The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1, William Dean Howells [the red fox clan txt] 📗
- Author: William Dean Howells
Book online «The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1, William Dean Howells [the red fox clan txt] 📗». Author William Dean Howells
In Her Throat.
"I Never Felt The Way You Did About Rogers, But I Know How You
Always Did Feel, And I Guess I Surprised him With My Answer.
He Had Brought Along A Lot Of Stock As Security----"
"You Didn'T Take It, Silas!" His Wife Flashed out.
"Yes, I Did, Though," Said Lapham. "You Wait. We Settled
Our Business, And Then We Went Into The Old Thing,
From The Very Start. And We Talked it All Over.
And When We Got Through We Shook Hands. Well, I Don'T Know
When It'S Done Me So Much Good To Shake Hands With Anybody."
"And You Told Him--You Owned up To Him That You Were
In The Wrong, Silas?"
"No, I Didn'T," Returned the Colonel Promptly; "For I
Wasn'T. And Before We Got Through, I Guess He Saw It
The Same As I Did."
"Oh, No Matter! So You Had The Chance To Show How You Felt."
"But I Never Felt That Way," Persisted the Colonel.
"I'Ve Lent Him The Money, And I'Ve Kept His Stocks.
And He Got What He Wanted out Of Me."
"Give Him Back His Stocks!"
"No, I Shan'T. Rogers Came To Borrow. He Didn'T Come
To Beg. You Needn'T Be Troubled about His Stocks.
of 1 Part 10 Pg 111They'Re Going to Come Up In time; But Just Now They'Re
So Low Down That No Bank Would Take Them As Security,
And I'Ve Got To Hold Them Till They Do Rise. I Hope You'Re
Satisfied now, Persis," Said Her Husband; And He Looked
At Her With The Willingness To Receive The Reward Of A Good
Action Which We All Feel When We Have Performed one.
"I Lent Him The Money You Kept Me From Spending on
The House."
"Truly, Si? Well, I'M Satisfied," Said Mrs. Lapham,
With A Deep Tremulous Breath. "The Lord Has Been Good
To You, Silas," She Continued solemnly. "You May Laugh
If You Choose, And I Don'T Know As I Believe In his
Interfering a Great Deal; But I Believe He'S Interfered
This Time; And I Tell You, Silas, It Ain'T Always He Gives
People A Chance To Make It Up To Others In this Life.
I'Ve Been Afraid You'D Die, Silas, Before You Got The Chance;
But He'S Let You Live To Make It Up To Rogers."
"I'M Glad To Be Let Live," Said Lapham Stubbornly,
"But I Hadn'T Anything to Make Up To Milton K. Rogers.
And If God Has Let Me Live For That----"
"Oh, Say What You Please, Si! Say What You Please,
Now You'Ve Done It! I Shan'T Stop You. You'Ve Taken
The One Spot--The One Speck--Off You That Was Ever There,
And I'M Satisfied."
"There Wa'N'T Ever Any Speck There," Lapham Held Out,
Lapsing more And More Into His Vernacular; "And What I
Done I Done For You, Persis."
"And I Thank You For Your Own Soul'S Sake, Silas."
"I Guess My Soul'S All Right," Said Lapham.
"And I Want You Should Promise Me One Thing more."
"Thought You Said You Were Satisfied?"
"I Am. But I Want You Should Promise Me This: That You
Won'T Let Anything tempt You--Anything!--To Ever Trouble
Rogers For That Money You Lent Him. No Matter What
Happens--No Matter If You Lose It All. Do You Promise?"
"Why, I Don'T Ever Expect To Press Him For It.
That'S What I Said To Myself When I Lent It. And Of Course
I'M Glad To Have That Old Trouble Healed up. I Don'T Think
I Ever Did Rogers Any Wrong, And I Never Did Think So;
But If I Did Do It--If I Did--I'M Willing to Call It Square,
If I Never See A Cent Of My Money Back Again."
"Well, That'S All," Said His Wife.
They Did Not Celebrate His Reconciliation With His Old
Enemy--For Such They Had Always Felt Him To Be Since He
Ceased to Be An Ally--By Any Show Of Joy Or Affection.
It Was Not In their Tradition, As Stoical For The Woman
of 1 Part 10 Pg 112As For The Man, That They Should Kiss Or Embrace Each
Other At Such A Moment. She Was Content To Have Told
Him That He Had Done His Duty, And He Was Content With
Her Saying that. But Before She Slept She Found Words
To Add That She Always Feared the Selfish Part He Had
Acted toward Rogers Had Weakened him, And Left Him Less
Able To Overcome Any Temptation That Might Beset Him;
And That Was One Reason Why She Could Never Be Easy About It.
Now She Should Never Fear For Him Again.
This Time He Did Not Explicitly Deny Her Forgiving impeachment.
"Well, It'S All Past And Gone Now, Anyway; And I Don'T
Want You Should Think Anything more About It."
He Was Man Enough To Take Advantage Of The High Favour
In Which He Stood When He Went Up To Town, And To Abuse It
By Bringing corey Down To Supper. His Wife Could Not Help
Condoning the Sin Of Disobedience In him At Such A Time.
Penelope Said That Between The Admiration She Felt
For The Colonel'S Boldness And Her Mother'S Forbearance,
She Was Hardly In a State To Entertain Company That Evening;
But She Did What She Could.
Irene Liked being talked to Better Than Talking, And When
Her Sister Was By She Was Always, Tacitly Or Explicitly,
Referring to Her For Confirmation Of What She Said.
She Was Content To Sit And Look Pretty As She Looked
At The Young Man And Listened to Her Sister'S Drolling.
She Laughed and Kept Glancing at Corey To Make Sure That He
Was Understanding her. When They Went Out On The Veranda
To See The Moon On The Water, Penelope Led the Way And
Irene Followed.
They Did Not Look At The Moonlight Long. The Young
Man Perched on The Rail Of The Veranda, And Irene Took
One Of The Red-Painted rocking-Chairs Where She Could
Conveniently Look At Him And At Her Sister, Who Sat
Leaning forward Lazily And Running on, As The Phrase Is.
That Low, Crooning note Of Hers Was Delicious; Her Face,
Glimpsed now And Then In the Moonlight As She Turned it
Or Lifted it A Little, Had A Fascination Which Kept His Eye.
Her Talk Was Very Unliterary, And Its Effect Seemed
Hardly Conscious. She Was Far From Epigram In her Funning.
She Told Of This Trifle And That; She Sketched the
Characters And Looks Of People Who Had Interested her,
And Nothing seemed to Have Escaped her Notice; She Mimicked
A Little, But Not Much; She Suggested, And Then The
Affair Represented itself As If Without Her Agency.
She Did Not Laugh; When Corey Stopped she Made A Soft
Cluck In her Throat, As If She Liked his Being amused,
And Went On Again.
The Colonel, Left Alone With His Wife For The First Time
Since He Had Come From Town, Made Haste To Take The Word.
"Well, Pert, I'Ve Arranged the Whole Thing with Rogers,
And I Hope You'Ll Be Satisfied to Know That He Owes Me
Twenty Thousand Dollars, And That I'Ve Got Security From Him
To The Amount Of A Fourth Of That, If I Was To Force His
of 1 Part 10 Pg 113Stocks To A Sale."
"How Came He To Come Down With You?" Asked mrs. Lapham.
"Who? Rogers?"
"Mr. Corey."
"Corey? Oh!" Said Lapham, Affecting not To Have Thought
She Could Mean Corey. "He Proposed it."
"Likely!" Jeered his Wife, But With Perfect Amiability.
"It'S So," Protested the Colonel. "We Got Talking about
A Matter Just Before I Left, And He Walked down To The Boat
With Me; And Then He Said If I Didn'T Mind He Guessed
He'D Come Along Down And Go Back On The Return Boat.
Of Course I Couldn'T Let Him Do That."
"It'S Well For You You Couldn'T."
"And I Couldn'T Do Less Than Bring him Here To Tea."
"Oh, Certainly Not."
"But He Ain'T Going to Stay The Night--Unless,"
Faltered lapham, "You Want Him To."
"Oh, Of Course, I Want Him To! I Guess He'Ll Stay, Probably."
"Well, You Know How Crowded that Last Boat Always Is,
And He Can'T Get Any Other Now."
Mrs. Lapham Laughed at The Simple Wile. "I Hope You'Ll
Be Just As Well Satisfied, Si, If It Turns Out He Doesn'T
Want Irene After All."
"Pshaw, Persis! What Are You Always Bringing that Up For?"
Pleaded the Colonel. Then He Fell Silent, And Presently
His Rude, Strong Face Was Clouded with An Unconscious Frown.
"There!" Cried his Wife, Startling him From His Abstraction.
"I See How You'D Feel; And I Hope That You'Ll Remember
Who You'Ve Got To Blame."
"I'Ll Risk It," Said Lapham, With The Confidence Of A Man
Used to Success.
From The Veranda The Sound Of Penelope'S Lazy Tone Came
Through The Closed windows, With Joyous Laughter From
Irene And Peals From Corey.
"Listen To That!" Said Her Father Within, Swelling up With
Inexpressible Satisfaction. "That Girl Can Talk For Twenty,
Right Straight Along. She'S Better Than A Circus Any Day.
I Wonder What She'S Up To Now."
"Oh, She'S Probably Getting off Some Of Those Yarns
of 1 Part 10 Pg 114Of Hers, Or Telling about Some People. She Can'T Step
Out Of The House Without Coming back With More Things
To Talk About Than Most Folks Would Bring back From Japan.
There Ain'T A Ridiculous Person She'S Ever Seen But What
She'S Got Something from Them To Make You Laugh At;
And I Don'T Believe We'Ve Ever Had Anybody In the House
Since The Girl Could Talk That She Hain'T Got Some
Saying from, Or Some Trick That'Ll Paint 'Em Out So'T You
Can See 'Em And Hear 'Em. Sometimes I Want To Stop Her;
But When She Gets Into One Of Her Gales There Ain'T Any
Standing up Against Her. I Guess It 'S Lucky For Irene
That She'S Got Pen There To Help Entertain Her Company.
I Can'T Ever Feel Down Where Pen Is."
"That'S So," Said The Colonel. "And
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