William Etty paintings
William Merritt Chase paintings
William Blake paintings
Winslow Homer paintings
Well -- ?''
``Well -- yes,'' she said.
``You were afraid? You knew -- ?''
``Yes: I knew . . .''
``Well, then?'' he insisted.
-310-
``Well, then: this is better, isn't it?'' she returned with a long questioning sigh.
``Better -- ?''
``We shall hurt others less. Isn't it, after all, what you always wanted?''
``To have you here, you mean -- in reach and yet out of reach? To meet you in this way, on the sly? It's the very reverse of what I want. I told you the other day what I wanted.''
She hesitated. ``And you still think this -- worse?''
``A thousand times!'' He paused. ``It would be easy to lie to you; but the truth is I think it detestable.''
``Oh, so do I!'' she cried with a deep breath of relief.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mary Cassatt paintings
Mary Cassatt paintings
Maxfield Parrish paintings
Martin Johnson Heade paintings
Nancy O'Toole paintings
Yes, but in ten minutes more he would be mounting his own doorstep; and there were May, and habit, and honour, and all the old decencies that he and his people had always believed in . . .
At his corner he hesitated, and then walked on down Fifth Avenue. Ahead of him, in the winter night, loomed a big unlit house. As he drew near he thought how often he had seen it blazing with lights, its steps awninged and carpeted, and carriages waiting in double line to draw up at the curbstone. It was in the conservatory that stretched its dead-black bulk down the side street that he had taken his first kiss from May; it was under the myriad candles of the ball-room that he had seen her appear, tall and silver-shining as a young Diana.
Now the house was as dark as the grave, except for a faint flare of gas in the basement, and a light in one upstairs room where the blind had not been lowered. As Archer reached the corner he saw that the carriage standing at the door was Mrs. Manson Mingott's. What an opportunity for Sillerton Jackson, if he should chance to pass! Archer had been greatly moved by old Catherine's account of Madame Olenska's attitude toward Mrs. Beaufort; it made the righteous reprobation of
Maxfield Parrish paintings
Martin Johnson Heade paintings
Nancy O'Toole paintings
Yes, but in ten minutes more he would be mounting his own doorstep; and there were May, and habit, and honour, and all the old decencies that he and his people had always believed in . . .
At his corner he hesitated, and then walked on down Fifth Avenue. Ahead of him, in the winter night, loomed a big unlit house. As he drew near he thought how often he had seen it blazing with lights, its steps awninged and carpeted, and carriages waiting in double line to draw up at the curbstone. It was in the conservatory that stretched its dead-black bulk down the side street that he had taken his first kiss from May; it was under the myriad candles of the ball-room that he had seen her appear, tall and silver-shining as a young Diana.
Now the house was as dark as the grave, except for a faint flare of gas in the basement, and a light in one upstairs room where the blind had not been lowered. As Archer reached the corner he saw that the carriage standing at the door was Mrs. Manson Mingott's. What an opportunity for Sillerton Jackson, if he should chance to pass! Archer had been greatly moved by old Catherine's account of Madame Olenska's attitude toward Mrs. Beaufort; it made the righteous reprobation of
Monday, June 2, 2008
Il'ya Repin paintings
Il'ya Repin paintings
Igor V.Babailov paintings
Juarez Machado paintings
Joan Miro paintings
For a long moment she was silent; and in that moment Archer imagined her, almost heard her, stealing up behind him to throw her light arms about his neck. While he waited, soul and body throbbing with the miracle to come, his eyes mechanically received the image of a heavily-coated man with his fur collar turned up who was advancing along the path to the house. The man was Julius Beaufort.
``Ah -- !'' Archer cried, bursting into a laugh.
Madame Olenska had sprung up and moved to his side, slipping her hand into his; but after a glance through the window her face paled and she shrank back.
``So that was it?'' Archer said derisively.
``I didn't know he was here,'' Madame Olenska murmured. Her hand still clung to Archer's; but he drew away from her, and walking out into the passage threw open the door of the house.
``Hallo, Beaufort -- this way! Madame Olenska was expecting you,'' he said.
Igor V.Babailov paintings
Juarez Machado paintings
Joan Miro paintings
For a long moment she was silent; and in that moment Archer imagined her, almost heard her, stealing up behind him to throw her light arms about his neck. While he waited, soul and body throbbing with the miracle to come, his eyes mechanically received the image of a heavily-coated man with his fur collar turned up who was advancing along the path to the house. The man was Julius Beaufort.
``Ah -- !'' Archer cried, bursting into a laugh.
Madame Olenska had sprung up and moved to his side, slipping her hand into his; but after a glance through the window her face paled and she shrank back.
``So that was it?'' Archer said derisively.
``I didn't know he was here,'' Madame Olenska murmured. Her hand still clung to Archer's; but he drew away from her, and walking out into the passage threw open the door of the house.
``Hallo, Beaufort -- this way! Madame Olenska was expecting you,'' he said.
Allan R.Banks paintings
Allan R.Banks paintings
Andrea Mantegna paintings
Arthur Hughes paintings
Albert Bierstadt paintings
Welland? No one was deceived by his pretense of professional activity. In old-fashioned legal firms like that of which Mr. Letterblair was the head, and which were mainly engaged in the management of large estates and ``conservative'' investments, there were always two or three young men, fairly well-off, and without professional ambition, who, for a certain number of hours of each day, sat at their desks accomplishing trivial tasks, or simply reading the newspapers. Though it was supposed to be proper for them to have an occupation, the crude fact of money-making was still regarded as derogatory, and the law, being a profession, was accounted a more gentlemanly pursuit than business. But none of these young men had much hope of really advancing in his profession, or any earnest desire to do so; and over many of them the green mould of the perfunctory was already perceptibly spreading.
It made Archer shiver to think that it might be
Andrea Mantegna paintings
Arthur Hughes paintings
Albert Bierstadt paintings
Welland? No one was deceived by his pretense of professional activity. In old-fashioned legal firms like that of which Mr. Letterblair was the head, and which were mainly engaged in the management of large estates and ``conservative'' investments, there were always two or three young men, fairly well-off, and without professional ambition, who, for a certain number of hours of each day, sat at their desks accomplishing trivial tasks, or simply reading the newspapers. Though it was supposed to be proper for them to have an occupation, the crude fact of money-making was still regarded as derogatory, and the law, being a profession, was accounted a more gentlemanly pursuit than business. But none of these young men had much hope of really advancing in his profession, or any earnest desire to do so; and over many of them the green mould of the perfunctory was already perceptibly spreading.
It made Archer shiver to think that it might be
Robinson From the Hill Giverny painting
Robinson From the Hill Giverny painting
Cole The Hunter's Return painting
Church North Lake painting
Church Landscape in the Adirondacks painting
It would have been as difficult to discover any resemblance between the two situations as between the appearance of the persons concerned. Newland Archer could not pretend to anything approaching the young English actor's romantic good looks, and Miss Dyas was a tall red-haired woman of monumental build whose pale and pleasantly ugly face was utterly unlike Ellen Olenska's vivid countenance. Nor were Archer and Madame Olenska two lovers parting in heart-broken silence; they were client and lawyer separating after a talk which had given the lawyer the worst possible impression of the client's case. Wherein, then, lay the resemblance that made the young man's heart beat with a kind of restrospective excitement? It seemed to be in Madame Olenska's mysterious faculty of suggesting tragic and moving possibilities outside the daily run of experience. She had hardly ever said a word to him to produce this impression, but it was a part of her, either a projection of her mysterious and outlandish background or of something inherently dramatic, passionate and unusual in herself. Archer had always been inclined to think that chance and circumstance played a small part in shaping people's lots compared with their innate tendency to have things happen to
Cole The Hunter's Return painting
Church North Lake painting
Church Landscape in the Adirondacks painting
It would have been as difficult to discover any resemblance between the two situations as between the appearance of the persons concerned. Newland Archer could not pretend to anything approaching the young English actor's romantic good looks, and Miss Dyas was a tall red-haired woman of monumental build whose pale and pleasantly ugly face was utterly unlike Ellen Olenska's vivid countenance. Nor were Archer and Madame Olenska two lovers parting in heart-broken silence; they were client and lawyer separating after a talk which had given the lawyer the worst possible impression of the client's case. Wherein, then, lay the resemblance that made the young man's heart beat with a kind of restrospective excitement? It seemed to be in Madame Olenska's mysterious faculty of suggesting tragic and moving possibilities outside the daily run of experience. She had hardly ever said a word to him to produce this impression, but it was a part of her, either a projection of her mysterious and outlandish background or of something inherently dramatic, passionate and unusual in herself. Archer had always been inclined to think that chance and circumstance played a small part in shaping people's lots compared with their innate tendency to have things happen to
Joan Miro paintings
Joan Miro paintings
Jean-Honore Fragonard paintings
Jehan Georges Vibert paintings
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot paintings
Archer hesitated. ``I can't pledge myself till I've seen the Countess Olenska,'' he said at length.
``Mr. Archer, I don't understand you. Do you want to marry into a family with a scandalous divorce-suit hanging over it?''
``I don't think that has anything to do with the case.''
Mr. Letterblair put down his glass of port and fixed on his young partner a cautious and apprehensive gaze.
Archer understood that he ran the risk of having his mandate withdrawn, and for some obscure reason he disliked the prospect. Now that the job had been thrust on him he did not propose to relinquish it; and, to guard against the possibility, he saw that he must reassure the unimaginative old man who was the legal conscience of the Mingotts.
``You may be sure, sir, that I shan't commit myself till I've reported to you; what I meant was that I'd rather not give an opinion till I've heard what Madame Olenska has to say.''
Mr. Letterblair nodded approvingly at an excess of caution worthy of the best New York tradition, and the young man, glancing at his watch, pleaded an engagement and took leave.
Jean-Honore Fragonard paintings
Jehan Georges Vibert paintings
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot paintings
Archer hesitated. ``I can't pledge myself till I've seen the Countess Olenska,'' he said at length.
``Mr. Archer, I don't understand you. Do you want to marry into a family with a scandalous divorce-suit hanging over it?''
``I don't think that has anything to do with the case.''
Mr. Letterblair put down his glass of port and fixed on his young partner a cautious and apprehensive gaze.
Archer understood that he ran the risk of having his mandate withdrawn, and for some obscure reason he disliked the prospect. Now that the job had been thrust on him he did not propose to relinquish it; and, to guard against the possibility, he saw that he must reassure the unimaginative old man who was the legal conscience of the Mingotts.
``You may be sure, sir, that I shan't commit myself till I've reported to you; what I meant was that I'd rather not give an opinion till I've heard what Madame Olenska has to say.''
Mr. Letterblair nodded approvingly at an excess of caution worthy of the best New York tradition, and the young man, glancing at his watch, pleaded an engagement and took leave.
Seignac L'Abandon painting
Seignac L'Abandon painting
Hanks Blending Into Shadows & Sheets painting
Perez the face of tango ii painting
Vinci Mona Lisa Painting painting
In the drawing-room Newland found his mother. She raised a troubled brow from her needlework to ask: ``Has Janey told you?''
``Yes.'' He tried to keep his tone as measured as her own. ``But I can't take it very seriously.''
``Not the fact of having offended cousin Louisa and cousin Henry?''
``The fact that they can be offended by such a trifle as Countess Olenska's going to the house of a woman they consider common.''
``*Consider -- !''
``Well, who is; but who has good music, and amuses people on Sunday evenings, when the whole of New York is dying of inanition.''
``Good music? All I know is, there was a woman who got up on a table and sang the things they sing at the places you go to in Paris. There was smoking and champagne.''
``Well -- that kind of thing happens in other places, and the world still goes on.''
``I don't suppose, dear, you're really defending the French Sunday?''
Hanks Blending Into Shadows & Sheets painting
Perez the face of tango ii painting
Vinci Mona Lisa Painting painting
In the drawing-room Newland found his mother. She raised a troubled brow from her needlework to ask: ``Has Janey told you?''
``Yes.'' He tried to keep his tone as measured as her own. ``But I can't take it very seriously.''
``Not the fact of having offended cousin Louisa and cousin Henry?''
``The fact that they can be offended by such a trifle as Countess Olenska's going to the house of a woman they consider common.''
``*Consider -- !''
``Well, who is; but who has good music, and amuses people on Sunday evenings, when the whole of New York is dying of inanition.''
``Good music? All I know is, there was a woman who got up on a table and sang the things they sing at the places you go to in Paris. There was smoking and champagne.''
``Well -- that kind of thing happens in other places, and the world still goes on.''
``I don't suppose, dear, you're really defending the French Sunday?''
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)