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"
She
said
it
in
the
simplest
manner
,
as
if
she
had
said
:
"
He
's
fond
of
wild-flowers
"
;
and
after
a
moment
she
added
candidly
:
"
I
think
he
's
the
dullest
man
I
ever
met
.
"
This
pleased
her
companion
so
much
that
he
forgot
the
slight
shock
her
previous
remark
had
caused
him
.
It
was
undeniably
exciting
to
meet
a
lady
who
found
the
van
der
Luydens
'
Duke
dull
,
and
dared
to
utter
the
opinion
.
He
longed
to
question
her
,
to
hear
more
about
the
life
of
which
her
careless
words
had
given
him
so
illuminating
a
glimpse
;
but
he
feared
to
touch
on
distressing
memories
,
and
before
he
could
think
of
anything
to
say
she
had
strayed
back
to
her
original
subject
.
"
May
is
a
darling
;
I
've
seen
no
young
girl
in
New
York
so
handsome
and
so
intelligent
.
Are
you
very
much
in
love
with
her
?
"
Newland
Archer
reddened
and
laughed
.
"
As
much
as
a
man
can
be
.
"
She
continued
to
consider
him
thoughtfully
,
as
if
not
to
miss
any
shade
of
meaning
in
what
he
said
,
"
Do
you
think
,
then
,
there
is
a
limit
?
"
"
To
being
in
love
?
If
there
is
,
I
have
n't
found
it
!
"
She
glowed
with
sympathy
.
"
Ah
--
it
's
really
and
truly
a
romance
?
"
"
The
most
romantic
of
romances
!
"
"
How
delightful
!
And
you
found
it
all
out
for
yourselves
--
it
was
not
in
the
least
arranged
for
you
?
"
Archer
looked
at
her
incredulously
.
"
Have
you
forgotten
,
"
he
asked
with
a
smile
,
"
that
in
our
country
we
do
n't
allow
our
marriages
to
be
arranged
for
us
?
"
A
dusky
blush
rose
to
her
cheek
,
and
he
instantly
regretted
his
words
.
"
Yes
,
"
she
answered
,
"
I
'd
forgotten
.
You
must
forgive
me
if
I
sometimes
make
these
mistakes
.
I
do
n't
always
remember
that
everything
here
is
good
that
was
--
that
was
bad
where
I
've
come
from
.
"
She
looked
down
at
her
Viennese
fan
of
eagle
feathers
,
and
he
saw
that
her
lips
trembled
.
"
I
'm
so
sorry
,
"
he
said
impulsively
;
"
but
you
ARE
among
friends
here
,
you
know
.
"
"
Yes
--
I
know
.
Wherever
I
go
I
have
that
feeling
.
That
's
why
I
came
home
.
I
want
to
forget
everything
else
,
to
become
a
complete
American
again
,
like
the
Mingotts
and
Wellands
,
and
you
and
your
delightful
mother
,
and
all
the
other
good
people
here
tonight
.
Ah
,
here
's
May
arriving
,
and
you
will
want
to
hurry
away
to
her
,
"
she
added
,
but
without
moving
;
and
her
eyes
turned
back
from
the
door
to
rest
on
the
young
man
's
face.The
drawing-rooms
were
beginning
to
fill
up
with
after-dinner
guests
,
and
following
Madame
Olenska
's
glance
Archer
saw
May
Welland
entering
with
her
mother
.
In
her
dress
of
white
and
silver
,
with
a
wreath
of
silver
blossoms
in
her
hair
,
the
tall
girl
looked
like
a
Diana
just
alight
from
the
chase
.
"
Oh
,
"
said
Archer
,
"
I
have
so
many
rivals
;
you
see
she
's
already
surrounded
.
There
's
the
Duke
being
introduced
.
"
"
Then
stay
with
me
a
little
longer
,
"
Madame
Olenska
said
in
a
low
tone
,
just
touching
his
knee
with
her
plumed
fan
.
It
was
the
lightest
touch
,
but
it
thrilled
him
like
a
caress
.
"
Yes
,
let
me
stay
,
"
he
answered
in
the
same
tone
,
hardly
knowing
what
he
said
;
but
just
then
Mr.
van
der
Luyden
came
up
,
followed
by
old
Mr.
Urban
Dagonet
.
The
Countess
greeted
them
with
her
grave
smile
,
and
Archer
,
feeling
his
host
's
admonitory
glance
on
him
,
rose
and
surrendered
his
seat
Madame
Olenska
held
out
her
hand
as
if
to
bid
him
goodbye
.
"
Tomorrow
,
then
,
after
five
--
I
shall
expect
you
,
"
she
said
;
and
then
turned
back
to
make
room
for
Mr.
Dagonet
.
"
Tomorrow
--
"
Archer
heard
himself
repeating
,
though
there
had
been
no
engagement
,
and
during
their
talk
she
had
given
him
no
hint
that
she
wished
to
see
him
again.As
he
moved
away
he
saw
Lawrence
Lefferts
,
tall
and
resplendent
,
leading
his
wife
up
to
be
introduced
;
and
heard
Gertrude
Lefferts
say
,
as
she
beamed
on
the
Countess
with
her
large
unperceiving
smile
:
"
But
I
think
we
used
to
go
to
dancing-school
together
when
we
were
children
--
.
"
Behind
her
,
waiting
their
turn
to
name
themselves
to
the
Countess
,
Archer
noticed
a
number
of
the
recalcitrant
couples
who
had
declined
to
meet
her
at
Mrs.
Lovell
Mingott
's
.
As
Mrs.
Archer
remarked
:
when
the
van
der
Luydens
chose
,
they
knew
how
to
give
a
lesson
.
The
wonder
was
that
they
chose
so
seldom.The
young
man
felt
a
touch
on
his
arm
and
saw
Mrs.
van
der
Luyden
looking
down
on
him
from
the
pure
eminence
of
black
velvet
and
the
family
diamonds
.
"
It
was
good
of
you
,
dear
Newland
,
to
devote
yourself
so
unselfishly
to
Madame
Olenska
.
I
told
your
cousin
Henry
he
must
really
come
to
the
rescue
.
"
He
was
aware
of
smiling
at
her
vaguely
,
and
she
added
,
as
if
condescending
to
his
natural
shyness
:
"
I
've
never
seen
May
looking
lovelier
.
The
Duke
thinks
her
the
handsomest
girl
in
the
room
.
"
The
Countess
Olenska
had
said
"
after
five
"
;
and
at
half
after
the
hour
Newland
Archer
rang
the
bell
of
the
peeling
stucco
house
with
a
giant
wisteria
throttling
its
feeble
cast-iron
balcony
,
which
she
had
hired
,
far
down
West
Twenty-third
Street
,
from
the
vagabond
Medora.It
was
certainly
a
strange
quarter
to
have
settled
in
.
Small
dress-makers
,
bird-stuffers
and
"
people
who
wrote
"
were
her
nearest
neighbours
;
and
further
down
the
dishevelled
street
Archer
recognised
a
dilapidated
wooden
house
,
at
the
end
of
a
paved
path
,
in
which
a
writer
and
journalist
called
Winsett
,
whom
he
used
to
come
across
now
and
then
,
had
mentioned
that
he
lived
.
Winsett
did
not
invite
people
to
his
house
;
but
he
had
once
pointed
it
out
to
Archer
in
the
course
of
a
nocturnal
stroll
,
and
the
latter
had
asked
himself
,
with
a
little
shiver
,
if
the
humanities
were
so
meanly
housed
in
other
capitals.Madame
Olenska
's
own
dwelling
was
redeemed
from
the
same
appearance
only
by
a
little
more
paint
about
the
window-frames
;
and
as
Archer
mustered
its
modest
front
he
said
to
himself
that
the
Polish
Count
must
have
robbed
her
of
her
fortune
as
well
as
of
her
illusions.The
young
man
had
spent
an
unsatisfactory
day
.
He
had
lunched
with
the
Wellands
,
hoping
afterward
to
carry
off
May
for
a
walk
in
the
Park
.
He
wanted
to
have
her
to
himself
,
to
tell
her
how
enchanting
she
had
looked
the
night
before
,
and
how
proud
he
was
of
her
,
and
to
press
her
to
hasten
their
marriage
.
But
Mrs.
Welland
had
firmly
reminded
him
that
the
round
of
family
visits
was
not
half
over
,
and
,
when
he
hinted
at
advancing
the
date
of
the
wedding
,
had
raised
reproachful
eye-brows
and
sighed
out
:
"
Twelve
dozen
of
everything
--
hand-embroidered
--
"
Packed
in
the
family
landau
they
rolled
from
one
tribal
doorstep
to
another
,
and
Archer
,
when
the
afternoon
's
round
was
over
,
parted
from
his
betrothed
with
the
feeling
that
he
had
been
shown
off
like
a
wild
animal
cunningly
trapped
.
He
supposed
that
his
readings
in
anthropology
caused
him
to
take
such
a
coarse
view
of
what
was
after
all
a
simple
and
natural
demonstration
of
family
feeling
;
but
when
he
remembered
that
the
Wellands
did
not
expect
the
wedding
to
take
place
till
the
following
autumn
,
and
pictured
what
his
life
would
be
till
then
,
a
dampness
fell
upon
his
spirit
.
"
Tomorrow
,
"
Mrs.
Welland
called
after
him
,
"
we
'll
do
the
Chiverses
and
the
Dallases
"
;
and
he
perceived
that
she
was
going
through
their
two
families
alphabetically
,
and
that
they
were
only
in
the
first
quarter
of
the
alphabet.He
had
meant
to
tell
May
of
the
Countess
Olenska
's
request
--
her
command
,
rather
--
that
he
should
call
on
her
that
afternoon
;
but
in
the
brief
moments
when
they
were
alone
he
had
had
more
pressing
things
to
say
.
Besides
,
it
struck
him
as
a
little
absurd
to
allude
to
the
matter
.
He
knew
that
May
most
particularly
wanted
him
to
be
kind
to
her
cousin
;
was
it
not
that
wish
which
had
hastened
the
announcement
of
their
engagement
?
It
gave
him
an
odd
sensation
to
reflect
that
,
but
for
the
Countess
's
arrival
,
he
might
have
been
,
if
not
still
a
free
man
,
at
least
a
man
less
irrevocably
pledged
.
But
May
had
willed
it
so
,
and
he
felt
himself
somehow
relieved
of
further
responsibility
--
and
therefore
at
liberty
,
if
he
chose
,
to
call
on
her
cousin
without
telling
her.As
he
stood
on
Madame
Olenska
's
threshold
curiosity
was
his
uppermost
feeling
.
He
was
puzzled
by
the
tone
in
which
she
had
summoned
him
;
he
concluded
that
she
was
less
simple
than
she
seemed.The
door
was
opened
by
a
swarthy
foreign-looking
maid
,
with
a
prominent
bosom
under
a
gay
neckerchief
,
whom
he
vaguely
fancied
to
be
Sicilian
.
She
welcomed
him
with
all
her
white
teeth
,
and
answering
his
enquiries
by
a
head-shake
of
incomprehension
led
him
through
the
narrow
hall
into
a
low
firelit
drawing-room
.
The
room
was
empty
,
and
she
left
him
,
for
an
appreciable
time
,
to
wonder
whether
she
had
gone
to
find
her
mistress
,
or
whether
she
had
not
understood
what
he
was
there
for
,
and
thought
it
might
be
to
wind
the
clock
--
of
which
he
perceived
that
the
only
visible
specimen
had
stopped
.
He
knew
that
the
southern
races
communicated
with
each
other
in
the
language
of
pantomime
,
and
was
mortified
to
find
her
shrugs
and
smiles
so
unintelligible
.
At
length
she
returned
with
a
lamp
;
and
Archer
,
having
meanwhile
put
together
a
phrase
out
of
Dante
and
Petrarch
,
evoked
the
answer
:
"
La
signora
e
fuori
;
ma
verra
subito
"
;
which
he
took
to
mean
:
"
She
's
out
--
but
you
'll
soon
see
.
"
What
he
saw
,
meanwhile
,
with
the
help
of
the
lamp
,
was
the
faded
shadowy
charm
of
a
room
unlike
any
room
he
had
known
.
He
knew
that
the
Countess
Olenska
had
brought
some
of
her
possessions
with
her
--
bits
of
wreckage
,
she
called
them
--
and
these
,
he
supposed
,
were
represented
by
some
small
slender
tables
of
dark
wood
,
a
delicate
little
Greek
bronze
on
the
chimney-piece
,
and
a
stretch
of
red
damask
nailed
on
the
discoloured
wallpaper
behind
a
couple
of
Italian-looking
pictures
in
old
frames.Newland
Archer
prided
himself
on
his
knowledge
of
Italian
art
.
His
boyhood
had
been
saturated
with
Ruskin
,
and
he
had
read
all
the
latest
books
:
John
Addington
Symonds
,
Vernon
Lee
's
"
Euphorion
,
"
the
essays
of
P.
G.
Hamerton
,
and
a
wonderful
new
volume
called
"
The
Renaissance
"
by
Walter
Pater
.
He
talked
easily
of
Botticelli
,
and
spoke
of
Fra
Angelico
with
a
faint
condescension
.
But
these
pictures
bewildered
him
,
for
they
were
like
nothing
that
he
was
accustomed
to
look
at
(
and
therefore
able
to
see
)
when
he
travelled
in
Italy
;
and
perhaps
,
also
,
his
powers
of
observation
were
impaired
by
the
oddness
of
finding
himself
in
this
strange
empty
house
,
where
apparently
no
one
expected
him
.
He
was
sorry
that
he
had
not
told
May
Welland
of
Countess
Olenska
's
request
,
and
a
little
disturbed
by
the
thought
that
his
betrothed
might
come
in
to
see
her
cousin
.
What
would
she
think
if
she
found
him
sitting
there
with
the
air
of
intimacy
implied
by
waiting
alone
in
the
dusk
at
a
lady
's
fireside?But
since
he
had
come
he
meant
to
wait
;
and
he
sank
into
a
chair
and
stretched
his
feet
to
the
logs.It
was
odd
to
have
summoned
him
in
that
way
,
and
then
forgotten
him
;
but
Archer
felt
more
curious
than
mortified
.
The
atmosphere
of
the
room
was
so
different
from
any
he
had
ever
breathed
that
self-consciousness
vanished
in
the
sense
of
adventure
.
He
had
been
before
in
drawing-rooms
hung
with
red
damask
,
with
pictures
"
of
the
Italian
school
"
;
what
struck
him
was
the
way
in
which
Medora
Manson
's
shabby
hired
house
,
with
its
blighted
background
of
pampas
grass
and
Rogers
statuettes
,
had
,
by
a
turn
of
the
hand
,
and
the
skilful
use
of
a
few
properties
,
been
transformed
into
something
intimate
,
"
foreign
,
"
subtly
suggestive
of
old
romantic
scenes
and
sentiments
.
He
tried
to
analyse
the
trick
,
to
find
a
clue
to
it
in
the
way
the
chairs
and
tables
were
grouped
,
in
the
fact
that
only
two
Jacqueminot
roses
(
of
which
nobody
ever
bought
less
than
a
dozen
)
had
been
placed
in
the
slender
vase
at
his
elbow
,
and
in
the
vague
pervading
perfume
that
was
not
what
one
put
on
handkerchiefs
,
but
rather
like
the
scent
of
some
far-off
bazaar
,
a
smell
made
up
of
Turkish
coffee
and
ambergris
and
dried
roses.His
mind
wandered
away
to
the
question
of
what
May
's
drawing-room
would
look
like
.
He
knew
that
Mr.
Welland
,
who
was
behaving
"
very
handsomely
,
"
already
had
his
eye
on
a
newly
built
house
in
East
Thirty-ninth
Street
.
The
neighbourhood
was
thought
remote
,
and
the
house
was
built
in
a
ghastly
greenish-yellow
stone
that
the
younger
architects
were
beginning
to
employ
as
a
protest
against
the
brownstone
of
which
the
uniform
hue
coated
New
York
like
a
cold
chocolate
sauce
;
but
the
plumbing
was
perfect
.
Archer
would
have
liked
to
travel
,
to
put
off
the
housing
question
;
but
,
though
the
Wellands
approved
of
an
extended
European
honeymoon
(
perhaps
even
a
winter
in
Egypt
)
,
they
were
firm
as
to
the
need
of
a
house
for
the
returning
couple
.
The
young
man
felt
that
his
fate
was
sealed
:
for
the
rest
of
his
life
he
would
go
up
every
evening
between
the
cast-iron
railings
of
that
greenish-yellow
doorstep
,
and
pass
through
a
Pompeian
vestibule
into
a
hall
with
a
wainscoting
of
varnished
yellow
wood
.
But
beyond
that
his
imagination
could
not
travel
.
He
knew
the
drawing-room
above
had
a
bay
window
,
but
he
could
not
fancy
how
May
would
deal
with
it
.
She
submitted
cheerfully
to
the
purple
satin
and
yellow
tuftings
of
the
Welland
drawing-room
,
to
its
sham
Buhl
tables
and
gilt
vitrines
full
of
modern
Saxe
.
He
saw
no
reason
to
suppose
that
she
would
want
anything
different
in
her
own
house
;
and
his
only
comfort
was
to
reflect
that
she
would
probably
let
him
arrange
his
library
as
he
pleased
--
which
would
be
,
of
course
,
with
"
sincere
"
Eastlake
furniture
,
and
the
plain
new
bookcases
without
glass
doors.The
round-bosomed
maid
came
in
,
drew
the
curtains
,
pushed
back
a
log
,
and
said
consolingly
:
"
Verra
--
verra
.
"
When
she
had
gone
Archer
stood
up
and
began
to
wander
about
.
Should
he
wait
any
longer
?
His
position
was
becoming
rather
foolish
.
Perhaps
he
had
misunderstood
Madame
Olenska
--
perhaps
she
had
not
invited
him
after
all.Down
the
cobblestones
of
the
quiet
street
came
the
ring
of
a
stepper
's
hoofs
;
they
stopped
before
the
house
,
and
he
caught
the
opening
of
a
carriage
door
.
Parting
the
curtains
he
looked
out
into
the
early
dusk
.
A
street-lamp
faced
him
,
and
in
its
light
he
saw
Julius
Beaufort
's
compact
English
brougham
,
drawn
by
a
big
roan
,
and
the
banker
descending
from
it
,
and
helping
out
Madame
Olenska.Beaufort
stood
,
hat
in
hand
,
saying
something
which
his
companion
seemed
to
negative
;
then
they
shook
hands
,
and
he
jumped
into
his
carriage
while
she
mounted
the
steps.When
she
entered
the
room
she
showed
no
surprise
at
seeing
Archer
there
;
surprise
seemed
the
emotion
that
she
was
least
addicted
to
.
"
How
do
you
like
my
funny
house
?
"
she
asked
.
"
To
me
it
's
like
heaven
.
"
As
she
spoke
she
untied
her
little
velvet
bonnet
and
tossing
it
away
with
her
long
cloak
stood
looking
at
him
with
meditative
eyes
.
"
You
've
arranged
it
delightfully
,
"
he
rejoined
,
alive
to
the
flatness
of
the
words
,
but
imprisoned
in
the
conventional
by
his
consuming
desire
to
be
simple
and
striking
.
"
Oh
,
it
's
a
poor
little
place
.
My
relations
despise
it
.
But
at
any
rate
it
's
less
gloomy
than
the
van
der
Luydens
'
.
"
The
words
gave
him
an
electric
shock
,
for
few
were
the
rebellious
spirits
who
would
have
dared
to
call
the
stately
home
of
the
van
der
Luydens
gloomy
.
Those
privileged
to
enter
it
shivered
there
,
and
spoke
of
it
as
"
handsome
.
"
But
suddenly
he
was
glad
that
she
had
given
voice
to
the
general
shiver
.
"
It
's
delicious
--
what
you
've
done
here
,
"
he
repeated
.
