The Age of Innocence · Parallel

01

Easy English

Mrs. Archer smiled as she spoke to Mrs. Welland. A young couple's first grand dinner was a great event.

Source English

It was, as Mrs. Archer smilingly said to Mrs. Welland, a great event for a young couple to give their first big dinner.

02

Easy English

Newland and May often received friends in a simple way. Archer liked bringing three or four people home for dinner. May always welcomed them with a bright smile.

Her mother taught her to serve her husband that way. Archer sometimes wondered about May's own wishes. Without her training, would she invite anyone?

He no longer tried to find the private May. Family custom shaped every part of her. He could not pull the woman away from that shape.

Rich young couples in New York had to receive many guests. A Welland married to an Archer carried twice that duty.

Source English

The Newland Archers, since they had set up their household, had received a good deal of company in an informal way. Archer was fond of having three or four friends to dine, and May welcomed them with the beaming readiness of which her mother had set her the example in conjugal affairs. Her husband questioned whether, if left to herself, she would ever have asked any one to the house; but he had long given up trying to disengage her real self from the shape into which tradition and training had moulded her. It was expected that well-off young couples in New York should do a good deal of informal entertaining, and a Welland married to an Archer was doubly pledged to the tradition.

03

Easy English

But a grand dinner was different. It required a hired cook and two borrowed footmen. There must be roses from Henderson's shop.

Each guest must find a menu on a gold-edged card. A menu was a written list of dinner dishes. Roman punch must appear between the main dishes.

Mrs. Archer said the Roman punch changed everything. Its presence promised many other costly details.

There might be canvas-back. Or there might be terrapin, a small water animal with a hard shell. Two soups must begin the dinner.

Guests expected both hot and cold sweets. Women wore low dresses with short sleeves. Every invited name needed equal importance.

Source English

But a big dinner, with a hired chef and two borrowed footmen, with Roman punch, roses from Henderson's, and menus on gilt-edged cards, was a different affair, and not to be lightly undertaken. As Mrs. Archer remarked, the Roman punch made all the difference; not in itself but by its manifold implications--since it signified either canvas-backs or terrapin, two soups, a hot and a cold sweet, full decolletage with short sleeves, and guests of a proportionate importance.

04

Easy English

A young couple's first formal invitation always interested New York. It used the third person and asked guests in careful words. Even busy, important people rarely refused it.

May won a special success. At her request, the van der Luydens stayed in town. They would attend her farewell dinner for Countess Olenska.

Source English

It was always an interesting occasion when a young pair launched their first invitations in the third person, and their summons was seldom refused even by the seasoned and sought-after. Still, it was admittedly a triumph that the van der Luydens, at May's request, should have stayed over in order to be present at her farewell dinner for the Countess Olenska.

05

Easy English

On the great afternoon, both mothers sat in May's drawing room. Mrs. Archer wrote each menu on Tiffany's thickest gold-edged card. Mrs. Welland directed the room.

Source English

The two mothers-in-law sat in May's drawing-room on the afternoon of the great day, Mrs. Archer writing out the menus on Tiffany's thickest gilt-edged bristol, while Mrs. Welland superintended the placing of the palms and standard lamps.

06

Easy English

She decided where the tall green palms and lamps should stand. Archer came home late and found them still working.

Mrs. Archer now wrote name cards for the table. Mrs. Welland studied the great gold sofa. Moving it could make a new sitting corner by the piano.

Source English

Archer, arriving late from his office, found them still there. Mrs. Archer had turned her attention to the name-cards for the table, and Mrs. Welland was considering the effect of bringing forward the large gilt sofa, so that another "corner" might be created between the piano and the window.

07

Easy English

May was in the dining room. She inspected a hill of deep red roses and fine green leaves. It filled the center of the long table.

Small French sweets rested in open silver baskets. Tall candle holders rose between them. Henry van der Luyden sent a great basket of orchids from Skuytercliff.

Orchids were rare flowers with strange, fine shapes. The basket stood on the piano. Every detail promised a proper grand event.

Source English

May, they told him, was in the dining-room inspecting the mound of Jacqueminot roses and maidenhair in the centre of the long table, and the placing of the Maillard bonbons in openwork silver baskets between the candelabra. On the piano stood a large basket of orchids which Mr. van der Luyden had had sent from Skuytercliff. Everything was, in short, as it should be on the approach of so considerable an event.

08

Easy English

Mrs. Archer checked each name with her sharp gold pen.

Source English

Mrs. Archer ran thoughtfully over the list, checking off each name with her sharp gold pen.

09

Easy English

"Henry van der Luyden and Louisa. The Lovell Mingotts. Reggie Chivers and his wife. Lawrence Lefferts and Gertrude."

She stopped at the Leffertses. May was probably right to invite them. Then she continued.

"Mr. and Mrs. Selfridge Merry. Sillerton Jackson. Van Newland and his wife. Time moves so quickly, Newland. He was your best man only yesterday."

Her pen reached the final name. "Countess Olenska. Yes, that is everyone."

Source English

"Henry van der Luyden--Louisa--the Lovell Mingotts--the Reggie Chiverses--Lawrence Lefferts and Gertrude--(yes, I suppose May was right to have them)--the Selfridge Merrys, Sillerton Jackson, Van Newland and his wife. (How time passes! It seems only yesterday that he was your best man, Newland)--and Countess Olenska--yes, I think that's all...."

10

Easy English

Mrs. Welland looked warmly at Archer. "No one can deny that you and May honor Ellen's departure."

Source English

Mrs. Welland surveyed her son-in-law affectionately. "No one can say, Newland, that you and May are not giving Ellen a handsome send-off."

11

Easy English

Mrs. Archer understood May's purpose. Ellen must tell Europe that New Yorkers were not wild people.

Source English

"Ah, well," said Mrs. Archer, "I understand May's wanting her cousin to tell people abroad that we're not quite barbarians."

12

Easy English

"I am sure Ellen will value it," Mrs. Welland said. "She arrives this morning. This will leave a lovely final memory."

The night before a sea journey was usually sad and empty. Mrs. Welland said this in her happiest voice.

Source English

"I'm sure Ellen will appreciate it. She was to arrive this morning, I believe. It will make a most charming last impression. The evening before sailing is usually so dreary," Mrs. Welland cheerfully continued.

13

Easy English

Archer turned toward the door.

"Please look at the table," Mrs. Welland called. "And do not let May tire herself."

He pretended not to hear. He hurried upstairs to the library.

The library looked back like the false face of a stranger. Servants cleaned away every sign of his usual life. They placed ash trays and sweet-smelling wood boxes for the men's cigars.

Source English

Archer turned toward the door, and his mother-in-law called to him: "Do go in and have a peep at the table. And don't let May tire herself too much." But he affected not to hear, and sprang up the stairs to his library. The room looked at him like an alien countenance composed into a polite grimace; and he perceived that it had been ruthlessly "tidied," and prepared, by a judicious distribution of ash-trays and cedar-wood boxes, for the gentlemen to smoke in.

14

Easy English

The room now wore a polite smile. It was ready for guests.

"This will not last long," Archer thought. Then he went to dress.

Source English

"Ah, well," he thought, "it's not for long--" and he went on to his dressing-room.

15

Easy English

Ten days passed since Ellen left New York. During that time, Archer received one sign from her. She returned his key.

The key came to his office in a closed envelope. Ellen wrote his name on it. Inside, thin paper covered the key.

Another man might read this as a final answer. It also looked like a well-known move in a secret game. Archer chose a different meaning.

Ellen still fought against her fate. She would go to Europe, but not to her husband. Nothing could stop Archer from following her.

He would take a step that could never be undone. Ellen would see that he truly left everything. Then she would not send him away.

Source English

Ten days had passed since Madame Olenska's departure from New York. During those ten days Archer had had no sign from her but that conveyed by the return of a key wrapped in tissue paper, and sent to his office in a sealed envelope addressed in her hand. This retort to his last appeal might have been interpreted as a classic move in a familiar game; but the young man chose to give it a different meaning. She was still fighting against her fate; but she was going to Europe, and she was not returning to her husband. Nothing, therefore, was to prevent his following her; and once he had taken the irrevocable step, and had proved to her that it was irrevocable, he believed she would not send him away.

16

Easy English

This trust in the future helped him act normally. He did not write to Ellen. No word or look showed his pain or shame.

Their silent game felt deadly. Still, Archer believed he held the strongest cards. He waited.

Source English

This confidence in the future had steadied him to play his part in the present. It had kept him from writing to her, or betraying, by any sign or act, his misery and mortification. It seemed to him that in the deadly silent game between them the trumps were still in his hands; and he waited.

17

Easy English

Some moments were difficult. The day after Ellen left, Mr. Letterblair called him. Catherine wanted to create a trust for Ellen.

A trust was money held under legal rules for another person. Archer and his older partner studied every detail for two hours.

Archer felt that Letterblair wanted more than legal help. Perhaps he called Archer because they were family. Yet Archer expected another reason to appear.

Source English

There had been, nevertheless, moments sufficiently difficult to pass; as when Mr. Letterblair, the day after Madame Olenska's departure, had sent for him to go over the details of the trust which Mrs. Manson Mingott wished to create for her granddaughter. For a couple of hours Archer had examined the terms of the deed with his senior, all the while obscurely feeling that if he had been consulted it was for some reason other than the obvious one of his cousinship; and that the close of the conference would reveal it.

18

Easy English

"The lady cannot deny that this is a fine plan," Letterblair said. He read the final page under his breath. "Everyone has treated her very well."

Source English

"Well, the lady can't deny that it's a handsome arrangement," Mr. Letterblair had summed up, after mumbling over a summary of the settlement. "In fact I'm bound to say she's been treated pretty handsomely all round."

19

Easy English

"Everyone?" Archer asked with a hard little laugh. "Do you mean her husband's offer? He kindly offered to return her own money."

Source English

"All round?" Archer echoed with a touch of derision. "Do you refer to her husband's proposal to give her back her own money?"

20

Easy English

Letterblair's thick brows rose a little. "My dear sir, the law is the law. Your wife's cousin married under French law. She must have known its meaning."

Source English

Mr. Letterblair's bushy eyebrows went up a fraction of an inch. "My dear sir, the law's the law; and your wife's cousin was married under the French law. It's to be presumed she knew what that meant."

21

Easy English

"Even so, we know what happened later." Archer stopped.

Letterblair rested his pen against his large, rough nose. His look carried a quiet lesson. Good older men could understand bad acts without doing them.

Source English

"Even if she did, what happened subsequently--." But Archer paused. Mr. Letterblair had laid his pen-handle against his big corrugated nose, and was looking down it with the expression assumed by virtuous elderly gentlemen when they wish their youngers to understand that virtue is not synonymous with ignorance.

22

Easy English

"I do not defend the Count's behavior," he said. "But perhaps the wrong was not all on one side."

He would not promise that Ellen gave no answer to Olenski's wrongs. There were stories about her young foreign friend.

Letterblair opened a locked drawer. He pushed a folded paper toward Archer.

"This report came from careful private questions," he said.

Archer did not touch the paper. He did not deny the idea either.

Letterblair's voice became less certain. The report proved nothing, he said. Still, small facts could point in one direction.

Source English

"My dear sir, I've no wish to extenuate the Count's transgressions; but--but on the other side ... I wouldn't put my hand in the fire ... well, that there hadn't been tit for tat ... with the young champion...." Mr. Letterblair unlocked a drawer and pushed a folded paper toward Archer. "This report, the result of discreet enquiries ..." And then, as Archer made no effort to glance at the paper or to repudiate the suggestion, the lawyer somewhat flatly continued: "I don't say it's conclusive, you observe; far from it. But straws show ... and on the whole it's eminently satisfactory for all parties that this dignified solution has been reached."

23

Easy English

"This calm answer is best for everyone," he finished.

"Of course," Archer said. He pushed the report back.

Source English

"Oh, eminently," Archer assented, pushing back the paper.

24

Easy English

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

Source English

A day or two later, on responding to a summons from Mrs. Manson Mingott, his soul had been more deeply tried.

25

Easy English

One or two days later, Catherine called Archer to her. That visit tried him even more. He found the old lady sad and cross.

Source English

He had found the old lady depressed and querulous.

26

Easy English

"You know Ellen left me," she began. She did not wait for an answer. "Do not ask why. She gave so many reasons that I forgot them."

Catherine privately believed Ellen could not face the dull life. Augusta and Catherine's daughters-in-law agreed.

"I cannot fully blame her," Catherine said. "Olenski is a complete bad man. But life with him must be livelier than Fifth Avenue."

The family would never admit that. They thought Fifth Avenue was heaven. They also wanted the finest Paris street added to it.

Ellen still firmly refused to return to Olenski. Instead, she would live in Paris with foolish Medora.

"Well, Paris is Paris," Catherine said. "A carriage costs almost nothing there. Ellen was as happy as a bird. I will miss her."

Two dry tears rolled down Catherine's full cheeks. They disappeared into the deep folds of her chest.

Source English

"You know she's deserted me?" she began at once; and without waiting for his reply: "Oh, don't ask me why! She gave so many reasons that I've forgotten them all. My private belief is that she couldn't face the boredom. At any rate that's what Augusta and my daughters-in-law think. And I don't know that I altogether blame her. Olenski's a finished scoundrel; but life with him must have been a good deal gayer than it is in Fifth Avenue. Not that the family would admit that: they think Fifth Avenue is Heaven with the rue de la Paix thrown in. And poor Ellen, of course, has no idea of going back to her husband. She held out as firmly as ever against that. So she's to settle down in Paris with that fool Medora.... Well, Paris is Paris; and you can keep a carriage there on next to nothing. But she was as gay as a bird, and I shall miss her." Two tears, the parched tears of the old, rolled down her puffy cheeks and vanished in the abysses of her bosom.

27

Easy English

"I only ask them to stop troubling me," she finished. "They must let me eat my thin meal in peace."

Her eyes gave Archer a small, sad light.

Source English

"All I ask is," she concluded, "that they shouldn't bother me any more. I must really be allowed to digest my gruel...." And she twinkled a little wistfully at Archer.

28

Easy English

That evening, Archer returned home. May announced her farewell dinner for Ellen.

They did not speak Ellen's name since her sudden return to Washington. Archer looked at May with surprise.

Source English

It was that evening, on his return home, that May announced her intention of giving a farewell dinner to her cousin. Madame Olenska's name had not been pronounced between them since the night of her flight to Washington; and Archer looked at his wife with surprise.

29

Easy English

"A dinner? Why?"

Source English

"A dinner--why?" he interrogated.

30

Easy English

May's face became red. "But you like Ellen. I thought this would please you."

Source English

Her colour rose. "But you like Ellen--I thought you'd be pleased."

31

Easy English

"It is very kind to put it that way. But I do not understand."

Source English

"It's awfully nice--your putting it in that way. But I really don't see--"

32

Easy English

"I mean to do it, Newland." May rose quietly and went to her desk. "The invitations are already written. Mother helped me. She agrees that we must."

May stopped with a shy smile. At that moment, Archer saw the Family standing before him. It seemed to have taken his wife's body.

Source English

"I mean to do it, Newland," she said, quietly rising and going to her desk. "Here are the invitations all written. Mother helped me--she agrees that we ought to." She paused, embarrassed and yet smiling, and Archer suddenly saw before him the embodied image of the Family.

33

Easy English

"Very well," he said.

She placed the guest list in his hand. He looked at it but saw nothing.

Source English

"Oh, all right," he said, staring with unseeing eyes at the list of guests that she had put in his hand.

34

Easy English

Before the dinner, Archer entered the drawing room. May bent over the fire. She tried to make the new wood burn.

The fireplace was almost never used. Its bright clean wall stones fought her efforts.

Source English

When he entered the drawing-room before dinner May was stooping over the fire and trying to coax the logs to burn in their unaccustomed setting of immaculate tiles.

35

Easy English

Every tall lamp burned. Henry's orchids stood openly around the room. May placed them in modern white dishes and heavy silver bowls.

People generally praised Mrs. Newland Archer's drawing room. A gold bamboo plant holder blocked the great window. Fresh pink and purple flowers always filled it.

Older people might place a small metal Venus there. May's room followed newer taste.

Pale cloth covered the sofas and chairs. Small soft tables carried many silver toys. White animals and bright photograph frames crowded their tops.

Pink lamps rose among the palms like flowers from a hot country.

Source English

The tall lamps were all lit, and Mr. van der Luyden's orchids had been conspicuously disposed in various receptacles of modern porcelain and knobby silver. Mrs. Newland Archer's drawing-room was generally thought a great success. A gilt bamboo jardinière, in which the primulas and cinerarias were punctually renewed, blocked the access to the bay window (where the old-fashioned would have preferred a bronze reduction of the Venus of Milo); the sofas and arm-chairs of pale brocade were cleverly grouped about little plush tables densely covered with silver toys, porcelain animals and efflorescent photograph frames; and tall rosy-shaded lamps shot up like tropical flowers among the palms.

36

Easy English

"I do not think Ellen ever saw this room fully lighted," May said. She rose from the fire with red cheeks. Pride moved through her eyes.

The metal fire tools stood against the side wall. They suddenly fell with a great crash. Archer's answer disappeared under the noise.

Source English

"I don't think Ellen has ever seen this room lighted up," said May, rising flushed from her struggle, and sending about her a glance of pardonable pride. The brass tongs which she had propped against the side of the chimney fell with a crash that drowned her husband's answer; and before he could restore them Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden were announced.

37

Easy English

Before he lifted them, a servant announced Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden.

The other guests followed quickly. Everyone knew Henry wanted dinner on time. Soon the room was almost full.

Archer showed Mrs. Selfridge Merry a small shining painting of sheep. Mr. Welland gave it to May for Christmas. A painter named Verbeckhoven made it.

Then Archer found Ellen beside him.

Source English

The other guests quickly followed, for it was known that the van der Luydens liked to dine punctually. The room was nearly full, and Archer was engaged in showing to Mrs. Selfridge Merry a small highly-varnished Verbeckhoven "Study of Sheep," which Mr. Welland had given May for Christmas, when he found Madame Olenska at his side.

38

Easy English

She looked extremely pale. Her dark hair seemed heavier beside her white face. Several lines of amber beads circled her neck.

Amber was a clear yellow-brown stone made from ancient tree material. The beads suddenly recalled the child Ellen Mingott. Archer danced with her at children's parties.

Medora first brought her to New York then.

Source English

She was excessively pale, and her pallor made her dark hair seem denser and heavier than ever. Perhaps that, or the fact that she had wound several rows of amber beads about her neck, reminded him suddenly of the little Ellen Mingott he had danced with at children's parties, when Medora Manson had first brought her to New York.

39

Easy English

The yellow-brown beads made Ellen's skin look tired. Perhaps her dress was also wrong for her. Her face held no light and seemed almost ugly.

Archer never loved it more.

Their hands met. Through the noise, he thought Ellen spoke.

"Yes, we sail tomorrow on the Russia."

Doors opened, and every voice became one empty sound. Then May called across the room.

"Newland, dinner is ready. Will you please take Ellen in?"

Ellen placed her hand on Archer's arm. It wore no glove.

Source English

The amber beads were trying to her complexion, or her dress was perhaps unbecoming: her face looked lustreless and almost ugly, and he had never loved it as he did at that minute. Their hands met, and he thought he heard her say: "Yes, we're sailing tomorrow in the Russia--"; then there was an unmeaning noise of opening doors, and after an interval May's voice: "Newland! Dinner's been announced. Won't you please take Ellen in?"

40

Easy English

He remembered another night in her small Twenty-third Street room. He watched that hand while sitting beside her. Now all her lost beauty seemed to live there.

Its long pale fingers lay on his dark sleeve. Small soft lines crossed each finger joint.

Archer told himself he must follow her. Seeing that hand once more would be reason enough.

Source English

Madame Olenska put her hand on his arm, and he noticed that the hand was ungloved, and remembered how he had kept his eyes fixed on it the evening that he had sat with her in the little Twenty-third Street drawing-room. All the beauty that had forsaken her face seemed to have taken refuge in the long pale fingers and faintly dimpled knuckles on his sleeve, and he said to himself: "If it were only to see her hand again I should have to follow her--."

41

Easy English

Ellen was the special foreign guest. Therefore, she sat on Archer's right. Louisa van der Luyden accepted the lower place on his left.

Only a foreign visitor could make Louisa accept it. The honor also marked Ellen as someone from outside.

Louisa accepted her place with perfect kindness. She clearly approved of the whole dinner. Certain duties had to be done fully or not at all.

Old New York always gathered around a woman from its family before sending her away. Nothing was too much after Ellen booked her passage.

The Wellands and Mingotts now showed their endless love. Everyone forgot old complaints. They accepted her past and filled her present with family light.

Louisa gave Ellen her softest form of kindness. Across the table, Henry sent warm looks. They seemed to defend every flower he sent Ellen before.

Source English

It was only at an entertainment ostensibly offered to a "foreign visitor" that Mrs. van der Luyden could suffer the diminution of being placed on her host's left. The fact of Madame Olenska's "foreignness" could hardly have been more adroitly emphasised than by this farewell tribute; and Mrs. van der Luyden accepted her displacement with an affability which left no doubt as to her approval. There were certain things that had to be done, and if done at all, done handsomely and thoroughly; and one of these, in the old New York code, was the tribal rally around a kinswoman about to be eliminated from the tribe. There was nothing on earth that the Wellands and Mingotts would not have done to proclaim their unalterable affection for the Countess Olenska now that her passage for Europe was engaged; and Archer, at the head of his table, sat marvelling at the silent untiring activity with which her popularity had been retrieved, grievances against her silenced, her past countenanced, and her present irradiated by the family approval. Mrs. van der Luyden shone on her with the dim benevolence which was her nearest approach to cordiality, and Mr. van der Luyden, from his seat at May's right, cast down the table glances plainly intended to justify all the carnations he had sent from Skuytercliff.

42

Easy English

Archer sat at the head of the table. He felt light and unreal. It seemed that he floated between the great ceiling lights and the roof.

He looked from one calm, well-fed face to another. Everyone quietly ate the costly canvas-back. They looked harmless.

Yet Archer suddenly saw a group of silent plotters. He and the pale woman beside him stood at the center.

Then many small signs joined in one great flash. Everyone believed that Archer and Ellen were lovers. They believed it in the strongest foreign sense.

For months, quiet eyes watched him. Patient ears listened. Somehow these people arranged his separation from Ellen.

Now the whole family gathered around May. All pretended that nobody knew or imagined anything. May simply wished to say goodbye to a loved cousin.

Source English

Archer, who seemed to be assisting at the scene in a state of odd imponderability, as if he floated somewhere between chandelier and ceiling, wondered at nothing so much as his own share in the proceedings. As his glance travelled from one placid well-fed face to another he saw all the harmless-looking people engaged upon May's canvas-backs as a band of dumb conspirators, and himself and the pale woman on his right as the centre of their conspiracy. And then it came over him, in a vast flash made up of many broken gleams, that to all of them he and Madame Olenska were lovers, lovers in the extreme sense peculiar to "foreign" vocabularies. He guessed himself to have been, for months, the centre of countless silently observing eyes and patiently listening ears; he understood that, by means as yet unknown to him, the separation between himself and the partner of his guilt had been achieved, and that now the whole tribe had rallied about his wife on the tacit assumption that nobody knew anything, or had ever imagined anything, and that the occasion of the entertainment was simply May Archer's natural desire to take an affectionate leave of her friend and cousin.

43

Easy English

This was old New York's way. It stopped trouble without spilling blood.

These people feared public shame more than sickness. They valued good public behavior above courage. Nothing was worse than a loud emotional scene.

Only the behavior that caused such a scene was worse.

Source English

It was the old New York way of taking life "without effusion of blood": the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes," except the behaviour of those who gave rise to them.

44

Easy English

Archer felt like a prisoner inside an armed camp. Over green asparagus from Florida, the guests judged Beaufort and Regina. Asparagus was a long green spring vegetable.

Their voices showed the hard will of Archer's guards.

"They are showing me what will happen to me," he thought.

No one threatened him openly. Hints were stronger than action. Silence could defeat dangerous words.

The doors of the family tomb seemed to close around him.

Source English

As these thoughts succeeded each other in his mind Archer felt like a prisoner in the centre of an armed camp. He looked about the table, and guessed at the inexorableness of his captors from the tone in which, over the asparagus from Florida, they were dealing with Beaufort and his wife. "It's to show me," he thought, "what would happen to me--" and a deathly sense of the superiority of implication and analogy over direct action, and of silence over rash words, closed in on him like the doors of the family vault.

45

Easy English

Archer laughed. Louisa looked at him in surprise.

Source English

He laughed, and met Mrs. van der Luyden's startled eyes.

46

Easy English

"Do you find it funny?" she asked with a tight smile. "Poor Regina's plan to remain here does seem foolish."

"Of course," Archer said quietly.

Ellen's other dinner partner was talking to the woman beyond him. May looked quickly down the table. Archer understood her message.

Source English

"You think it laughable?" she said with a pinched smile. "Of course poor Regina's idea of remaining in New York has its ridiculous side, I suppose;" and Archer muttered: "Of course."

47

Easy English

A host could not ignore the woman on his right. He turned toward Ellen. Her pale smile met him.

The smile seemed to say, "Let us finish this together."

Source English

At this point, he became conscious that Madame Olenska's other neighbour had been engaged for some time with the lady on his right. At the same moment he saw that May, serenely enthroned between Mr. van der Luyden and Mr. Selfridge Merry, had cast a quick glance down the table. It was evident that the host and the lady on his right could not sit through the whole meal in silence. He turned to Madame Olenska, and her pale smile met him. "Oh, do let's see it through," it seemed to say.

48

Easy English

"Was the journey tiring?" Archer asked. His voice sounded surprisingly natural.

Source English

"Did you find the journey tiring?" he asked in a voice that surprised him by its naturalness; and she answered that, on the contrary, she had seldom travelled with fewer discomforts.

49

Easy English

Ellen said she rarely traveled with so little trouble. Then she remembered the terrible heat inside the train.

Archer said that heat would not trouble her in France.

Source English

"Except, you know, the dreadful heat in the train," she added; and he remarked that she would not suffer from that particular hardship in the country she was going to.

50

Easy English

"I almost froze one April," he said. "The train ran between Calais and Paris."

Ellen believed him. A traveler could always bring another warm blanket. Every kind of travel had its own troubles.

Source English

"I never," he declared with intensity, "was more nearly frozen than once, in April, in the train between Calais and Paris."

51

Easy English

Archer said no trouble mattered beside the joy of escape. Color changed in Ellen's face.

"I plan to travel a great deal soon," he added. His voice suddenly rose.

Ellen's face shook slightly. Archer leaned toward Reggie Chivers.

"Reggie, what about a journey around the world? We could leave next month. I will go if you will."

Mrs. Reggie answered before her husband. Reggie could not leave before her Martha Washington Ball. She planned it for a home for blind people during Easter week.

Reggie added another problem. By then, he must practice for the international polo match. Polo was a game played on horses with long sticks.

Source English

She said she did not wonder, but remarked that, after all, one could always carry an extra rug, and that every form of travel had its hardships; to which he abruptly returned that he thought them all of no account compared with the blessedness of getting away. She changed colour, and he added, his voice suddenly rising in pitch: "I mean to do a lot of travelling myself before long." A tremor crossed her face, and leaning over to Reggie Chivers, he cried out: "I say, Reggie, what do you say to a trip round the world: now, next month, I mean? I'm game if you are--" at which Mrs. Reggie piped up that she could not think of letting Reggie go till after the Martha Washington Ball she was getting up for the Blind Asylum in Easter week; and her husband placidly observed that by that time he would have to be practising for the International Polo match.

52

Easy English

Selfridge Merry heard the words "around the world." He once traveled around it in his steam boat. Now he sent facts down the table.

Many Mediterranean ports were not deep enough for great boats. But perhaps that did not matter. After Athens, Smyrna, and Constantinople, what remained?

Mrs. Merry thanked Dr. Bencomb for one wise order. He made them promise to avoid Naples because of a dangerous fever.

Source English

But Mr. Selfridge Merry had caught the phrase "round the world," and having once circled the globe in his steam-yacht, he seized the opportunity to send down the table several striking items concerning the shallowness of the Mediterranean ports. Though, after all, he added, it didn't matter; for when you'd seen Athens and Smyrna and Constantinople, what else was there? And Mrs. Merry said she could never be too grateful to Dr. Bencomb for having made them promise not to go to Naples on account of the fever.

53

Easy English

"Still, India needs three full weeks," Mr. Merry said. He wanted everyone to respect him as a serious traveler.

Source English

"But you must have three weeks to do India properly," her husband conceded, anxious to have it understood that he was no frivolous globe-trotter.

54

Easy English

At that point, the ladies returned to the drawing room.

Source English

And at this point the ladies went up to the drawing-room.

55

Easy English

The men gathered in the library. Lawrence Lefferts soon controlled the talk, though older and greater men were present.

Source English

In the library, in spite of weightier presences, Lawrence Lefferts predominated.

56

Easy English

Henry van der Luyden and Selfridge Merry sat in the best chairs. Everyone silently saved those chairs for them. Still, they stopped to hear Lawrence.

Again the talk turned to the Beauforts. Lawrence spoke fiercely about good Christian men and the holy family home. Anger made his words sharp and powerful.

Source English

The talk, as usual, had veered around to the Beauforts, and even Mr. van der Luyden and Mr. Selfridge Merry, installed in the honorary arm-chairs tacitly reserved for them, paused to listen to the younger man's philippic.

57

Easy English

If everyone followed his example, society would be safe. It would never receive a foreign outsider like Beaufort. His marriage should not change that.

Beaufort married a Dallas. Lawrence said even a van der Luyden wife should not open doors for him.

How did Beaufort enter the Dallas family? First, he pushed into important houses. Mrs. Lemuel Struthers and women like her followed his path.

Society could perhaps accept women with common manners. It gained little, but the harm stayed small. Men with unknown families and dirty money were different.

Accepting them would break society apart, Lawrence warned.

Source English

Never had Lefferts so abounded in the sentiments that adorn Christian manhood and exalt the sanctity of the home. Indignation lent him a scathing eloquence, and it was clear that if others had followed his example, and acted as he talked, society would never have been weak enough to receive a foreign upstart like Beaufort--no, sir, not even if he'd married a van der Luyden or a Lanning instead of a Dallas. And what chance would there have been, Lefferts wrathfully questioned, of his marrying into such a family as the Dallases, if he had not already wormed his way into certain houses, as people like Mrs. Lemuel Struthers had managed to worm theirs in his wake? If society chose to open its doors to vulgar women the harm was not great, though the gain was doubtful; but once it got in the way of tolerating men of obscure origin and tainted wealth the end was total disintegration--and at no distant date.

58

Easy English

"If this continues, our children will fight for invitations from men who steal," he cried. "They will marry Beaufort's children born outside marriage."

Source English

"If things go on at this pace," Lefferts thundered, looking like a young prophet dressed by Poole, and who had not yet been stoned, "we shall see our children fighting for invitations to swindlers' houses, and marrying Beaufort's bastards."

59

Easy English

Reggie Chivers and young Van Newland told him to speak more carefully.

Selfridge Merry looked truly worried. Pain and dislike crossed Henry's fine face.

Source English

"Oh, I say--draw it mild!" Reggie Chivers and young Newland protested, while Mr. Selfridge Merry looked genuinely alarmed, and an expression of pain and disgust settled on Mr. van der Luyden's sensitive face.

60

Easy English

"Does Beaufort have such children?" Sillerton Jackson asked with sudden interest.

Lawrence tried to turn the question away with a laugh. Jackson moved close to Archer's ear.

"Men who always correct the world are strange," he said. "People with the worst cooks fear poison at every dinner."

Jackson heard that Lawrence had a private reason for his loud speech. This time, it involved a typist. A typist was a woman hired to type office papers.

Source English

"Has he got any?" cried Mr. Sillerton Jackson, pricking up his ears; and while Lefferts tried to turn the question with a laugh, the old gentleman twittered into Archer's ear: "Queer, those fellows who are always wanting to set things right. The people who have the worst cooks are always telling you they're poisoned when they dine out. But I hear there are pressing reasons for our friend Lawrence's diatribe:--typewriter this time, I understand...."

61

Easy English

The talk passed Archer like a mindless river. It ran because it did not know how to stop. Faces showed interest, pleasure, and laughter.

The younger men joked. Henry and Selfridge carefully praised the Archer Madeira.

Everyone treated Archer with special warmth. They acted like guards trying to make prison comfortable. Their kindness only made his need for freedom stronger.

Source English

The talk swept past Archer like some senseless river running and running because it did not know enough to stop. He saw, on the faces about him, expressions of interest, amusement and even mirth. He listened to the younger men's laughter, and to the praise of the Archer Madeira, which Mr. van der Luyden and Mr. Merry were thoughtfully celebrating. Through it all he was dimly aware of a general attitude of friendliness toward himself, as if the guard of the prisoner he felt himself to be were trying to soften his captivity; and the perception increased his passionate determination to be free.

62

Easy English

Soon the men joined the women. Archer met May's victorious eyes. She believed every part of the dinner succeeded.

May rose from Ellen's side. Louisa called Ellen to the gold sofa where she sat like a queen. Mrs. Selfridge Merry crossed the room to join them.

The same quiet plan continued here. Society now publicly cleaned Ellen's name. It also erased every sign of trouble.

These friendly, hard people acted as if Ellen never behaved badly. They also acted as if Archer's marriage held complete happiness.

Each person pretended never to hear or imagine anything else. Their shared false act told Archer the truth again.

New York believed he was Ellen's lover.

Victory shone in May's eyes. For the first time, Archer knew that May believed it too.

Dark laughter rang inside him. Still, he discussed the Martha Washington Ball with Mrs. Reggie and Mrs. Van Newland.

The evening ran onward like the same mindless river.

Source English

In the drawing-room, where they presently joined the ladies, he met May's triumphant eyes, and read in them the conviction that everything had "gone off" beautifully. She rose from Madame Olenska's side, and immediately Mrs. van der Luyden beckoned the latter to a seat on the gilt sofa where she throned. Mrs. Selfridge Merry bore across the room to join them, and it became clear to Archer that here also a conspiracy of rehabilitation and obliteration was going on. The silent organisation which held his little world together was determined to put itself on record as never for a moment having questioned the propriety of Madame Olenska's conduct, or the completeness of Archer's domestic felicity. All these amiable and inexorable persons were resolutely engaged in pretending to each other that they had never heard of, suspected, or even conceived possible, the least hint to the contrary; and from this tissue of elaborate mutual dissimulation Archer once more disengaged the fact that New York believed him to be Madame Olenska's lover. He caught the glitter of victory in his wife's eyes, and for the first time understood that she shared the belief. The discovery roused a laughter of inner devils that reverberated through all his efforts to discuss the Martha Washington ball with Mrs. Reggie Chivers and little Mrs. Newland; and so the evening swept on, running and running like a senseless river that did not know how to stop.

63

Easy English

At last, Ellen stood to say goodbye. In one moment, she would be gone. Archer tried to remember their dinner talk.

He could not remember one exchanged word.

Source English

At length he saw that Madame Olenska had risen and was saying good-bye. He understood that in a moment she would be gone, and tried to remember what he had said to her at dinner; but he could not recall a single word they had exchanged.

64

Easy English

Ellen walked toward May. All the guests formed a circle around them. The two young women held hands.

Then May leaned forward and kissed her cousin.

Source English

She went up to May, the rest of the company making a circle about her as she advanced. The two young women clasped hands; then May bent forward and kissed her cousin.

65

Easy English

"Our hostess is clearly the prettier woman," Reggie quietly told Mrs. Van Newland.

His words recalled an old cruel remark from Beaufort. Beaufort once said May's beauty had no power.

Source English

"Certainly our hostess is much the handsomer of the two," Archer heard Reggie Chivers say in an undertone to young Mrs. Newland; and he remembered Beaufort's coarse sneer at May's ineffectual beauty.

66

Easy English

A moment later, Archer stood in the hall. He placed Ellen's cloak around her shoulders.

Source English

A moment later he was in the hall, putting Madame Olenska's cloak about her shoulders.

67

Easy English

Through his troubled thoughts, he held to one rule. He would say nothing that might frighten her. No power could change his plan now.

He could let the evening move as it wished. Still, he suddenly hungered for one private moment. Perhaps they could stand alone beside her carriage.

Source English

Through all his confusion of mind he had held fast to the resolve to say nothing that might startle or disturb her. Convinced that no power could now turn him from his purpose he had found strength to let events shape themselves as they would. But as he followed Madame Olenska into the hall he thought with a sudden hunger of being for a moment alone with her at the door of her carriage.

68

Easy English

"Is your carriage here?" he asked.

At that moment, servants wrapped Louisa in her dark fur.

"We are driving dear Ellen home," Louisa said gently.

Source English

"Is your carriage here?" he asked; and at that moment Mrs. van der Luyden, who was being majestically inserted into her sables, said gently: "We are driving dear Ellen home."

69

Easy English

Archer's heart made a hard movement. Ellen held her cloak and fan in one hand. She offered him the other.

Source English

Archer's heart gave a jerk, and Madame Olenska, clasping her cloak and fan with one hand, held out the other to him. "Good-bye," she said.

70

Easy English

"Goodbye," Ellen said.

"Goodbye. But I will see you soon in Paris."

Archer seemed to shout the words, though he spoke them normally.

Source English

"Good-bye--but I shall see you soon in Paris," he answered aloud--it seemed to him that he had shouted it.

71

Easy English

"Oh," Ellen said softly. "If only you and May could come."

Source English

"Oh," she murmured, "if you and May could come--!"

72

Easy English

Henry stepped forward and offered his arm. Archer turned to help Louisa.

For one moment, he saw inside the great dark carriage. The pale shape of Ellen's face floated there. Her eyes shone with a steady light.

Then she was gone.

Source English

Mr. van der Luyden advanced to give her his arm, and Archer turned to Mrs. van der Luyden. For a moment, in the billowy darkness inside the big landau, he caught the dim oval of a face, eyes shining steadily--and she was gone.

73

Easy English

Archer climbed the steps again. Lawrence Lefferts came down with Gertrude. He caught Archer's sleeve and waited while his wife passed.

Source English

As he went up the steps he crossed Lawrence Lefferts coming down with his wife. Lefferts caught his host by the sleeve, drawing back to let Gertrude pass.

74

Easy English

"Old friend, please let people understand something," Lawrence said. "Tomorrow night, I am dining with you at the club. Thank you. Good night."

Lawrence wanted Archer to cover his secret meeting.

Source English

"I say, old chap: do you mind just letting it be understood that I'm dining with you at the club tomorrow night? Thanks so much, you old brick! Good-night."

75

Easy English

"The dinner went beautifully, did it not?" May asked.

Source English

"It did go off beautifully, didn't it?" May questioned from the threshold of the library.

76

Easy English

She stood at the library door. Archer started at the sound.

After the last carriage left, he shut himself inside. He hoped May would go straight to bed. Instead, she stood before him.

May looked pale and worn. Yet false energy still shone from her. She seemed too tired to feel tired.

Source English

Archer roused himself with a start. As soon as the last carriage had driven away, he had come up to the library and shut himself in, with the hope that his wife, who still lingered below, would go straight to her room. But there she stood, pale and drawn, yet radiating the factitious energy of one who has passed beyond fatigue.

77

Easy English

"May I come in and discuss the dinner?" she asked.

Source English

"May I come and talk it over?" she asked.

78

Easy English

"Of course, but you must need sleep."

Source English

"Of course, if you like. But you must be awfully sleepy--"

79

Easy English

"I am not sleepy. I want to sit with you."

Source English

"No, I'm not sleepy. I should like to sit with you a little."

80

Easy English

Archer moved her chair close to the fire. May sat, and he returned to his seat.

Source English

"Very well," he said, pushing her chair near the fire.

81

Easy English

For a long time, neither spoke.

Then Archer began suddenly. "Since you want to talk, I must tell you something. I tried to tell you the other night."

Source English

She sat down and he resumed his seat; but neither spoke for a long time. At length Archer began abruptly: "Since you're not tired, and want to talk, there's something I must tell you. I tried to the other night--."

82

Easy English

May looked at him quickly. "Yes, dear. Something about yourself?"

Source English

She looked at him quickly. "Yes, dear. Something about yourself?"

83

Easy English

"About myself. You say that you are not tired. But I am terribly tired."

Source English

"About myself. You say you're not tired: well, I am. Horribly tired ..."

84

Easy English

May filled at once with loving concern. She saw this illness coming, she said. The office worked him much too hard.

Source English

In an instant she was all tender anxiety. "Oh, I've seen it coming on, Newland! You've been so wickedly overworked--"

85

Easy English

"Perhaps that is the reason," Archer said. "In any case, I need a break."

Source English

"Perhaps it's that. Anyhow, I want to make a break--"

86

Easy English

"A break? Do you want to leave the law?"

Source English

"A break? To give up the law?"

87

Easy English

"I want to go away at once. I want a long journey, very far from everything."

Source English

"To go away, at any rate--at once. On a long trip, ever so far off--away from everything--"

88

Easy English

Archer stopped. He tried to sound like a tired man needing change. But his voice shook with hope.

"Away from everything," he repeated.

Source English

He paused, conscious that he had failed in his attempt to speak with the indifference of a man who longs for a change, and is yet too weary to welcome it. Do what he would, the chord of eagerness vibrated. "Away from everything--" he repeated.

89

Easy English

"How far? Where would you go?" May asked.

Source English

"Ever so far? Where, for instance?" she asked.

90

Easy English

"I do not know. India or Japan."

Source English

"Oh, I don't know. India--or Japan."

91

Easy English

May stood. Archer sat with his head down and his chin on his hands. He felt her warm body close above him.

Her familiar sweet smell surrounded him.

Source English

She stood up, and as he sat with bent head, his chin propped on his hands, he felt her warmly and fragrantly hovering over him.

92

Easy English

"As far as that? I fear you cannot go, dear." May's voice was not steady. "Not unless you take me."

Archer did not speak.

"The doctors may not let me travel," she continued. Each clear word struck his mind like a small hammer.

"You see, Newland, this morning I became sure. I am going to have a baby. I have wanted this so much."

Source English

"As far as that? But I'm afraid you can't, dear ..." she said in an unsteady voice. "Not unless you'll take me with you." And then, as he was silent, she went on, in tones so clear and evenly-pitched that each separate syllable tapped like a little hammer on his brain: "That is, if the doctors will let me go ... but I'm afraid they won't. For you see, Newland, I've been sure since this morning of something I've been so longing and hoping for--"

93

Easy English

Archer looked up with sick eyes. May dropped beside him, full of fresh color and tears. She hid her face against his knee.

Source English

He looked up at her with a sick stare, and she sank down, all dew and roses, and hid her face against his knee.

94

Easy English

"Oh, my dear," Archer said.

He held her close. His cold hand moved over her hair.

Source English

"Oh, my dear," he said, holding her to him while his cold hand stroked her hair.

95

Easy English

They remained that way for a long time. Inside Archer, dark voices laughed loudly.

At last, May freed herself and stood.

Source English

There was a long pause, which the inner devils filled with strident laughter; then May freed herself from his arms and stood up.

96

Easy English

"You did not guess?"

Source English

"You didn't guess--?"

97

Easy English

"Yes. No. I mean, of course I hoped."

Source English

"Yes--I; no. That is, of course I hoped--"

98

Easy English

They looked at each other. Silence returned.

Then Archer turned his eyes away. "Did you tell anyone else?"

Source English

They looked at each other for an instant and again fell silent; then, turning his eyes from hers, he asked abruptly: "Have you told any one else?"

99

Easy English

"Only Mamma and your mother." May stopped, then spoke quickly. Red color climbed to her forehead.

"And Ellen. I told you about our long talk. You know how dear she was to me."

Source English

"Only Mamma and your mother." She paused, and then added hurriedly, the blood flushing up to her forehead: "That is--and Ellen. You know I told you we'd had a long talk one afternoon--and how dear she was to me."

100

Easy English

Archer's heart seemed to stop. "Oh," he said.

Source English

"Ah--" said Archer, his heart stopping.

101

Easy English

May watched him carefully.

"Did you mind that I told Ellen first?"

Source English

He felt that his wife was watching him intently. "Did you mind my telling her first, Newland?"

102

Easy English

"Mind? Why should I?" Archer gathered his last strength. "But that happened two weeks ago. You said you became sure today."

Source English

"Mind? Why should I?" He made a last effort to collect himself. "But that was a fortnight ago, wasn't it? I thought you said you weren't sure till today."

103

Easy English

May's face burned more deeply. She did not look away.

"No, I was not sure then. But I told her that I was. You see, I was right."

Her blue eyes filled with tears. Victory shone through them.

Source English

Her colour burned deeper, but she held his gaze. "No; I wasn't sure then--but I told her I was. And you see I was right!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes wet with victory.