its exactions. If May had spoken out her grievances (he suspected her of many) he might have laughed them away; but she was trained to conceal imaginary wounds under a Spartan smile.

10

Easy English

"She is still getting better," May said. "But the latest news about the Beauforts upset her."

Source English

To disguise his own annoyance he asked how her grandmother was, and she answered that Mrs. Mingott was still improving, but had been rather disturbed by the last news about the Beauforts.

11

Easy English

"What news?"

Source English

"What news?"

12

Easy English

"They plan to stay in New York. I hear Mr. Beaufort may enter the insurance business. Insurance pays people after certain kinds of loss. They are also looking for a small house."

Source English

"It seems they're going to stay in New York. I believe he's going into an insurance business, or something. They're looking about for a small house."

13

Easy English

The plan was so shocking to their world that neither discussed it. They went in to dinner.

Their talk moved around the same small circle as always. May never spoke about Ellen. She said nothing about Catherine's welcome either. Archer felt thankful, but her silence also troubled him.

Source English

The preposterousness of the case was beyond discussion, and they went in to dinner. During dinner their talk moved in its usual limited circle; but Archer noticed that his wife made no allusion to Madame Olenska, nor to old Catherine's reception of her. He was thankful for the fact, yet felt it to be vaguely ominous.

14

Easy English

After dinner, they went upstairs to the library for coffee. Archer lit a cigar and took down a history book by Michelet.

He now read history most evenings. If he chose poems, May asked him to read aloud. He did not hate reading to her. He hated knowing every comment she would make.

During their engagement, May repeated his ideas. He only understood this later. When he stopped giving her opinions, she tried her own. Her comments took all pleasure from the poems.

Source English

They went up to the library for coffee, and Archer lit a cigar and took down a volume of Michelet. He had taken to history in the evenings since May had shown a tendency to ask him to read aloud whenever she saw him with a volume of poetry: not that he disliked the sound of his own voice, but because he could always foresee her comments on what he read. In the days of their engagement she had simply (as he now perceived) echoed what he told her; but since he had ceased to provide her with opinions she had begun to hazard her own, with results destructive to his enjoyment of the works commented on.

15

Easy English

When May saw the history book, she brought her workbasket. She pulled a chair close to the green reading lamp. Then she uncovered a cushion for Archer's sofa.

She was adding a flower with needlework. Needlework was a picture made with colored thread and a needle. May was not skilled at it. Her strong hands belonged on a horse or in a boat.

Still, other wives made cushions for their husbands. May would not leave out this sign of love.

Source English

Seeing that he had chosen history she fetched her workbasket, drew up an arm-chair to the green-shaded student lamp, and uncovered a cushion she was embroidering for his sofa. She was not a clever needle-woman; her large capable hands were made for riding, rowing and open-air activities; but since other wives embroidered cushions for their husbands she did not wish to omit this last link in her devotion.

16

Easy English

Archer only needed to lift his eyes to watch her. She bent over the cloth frame. Her loose sleeves fell back from her strong, round arms.

The deep blue stone from their engagement shone on her left hand. It rested above her wide gold wedding ring. Her right hand slowly drove the needle into the cloth.

The green lamp lit her smooth forehead. Archer looked at it with secret fear. He thought he would always know every thought behind that clear skin.

May would never surprise him with a new idea. She would show no sudden weakness or hidden cruelty. No strange feeling would ever break through. He believed he already knew all her future shapes.

She spent all her poetry during their short courtship. Now she no longer needed it. She was slowly becoming her mother. At the same time, she was turning him into her father.

Archer dropped his book and stood quickly. May looked up at once.

Source English

She was so placed that Archer, by merely raising his eyes, could see her bent above her work-frame, her ruffled elbow-sleeves slipping back from her firm round arms, the betrothal sapphire shining on her left hand above her broad gold wedding-ring, and the right hand slowly and laboriously stabbing the canvas. As she sat thus, the lamplight full on her clear brow, he said to himself with a secret dismay that he would always know the thoughts behind it, that never, in all the years to come, would she surprise him by an unexpected mood, by a new idea, a weakness, a cruelty or an emotion. She had spent her poetry and romance on their short courting: the function was exhausted because the need was past. Now she was simply ripening into a copy of her mother, and mysteriously, by the very process, trying to turn him into a Mr. Welland. He laid down his book and stood up impatiently; and at once she raised her head.

17

Easy English

"What is the matter?"

Source English

"What's the matter?"

18

Easy English

"This room has no air. I need to breathe."

Source English

"The room is stifling: I want a little air."

19

Easy English

Archer chose the library curtains himself. They moved along a metal bar and could close at night. Most curtains in their house stayed fixed above many layers of lace.

He pulled the curtains back and raised the window. Cold night air struck his face. He leaned far out into the darkness.

For a few minutes, he did not have to see May. He saw other houses, roofs, and dark chimneys. Each house held lives outside his own.

Source English

He had insisted that the library curtains should draw backward and forward on a rod, so that they might be closed in the evening, instead of remaining nailed to a gilt cornice, and immovably looped up over layers of lace, as in the drawing-room; and he pulled them back and pushed up the sash, leaning out into the icy night. The mere fact of not looking at May, seated beside his table, under his lamp, the fact of seeing other houses, roofs, chimneys, of getting the sense of other lives outside his own, other cities beyond New York, and a whole world beyond his world, cleared his brain and made it easier to breathe.

20

Easy English

Beyond them stood other cities. Beyond New York waited the whole wide world. That thought cleared his head. At last he could breathe.

Then May called from behind him. "Newland, please close the window. You will catch your death."

Source English

After he had leaned out into the darkness for a few minutes he heard her say: "Newland! Do shut the window. You'll catch your death."

21

Easy English

He shut it and turned. "Catch my death," he repeated.

Another answer rose inside him. He was already dead. He felt dead for many months.

Source English

He pulled the sash down and turned back. "Catch my death!" he echoed; and he felt like adding: "But I've caught it already. I am dead--I've been dead for months and months."

22

Easy English

Then the word opened a terrible new thought. What if May died? What if she died soon and left him free?

He stood in their warm, familiar library and looked at her. He wished for his wife's death. At first, the evil size of that wish did not stop him.

It pulled him with a strange power. His sick heart found a new chance and held it tightly. Young, healthy people sometimes died. May could die too.

She could die and suddenly set him free.

Source English

And suddenly the play of the word flashed up a wild suggestion. What if it were she who was dead! If she were going to die--to die soon--and leave him free! The sensation of standing there, in that warm familiar room, and looking at her, and wishing her dead, was so strange, so fascinating and overmastering, that its enormity did not immediately strike him. He simply felt that chance had given him a new possibility to which his sick soul might cling. Yes, May might die--people did: young people, healthy people like herself: she might die, and set him suddenly free.

23

Easy English

May looked up. Her eyes grew wide. Archer knew that his own face must look strange.

Source English

She glanced up, and he saw by her widening eyes that there must be something strange in his own.

24

Easy English

"Newland, are you ill?"

Source English

"Newland! Are you ill?"

25

Easy English

He shook his head and walked toward his chair. May bent over the cloth again. As he passed, he laid one hand on her hair.

"Poor May," he said.

Source English

He shook his head and turned toward his arm-chair. She bent over her work-frame, and as he passed he laid his hand on her hair. "Poor May!" he said.

26

Easy English

"Poor? Why am I poor?" Her laugh sounded tight.

Source English

"Poor? Why poor?" she echoed with a strained laugh.

27

Easy English

"Because I can never open a window without making you worry." He laughed too.

Source English

"Because I shall never be able to open a window without worrying you," he rejoined, laughing also.

28

Easy English

May said nothing for a moment. Then she spoke very softly, with her head still down. "I will never worry if you are happy."

Source English

For a moment she was silent; then she said very low, her head bowed over her work: "I shall never worry if you're happy."

29

Easy English

"My dear, I can never be happy without open windows."

Source English

"Ah, my dear; and I shall never be happy unless I can open the windows!"

30

Easy English

"In weather like this?" she asked.

Source English

"In this weather?" she remonstrated; and with a sigh he buried his head in his book.

31

Easy English

Archer gave a tired breath and hid his face in Michelet.

Six or seven days passed. Archer heard nothing from Ellen. No family member spoke her name near him.

He made no effort to see her. She stayed beside old Catherine's guarded sickbed. A private meeting there would be almost impossible.

Archer let the uncertain days carry him. Under his daily thoughts lay the decision from the cold window. Its strength let him wait in silence.

Source English

Six or seven days passed. Archer heard nothing from Madame Olenska, and became aware that her name would not be mentioned in his presence by any member of the family. He did not try to see her; to do so while she was at old Catherine's guarded bedside would have been almost impossible. In the uncertainty of the situation he let himself drift, conscious, somewhere below the surface of his thoughts, of a resolve which had come to him when he had leaned out from his library window into the icy night. The strength of that resolve made it easy to wait and make no sign.

32

Easy English

Then May told him that Mrs. Manson Mingott wanted a visit. The request was not strange. The old lady grew stronger each day.

She always said that Archer was her favorite husband among her granddaughters. May delivered the message with clear pleasure. She was proud that Catherine valued him.

Source English

Then one day May told him that Mrs. Manson Mingott had asked to see him. There was nothing surprising in the request, for the old lady was steadily recovering, and she had always openly declared that she preferred Archer to any of her other grandsons-in-law. May gave the message with evident pleasure: she was proud of old Catherine's appreciation of her husband.

33

Easy English

After a short pause, Archer spoke. "All right. Shall we go together this afternoon?"

Source English

There was a moment's pause, and then Archer felt it incumbent on him to say: "All right. Shall we go together this afternoon?"

34

Easy English

May's face grew bright. But she answered at once. "You should go alone. Granny gets tired of seeing the same people too often."

Source English

His wife's face brightened, but she instantly answered: "Oh, you'd much better go alone. It bores Granny to see the same people too often."

35

Easy English

Archer's heart beat hard when he rang Catherine's bell. More than anything, he wanted to come alone. He felt sure Ellen would meet him first.

Source English

Archer's heart was beating violently when he rang old Mrs. Mingott's bell. He had wanted above all things to go alone, for he felt sure the visit would give him the chance of saying a word in private to the Countess Olenska. He had determined to wait till the chance presented itself naturally; and here it was, and here he was on the doorstep. Behind the door, behind the curtains of the yellow damask room next to the hall, she was surely awaiting him; in another moment he should see her, and be able to speak to her before she led him to the sick-room.

36

Easy English

The visit might offer a natural private moment. He decided not to force one. Now the chance seemed ready before him.

Ellen must be behind the door and the yellow sitting room curtains. In another moment, he would see her. He could speak before she led him upstairs.

He needed only one answer. When would she return to Washington? She could hardly refuse to give him a date.

Source English

He wanted only to put one question: after that his course would be clear. What he wished to ask was simply the date of her return to Washington; and that question she could hardly refuse to answer.

37

Easy English

But Ellen did not wait in the yellow room. Catherine's maid met him there. Her family was both Black and white. Her bright teeth looked like the white keys of a piano.

She pushed open the wide doors. Then she led him into old Catherine's room.

Source English

But in the yellow sitting-room it was the mulatto maid who waited. Her white teeth shining like a keyboard, she pushed back the sliding doors and ushered him into old Catherine's presence.

38

Easy English

The old woman sat in a huge chair near her bed. It looked like a queen's chair. A dark wood table stood beside it.

A heavy metal lamp rested on the table. The lamp's round glass carried cut lines. A green paper cover softened its light.

No book or newspaper stood within Catherine's reach. There was no sewing or other women's work. Talk was Catherine's only true interest. She would never pretend otherwise.

Source English

The old woman sat in a vast throne-like arm-chair near her bed. Beside her was a mahogany stand bearing a cast bronze lamp with an engraved globe, over which a green paper shade had been balanced. There was not a book or a newspaper in reach, nor any evidence of feminine employment: conversation had always been Mrs. Mingott's sole pursuit, and she would have scorned to feign an interest in fancywork.

39

Easy English

Archer saw no clear mark from her recent stroke. She only looked paler. Dark shadows lay inside the deep folds of her great body.

A white cap covered her head. A hard bow tied it under her first two chins. A thin white scarf crossed her wide purple bed dress.

She looked like some clever and kind mother from an old family picture. That long-dead mother also seemed too fond of good dinners.

Source English

Archer saw no trace of the slight distortion left by her stroke. She merely looked paler, with darker shadows in the folds and recesses of her obesity; and, in the fluted mob-cap tied by a starched bow between her first two chins, and the muslin kerchief crossed over her billowing purple dressing-gown, she seemed like some shrewd and kindly ancestress of her own who might have yielded too freely to the pleasures of the table.

40

Easy English

Catherine offered one tiny hand. It lay deep in her great lap like a small pet.

"Do not let anyone else come in," she told the maid. "If my daughters call, say that I am asleep."

Source English

She held out one of the little hands that nestled in a hollow of her huge lap like pet animals, and called to the maid: "Don't let in any one else. If my daughters call, say I'm asleep."

41

Easy English

The maid left. Catherine turned back to Archer.

Source English

The maid disappeared, and the old lady turned to her grandson.

42

Easy English

"My dear, do I look perfectly ugly?" she asked happily. One hand searched for the white scarf across her distant chest. "My daughters say looks do not matter at my age. They matter more when you cannot hide them."

Source English

"My dear, am I perfectly hideous?" she asked gaily, launching out one hand in search of the folds of muslin on her inaccessible bosom. "My daughters tell me it doesn't matter at my age--as if hideousness didn't matter all the more the harder it gets to conceal!"

43

Easy English

"My dear, you look better than ever," Archer answered.

Source English

"My dear, you're handsomer than ever!" Archer rejoined in the same tone; and she threw back her head and laughed.

44

Easy English

Catherine threw back her head and laughed. "Ah, but not better than Ellen!" Her eyes shone with a cruel little joke.

Before he could answer, she continued. "Did she look so terribly beautiful when you drove from the ferry?"

Source English

"Ah, but not as handsome as Ellen!" she jerked out, twinkling at him maliciously; and before he could answer she added: "Was she so awfully handsome the day you drove her up from the ferry?"

45

Easy English

Archer laughed.

"Did you tell her so? Is that why she made you leave on the way? Young men never left pretty women in my youth. Not unless the women made them go."

She gave another pleased laugh. Then her voice became almost cross.

"It is a pity that she did not marry you. I always told her that. It would have saved me all this trouble. But who thinks about saving a grandmother?"

Source English

He laughed, and she continued: "Was it because you told her so that she had to put you out on the way? In my youth young men didn't desert pretty women unless they were made to!" She gave another chuckle, and interrupted it to say almost querulously: "It's a pity she didn't marry you; I always told her so. It would have spared me all this worry. But who ever thought of sparing their grandmother worry?"

46

Easy English

Archer wondered whether her illness had confused her mind. Then Catherine suddenly gave him her news.

"It is settled. Ellen will stay with me, whatever the family says. She was here for five minutes, and I wanted to fall on my knees. I would have begged her to stay."

She looked down at herself. "Of course, I have not seen the floor for twenty years."

Source English

Archer wondered if her illness had blurred her faculties; but suddenly she broke out: "Well, it's settled, anyhow: she's going to stay with me, whatever the rest of the family say! She hadn't been here five minutes before I'd have gone down on my knees to keep her--if only, for the last twenty years, I'd been able to see where the floor was!"

47

Easy English

Archer listened without speaking.

"They talked me into their plan," Catherine continued. "You must know that. Lovell, Letterblair, Augusta Welland, and all the rest pushed me."

They wanted Catherine to stop Ellen's money. Without it, Ellen might accept her duty and return to Count Olenski. The Count's secretary brought one last offer.

"It was a good offer," Catherine admitted. "Marriage is useful, and so is money. I did not know how to answer them."

She stopped for a long breath. Talking now required more strength.

"Then I saw Ellen. I thought, you sweet bird! Could I shut you inside that cage again? Never."

Source English

Archer listened in silence, and she went on: "They'd talked me over, as no doubt you know: persuaded me, Lovell, and Letterblair, and Augusta Welland, and all the rest of them, that I must hold out and cut off her allowance, till she was made to see that it was her duty to go back to Olenski. They thought they'd convinced me when the secretary, or whatever he was, came out with the last proposals: handsome proposals I confess they were. After all, marriage is marriage, and money's money--both useful things in their way ... and I didn't know what to answer--" She broke off and drew a long breath, as if speaking had become an effort. "But the minute I laid eyes on her, I said: 'You sweet bird, you! Shut you up in that cage again? Never!' And now it's settled that she's to stay here and nurse her Granny as long as there's a Granny to nurse. It's not a gay prospect, but she doesn't mind; and of course I've told Letterblair that she's to be given her proper allowance."

48

Easy English

Ellen would stay and care for Granny. She could remain as long as there was a Granny to need care. The life offered little fun, but Ellen did not mind.

Catherine also told Letterblair to restore Ellen's proper money.

Heat ran through Archer's blood. He could not tell whether the news brought joy or pain. He already chose a very different path. His mind could not change direction at once.

Then a sweet sense of delay came over him. New chances seemed to appear without any work from him. Ellen must see that she could not give him up.

She would not take the great step he asked for. Yet her choice to stay seemed like half an answer. He felt like a man ready to risk everything.

Now that man suddenly tasted safety. Its sweetness was dangerous.

Source English

The young man heard her with veins aglow; but in his confusion of mind he hardly knew whether her news brought joy or pain. He had so definitely decided on the course he meant to pursue that for the moment he could not readjust his thoughts. But gradually there stole over him the delicious sense of difficulties deferred and opportunities miraculously provided. If Ellen had consented to come and live with her grandmother it must surely be because she had recognised the impossibility of giving him up. This was her answer to his final appeal of the other day: if she would not take the extreme step he had urged, she had at last yielded to half-measures. He sank back into the thought with the involuntary relief of a man who has been ready to risk everything, and suddenly tastes the dangerous sweetness of security.

49

Easy English

"She could not go back," Archer said. "It was impossible."

Source English

"She couldn't have gone back--it was impossible!" he exclaimed.

50

Easy English

"My dear, I always knew you stood with her. That is why I sent for you."

Catherine said May offered to join the visit. Catherine told her no. She wanted Newland alone and would share him with nobody.

"We still have a fight," Catherine said. "The family does not want Ellen here. They will blame my illness and call me a weak old woman."

They would say Ellen changed Catherine's mind. Catherine lacked the strength to fight each person alone. Archer must fight for her.

Source English

"Ah, my dear, I always knew you were on her side; and that's why I sent for you today, and why I said to your pretty wife, when she proposed to come with you: 'No, my dear, I'm pining to see Newland, and I don't want anybody to share our transports.' For you see, my dear--" she drew her head back as far as its tethering chins permitted, and looked him full in the eyes--"you see, we shall have a fight yet. The family don't want her here, and they'll say it's because I've been ill, because I'm a weak old woman, that she's persuaded me. I'm not well enough yet to fight them one by one, and you've got to do it for me."

51

Easy English

"I must?" he asked.

Source English

"I?" he stammered.

52

Easy English

"You. Why not?"

Her round eyes became as sharp as small knives. One little hand flew from the chair. Her pale nails closed around his hand like a bird's claws.

"Why not?" she asked again. Her look searched his face.

Source English

"You. Why not?" she jerked back at him, her round eyes suddenly as sharp as pen-knives. Her hand fluttered from its chair-arm and lit on his with a clutch of little pale nails like bird-claws. "Why not?" she searchingly repeated.

53

Easy English

Archer gained control of himself. "I do not matter enough."

Source English

Archer, under the exposure of her gaze, had recovered his self-possession.

54

Easy English

No easy-English paragraph was aligned to this source anchor.

Source English

"Oh, I don't count--I'm too insignificant."

55

Easy English

"You are Letterblair's business partner, are you not? Reach the family through him. Unless you have some reason not to help."

Source English

"Well, you're Letterblair's partner, ain't you? You've got to get at them through Letterblair. Unless you've got a reason," she insisted.

56

Easy English

"My dear, you can beat all of them without me. But you will have my help if you need it."

Source English

"Oh, my dear, I back you to hold your own against them all without my help; but you shall have it if you need it," he reassured her.

57

Easy English

"Then we are safe." Catherine rested her head among the cushions. Her old, clever smile returned.

"I knew you would support us. They never use your name when they talk about Ellen's duty to return."

Source English

"Then we're safe!" she sighed; and smiling on him with all her ancient cunning she added, as she settled her head among the cushions: "I always knew you'd back us up, because they never quote you when they talk about its being her duty to go home."

58

Easy English

Her sharp understanding hurt him. He wanted to ask whether they used May's name. Instead, he chose a safer question.

Source English

He winced a little at her terrifying perspicacity, and longed to ask: "And May--do they quote her?" But he judged it safer to turn the question.

59

Easy English

"What about Madame Olenska? When can I see her?"

Source English

"And Madame Olenska? When am I to see her?" he said.

60

Easy English

Catherine half closed her eyes and gave a playful laugh. "Not today. One visitor at a time, please. Madame Olenska has gone out."

Source English

The old lady chuckled, crumpled her lids, and went through the pantomime of archness. "Not today. One at a time, please. Madame Olenska's gone out."

61

Easy English

Disappointment heated Archer's face.

"She took my carriage to visit Regina Beaufort," Catherine said. She paused and watched the news strike him.

Source English

He flushed with disappointment, and she went on: "She's gone out, my child: gone in my carriage to see Regina Beaufort."

62

Easy English

"Look what Ellen has made me do. The day after she arrived, she put on her best hat. Then she calmly announced her visit to Regina."

Catherine said she did not know the woman.

"Ellen answered, 'She is your grandniece, a sister's or brother's granddaughter. She is also very unhappy.'"

"I said, 'She is the wife of a bad man.'"

"Then Ellen said, 'So am I. Yet my whole family wants me to return to him.'"

That answer defeated Catherine, so she let Ellen go. A few days later, Ellen said rain made walking impossible. She asked to borrow Catherine's carriage.

"I asked why. She said, 'I want to visit cousin Regina.' Cousin!"

Catherine looked outside. Not one drop of rain was falling. But she understood Ellen's kind lie and lent her the carriage.

"Regina is a brave woman," Catherine said. "Ellen is brave too. I have always loved courage more than anything."

Source English

She paused for this announcement to produce its effect. "That's what she's reduced me to already. The day after she got here she put on her best bonnet, and told me, as cool as a cucumber, that she was going to call on Regina Beaufort. 'I don't know her; who is she?' says I. 'She's your grand-niece, and a most unhappy woman,' she says. 'She's the wife of a scoundrel,' I answered. 'Well,' she says, 'and so am I, and yet all my family want me to go back to him.' Well, that floored me, and I let her go; and finally one day she said it was raining too hard to go out on foot, and she wanted me to lend her my carriage. 'What for?' I asked her; and she said: 'To go and see cousin Regina'--cousin! Now, my dear, I looked out of the window, and saw it wasn't raining a drop; but I understood her, and I let her have the carriage.... After all, Regina's a brave woman, and so is she; and I've always liked courage above everything."

63

Easy English

Archer bent down and kissed the small hand on his own.

Source English

Archer bent down and pressed his lips on the little hand that still lay on his.

64

Easy English

"Eh, young man," Catherine cried. "Whose hand did you think you kissed? Your wife's hand, I hope."

Her dry, joking laugh followed him as he stood. She called one last order after him.

"Give Ellen her Granny's love. But you should say nothing about our talk."

Source English

"Eh--eh--eh! Whose hand did you think you were kissing, young man--your wife's, I hope?" the old lady snapped out with her mocking cackle; and as he rose to go she called out after him: "Give her her Granny's love; but you'd better not say anything about our talk."