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- Теодор Драйзер
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- Стр. 32/332
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There
were
,
at
this
time
,
several
elements
in
Chicago
--
those
who
,
having
grown
suddenly
rich
from
dull
poverty
,
could
not
so
easily
forget
the
village
church
and
the
village
social
standards
;
those
who
,
having
inherited
wealth
,
or
migrated
from
the
East
where
wealth
was
old
,
understood
more
of
the
savoir
faire
of
the
game
;
and
those
who
,
being
newly
born
into
wealth
and
seeing
the
drift
toward
a
smarter
American
life
,
were
beginning
to
wish
they
might
shine
in
it
--
these
last
the
very
young
people
.
The
latter
were
just
beginning
to
dream
of
dances
at
Kinsley
's
,
a
stated
Kirmess
,
and
summer
diversions
of
the
European
kind
,
but
they
had
not
arrived
as
yet
.
The
first
class
,
although
by
far
the
dullest
and
most
bovine
,
was
still
the
most
powerful
because
they
were
the
richest
,
money
as
yet
providing
the
highest
standard
.
The
functions
which
these
people
provided
were
stupid
to
the
verge
of
distraction
;
really
they
were
only
the
week-day
receptions
and
Sunday-afternoon
calls
of
Squeedunk
and
Hohokus
raised
to
the
Nth
power
.
The
purpose
of
the
whole
matter
was
to
see
and
be
seen
.
Novelty
in
either
thought
or
action
was
decidedly
eschewed
.
It
was
,
as
a
matter
of
fact
,
customariness
of
thought
and
action
and
the
quintessence
of
convention
that
was
desired
.
The
idea
of
introducing
a
"
play
actress
,
"
for
instance
,
as
was
done
occasionally
in
the
East
or
in
London
--
never
;
even
a
singer
or
an
artist
was
eyed
askance
.
One
could
easily
go
too
far
!
But
if
a
European
prince
should
have
strayed
to
Chicago
(
which
he
never
did
)
or
if
an
Eastern
social
magnate
chanced
to
stay
over
a
train
or
two
,
then
the
topmost
circle
of
local
wealth
was
prepared
to
strain
itself
to
the
breaking-point
.
Cowperwood
had
sensed
all
this
on
his
arrival
,
but
he
fancied
that
if
he
became
rich
and
powerful
enough
he
and
Aileen
,
with
their
fine
house
to
help
them
,
might
well
be
the
leaven
which
would
lighten
the
whole
lump
.
Unfortunately
,
Aileen
was
too
obviously
on
the
qui
vive
for
those
opportunities
which
might
lead
to
social
recognition
and
equality
,
if
not
supremacy
.
Like
the
savage
,
unorganized
for
protection
and
at
the
mercy
of
the
horrific
caprice
of
nature
,
she
was
almost
tremulous
at
times
with
thoughts
of
possible
failure
.
Almost
at
once
she
had
recognized
herself
as
unsuited
temperamentally
for
association
with
certain
types
of
society
women
.
The
wife
of
Anson
Merrill
,
the
great
dry-goods
prince
,
whom
she
saw
in
one
of
the
down-town
stores
one
day
,
impressed
her
as
much
too
cold
and
remote
.
Mrs.
Merrill
was
a
woman
of
superior
mood
and
education
who
found
herself
,
in
her
own
estimation
,
hard
put
to
it
for
suitable
companionship
in
Chicago
.
She
was
Eastern-bred-Boston
--
and
familiar
in
an
offhand
way
with
the
superior
world
of
London
,
which
she
had
visited
several
times
.
Chicago
at
its
best
was
to
her
a
sordid
commercial
mess
.
She
preferred
New
York
or
Washington
,
but
she
had
to
live
here
.
Thus
she
patronized
nearly
all
of
those
with
whom
she
condescended
to
associate
,
using
an
upward
tilt
of
the
head
,
a
tired
droop
of
the
eyelids
,
and
a
fine
upward
arching
of
the
brows
to
indicate
how
trite
it
all
was
.
It
was
a
Mrs.
Henry
Huddlestone
who
had
pointed
out
Mrs.
Merrill
to
Aileen
.
Mrs.
Huddlestone
was
the
wife
of
a
soap
manufacturer
living
very
close
to
the
Cowperwoods
'
temporary
home
,
and
she
and
her
husband
were
on
the
outer
fringe
of
society
.
She
had
heard
that
the
Cowperwoods
were
people
of
wealth
,
that
they
were
friendly
with
the
Addisons
,
and
that
they
were
going
to
build
a
two-hundred-thousand-dollar
mansion
.
(
The
value
of
houses
always
grows
in
the
telling
.
)
That
was
enough
.
She
had
called
,
being
three
doors
away
,
to
leave
her
card
;
and
Aileen
,
willing
to
curry
favor
here
and
there
,
had
responded
.
Mrs.
Huddlestone
was
a
little
woman
,
not
very
attractive
in
appearance
,
clever
in
a
social
way
,
and
eminently
practical
.
"
Speaking
of
Mrs.
Merrill
,
"
commented
Mrs.
Huddlestone
,
on
this
particular
day
,
"
there
she
is
--
near
the
dress-goods
counter
.
She
always
carries
that
lorgnette
in
just
that
way
.
"
Aileen
turned
and
examined
critically
a
tall
,
dark
,
slender
woman
of
the
high
world
of
the
West
,
very
remote
,
disdainful
,
superior
.
"
You
do
n't
know
her
?
"
questioned
Aileen
,
curiously
,
surveying
her
at
leisure
.
"
No
,
"
replied
Mrs.
Huddlestone
,
defensively
.
"
They
live
on
the
North
Side
,
and
the
different
sets
do
n't
mingle
so
much
.
"
As
a
matter
of
fact
,
it
was
just
the
glory
of
the
principal
families
that
they
were
above
this
arbitrary
division
of
"
sides
,
"
and
could
pick
their
associates
from
all
three
divisions
.
