The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1, William Dean Howells [the red fox clan txt] 📗

Would Quit Bothering about It.

My Conscience Is Easy As Far As He Is Concerned,  And It

Always Was."

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"And I Can'T Look At Him Without Feeling as If You'D

Ruined him,  Silas."

 

"Don'T Look At Him,  Then," Said Her Husband,  With A Scowl.

"I Want You Should Recollect In the First Place,  Persis,

That I Never Wanted a Partner."

 

"If He Hadn'T Put His Money In when He Did,  You'D 'A'

Broken Down."

 

"Well,  He Got His Money Out Again,  And More,  Too,"

Said The Colonel,  With A Sulky Weariness.

 

"He Didn'T Want To Take It Out."

 

"I Gave Him His Choice: Buy Out Or Go Out."

 

"You Know He Couldn'T Buy Out Then.  It Was No Choice

At All."

 

"It Was A Business Chance."

 

"No; You Had Better Face The Truth,  Silas.  It Was No Chance

At All.  You Crowded him Out.  A Man That Had Saved you! No,

You Had Got Greedy,  Silas.  You Had Made Your Paint Your God,

And You Couldn'T Bear To Let Anybody Else Share In its Blessings."

 

"I Tell You He Was A Drag And A Brake On Me From The Word Go.

You Say He Saved me.  Well,  If I Hadn'T Got Him Out He'D

'A' Ruined me Sooner Or Later.  So It'S An Even Thing,

As Far Forth As That Goes."

 

"No,  It Ain'T An Even Thing,  And You Know It,  Silas.  Oh,  If I

Could Only Get You Once To Acknowledge That You Did

Wrong About It,  Then I Should Have Some Hope.  I Don'T

Say You Meant Wrong Exactly,  But You Took An Advantage.

Yes,  You Took An Advantage! You Had Him Where He Couldn'T

Help Himself,  And Then You Wouldn'T Show Him Any Mercy."

 

"I'M Sick Of This," Said Lapham.  "If You'Ll 'Tend

To The House,  I'Ll Manage My Business Without Your Help."

 

"You Were Very Glad Of My Help Once."

 

"Well,  I'M Tired of It Now.  Don'T Meddle."

 

"I Will Meddle.  When I See You Hardening yourself In a

Wrong Thing,  It'S Time For Me To Meddle,  As You Call It,

And I Will.  I Can'T Ever Get You To Own Up The Least

Bit About Rogers,  And I Feel As If It Was Hurting you

All The While."

 

"What Do You Want I Should Own Up About A Thing for When I

Don'T Feel Wrong? I Tell You Rogers Hain'T Got Anything

To Complain Of,  And That'S What I Told You From The Start.

It'S A Thing that'S Done Every Day.  I Was Loaded up

With A Partner That Didn'T Know Anything,  And Couldn'T

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Do Anything,  And I Unloaded; That'S All."

 

"You Unloaded just At The Time When You Knew That Your Paint

Was Going to Be Worth About Twice What It Ever Had Been;

And You Wanted all The Advantage For Yourself."

 

"I Had A Right To It.  I Made The Success."

 

"Yes,  You Made It With Rogers'S Money; And When You'D

Made It You Took His Share Of It.  I Guess You Thought

Of That When You Saw Him,  And That'S Why You Couldn'T

Look Him In the Face."

 

At These Words Lapham Lost His Temper.

 

"I Guess You Don'T Want To Ride With Me Any More To-Day,"

He Said,  Turning the Mare Abruptly Round.

 

"I'M As Ready To Go Back As What You Are," Replied his Wife.

"And Don'T You Ask Me To Go To That House With You Any More.

You Can Sell It,  For All Me.  I Sha'N'T Live In it.

There'S Blood On It."

 

 

 

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The Silken Texture Of The Marriage Tie Bears A Daily Strain

Of Wrong And Insult To Which No Other Human Relation Can

Be Subjected without Lesion; And Sometimes The Strength

That Knits Society Together Might Appear To The Eye Of

Faltering faith The Curse Of Those Immediately Bound By It.

Two People By No Means Reckless Of Each Other'S Rights

And Feelings,  But Even Tender Of Them For The Most Part,

May Tear At Each Other'S Heart-Strings In this Sacred

Bond With Perfect Impunity; Though If They Were Any

Other Two They Would Not Speak Or Look At Each Other

Again After The Outrages They Exchange.  It Is Certainly

A Curious Spectacle,  And Doubtless It Ought To Convince

An Observer Of The Divinity Of The Institution.

If The Husband And Wife Are Blunt,  Outspoken People

Like The Laphams,  They Do Not Weigh Their Words;

If They Are More Refined,  They Weigh Them Very Carefully,

And Know Accurately Just How Far They Will Carry,  And In

What Most Sensitive Spot They May Be Planted with Most Effect.

 

Lapham Was Proud Of His Wife,  And When He Married her It

Had Been A Rise In life For Him.  For A While He Stood

In Awe Of His Good Fortune,  But This Could Not Last,

And He Simply Remained supremely Satisfied with It.

The Girl Who Had Taught School With A Clear Head And A Strong

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Hand Was Not Afraid Of Work; She Encouraged and Helped him

From The First,  And Bore Her Full Share Of The Common Burden.

She Had Health,  And She Did Not Worry His Life Out With

Peevish Complaints And Vagaries; She Had Sense And Principle,

And In their Simple Lot She Did What Was Wise And Right.

Their Marriage Was Hallowed by An Early Sorrow: They

Lost Their Boy,  And It Was Years Before They Could Look

Each Other In the Face And Speak Of Him.  No One Gave Up

More Than They When They Gave Up Each Other And Lapham

Went To The War.  When He Came Back And Began To Work,

Her Zeal And Courage Formed the Spring of His Enterprise.

In That Affair Of The Partnership She Had Tried to Be

His Conscience,  But Perhaps She Would Have Defended him

If He Had Accused himself; It Was One Of Those Things

In This Life Which Seem Destined to Await Justice,

Or At Least Judgment,  In the Next.  As He Said,  Lapham Had

Dealt Fairly By His Partner In money; He Had Let Rogers

Take More Money Out Of The Business Than He Put Into It;

He Had,  As He Said,  Simply Forced out Of It A Timid

And Inefficient Participant In advantages Which He

Had Created.  But Lapham Had Not Created them All.

He Had Been Dependent At One Time On His Partner'S Capital.

It Was A Moment Of Terrible Trial.  Happy Is The Man

For Ever After Who Can Choose The Ideal,  The Unselfish

Part In such An Exigency! Lapham Could Not Rise To It.

He Did What He Could Maintain To Be Perfectly Fair.

The Wrong,  If Any,  Seemed to Be Condoned to Him,

Except When From Time To Time His Wife Brought It Up.

Then All The Question Stung And Burned anew,  And Had

To Be Reasoned out And Put Away Once More.  It Seemed

To Have An Inextinguishable Vitality.  It Slept,  But It Did

Not Die.

 

His Course Did Not Shake Mrs. Lapham'S Faith In him.

It Astonished her At First,  And It Always Grieved

Her That He Could Not See That He Was Acting solely

In His Own Interest.  But She Found Excuses For Him,

Which At Times She Made Reproaches.  She Vaguely Perceived

That His Paint Was Something more Than Business To Him;

It Was A Sentiment,  Almost A Passion.  He Could Not

Share Its Management And Its Profit With Another Without

A Measure Of Self-Sacrifice Far Beyond That Which He Must

Make With Something less Personal To Him.  It Was The

Poetry Of That Nature,  Otherwise So Intensely Prosaic;

And She Understood This,  And For The Most Part Forbore.

She Knew Him Good And True And Blameless In all His Life,

Except For This Wrong,  If It Were A Wrong; And It Was Only

When Her Nerves Tingled intolerably With Some Chance Renewal

Of The Pain She Had Suffered,  That She Shared her Anguish

With Him In true Wifely Fashion.

 

With Those Two There Was Never Anything like An

Explicit Reconciliation.  They Simply Ignored a Quarrel;

And Mrs. Lapham Had Only To Say A Few Days After

At Breakfast,  "I Guess The Girls Would Like To Go Round

With You This Afternoon,  And Look At The New House,"

In Order To Make Her Husband Grumble Out As He Looked

Down Into His Coffee-Cup. "I Guess We Better All Go,  Hadn'T We?"

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"Well,  I'Ll See," She Said.

 

There Was Not Really A Great Deal To Look At When Lapham

Arrived on The Ground In his Four-Seated beach-Wagon.

But The Walls Were Up,  And The Studding had Already

Given Skeleton Shape To The Interior.  The Floors Were

Roughly Boarded over,  And The Stairways Were In place,

With Provisional Treads Rudely Laid.  They Had Not Begun

To Lath And Plaster Yet,  But The Clean,  Fresh Smell Of The

Mortar In the Walls Mingling with The Pungent Fragrance

Of The Pine Shavings Neutralised the Venetian Odour That

Drew In over The Water.  It Was Pleasantly Shady There,

Though For The Matter Of That The Heat Of The Morning