Easy English ↔ Source English
Chapter 32
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
"At the court of the Tuileries," Sillerton Jackson said, "people openly accepted such things."
His smile showed pleasure in an old memory. The Tuileries was the home of the French royal court in Paris.
Source English
"At the court of the Tuileries," said Mr. Sillerton Jackson with his reminiscent smile, "such things were pretty openly tolerated."
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02
Easy English
They sat in the van der Luydens' dining room on Madison Avenue. Its walls and furniture used black walnut, a dark brown wood. This dinner came one night after Archer's museum visit.
Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden were in town for several days. They quickly escaped to Skuytercliff after Beaufort's failure. Now their friends called them back.
Beaufort's fall threw New York society into disorder. People said the van der Luydens were needed more than ever. Mrs. Archer said they owed their presence to society.
They must appear at the Opera. They must even open their own doors.
Source English
The scene was the van der Luydens' black walnut dining-room in Madison Avenue, and the time the evening after Newland Archer's visit to the Museum of Art. Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden had come to town for a few days from Skuytercliff, whither they had precipitately fled at the announcement of Beaufort's failure. It had been represented to them that the disarray into which society had been thrown by this deplorable affair made their presence in town more necessary than ever. It was one of the occasions when, as Mrs. Archer put it, they "owed it to society" to show themselves at the Opera, and even to open their own doors.
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03
Easy English
"Dear Louisa, we cannot let Mrs. Lemuel Struthers take Regina's place," Mrs. Archer said. "New people always push inside during such times."
Then she recalled Mrs. Struthers's first winter. Chicken-pox spread across New York. Chicken-pox was an illness that covered the skin with red spots.
Married women stayed upstairs and cared for their sick children. Their husbands quietly escaped to Mrs. Struthers's house.
"You and dear Henry must guard the open door," Mrs. Archer said. "You have always done it."
Source English
"It will never do, my dear Louisa, to let people like Mrs. Lemuel Struthers think they can step into Regina's shoes. It is just at such times that new people push in and get a footing. It was owing to the epidemic of chicken-pox in New York the winter Mrs. Struthers first appeared that the married men slipped away to her house while their wives were in the nursery. You and dear Henry, Louisa, must stand in the breach as you always have."
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04
Easy English
Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden could not refuse that call. They came to town with brave but unwilling hearts. Servants removed every cover from their closed house.
Then they sent invitations for two dinners and one evening party.
Source English
Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden could not remain deaf to such a call, and reluctantly but heroically they had come to town, unmuffled the house, and sent out invitations for two dinners and an evening reception.
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05
Easy English
On this night, they invited four guests. Sillerton Jackson and Mrs. Archer came. Newland and May joined them.
After dinner, everyone would go to the Opera. Faust was being sung for the first time that winter.
Nothing happened without ceremony in the van der Luyden home. Dinner began at exactly seven, though only four guests came. Each dish needed its proper time.
Afterward, the gentlemen also needed time for cigars. No one should hurry before the Opera.
Source English
On this particular evening they had invited Sillerton Jackson, Mrs. Archer and Newland and his wife to go with them to the Opera, where Faust was being sung for the first time that winter. Nothing was done without ceremony under the van der Luyden roof, and though there were but four guests the repast had begun at seven punctually, so that the proper sequence of courses might be served without haste before the gentlemen settled down to their cigars.
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06
Easy English
Archer had not seen May since the night before. He left home early and threw himself into office work. None of the work truly mattered.
That afternoon, an older business partner unexpectedly kept him busy. Archer reached home very late. May already went to the van der Luydens' and sent back the carriage.
Source English
Archer had not seen his wife since the evening before. He had left early for the office, where he had plunged into an accumulation of unimportant business. In the afternoon one of the senior partners had made an unexpected call on his time; and he had reached home so late that May had preceded him to the van der Luydens', and sent back the carriage.
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07
Easy English
Now she sat across the table. Red flowers and heavy silver dishes stood between them. May looked pale and tired.
Yet her eyes shone. She spoke with too much bright energy.
Source English
Now, across the Skuytercliff carnations and the massive plate, she struck him as pale and languid; but her eyes shone, and she talked with exaggerated animation.
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08
Easy English
Mrs. van der Luyden carefully led the talk toward Ellen. Archer thought she chose the subject on purpose. The guests first examined every part of Beaufort's failure.
More exactly, they judged his behavior after the failure. It offered endless food for people who taught others about right and wrong.
When they fully blamed Beaufort, Louisa turned to May. Her careful eyes seemed almost worried.
Source English
The subject which had called forth Mr. Sillerton Jackson's favourite allusion had been brought up (Archer fancied not without intention) by their hostess. The Beaufort failure, or rather the Beaufort attitude since the failure, was still a fruitful theme for the drawing-room moralist; and after it had been thoroughly examined and condemned Mrs. van der Luyden had turned her scrupulous eyes on May Archer.
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09
Easy English
"My dear, can this story be true? Someone saw your grandmother's carriage outside Mrs. Beaufort's house."
Louisa no longer called Regina by her first name. That small change showed that Regina now stood outside their circle.
Source English
"Is it possible, dear, that what I hear is true? I was told your grandmother Mingott's carriage was seen standing at Mrs. Beaufort's door." It was noticeable that she no longer called the offending lady by her Christian name.
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10
Easy English
Red color entered May's face. Mrs. Archer answered quickly.
"If the carriage was there, Mrs. Mingott knew nothing about it. I am sure of that."
Source English
May's colour rose, and Mrs. Archer put in hastily: "If it was, I'm convinced it was there without Mrs. Mingott's knowledge."
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11
Easy English
"Oh, you think so?" Louisa stopped and looked at her husband. Then she gave a sad breath.
Source English
"Ah, you think--?" Mrs. van der Luyden paused, sighed, and glanced at her husband.
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12
Easy English
Mr. van der Luyden spoke. "I fear Madame Olenska's kind heart led her into a foolish visit."
Source English
"I'm afraid," Mr. van der Luyden said, "that Madame Olenska's kind heart may have led her into the imprudence of calling on Mrs. Beaufort."
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13
Easy English
"Or perhaps she likes strange people," Mrs. Archer said dryly. Her innocent eyes rested on her son.
Source English
"Or her taste for peculiar people," put in Mrs. Archer in a dry tone, while her eyes dwelt innocently on her son's.
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14
Easy English
"I am sorry to hear this about Madame Olenska," Louisa said.
Mrs. Archer lowered her voice. "My dear, you even received her twice at Skuytercliff."
Source English
"I'm sorry to think it of Madame Olenska," said Mrs. van der Luyden; and Mrs. Archer murmured: "Ah, my dear--and after you'd had her twice at Skuytercliff!"
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15
Easy English
At this point, Sillerton Jackson offered his favorite French story.
Source English
It was at this point that Mr. Jackson seized the chance to place his favourite allusion.
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16
Easy English
"At the Tuileries," he repeated, "people allowed a great deal. Ask where Morny's money came from. Ask who paid certain beautiful women's debts."
Everyone looked at him and waited for more.
Source English
"At the Tuileries," he repeated, seeing the eyes of the company expectantly turned on him, "the standard was excessively lax in some respects; and if you'd asked where Morny's money came from--! Or who paid the debts of some of the Court beauties ..."
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17
Easy English
"Dear Sillerton," Mrs. Archer said, "you cannot want us to follow those rules."
Source English
"I hope, dear Sillerton," said Mrs. Archer, "you are not suggesting that we should adopt such standards?"
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18
Easy English
"I never tell anyone what to do," Jackson answered calmly. "But Madame Olenska grew up abroad. Perhaps she is less careful."
Source English
"I never suggest," returned Mr. Jackson imperturbably. "But Madame Olenska's foreign bringing-up may make her less particular--"
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19
Easy English
The two older ladies gave sad little sounds together.
Source English
"Ah," the two elder ladies sighed.
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20
Easy English
"Still, she left her grandmother's carriage outside a failed man's house," Henry said.
Archer knew Henry remembered the flowers sent to Ellen's little house. He once sent many baskets of red flowers there. Now he felt that Ellen threw aside his public support.
Source English
"Still, to have kept her grandmother's carriage at a defaulter's door!" Mr. van der Luyden protested; and Archer guessed that he was remembering, and resenting, the hampers of carnations he had sent to the little house in Twenty-third Street.
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21
Easy English
"I always said that Ellen sees things differently," Mrs. Archer decided.
Source English
"Of course I've always said that she looks at things quite differently," Mrs. Archer summed up.
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22
Easy English
May's forehead became red. She looked across the table at Archer. Then her words came out very quickly.
"I am sure Ellen meant to be kind."
Source English
A flush rose to May's forehead. She looked across the table at her husband, and said precipitately: "I'm sure Ellen meant it kindly."
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23
Easy English
"Foolish people are often kind," Mrs. Archer answered. To her, kindness did not excuse the mistake.
"If only Ellen asked someone first," Louisa said.
Source English
"Imprudent people are often kind," said Mrs. Archer, as if the fact were scarcely an extenuation; and Mrs. van der Luyden murmured: "If only she had consulted some one--"
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24
Easy English
"Oh, she never asks," Mrs. Archer replied.
Henry looked at Louisa. Louisa gave a small movement toward Mrs. Archer. At once, the three women rose.
Source English
"Ah, that she never did!" Mrs. Archer rejoined.
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25
Easy English
Their shining skirts moved out through the door. The men settled down with their cigars. On Opera nights, Henry gave them short ones.
The cigars were so good that his guests hated his strict sense of time.
Source English
At this point Mr. van der Luyden glanced at his wife, who bent her head slightly in the direction of Mrs. Archer; and the glimmering trains of the three ladies swept out of the door while the gentlemen settled down to their cigars. Mr. van der Luyden supplied short ones on Opera nights; but they were so good that they made his guests deplore his inexorable punctuality.
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26
Easy English
After Faust's first part, Archer left the others. He found a place behind the club's private box. Chivers, Mingott, and Rushworth shoulders filled the rows before him.
Beyond them lay the same scene from two years earlier. That was the night he first saw Ellen Olenska.
He half expected Ellen to appear in Catherine's box again. But the box remained dark and empty. Archer watched it without moving.
Then Christine Nilsson's pure high voice broke through the theater. She sang, "M'ama, non m'ama."
Source English
Archer, after the first act, had detached himself from the party and made his way to the back of the club box. From there he watched, over various Chivers, Mingott and Rushworth shoulders, the same scene that he had looked at, two years previously, on the night of his first meeting with Ellen Olenska. He had half-expected her to appear again in old Mrs. Mingott's box, but it remained empty; and he sat motionless, his eyes fastened on it, till suddenly Madame Nilsson's pure soprano broke out into "M'ama, non m'ama ..."
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27
Easy English
Archer turned toward the stage. Giant roses and great purple flowers filled it. They looked like the flowers on a writer's little cloth tool.
The same large fair woman suffered there. The same small dark man drew her toward ruin. Nothing in the old scene changed.
Source English
Archer turned to the stage, where, in the familiar setting of giant roses and pen-wiper pansies, the same large blonde victim was succumbing to the same small brown seducer.
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28
Easy English
Archer's eyes moved around the great curve of boxes. May sat between two older women. On that first night, she sat the same way.
Then Mrs. Lovell Mingott sat on one side. Her newly returned foreign cousin sat on the other.
May wore white again. Archer did not notice her dress at dinner. Now he knew its blue-white satin and old lace.
Source English
From the stage his eyes wandered to the point of the horseshoe where May sat between two older ladies, just as, on that former evening, she had sat between Mrs. Lovell Mingott and her newly-arrived "foreign" cousin. As on that evening, she was all in white; and Archer, who had not noticed what she wore, recognised the blue-white satin and old lace of her wedding dress.
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29
Easy English
It was her wedding dress.
In old New York, brides wore this costly dress again. They used it for one or two years after marriage. No fine cloth should serve for only one day.
Archer's mother still kept her own wedding dress in soft paper. She hoped Janey might wear it one day. But poor Janey was growing older.
Soon people would expect a quiet wedding for her. They would choose pearl-gray poplin. They might also think bridesmaids were no longer right.
Source English
It was the custom, in old New York, for brides to appear in this costly garment during the first year or two of marriage: his mother, he knew, kept hers in tissue paper in the hope that Janey might some day wear it, though poor Janey was reaching the age when pearl grey poplin and no bridesmaids would be thought more "appropriate."
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30
Easy English
Archer rarely saw May in her wedding satin after Europe. Its return made him study her. He compared her with the girl from two years before.
Her body had become a little fuller. Her tall, goddesslike shape always promised that change. Yet she still sat straight like a strong young rider.
Her face kept its clear, young look. Only the recent tiredness made her different. Without that, she was the same girl from their engagement night.
Source English
It struck Archer that May, since their return from Europe, had seldom worn her bridal satin, and the surprise of seeing her in it made him compare her appearance with that of the young girl he had watched with such blissful anticipations two years earlier.
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31
Easy English
He could almost see the white lilies in her hands again.
Her complete innocence asked for his pity. It moved him like the trusting hand of a child. Then he remembered the strong kindness hidden under her calm.
At the Beaufort ball, she understood his need at once. He asked to announce their engagement there. Her eyes gave him their support.
He also heard her voice in the Mission garden. She refused happiness built from another person's pain.
A great need to tell her the truth took hold of him. He would trust her kindness. He would ask for the freedom that she once offered.
At that time, he refused it.
Source English
Though May's outline was slightly heavier, as her goddesslike build had foretold, her athletic erectness of carriage, and the girlish transparency of her expression, remained unchanged: but for the slight languor that Archer had lately noticed in her she would have been the exact image of the girl playing with the bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley on her betrothal evening. The fact seemed an additional appeal to his pity: such innocence was as moving as the trustful clasp of a child. Then he remembered the passionate generosity latent under that incurious calm. He recalled her glance of understanding when he had urged that their engagement should be announced at the Beaufort ball; he heard the voice in which she had said, in the Mission garden: "I couldn't have my happiness made out of a wrong--a wrong to some one else;" and an uncontrollable longing seized him to tell her the truth, to throw himself on her generosity, and ask for the freedom he had once refused.
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32
Easy English
Newland Archer was usually quiet and controlled. His small society trained him from birth. Following its rules felt like a second nature.
He hated any loud display of private feeling. Mr. van der Luyden would dislike it too. The club box would call it bad form.
Suddenly, Archer forgot all of them. He no longer felt the warm walls of habit. He walked around the theater's curved passage.
Then he opened Mrs. van der Luyden's box. It felt like a gate into an unknown land.
Source English
Newland Archer was a quiet and self-controlled young man. Conformity to the discipline of a small society had become almost his second nature. It was deeply distasteful to him to do anything melodramatic and conspicuous, anything Mr. van der Luyden would have deprecated and the club box condemned as bad form. But he had become suddenly unconscious of the club box, of Mr. van der Luyden, of all that had so long enclosed him in the warm shelter of habit. He walked along the semi-circular passage at the back of the house, and opened the door of Mrs. van der Luyden's box as if it had been a gate into the unknown.
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33
Easy English
"M'ama!" Marguerite sang in victory.
Everyone in the box looked up. Archer broke one of their clear rules. No one entered a box while one singer held the stage alone.
Source English
"M'ama!" thrilled out the triumphant Marguerite; and the occupants of the box looked up in surprise at Archer's entrance. He had already broken one of the rules of his world, which forbade the entering of a box during a solo.
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34
Easy English
He moved between Henry van der Luyden and Sillerton Jackson. Then he bent close to May.
Source English
Slipping between Mr. van der Luyden and Sillerton Jackson, he leaned over his wife.
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35
Easy English
"I have a terrible headache," he whispered. "Please tell no one. Will you come home?"
Source English
"I've got a beastly headache; don't tell any one, but come home, won't you?" he whispered.
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36
Easy English
May gave him a look of understanding. She whispered to Mrs. Archer. His mother answered with a kind movement of her head.
Then May quietly explained to Louisa. She rose as Marguerite fell into Faust's arms.
Archer helped May put on her Opera cloak. He saw the two older women share a knowing smile.
Source English
May gave him a glance of comprehension, and he saw her whisper to his mother, who nodded sympathetically; then she murmured an excuse to Mrs. van der Luyden, and rose from her seat just as Marguerite fell into Faust's arms. Archer, while he helped her on with her Opera cloak, noticed the exchange of a significant smile between the older ladies.
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37
Easy English
Inside the carriage, May placed her hand softly on his. "I am sorry that you feel ill. The office must be working you too hard again."
Source English
As they drove away May laid her hand shyly on his. "I'm so sorry you don't feel well. I'm afraid they've been overworking you again at the office."
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38
Easy English
"No, it is not the office." Archer's words came without order. "Do you mind if I open the window?"
He lowered the glass on his side. Then he watched the passing houses. May sat beside him like a quiet question.
He kept his eyes fixed on the street.
At their door, May's skirt caught in the carriage step. She fell against Archer. He held her steady with one arm.
Source English
"No--it's not that: do you mind if I open the window?" he returned confusedly, letting down the pane on his side. He sat staring out into the street, feeling his wife beside him as a silent watchful interrogation, and keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the passing houses. At their door she caught her skirt in the step of the carriage, and fell against him.
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39
Easy English
"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked.
Source English
"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, steadying her with his arm.
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40
Easy English
"No, but look at my poor dress. I tore it."
May bent and lifted a wide fold of cloth. The blue-white satin was torn and marked with street mud. She carried it up the steps.
The servants did not expect them so early. Only a weak gas light burned above the stairs.
Source English
"No; but my poor dress--see how I've torn it!" she exclaimed. She bent to gather up a mud-stained breadth, and followed him up the steps into the hall. The servants had not expected them so early, and there was only a glimmer of gas on the upper landing.
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41
Easy English
Archer climbed up and made the light brighter. In the library, he lit the two wall lamps beside the fireplace. The curtains were already closed.
The room looked warm and friendly. Its familiar face struck him with pain. It greeted him during a secret and shameful act.
Source English
Archer mounted the stairs, turned up the light, and put a match to the brackets on each side of the library mantelpiece. The curtains were drawn, and the warm friendly aspect of the room smote him like that of a familiar face met during an unavowable errand.
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42
Easy English
May looked very pale. Archer offered her brandy, a strong drink made from wine.
Source English
He noticed that his wife was very pale, and asked if he should get her some brandy.
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43
Easy English
"Oh, no," she cried. Color crossed her face for one moment. She removed her cloak.
"Should you not go straight to bed?" she asked. Archer opened a silver box and took out a cigarette.
Source English
"Oh, no," she exclaimed with a momentary flush, as she took off her cloak. "But hadn't you better go to bed at once?" she added, as he opened a silver box on the table and took out a cigarette.
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44
Easy English
Then he threw it down. He walked to his usual place near the fire.
Source English
Archer threw down the cigarette and walked to his usual place by the fire.
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45
Easy English
"My head is not that bad," he said. He stopped before the next words. "I must tell you something important. I must tell you now."
Source English
"No; my head is not as bad as that." He paused. "And there's something I want to say; something important--that I must tell you at once."
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46
Easy English
May sank into a chair and raised her head. "Yes, dear?"
Source English
She had dropped into an armchair, and raised her head as he spoke. "Yes, dear?" she rejoined, so gently that he wondered at the lack of wonder with which she received this preamble.
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47
Easy English
Her gentle answer held no surprise. Archer stood a few feet away. Yet the small distance seemed like an abyss between them.
His own voice sounded strange in the quiet room.
"May," he began. "There is something I must tell you about myself."
Source English
"May--" he began, standing a few feet from her chair, and looking over at her as if the slight distance between them were an unbridgeable abyss. The sound of his voice echoed uncannily through the homelike hush, and he repeated: "There is something I've got to tell you ... about myself ..."
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48
Easy English
She sat perfectly still. Even her lashes did not shake. Her face stayed very pale.
Yet it held a strange peace. The calm seemed to rise from some secret place inside her.
Source English
She sat silent, without a movement or a tremor of her lashes. She was still extremely pale, but her face had a curious tranquillity of expression that seemed drawn from some secret inner source.
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49
Easy English
Archer pushed aside every easy excuse. He would not blame her or defend himself. He would say the plain truth.
Source English
Archer checked the conventional phrases of self-accusal that were crowding to his lips. He was determined to put the case baldly, without vain recrimination or excuse.
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50
Easy English
"Madame Olenska," he began.
At Ellen's name, May raised one hand. The movement asked him to stop. Gaslight shone on her gold wedding ring.
Source English
"Madame Olenska--" he said; but at the name his wife raised her hand as if to silence him. As she did so the gaslight struck on the gold of her wedding-ring.
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51
Easy English
"Why should we talk about Ellen tonight?" she asked. A little impatience touched her mouth.
Source English
"Oh, why should we talk about Ellen tonight?" she asked, with a slight pout of impatience.
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52
Easy English
"Because I should have spoken before."
Source English
"Because I ought to have spoken before."
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53
Easy English
May's face remained calm. "Is there any purpose now, dear? I know that I was sometimes unfair to her. Perhaps we all were."
Archer understood Ellen better than they did. May said he was always kind to her.
"But why does that matter now? It is all over."
Source English
Her face remained calm. "Is it really worth while, dear? I know I've been unfair to her at times--perhaps we all have. You've understood her, no doubt, better than we did: you've always been kind to her. But what does it matter, now it's all over?"
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54
Easy English
Archer stared without understanding. He felt trapped inside a false world. Did May feel the same strange false world?
Source English
Archer looked at her blankly. Could it be possible that the sense of unreality in which he felt himself imprisoned had communicated itself to his wife?
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55
Easy English
"All over? What do you mean?" His voice was weak and broken.
Source English
"All over--what do you mean?" he asked in an indistinct stammer.
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56
Easy English
May's clear eyes stayed on him. "Ellen will return to Europe very soon. Granny understands and agrees. She will give Ellen money apart from her husband."
Source English
May still looked at him with transparent eyes. "Why--since she's going back to Europe so soon; since Granny approves and understands, and has arranged to make her independent of her husband--"
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57
Easy English
May stopped. Archer caught the corner of the fireplace with one shaking hand. He needed it to remain on his feet.
His thoughts turned and fell inside him. He could not bring them under control.
Source English
She broke off, and Archer, grasping the corner of the mantelpiece in one convulsed hand, and steadying himself against it, made a vain effort to extend the same control to his reeling thoughts.
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58
Easy English
May's even voice continued. She thought office business kept Archer late that evening. She believed he helped arrange Ellen's money.
"I think they settled it this morning," she said.
Her eyes lowered under his terrible stare. Another quick line of red crossed her pale face.
Archer knew his look must hurt her. He turned away. Both arms rested on the shelf above the fire.
Source English
"I supposed," he heard his wife's even voice go on, "that you had been kept at the office this evening about the business arrangements. It was settled this morning, I believe." She lowered her eyes under his unseeing stare, and another fugitive flush passed over her face.
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59
Easy English
Then he covered his face.
Something beat and rang inside his ears. It might be the blood in his body. It might be the clock above the fire.
Source English
He understood that his own eyes must be unbearable, and turning away, rested his elbows on the mantel-shelf and covered his face. Something drummed and clanged furiously in his ears; he could not tell if it were the blood in his veins, or the tick of the clock on the mantel.
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60
Easy English
May waited without a movement. The clock slowly measured five full minutes.
Then one piece of coal fell forward in the fire. May rose and pushed it back. At last, Archer turned toward her.
Source English
May sat without moving or speaking while the clock slowly measured out five minutes. A lump of coal fell forward in the grate, and hearing her rise to push it back, Archer at length turned and faced her.
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61
Easy English
"It is impossible," he said.
Source English
"It's impossible," he exclaimed.
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62
Easy English
"Impossible?"
Source English
"Impossible--?"
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63
Easy English
"How do you know this?"
Source English
"How do you know--what you've just told me?"
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64
Easy English
"I saw Ellen yesterday. I told you about our meeting at Granny's."
Source English
"I saw Ellen yesterday--I told you I'd seen her at Granny's."
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65
Easy English
"Did she tell you then?"
Source English
"It wasn't then that she told you?"
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66
Easy English
"No. Her note came this afternoon. Do you want to see it?"
Source English
"No; I had a note from her this afternoon.--Do you want to see it?"
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67
Easy English
Archer could not speak. May left the library and returned almost at once.
Source English
He could not find his voice, and she went out of the room, and came back almost immediately.
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68
Easy English
"I thought you knew," she said simply.
Source English
"I thought you knew," she said simply.
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69
Easy English
She placed one sheet of paper on the table. Archer reached out and took it. The letter held only a few lines.
Source English
She laid a sheet of paper on the table, and Archer put out his hand and took it up. The letter contained only a few lines.
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70
Easy English
"Dear May,
"At last, Granny understands that I can only make a short visit. She is as kind and giving as ever. She now sees that I must live alone in Europe.
"Poor Aunt Medora will come with me, so I will not truly be alone. I am returning quickly to Washington to pack. We will sail next week.
"Please care for Granny after I leave. Be as good to her as you have always been to me.
"Ellen
Source English
"May dear, I have at last made Granny understand that my visit to her could be no more than a visit; and she has been as kind and generous as ever. She sees now that if I return to Europe I must live by myself, or rather with poor Aunt Medora, who is coming with me. I am hurrying back to Washington to pack up, and we sail next week. You must be very good to Granny when I'm gone--as good as you've always been to me. Ellen.
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71
Easy English
"My friends may try to change my mind. Please tell them that no words will change it."
Source English
"If any of my friends wish to urge me to change my mind, please tell them it would be utterly useless."
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72
Easy English
Archer read the letter two or three times. Then he threw it onto the table and began to laugh.
Source English
Archer read the letter over two or three times; then he flung it down and burst out laughing.
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73
Easy English
His own laughter frightened him. It carried him back to another night. Janey found him laughing alone after midnight.
That time, May sent a telegram about their wedding. She moved its date forward. His wild laughter made no sense to Janey.
Source English
The sound of his laugh startled him. It recalled Janey's midnight fright when she had caught him rocking with incomprehensible mirth over May's telegram announcing that the date of their marriage had been advanced.
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74
Easy English
"Why did Ellen write this?" Archer asked. He used all his strength to stop laughing.
Source English
"Why did she write this?" he asked, checking his laugh with a supreme effort.
-
75
Easy English
May met his question with open, steady eyes. "I suppose it was because of our talk yesterday."
Source English
May met the question with her unshaken candour. "I suppose because we talked things over yesterday--"
-
76
Easy English
"What did you discuss?"
Source English
"What things?"
-
77
Easy English
"I told her that I may have treated her unfairly. I did not understand how hard New York was for her."
Ellen stood alone among many family members. They were her relations, but they were also strangers. They believed they could judge her.
Yet they did not always know the facts.
May stopped for a moment. Then she continued.
"I knew you were the one friend she could always trust. I wanted her to know that you and I felt the same way. In all things."
Source English
"I told her I was afraid I hadn't been fair to her--hadn't always understood how hard it must have been for her here, alone among so many people who were relations and yet strangers; who felt the right to criticise, and yet didn't always know the circumstances." She paused. "I knew you'd been the one friend she could always count on; and I wanted her to know that you and I were the same--in all our feelings."
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78
Easy English
May waited as if Archer might answer. He said nothing.
"She understood why I wanted to tell her," May said slowly. "I think Ellen understands everything."
Source English
She hesitated, as if waiting for him to speak, and then added slowly: "She understood my wishing to tell her this. I think she understands everything."
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79
Easy English
She crossed the room and stood before Archer. She took one of his cold hands. Then she quickly pressed it against her cheek.
Source English
She went up to Archer, and taking one of his cold hands pressed it quickly against her cheek.
-
80
Easy English
"My head hurts too. Good night, dear," she said.
May turned toward the door. The torn wedding dress followed her across the room. Its muddy blue-white cloth dragged heavily behind her.
Source English
"My head aches too; good-night, dear," she said, and turned to the door, her torn and muddy wedding-dress dragging after her across the room.