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Letterblair
's
office
,
and
the
family
pew
in
Grace
Church
,
his
hour
in
the
park
of
Skuytercliff
became
as
far
outside
the
pale
of
probability
as
the
visions
of
the
night
.
"
Mercy
,
how
pale
you
look
,
Newland
!
"
Janey
commented
over
the
coffee-cups
at
breakfast
;
and
his
mother
added
:
"
Newland
,
dear
,
I
've
noticed
lately
that
you
've
been
coughing
;
I
do
hope
you
're
not
letting
yourself
be
overworked
?
"
For
it
was
the
conviction
of
both
ladies
that
,
under
the
iron
despotism
of
his
senior
partners
,
the
young
man
's
life
was
spent
in
the
most
exhausting
professional
labours
--
and
he
had
never
thought
it
necessary
to
undeceive
them.The
next
two
or
three
days
dragged
by
heavily
.
The
taste
of
the
usual
was
like
cinders
in
his
mouth
,
and
there
were
moments
when
he
felt
as
if
he
were
being
buried
alive
under
his
future
.
He
heard
nothing
of
the
Countess
Olenska
,
or
of
the
perfect
little
house
,
and
though
he
met
Beaufort
at
the
club
they
merely
nodded
at
each
other
across
the
whist-tables
.
It
was
not
till
the
fourth
evening
that
he
found
a
note
awaiting
him
on
his
return
home
.
"
Come
late
tomorrow
:
I
must
explain
to
you
.
Ellen
.
"
These
were
the
only
words
it
contained.The
young
man
,
who
was
dining
out
,
thrust
the
note
into
his
pocket
,
smiling
a
little
at
the
Frenchness
of
the
"
to
you
.
"
After
dinner
he
went
to
a
play
;
and
it
was
not
until
his
return
home
,
after
midnight
,
that
he
drew
Madame
Olenska
's
missive
out
again
and
re-read
it
slowly
a
number
of
times
.
There
were
several
ways
of
answering
it
,
and
he
gave
considerable
thought
to
each
one
during
the
watches
of
an
agitated
night
That
on
which
,
when
morning
came
,
he
finally
decided
was
to
pitch
some
clothes
into
a
portmanteau
and
jump
on
board
a
boat
that
was
leaving
that
very
afternoon
for
St.
Augustine
.
When
Archer
walked
down
the
sandy
main
street
of
St.
Augustine
to
the
house
which
had
been
pointed
out
to
him
as
Mr.
Welland
's
,
and
saw
May
Welland
standing
under
a
magnolia
with
the
sun
in
her
hair
,
he
wondered
why
he
had
waited
so
long
to
come.Here
was
the
truth
,
here
was
reality
,
here
was
the
life
that
belonged
to
him
;
and
he
,
who
fancied
himself
so
scornful
of
arbitrary
restraints
,
had
been
afraid
to
break
away
from
his
desk
because
of
what
people
might
think
of
his
stealing
a
holiday!Her
first
exclamation
was
:
"
Newland
--
has
anything
happened
?
"
and
it
occurred
to
him
that
it
would
have
been
more
"
feminine
"
if
she
had
instantly
read
in
his
eyes
why
he
had
come
.
But
when
he
answered
:
"
Yes
--
I
found
I
had
to
see
you
,
"
her
happy
blushes
took
the
chill
from
her
surprise
,
and
he
saw
how
easily
he
would
be
forgiven
,
and
how
soon
even
Mr.
Letterblair
's
mild
disapproval
would
be
smiled
away
by
a
tolerant
family.Early
as
it
was
,
the
main
street
was
no
place
for
any
but
formal
greetings
,
and
Archer
longed
to
be
alone
with
May
,
and
to
pour
out
all
his
tenderness
and
his
impatience
.
It
still
lacked
an
hour
to
the
late
Welland
breakfast-time
,
and
instead
of
asking
him
to
come
in
she
proposed
that
they
should
walk
out
to
an
old
orange-garden
beyond
the
town
.
She
had
just
been
for
a
row
on
the
river
,
and
the
sun
that
netted
the
little
waves
with
gold
seemed
to
have
caught
her
in
its
meshes
.
Across
the
warm
brown
of
her
cheek
her
blown
hair
glittered
like
silver
wire
;
and
her
eyes
too
looked
lighter
,
almost
pale
in
their
youthful
limpidity
.
As
she
walked
beside
Archer
with
her
long
swinging
gait
her
face
wore
the
vacant
serenity
of
a
young
marble
athlete.To
Archer
's
strained
nerves
the
vision
was
as
soothing
as
the
sight
of
the
blue
sky
and
the
lazy
river
.
They
sat
down
on
a
bench
under
the
orange-trees
and
he
put
his
arm
about
her
and
kissed
her
.
It
was
like
drinking
at
a
cold
spring
with
the
sun
on
it
;
but
his
pressure
may
have
been
more
vehement
than
he
had
intended
,
for
the
blood
rose
to
her
face
and
she
drew
back
as
if
he
had
startled
her
.
"
What
is
it
?
"
he
asked
,
smiling
;
and
she
looked
at
him
with
surprise
,
and
answered
:
"
Nothing
.
"
A
slight
embarrassment
fell
on
them
,
and
her
hand
slipped
out
of
his
.
It
was
the
only
time
that
he
had
kissed
her
on
the
lips
except
for
their
fugitive
embrace
in
the
Beaufort
conservatory
,
and
he
saw
that
she
was
disturbed
,
and
shaken
out
of
her
cool
boyish
composure
.
"
Tell
me
what
you
do
all
day
,
"
he
said
,
crossing
his
arms
under
his
tilted-back
head
,
and
pushing
his
hat
forward
to
screen
the
sun-dazzle
.
To
let
her
talk
about
familiar
and
simple
things
was
the
easiest
way
of
carrying
on
his
own
independent
train
of
thought
;
and
he
sat
listening
to
her
simple
chronicle
of
swimming
,
sailing
and
riding
,
varied
by
an
occasional
dance
at
the
primitive
inn
when
a
man-of-war
came
in
.
A
few
pleasant
people
from
Philadelphia
and
Baltimore
were
picknicking
at
the
inn
,
and
the
Selfridge
Merrys
had
come
down
for
three
weeks
because
Kate
Merry
had
had
bronchitis
.
They
were
planning
to
lay
out
a
lawn
tennis
court
on
the
sands
;
but
no
one
but
Kate
and
May
had
racquets
,
and
most
of
the
people
had
not
even
heard
of
the
game
.
All
this
kept
her
very
busy
,
and
she
had
not
had
time
to
do
more
than
look
at
the
little
vellum
book
that
Archer
had
sent
her
the
week
before
(
the
"
Sonnets
from
the
Portuguese
"
)
;
but
she
was
learning
by
heart
"
How
they
brought
the
Good
News
from
Ghent
to
Aix
,
"
because
it
was
one
of
the
first
things
he
had
ever
read
to
her
;
and
it
amused
her
to
be
able
to
tell
him
that
Kate
Merry
had
never
even
heard
of
a
poet
called
Robert
Browning.Presently
she
started
up
,
exclaiming
that
they
would
be
late
for
breakfast
;
and
they
hurried
back
to
the
tumble-down
house
with
its
pointless
porch
and
unpruned
hedge
of
plumbago
and
pink
geraniums
where
the
Wellands
were
installed
for
the
winter
.
Mr.
Welland
's
sensitive
domesticity
shrank
from
the
discomforts
of
the
slovenly
southern
hotel
,
and
at
immense
expense
,
and
in
face
of
almost
insuperable
difficulties
,
Mrs.
Welland
was
obliged
,
year
after
year
,
to
improvise
an
establishment
partly
made
up
of
discontented
New
York
servants
and
partly
drawn
from
the
local
African
supply
.
"
The
doctors
want
my
husband
to
feel
that
he
is
in
his
own
home
;
otherwise
he
would
be
so
wretched
that
the
climate
would
not
do
him
any
good
,
"
she
explained
,
winter
after
winter
,
to
the
sympathising
Philadelphians
and
Baltimoreans
;
and
Mr.
Welland
,
beaming
across
a
breakfast
table
miraculously
supplied
with
the
most
varied
delicacies
,
was
presently
saying
to
Archer
:
"
You
see
,
my
dear
fellow
,
we
camp
--
we
literally
camp
.
I
tell
my
wife
and
May
that
I
want
to
teach
them
how
to
rough
it
.
"
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Welland
had
been
as
much
surprised
as
their
daughter
by
the
young
man
's
sudden
arrival
;
but
it
had
occurred
to
him
to
explain
that
he
had
felt
himself
on
the
verge
of
a
nasty
cold
,
and
this
seemed
to
Mr.
Welland
an
all-sufficient
reason
for
abandoning
any
duty
.
"
You
ca
n't
be
too
careful
,
especially
toward
spring
,
"
he
said
,
heaping
his
plate
with
straw-coloured
griddle-cakes
and
drowning
them
in
golden
syrup
.
"
If
I
'd
only
been
as
prudent
at
your
age
May
would
have
been
dancing
at
the
Assemblies
now
,
instead
of
spending
her
winters
in
a
wilderness
with
an
old
invalid
.
"
"
Oh
,
but
I
love
it
here
,
Papa
;
you
know
I
do
.
If
only
Newland
could
stay
I
should
like
it
a
thousand
times
better
than
New
York
.
"
"
Newland
must
stay
till
he
has
quite
thrown
off
his
cold
,
"
said
Mrs.
Welland
indulgently
;
and
the
young
man
laughed
,
and
said
he
supposed
there
was
such
a
thing
as
one
's
profession.He
managed
,
however
,
after
an
exchange
of
telegrams
with
the
firm
,
to
make
his
cold
last
a
week
;
and
it
shed
an
ironic
light
on
the
situation
to
know
that
Mr.
Letterblair
's
indulgence
was
partly
due
to
the
satisfactory
way
in
which
his
brilliant
young
junior
partner
had
settled
the
troublesome
matter
of
the
Olenski
divorce
.
Mr.
Letterblair
had
let
Mrs.
Welland
know
that
Mr.
Archer
had
"
rendered
an
invaluable
service
"
to
the
whole
family
,
and
that
old
Mrs.
Manson
Mingott
had
been
particularly
pleased
;
and
one
day
when
May
had
gone
for
a
drive
with
her
father
in
the
only
vehicle
the
place
produced
Mrs.
Welland
took
occasion
to
touch
on
a
topic
which
she
always
avoided
in
her
daughter
's
presence
.
"
I
'm
afraid
Ellen
's
ideas
are
not
at
all
like
ours
.
She
was
barely
eighteen
when
Medora
Manson
took
her
back
to
Europe
--
you
remember
the
excitement
when
she
appeared
in
black
at
her
coming-out
ball
?
Another
of
Medora
's
fads
--
really
this
time
it
was
almost
prophetic
!
That
must
have
been
at
least
twelve
years
ago
;
and
since
then
Ellen
has
never
been
to
America
.
No
wonder
she
is
completely
Europeanised
.
"
"
But
European
society
is
not
given
to
divorce
:
Countess
Olenska
thought
she
would
be
conforming
to
American
ideas
in
asking
for
her
freedom
.
"
It
was
the
first
time
that
the
young
man
had
pronounced
her
name
since
he
had
left
Skuytercliff
,
and
he
felt
the
colour
rise
to
his
cheek.Mrs
.
Welland
smiled
compassionately
.
"
That
is
just
like
the
extraordinary
things
that
foreigners
invent
about
us
.
They
think
we
dine
at
two
o'clock
and
countenance
divorce
!
That
is
why
it
seems
to
me
so
foolish
to
entertain
them
when
they
come
to
New
York
.
They
accept
our
hospitality
,
and
then
they
go
home
and
repeat
the
same
stupid
stories
.
"
Archer
made
no
comment
on
this
,
and
Mrs.
Welland
continued
:
"
But
we
do
most
thoroughly
appreciate
your
persuading
Ellen
to
give
up
the
idea
.
Her
grandmother
and
her
uncle
Lovell
could
do
nothing
with
her
;
both
of
them
have
written
that
her
changing
her
mind
was
entirely
due
to
your
influence
--
in
fact
she
said
so
to
her
grandmother
.
She
has
an
unbounded
admiration
for
you
.
Poor
Ellen
--
she
was
always
a
wayward
child
.
I
wonder
what
her
fate
will
be
?
"
"
What
we
've
all
contrived
to
make
it
,
"
he
felt
like
answering
.
"
If
you
'd
all
of
you
rather
she
should
be
Beaufort
's
mistress
than
some
decent
fellow
's
wife
you
've
certainly
gone
the
right
way
about
it
.
"
He
wondered
what
Mrs.
Welland
would
have
said
if
he
had
uttered
the
words
instead
of
merely
thinking
them
.
He
could
picture
the
sudden
decomposure
of
her
firm
placid
features
,
to
which
a
lifelong
mastery
over
trifles
had
given
an
air
of
factitious
authority
.
Traces
still
lingered
on
them
of
a
fresh
beauty
like
her
daughter
's
;
and
he
asked
himself
if
May
's
face
was
doomed
to
thicken
into
the
same
middle-aged
image
of
invincible
innocence.Ah
,
no
,
he
did
not
want
May
to
have
that
kind
of
innocence
,
the
innocence
that
seals
the
mind
against
imagination
and
the
heart
against
experience
!
"
I
verily
believe
,
"
Mrs.
Welland
continued
,
"
that
if
the
horrible
business
had
come
out
in
the
newspapers
it
would
have
been
my
husband
's
death-blow
.
I
do
n't
know
any
of
the
details
;
I
only
ask
not
to
,
as
I
told
poor
Ellen
when
she
tried
to
talk
to
me
about
it
.
Having
an
invalid
to
care
for
,
I
have
to
keep
my
mind
bright
and
happy
.
But
Mr.
Welland
was
terribly
upset
;
he
had
a
slight
temperature
every
morning
while
we
were
waiting
to
hear
what
had
been
decided
.
It
was
the
horror
of
his
girl
's
learning
that
such
things
were
possible
--
but
of
course
,
dear
Newland
,
you
felt
that
too
.
We
all
knew
that
you
were
thinking
of
May
.
"
"
I
'm
always
thinking
of
May
,
"
the
young
man
rejoined
,
rising
to
cut
short
the
conversation.He
had
meant
to
seize
the
opportunity
of
his
private
talk
with
Mrs.
Welland
to
urge
her
to
advance
the
date
of
his
marriage
.
But
he
could
think
of
no
arguments
that
would
move
her
,
and
with
a
sense
of
relief
he
saw
Mr.
Welland
and
May
driving
up
to
the
door.His
only
hope
was
to
plead
again
with
May
,
and
on
the
day
before
his
departure
he
walked
with
her
to
the
ruinous
garden
of
the
Spanish
Mission
.
The
background
lent
itself
to
allusions
to
European
scenes
;
and
May
,
who
was
looking
her
loveliest
under
a
wide-brimmed
hat
that
cast
a
shadow
of
mystery
over
her
too-clear
eyes
,
kindled
into
eagerness
as
he
spoke
of
Granada
and
the
Alhambra
.
"
We
might
be
seeing
it
all
this
spring
--
even
the
Easter
ceremonies
at
Seville
,
"
he
urged
,
exaggerating
his
demands
in
the
hope
of
a
larger
concession
.
"
Easter
in
Seville
?
And
it
will
be
Lent
next
week
!
"
she
laughed
.
"
Why
should
n't
we
be
married
in
Lent
?
"
he
rejoined
;
but
she
looked
so
shocked
that
he
saw
his
mistake
.
"
Of
course
I
did
n't
mean
that
,
dearest
;
but
soon
after
Easter
--
so
that
we
could
sail
at
the
end
of
April
.
I
know
I
could
arrange
it
at
the
office
.
"
She
smiled
dreamily
upon
the
possibility
;
but
he
perceived
that
to
dream
of
it
sufficed
her
.
It
was
like
hearing
him
read
aloud
out
of
his
poetry
books
the
beautiful
things
that
could
not
possibly
happen
in
real
life
.
"
Oh
,
do
go
on
,
Newland
;
I
do
love
your
descriptions
.
"
"
But
why
should
they
be
only
descriptions
?
Why
should
n't
we
make
them
real
?
"
"
We
shall
,
dearest
,
of
course
;
next
year
.
"
Her
voice
lingered
over
it
.
"
Do
n't
you
want
them
to
be
real
sooner
?
Ca
n't
I
persuade
you
to
break
away
now
?
"
She
bowed
her
head
,
vanishing
from
him
under
her
conniving
hat-brim
.
"
Why
should
we
dream
away
another
year
?
Look
at
me
,
dear
!
Do
n't
you
understand
how
I
want
you
for
my
wife
?
"
For
a
moment
she
remained
motionless
;
then
she
raised
on
him
eyes
of
such
despairing
dearness
that
he
half-released
her
waist
from
his
hold
.
But
suddenly
her
look
changed
and
deepened
inscrutably
.
"
I
'm
not
sure
if
I
DO
understand
,
"
she
said
.
"
Is
it
--
is
it
because
you
're
not
certain
of
continuing
to
care
for
me
?
"
Archer
sprang
up
from
his
seat
.
"
My
God
--
perhaps
--
I
do
n't
know
,
"
he
broke
out
angrily.May
Welland
rose
also
;
as
they
faced
each
other
she
seemed
to
grow
in
womanly
stature
and
dignity
.
Both
were
silent
for
a
moment
,
as
if
dismayed
by
the
unforeseen
trend
of
their
words
:
then
she
said
in
a
low
voice
:
"
If
that
is
it
--
is
there
some
one
else
?
"
"
Some
one
else
--
between
you
and
me
?
"
He
echoed
her
words
slowly
,
as
though
they
were
only
half-intelligible
and
he
wanted
time
to
repeat
the
question
to
himself
.
She
seemed
to
catch
the
uncertainty
of
his
voice
,
for
she
went
on
in
a
deepening
tone
:
"
Let
us
talk
frankly
,
Newland
.
Sometimes
I
've
felt
a
difference
in
you
;
especially
since
our
engagement
has
been
announced
.
"
"
Dear
--
what
madness
!
"
he
recovered
himself
to
exclaim.She
met
his
protest
with
a
faint
smile
.
"
If
it
is
,
it
wo
n't
hurt
us
to
talk
about
it
.
"
She
paused
,
and
added
,
lifting
her
head
with
one
of
her
noble
movements
:
"
Or
even
if
it
's
true
:
why
should
n't
we
speak
of
it
?
You
might
so
easily
have
made
a
mistake
.
"
He
lowered
his
head
,
staring
at
the
black
leaf-pattern
on
the
sunny
path
at
their
feet
.
