Book + 

I + 

I + 

Selden paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart. + 

It was a Monday in early September, and he was returning to his work from a hurried dip into the country; but what was Miss Bart doing in town at that season? If she had appeared to be catching a train, he might have inferred that he had come on her in the act of transition between one and another of the country-houses which disputed her presence after the close of the Newport season; but her desultory air perplexed him. She stood apart from the crowd, letting it drift by her to the platform or the street, and wearing an air of irresolution which might, as he surmised, be the mask of a very definite purpose. It struck him at once that she was waiting for someone, but he hardly knew why the idea arrested him. There was nothing new about Lily Bart, yet he could never see her without a faint movement of interest: it was characteristic of her that she always roused speculation, that her simplest acts seemed the result of far-reaching intentions. + 

An impulse of curiosity made him turn out of his direct line to the door, and stroll past her. He knew that if she did not wish to be seen she would contrive to elude him; and it amused him to think of putting her skill to the test. + 

тАЬMr.┬аSeldenтБатАФwhat good luck!тАЭ + 

She came forward smiling, eager almost, in her resolve to intercept him. One or two persons, in brushing past them, lingered to look; for Miss Bart was a figure to arrest even the suburban traveller rushing to his last train. + 

Selden had never seen her more radiant. Her vivid head, relieved against the dull tints of the crowd, made her more conspicuous than in a ballroom, and under her dark hat and veil she regained the girlish smoothness, the purity of tint, that she was beginning to lose after eleven years of late hours and indefatigable dancing. Was it really eleven years, Selden found himself wondering, and had she indeed reached the nine-and-twentieth birthday with which her rivals credited her? + 

тАЬWhat luck!тАЭ she repeated. тАЬHow nice of you to come to my rescue!тАЭ + 

He responded joyfully that to do so was his mission in life, and asked what form the rescue was to take. + 

тАЬOh, almost anyтБатАФeven to sitting on a bench and talking to me. One sits out a cotillionтБатАФwhy not sit out a train? It isnтАЩt a bit hotter here than in Mrs.┬аVan OsburghтАЩs conservatoryтБатАФand some of the women are not a bit uglier.тАЭ + 

She broke off, laughing, to explain that she had come up to town from Tuxedo, on her way to the Gus TrenorsтАЩ at Bellomont, and had missed the three-fifteen train to Rhinebeck. + 

тАЬAnd there isnтАЩt another till half-past five.тАЭ She consulted the little jewelled watch among her laces. тАЬJust two hours to wait. And I donтАЩt know what to do with myself. My maid came up this morning to do some shopping for me, and was to go on to Bellomont at one oтАЩclock, and my auntтАЩs house is closed, and I donтАЩt know a soul in town.тАЭ She glanced plaintively about the station. тАЬIt is hotter than Mrs.┬аVan OsburghтАЩs, after all. If you can spare the time, do take me somewhere for a breath of air.тАЭ + 

He declared himself entirely at her disposal: the adventure struck him as diverting. As a spectator, he had always enjoyed Lily Bart; and his course lay so far out of her orbit that it amused him to be drawn for a moment into the sudden intimacy which her proposal implied. + 

тАЬShall we go over to SherryтАЩs for a cup of tea?тАЭ + 

She smiled assentingly, and then made a slight grimace. + 

тАЬSo many people come up to town on a MondayтБатАФone is sure to meet a lot of bores. IтАЩm as old as the hills, of course, and it ought not to make any difference; but if IтАЩm old enough, youтАЩre not,тАЭ she objected gaily. тАЬIтАЩm dying for teaтБатАФbut isnтАЩt there a quieter place?тАЭ + 

He answered her smile, which rested on him vividly. Her discretions interested him almost as much as her imprudences: he was so sure that both were part of the same carefully-elaborated plan. In judging Miss Bart, he had always made use of the тАЬargument from design.тАЭ + 

тАЬThe resources of New York are rather meagre,тАЭ he said; тАЬbut IтАЩll find a hansom first, and then weтАЩll invent something.тАЭ + 

He led her through the throng of returning holidaymakers, past sallow-faced girls in preposterous hats, and flat-chested women struggling with paper bundles and palm-leaf fans. Was it possible that she belonged to the same race? The dinginess, the crudity of this average section of womanhood made him feel how highly specialized she was. + 

A rapid shower had cooled the air, and clouds still hung refreshingly over the moist street. + 

тАЬHow delicious! Let us walk a little,тАЭ she said as they emerged from the station. + 

They turned into Madison Avenue and began to stroll northward. As she moved beside him, with her long light step, Selden was conscious of taking a luxurious pleasure in her nearness: in the modelling of her little ear, the crisp upward wave of her hairтБатАФwas it ever so slightly brightened by art?тБатАФand the thick planting of her straight black lashes. Everything about her was at once vigorous and exquisite, at once strong and fine. He had a confused sense that she must have cost a great deal to make, that a great many dull and ugly people must, in some mysterious way, have been sacrificed to produce her. He was aware that the qualities distinguishing her from the herd of her sex were chiefly external: as though a fine glaze of beauty and fastidiousness had been applied to vulgar clay. Yet the analogy left him unsatisfied, for a coarse texture will not take a high finish; and was it not possible that the material was fine, but that circumstance had fashioned it into a futile shape? + 

As he reached this point in his speculations the sun came out, and her lifted parasol cut off his enjoyment. A moment or two later she paused with a sigh. + 

тАЬOh, dear, IтАЩm so hot and thirstyтБатАФand what a hideous place New York is!тАЭ She looked despairingly up and down the dreary thoroughfare. тАЬOther cities put on their best clothes in summer, but New York seems to sit in its shirtsleeves.тАЭ Her eyes wandered down one of the side-streets. тАЬSomeone has had the humanity to plant a few trees over there. Let us go into the shade.тАЭ + 

тАЬI am glad my street meets with your approval,тАЭ said Selden as they turned the corner. + 

тАЬYour street? Do you live here?тАЭ + 

She glanced with interest along the new brick and limestone house-fronts, fantastically varied in obedience to the American craving for novelty, but fresh and inviting with their awnings and flower-boxes. + 

тАЬAh, yesтБатАФto be sure: The Benedick. What a nice-looking building! I donтАЩt think IтАЩve ever seen it before.тАЭ She looked across at the flat-house with its marble porch and pseudo-Georgian fa├зade. тАЬWhich are your windows? Those with the awnings down?тАЭ + 

тАЬOn the top floorтБатАФyes.тАЭ + 

тАЬAnd that nice little balcony is yours? How cool it looks up there!тАЭ + 

He paused a moment. тАЬCome up and see,тАЭ he suggested. тАЬI can give you a cup of tea in no timeтБатАФand you wonтАЩt meet any bores.тАЭ + 

Her colour deepenedтБатАФshe still had the art of blushing at the right timeтБатАФbut she took the suggestion as lightly as it was made. + 

тАЬWhy not? ItтАЩs too temptingтБатАФIтАЩll take the risk,тАЭ she declared. + 

тАЬOh, IтАЩm not dangerous,тАЭ he said in the same key. In truth, he had never liked her as well as at that moment. He knew she had accepted without afterthought: he could never be a factor in her calculations, and there was a surprise, a refreshment almost, in the spontaneity of her consent. + 

On the threshold he paused a moment, feeling for his latchkey. + 

тАЬThereтАЩs no one here; but I have a servant who is supposed to come in the mornings, and itтАЩs just possible he may have put out the tea-things and provided some cake.тАЭ + 

He ushered her into a slip of a hall hung with old prints. She noticed the letters and notes heaped on the table among his gloves and sticks; then she found herself in a small library, dark but cheerful, with its walls of books, a pleasantly faded Turkey rug, a littered desk and, as he had foretold, a tea-tray on a low table near the window. A breeze had sprung up, swaying inward the muslin curtains, and bringing a fresh scent of mignonette and petunias from the flower-box on the balcony. + 

Lily sank with a sigh into one of the shabby leather chairs. + 

тАЬHow delicious to have a place like this all to oneтАЩs self! What a miserable thing it is to be a woman.тАЭ She leaned back in a luxury of discontent. + 

Selden was rummaging in a cupboard for the cake. + 

тАЬEven women,тАЭ he said, тАЬhave been known to enjoy the privileges of a flat.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, governessesтБатАФor widows. But not girlsтБатАФnot poor, miserable, marriageable girls!тАЭ + 

тАЬI even know a girl who lives in a flat.тАЭ + 

She sat up in surprise. тАЬYou do?тАЭ + 

тАЬI do,тАЭ he assured her, emerging from the cupboard with the sought-for cake. + 

тАЬOh, I knowтБатАФyou mean Gerty Farish.тАЭ She smiled a little unkindly. тАЬBut I said тАШmarriageableтАЩтБатАФand besides, she has a horrid little place, and no maid, and such queer things to eat. Her cook does the washing and the food tastes of soap. I should hate that, you know.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou shouldnтАЩt dine with her on washdays,тАЭ said Selden, cutting the cake. + 

They both laughed, and he knelt by the table to light the lamp under the kettle, while she measured out the tea into a little teapot of green glaze. As he watched her hand, polished as a bit of old ivory, with its slender pink nails, and the sapphire bracelet slipping over her wrist, he was struck with the irony of suggesting to her such a life as his cousin Gertrude Farish had chosen. She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate. + 

She seemed to read his thought. тАЬIt was horrid of me to say that of Gerty,тАЭ she said with charming compunction. тАЬI forgot she was your cousin. But weтАЩre so different, you know: she likes being good, and I like being happy. And besides, she is free and I am not. If I were, I daresay I could manage to be happy even in her flat. It must be pure bliss to arrange the furniture just as one likes, and give all the horrors to the ash-man. If I could only do over my auntтАЩs drawing-room I know I should be a better woman.тАЭ + 

тАЬIs it so very bad?тАЭ he asked sympathetically. + 

She smiled at him across the teapot which she was holding up to be filled. + 

тАЬThat shows how seldom you come there. Why donтАЩt you come oftener?тАЭ + 

тАЬWhen I do come, itтАЩs not to look at Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs furniture.тАЭ + 

тАЬNonsense,тАЭ she said. тАЬYou donтАЩt come at allтБатАФand yet we get on so well when we meet.тАЭ + 

тАЬPerhaps thatтАЩs the reason,тАЭ he answered promptly. тАЬIтАЩm afraid I havenтАЩt any cream, you knowтБатАФshall you mind a slice of lemon instead?тАЭ + 

тАЬI shall like it better.тАЭ She waited while he cut the lemon and dropped a thin disk into her cup. тАЬBut that is not the reason,тАЭ she insisted. + 

тАЬThe reason for what?тАЭ + 

тАЬFor your never coming.тАЭ She leaned forward with a shade of perplexity in her charming eyes. тАЬI wish I knewтБатАФI wish I could make you out. Of course I know there are men who donтАЩt like meтБатАФone can tell that at a glance. And there are others who are afraid of me: they think I want to marry them.тАЭ She smiled up at him frankly. тАЬBut I donтАЩt think you dislike meтБатАФand you canтАЩt possibly think I want to marry you.тАЭ + 

тАЬNoтБатАФI absolve you of that,тАЭ he agreed. + 

тАЬWell, thenтБатАФ?тАЭ + 

He had carried his cup to the fireplace, and stood leaning against the chimneypiece and looking down on her with an air of indolent amusement. The provocation in her eyes increased his amusementтБатАФhe had not supposed she would waste her powder on such small game; but perhaps she was only keeping her hand in; or perhaps a girl of her type had no conversation but of the personal kind. At any rate, she was amazingly pretty, and he had asked her to tea and must live up to his obligations. + 

тАЬWell, then,тАЭ he said with a plunge, тАЬperhaps thatтАЩs the reason.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat?тАЭ + 

тАЬThe fact that you donтАЩt want to marry me. Perhaps I donтАЩt regard it as such a strong inducement to go and see you.тАЭ He felt a slight shiver down his spine as he ventured this, but her laugh reassured him. + 

тАЬDear Mr.┬аSelden, that wasnтАЩt worthy of you. ItтАЩs stupid of you to make love to me, and it isnтАЩt like you to be stupid.тАЭ She leaned back, sipping her tea with an air so enchantingly judicial that, if they had been in her auntтАЩs drawing-room, he might almost have tried to disprove her deduction. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt you see,тАЭ she continued, тАЬthat there are men enough to say pleasant things to me, and that what I want is a friend who wonтАЩt be afraid to say disagreeable ones when I need them? Sometimes I have fancied you might be that friendтБатАФI donтАЩt know why, except that you are neither a prig nor a bounder, and that I shouldnтАЩt have to pretend with you or be on my guard against you.тАЭ Her voice had dropped to a note of seriousness, and she sat gazing up at him with the troubled gravity of a child. + 

тАЬYou donтАЩt know how much I need such a friend,тАЭ she said. тАЬMy aunt is full of copybook axioms, but they were all meant to apply to conduct in the early fifties. I always feel that to live up to them would include wearing book-muslin with gigot sleeves. And the other womenтБатАФmy best friendsтБатАФwell, they use me or abuse me; but they donтАЩt care a straw what happens to me. IтАЩve been about too longтБатАФpeople are getting tired of me; they are beginning to say I ought to marry.тАЭ + 

There was a momentтАЩs pause, during which Selden meditated one or two replies calculated to add a momentary zest to the situation; but he rejected them in favour of the simple question: тАЬWell, why donтАЩt you?тАЭ + 

She coloured and laughed. тАЬAh, I see you are a friend after all, and that is one of the disagreeable things I was asking for.тАЭ + 

тАЬIt wasnтАЩt meant to be disagreeable,тАЭ he returned amicably. тАЬIsnтАЩt marriage your vocation? IsnтАЩt it what youтАЩre all brought up for?тАЭ + 

She sighed. тАЬI suppose so. What else is there?тАЭ + 

тАЬExactly. And so why not take the plunge and have it over?тАЭ + 

She shrugged her shoulders. тАЬYou speak as if I ought to marry the first man who came along.тАЭ + 

тАЬI didnтАЩt mean to imply that you are as hard put to it as that. But there must be someone with the requisite qualifications.тАЭ + 

She shook her head wearily. тАЬI threw away one or two good chances when I first came outтБатАФI suppose every girl does; and you know I am horribly poorтБатАФand very expensive. I must have a great deal of money.тАЭ + 

Selden had turned to reach for a cigarette-box on the mantelpiece. + 

тАЬWhatтАЩs become of Dillworth?тАЭ he asked. + 

тАЬOh, his mother was frightenedтБатАФshe was afraid I should have all the family jewels reset. And she wanted me to promise that I wouldnтАЩt do over the drawing-room.тАЭ + 

тАЬThe very thing you are marrying for!тАЭ + 

тАЬExactly. So she packed him off to India.тАЭ + 

тАЬHard luckтБатАФbut you can do better than Dillworth.тАЭ + 

He offered the box, and she took out three or four cigarettes, putting one between her lips and slipping the others into a little gold case attached to her long pearl chain. + 

тАЬHave I time? Just a whiff, then.тАЭ She leaned forward, holding the tip of her cigarette to his. As she did so, he noted, with a purely impersonal enjoyment, how evenly the black lashes were set in her smooth white lids, and how the purplish shade beneath them melted into the pure pallor of the cheek. + 

She began to saunter about the room, examining the bookshelves between the puffs of her cigarette-smoke. Some of the volumes had the ripe tints of good tooling and old morocco, and her eyes lingered on them caressingly, not with the appreciation of the expert, but with the pleasure in agreeable tones and textures that was one of her inmost susceptibilities. Suddenly her expression changed from desultory enjoyment to active conjecture, and she turned to Selden with a question. + 

тАЬYou collect, donтАЩt youтБатАФyou know about first editions and things?тАЭ + 

тАЬAs much as a man may who has no money to spend. Now and then I pick up something in the rubbish heap; and I go and look on at the big sales.тАЭ + 

She had again addressed herself to the shelves, but her eyes now swept them inattentively, and he saw that she was preoccupied with a new idea. + 

тАЬAnd AmericanaтБатАФdo you collect Americana?тАЭ + 

Selden stared and laughed. + 

тАЬNo, thatтАЩs rather out of my line. IтАЩm not really a collector, you see; I simply like to have good editions of the books I am fond of.тАЭ + 

She made a slight grimace. тАЬAnd Americana are horribly dull, I suppose?тАЭ + 

тАЬI should fancy soтБатАФexcept to the historian. But your real collector values a thing for its rarity. I donтАЩt suppose the buyers of Americana sit up reading them all nightтБатАФold Jefferson Gryce certainly didnтАЩt.тАЭ + 

She was listening with keen attention. тАЬAnd yet they fetch fabulous prices, donтАЩt they? It seems so odd to want to pay a lot for an ugly badly-printed book that one is never going to read! And I suppose most of the owners of Americana are not historians either?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo; very few of the historians can afford to buy them. They have to use those in the public libraries or in private collections. It seems to be the mere rarity that attracts the average collector.тАЭ + 

He had seated himself on an arm of the chair near which she was standing, and she continued to question him, asking which were the rarest volumes, whether the Jefferson Gryce collection was really considered the finest in the world, and what was the largest price ever fetched by a single volume. + 

It was so pleasant to sit there looking up at her, as she lifted now one book and then another from the shelves, fluttering the pages between her fingers, while her drooping profile was outlined against the warm background of old bindings, that he talked on without pausing to wonder at her sudden interest in so unsuggestive a subject. But he could never be long with her without trying to find a reason for what she was doing, and as she replaced his first edition of La Bruy├иre and turned away from the bookcases, he began to ask himself what she had been driving at. Her next question was not of a nature to enlighten him. She paused before him with a smile which seemed at once designed to admit him to her familiarity, and to remind him of the restrictions it imposed. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt you ever mind,тАЭ she asked suddenly, тАЬnot being rich enough to buy all the books you want?тАЭ + 

He followed her glance about the room, with its worn furniture and shabby walls. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt I just? Do you take me for a saint on a pillar?тАЭ + 

тАЬAnd having to workтБатАФdo you mind that?тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, the work itself is not so badтБатАФIтАЩm rather fond of the law.тАЭ + 

тАЬNo; but the being tied down: the routineтБатАФdonтАЩt you ever want to get away, to see new places and people?тАЭ + 

тАЬHorriblyтБатАФespecially when I see all my friends rushing to the steamer.тАЭ + 

She drew a sympathetic breath. тАЬBut do you mind enoughтБатАФto marry to get out of it?тАЭ + 

Selden broke into a laugh. тАЬGod forbid!тАЭ he declared. + 

She rose with a sigh, tossing her cigarette into the grate. + 

тАЬAh, thereтАЩs the differenceтБатАФa girl must, a man may if he chooses.тАЭ She surveyed him critically. тАЬYour coatтАЩs a little shabbyтБатАФbut who cares? It doesnтАЩt keep people from asking you to dine. If I were shabby no one would have me: a woman is asked out as much for her clothes as for herself. The clothes are the background, the frame, if you like: they donтАЩt make success, but they are a part of it. Who wants a dingy woman? We are expected to be pretty and well-dressed till we dropтБатАФand if we canтАЩt keep it up alone, we have to go into partnership.тАЭ + 

Selden glanced at her with amusement: it was impossible, even with her lovely eyes imploring him, to take a sentimental view of her case. + 

тАЬAh, well, there must be plenty of capital on the lookout for such an investment. Perhaps youтАЩll meet your fate tonight at the TrenorsтАЩ.тАЭ + 

She returned his look interrogatively. + 

тАЬI thought you might be going thereтБатАФoh, not in that capacity! But there are to be a lot of your setтБатАФGwen Van Osburgh, the Wetheralls, Lady Cressida RaithтБатАФand the George Dorsets.тАЭ + 

She paused a moment before the last name, and shot a query through her lashes; but he remained imperturbable. + 

тАЬMrs.┬аTrenor asked me; but I canтАЩt get away till the end of the week; and those big parties bore me.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, so they do me,тАЭ she exclaimed. + 

тАЬThen why go?тАЭ + 

тАЬItтАЩs part of the businessтБатАФyou forget! And besides, if I didnтАЩt, I should be playing bezique with my aunt at Richfield Springs.тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs almost as bad as marrying Dillworth,тАЭ he agreed, and they both laughed for pure pleasure in their sudden intimacy. + 

She glanced at the clock. + 

тАЬDear me! I must be off. ItтАЩs after five.тАЭ + 

She paused before the mantelpiece, studying herself in the mirror while she adjusted her veil. The attitude revealed the long slope of her slender sides, which gave a kind of wildwood grace to her outlineтБатАФas though she were a captured dryad subdued to the conventions of the drawing-room; and Selden reflected that it was the same streak of sylvan freedom in her nature that lent such savour to her artificiality. + 

He followed her across the room to the entrance-hall; but on the threshold she held out her hand with a gesture of leave-taking. + 

тАЬItтАЩs been delightful; and now you will have to return my visit.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut donтАЩt you want me to see you to the station?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo; goodbye here, please.тАЭ + 

She let her hand lie in his a moment, smiling up at him adorably. + 

тАЬGoodbye, thenтБатАФand good luck at Bellomont!тАЭ he said, opening the door for her. + 

On the landing she paused to look about her. There were a thousand chances to one against her meeting anybody, but one could never tell, and she always paid for her rare indiscretions by a violent reaction of prudence. There was no one in sight, however, but a charwoman who was scrubbing the stairs. Her own stout person and its surrounding implements took up so much room that Lily, to pass her, had to gather up her skirts and brush against the wall. As she did so, the woman paused in her work and looked up curiously, resting her clenched red fists on the wet cloth she had just drawn from her pail. She had a broad sallow face, slightly pitted with smallpox, and thin straw-coloured hair through which her scalp shone unpleasantly. + 

тАЬI beg your pardon,тАЭ said Lily, intending by her politeness to convey a criticism of the otherтАЩs manner. + 

The woman, without answering, pushed her pail aside, and continued to stare as Miss Bart swept by with a murmur of silken linings. Lily felt herself flushing under the look. What did the creature suppose? Could one never do the simplest, the most harmless thing, without subjecting oneтАЩs self to some odious conjecture? Halfway down the next flight, she smiled to think that a charwomanтАЩs stare should so perturb her. The poor thing was probably dazzled by such an unwonted apparition. But were such apparitions unwonted on SeldenтАЩs stairs? Miss Bart was not familiar with the moral code of bachelorsтАЩ flat-houses, and her colour rose again as it occurred to her that the womanтАЩs persistent gaze implied a groping among past associations. But she put aside the thought with a smile at her own fears, and hastened downward, wondering if she should find a cab short of Fifth Avenue. + 

Under the Georgian porch she paused again, scanning the street for a hansom. None was in sight, but as she reached the sidewalk she ran against a small glossy-looking man with a gardenia in his coat, who raised his hat with a surprised exclamation. + 

тАЬMiss Bart? WellтБатАФof all people! This is luck,тАЭ he declared; and she caught a twinkle of amused curiosity between his screwed-up lids. + 

тАЬOh, Mr.┬аRosedaleтБатАФhow are you?тАЭ she said, perceiving that the irrepressible annoyance on her face was reflected in the sudden intimacy of his smile. + 

Mr.┬аRosedale stood scanning her with interest and approval. He was a plump rosy man of the blond Jewish type, with smart London clothes fitting him like upholstery, and small sidelong eyes which gave him the air of appraising people as if they were bric-a-brac. He glanced up interrogatively at the porch of the Benedick. + 

тАЬBeen up to town for a little shopping, I suppose?тАЭ he said, in a tone which had the familiarity of a touch. + 

Miss Bart shrank from it slightly, and then flung herself into precipitate explanations. + 

тАЬYesтБатАФI came up to see my dressmaker. I am just on my way to catch the train to the TrenorsтАЩ.тАЭ + 

тАЬAhтБатАФyour dressmaker; just so,тАЭ he said blandly. тАЬI didnтАЩt know there were any dressmakers in the Benedick.тАЭ + 

тАЬThe Benedick?тАЭ She looked gently puzzled. тАЬIs that the name of this building?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes, thatтАЩs the name: I believe itтАЩs an old word for bachelor, isnтАЩt it? I happen to own the buildingтБатАФthatтАЩs the way I know.тАЭ His smile deepened as he added with increasing assurance: тАЬBut you must let me take you to the station. The Trenors are at Bellomont, of course? YouтАЩve barely time to catch the five-forty. The dressmaker kept you waiting, I suppose.тАЭ + 

Lily stiffened under the pleasantry. + 

тАЬOh, thanks,тАЭ she stammered; and at that moment her eye caught a hansom drifting down Madison Avenue, and she hailed it with a desperate gesture. + 

тАЬYouтАЩre very kind; but I couldnтАЩt think of troubling you,тАЭ she said, extending her hand to Mr.┬аRosedale; and heedless of his protestations, she sprang into the rescuing vehicle, and called out a breathless order to the driver. + 

II + 

In the hansom she leaned back with a sigh. + 

Why must a girl pay so dearly for her least escape from routine? Why could one never do a natural thing without having to screen it behind a structure of artifice? She had yielded to a passing impulse in going to Lawrence SeldenтАЩs rooms, and it was so seldom that she could allow herself the luxury of an impulse! This one, at any rate, was going to cost her rather more than she could afford. She was vexed to see that, in spite of so many years of vigilance, she had blundered twice within five minutes. That stupid story about her dressmaker was bad enoughтБатАФit would have been so simple to tell Rosedale that she had been taking tea with Selden! The mere statement of the fact would have rendered it innocuous. But, after having let herself be surprised in a falsehood, it was doubly stupid to snub the witness of her discomfiture. If she had had the presence of mind to let Rosedale drive her to the station, the concession might have purchased his silence. He had his raceтАЩs accuracy in the appraisal of values, and to be seen walking down the platform at the crowded afternoon hour in the company of Miss Lily Bart would have been money in his pocket, as he might himself have phrased it. He knew, of course, that there would be a large house-party at Bellomont, and the possibility of being taken for one of Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs guests was doubtless included in his calculations. Mr.┬аRosedale was still at a stage in his social ascent when it was of importance to produce such impressions. + 

The provoking part was that Lily knew all thisтБатАФknew how easy it would have been to silence him on the spot, and how difficult it might be to do so afterward. Mr.┬аSimon Rosedale was a man who made it his business to know everything about everyone, whose idea of showing himself to be at home in society was to display an inconvenient familiarity with the habits of those with whom he wished to be thought intimate. Lily was sure that within twenty-four hours the story of her visiting her dressmaker at the Benedick would be in active circulation among Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЩs acquaintances. The worst of it was that she had always snubbed and ignored him. On his first appearanceтБатАФwhen her improvident cousin, Jack Stepney, had obtained for him (in return for favours too easily guessed) a card to one of the vast impersonal Van Osburgh тАЬcrushesтАЭтБатАФRosedale, with that mixture of artistic sensibility and business astuteness which characterizes his race, had instantly gravitated toward Miss Bart. She understood his motives, for her own course was guided by as nice calculations. Training and experience had taught her to be hospitable to newcomers, since the most unpromising might be useful later on, and there were plenty of available oubliettes to swallow them if they were not. But some intuitive repugnance, getting the better of years of social discipline, had made her push Mr.┬аRosedale into his oubliette without a trial. He had left behind only the ripple of amusement which his speedy despatch had caused among her friends; and though later (to shift the metaphor) he reappeared lower down the stream, it was only in fleeting glimpses, with long submergences between. + 

Hitherto Lily had been undisturbed by scruples. In her little set Mr.┬аRosedale had been pronounced тАЬimpossible,тАЭ and Jack Stepney roundly snubbed for his attempt to pay his debts in dinner invitations. Even Mrs.┬аTrenor, whose taste for variety had led her into some hazardous experiments, resisted JackтАЩs attempts to disguise Mr.┬аRosedale as a novelty, and declared that he was the same little Jew who had been served up and rejected at the social board a dozen times within her memory; and while Judy Trenor was obdurate there was small chance of Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЩs penetrating beyond the outer limbo of the Van Osburgh crushes. Jack gave up the contest with a laughing тАЬYouтАЩll see,тАЭ and, sticking manfully to his guns, showed himself with Rosedale at the fashionable restaurants, in company with the personally vivid if socially obscure ladies who are available for such purposes. But the attempt had hitherto been vain, and as Rosedale undoubtedly paid for the dinners, the laugh remained with his debtor. + 

Mr.┬аRosedale, it will be seen, was thus far not a factor to be fearedтБатАФunless one put oneтАЩs self in his power. And this was precisely what Miss Bart had done. Her clumsy fib had let him see that she had something to conceal; and she was sure he had a score to settle with her. Something in his smile told her he had not forgotten. She turned from the thought with a little shiver, but it hung on her all the way to the station, and dogged her down the platform with the persistency of Mr.┬аRosedale himself. + 

She had just time to take her seat before the train started; but having arranged herself in her corner with the instinctive feeling for effect which never forsook her, she glanced about in the hope of seeing some other member of the TrenorsтАЩ party. She wanted to get away from herself, and conversation was the only means of escape that she knew. + 

Her search was rewarded by the discovery of a very blond young man with a soft reddish beard, who, at the other end of the carriage, appeared to be dissembling himself behind an unfolded newspaper. LilyтАЩs eye brightened, and a faint smile relaxed the drawn lines of her mouth. She had known that Mr.┬аPercy Gryce was to be at Bellomont, but she had not counted on the luck of having him to herself in the train; and the fact banished all perturbing thoughts of Mr.┬аRosedale. Perhaps, after all, the day was to end more favourably than it had begun. + 

She began to cut the pages of a novel, tranquilly studying her prey through downcast lashes while she organized a method of attack. Something in his attitude of conscious absorption told her that he was aware of her presence: no one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper! She guessed that he was too shy to come up to her, and that she would have to devise some means of approach which should not appear to be an advance on her part. It amused her to think that anyone as rich as Mr.┬аPercy Gryce should be shy; but she was gifted with treasures of indulgence for such idiosyncrasies, and besides, his timidity might serve her purpose better than too much assurance. She had the art of giving self-confidence to the embarrassed, but she was not equally sure of being able to embarrass the self-confident. + 

She waited till the train had emerged from the tunnel and was racing between the ragged edges of the northern suburbs. Then, as it lowered its speed near Yonkers, she rose from her seat and drifted slowly down the carriage. As she passed Mr.┬аGryce, the train gave a lurch, and he was aware of a slender hand gripping the back of his chair. He rose with a start, his ingenuous face looking as though it had been dipped in crimson: even the reddish tint in his beard seemed to deepen. + 

The train swayed again, almost flinging Miss Bart into his arms. She steadied herself with a laugh and drew back; but he was enveloped in the scent of her dress, and his shoulder had felt her fugitive touch. + 

тАЬOh, Mr.┬аGryce, is it you? IтАЩm so sorryтБатАФI was trying to find the porter and get some tea.тАЭ + 

She held out her hand as the train resumed its level rush, and they stood exchanging a few words in the aisle. YesтБатАФhe was going to Bellomont. He had heard she was to be of the partyтБатАФhe blushed again as he admitted it. And was he to be there for a whole week? How delightful! + 

But at this point one or two belated passengers from the last station forced their way into the carriage, and Lily had to retreat to her seat. + 

тАЬThe chair next to mine is emptyтБатАФdo take it,тАЭ she said over her shoulder; and Mr.┬аGryce, with considerable embarrassment, succeeded in effecting an exchange which enabled him to transport himself and his bags to her side. + 

тАЬAhтБатАФand here is the porter, and perhaps we can have some tea.тАЭ + 

She signalled to that official, and in a moment, with the ease that seemed to attend the fulfilment of all her wishes, a little table had been set up between the seats, and she had helped Mr.┬аGryce to bestow his encumbering properties beneath it. + 

When the tea came he watched her in silent fascination while her hands flitted above the tray, looking miraculously fine and slender in contrast to the coarse china and lumpy bread. It seemed wonderful to him that anyone should perform with such careless ease the difficult task of making tea in public in a lurching train. He would never have dared to order it for himself, lest he should attract the notice of his fellow-passengers; but, secure in the shelter of her conspicuousness, he sipped the inky draught with a delicious sense of exhilaration. + 

Lily, with the flavour of SeldenтАЩs caravan tea on her lips, had no great fancy to drown it in the railway brew which seemed such nectar to her companion; but, rightly judging that one of the charms of tea is the fact of drinking it together, she proceeded to give the last touch to Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs enjoyment by smiling at him across her lifted cup. + 

тАЬIs it quite rightтБатАФI havenтАЩt made it too strong?тАЭ she asked solicitously; and he replied with conviction that he had never tasted better tea. + 

тАЬI daresay it is true,тАЭ she reflected; and her imagination was fired by the thought that Mr.┬аGryce, who might have sounded the depths of the most complex self-indulgence, was perhaps actually taking his first journey alone with a pretty woman. + 

It struck her as providential that she should be the instrument of his initiation. Some girls would not have known how to manage him. They would have overemphasized the novelty of the adventure, trying to make him feel in it the zest of an escapade. But LilyтАЩs methods were more delicate. She remembered that her cousin Jack Stepney had once defined Mr.┬аGryce as the young man who had promised his mother never to go out in the rain without his overshoes; and acting on this hint, she resolved to impart a gently domestic air to the scene, in the hope that her companion, instead of feeling that he was doing something reckless or unusual, would merely be led to dwell on the advantage of always having a companion to make oneтАЩs tea in the train. + 

But in spite of her efforts, conversation flagged after the tray had been removed, and she was driven to take a fresh measurement of Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs limitations. It was not, after all, opportunity but imagination that he lacked: he had a mental palate which would never learn to distinguish between railway tea and nectar. There was, however, one topic she could rely on: one spring that she had only to touch to set his simple machinery in motion. She had refrained from touching it because it was a last resource, and she had relied on other arts to stimulate other sensations; but as a settled look of dullness began to creep over his candid features, she saw that extreme measures were necessary. + 

тАЬAnd how,тАЭ she said, leaning forward, тАЬare you getting on with your Americana?тАЭ + 

His eye became a degree less opaque: it was as though an incipient film had been removed from it, and she felt the pride of a skilful operator. + 

тАЬIтАЩve got a few new things,тАЭ he said, suffused with pleasure, but lowering his voice as though he feared his fellow-passengers might be in league to despoil him. + 

She returned a sympathetic enquiry, and gradually he was drawn on to talk of his latest purchases. It was the one subject which enabled him to forget himself, or allowed him, rather, to remember himself without constraint, because he was at home in it, and could assert a superiority that there were few to dispute. Hardly any of his acquaintances cared for Americana, or knew anything about them; and the consciousness of this ignorance threw Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs knowledge into agreeable relief. The only difficulty was to introduce the topic and to keep it to the front; most people showed no desire to have their ignorance dispelled, and Mr.┬аGryce was like a merchant whose warehouses are crammed with an unmarketable commodity. + 

But Miss Bart, it appeared, really did want to know about Americana; and moreover, she was already sufficiently informed to make the task of farther instruction as easy as it was agreeable. She questioned him intelligently, she heard him submissively; and, prepared for the look of lassitude which usually crept over his listenersтАЩ faces, he grew eloquent under her receptive gaze. The тАЬpointsтАЭ she had had the presence of mind to glean from Selden, in anticipation of this very contingency, were serving her to such good purpose that she began to think her visit to him had been the luckiest incident of the day. She had once more shown her talent for profiting by the unexpected, and dangerous theories as to the advisability of yielding to impulse were germinating under the surface of smiling attention which she continued to present to her companion. + 

Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs sensations, if less definite, were equally agreeable. He felt the confused titillation with which the lower organisms welcome the gratification of their needs, and all his senses floundered in a vague well-being, through which Miss BartтАЩs personality was dimly but pleasantly perceptible. + 

Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs interest in Americana had not originated with himself: it was impossible to think of him as evolving any taste of his own. An uncle had left him a collection already noted among bibliophiles; the existence of the collection was the only fact that had ever shed glory on the name of Gryce, and the nephew took as much pride in his inheritance as though it had been his own work. Indeed, he gradually came to regard it as such, and to feel a sense of personal complacency when he chanced on any reference to the Gryce Americana. Anxious as he was to avoid personal notice, he took, in the printed mention of his name, a pleasure so exquisite and excessive that it seemed a compensation for his shrinking from publicity. + 

To enjoy the sensation as often as possible, he subscribed to all the reviews dealing with book-collecting in general, and American history in particular, and as allusions to his library abounded in the pages of these journals, which formed his only reading, he came to regard himself as figuring prominently in the public eye, and to enjoy the thought of the interest which would be excited if the persons he met in the street, or sat among in travelling, were suddenly to be told that he was the possessor of the Gryce Americana. + 

Most timidities have such secret compensations, and Miss Bart was discerning enough to know that the inner vanity is generally in proportion to the outer self-depreciation. With a more confident person she would not have dared to dwell so long on one topic, or to show such exaggerated interest in it; but she had rightly guessed that Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs egoism was a thirsty soil, requiring constant nurture from without. Miss Bart had the gift of following an undercurrent of thought while she appeared to be sailing on the surface of conversation; and in this case her mental excursion took the form of a rapid survey of Mr.┬аPercy GryceтАЩs future as combined with her own. The Gryces were from Albany, and but lately introduced to the metropolis, where the mother and son had come, after old Jefferson GryceтАЩs death, to take possession of his house in Madison AvenueтБатАФan appalling house, all brown stone without and black walnut within, with the Gryce library in a fireproof annex that looked like a mausoleum. Lily, however, knew all about them: young Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs arrival had fluttered the maternal breasts of New York, and when a girl has no mother to palpitate for her she must needs be on the alert for herself. Lily, therefore, had not only contrived to put herself in the young manтАЩs way, but had made the acquaintance of Mrs.┬аGryce, a monumental woman with the voice of a pulpit orator and a mind preoccupied with the iniquities of her servants, who came sometimes to sit with Mrs.┬аPeniston and learn from that lady how she managed to prevent the kitchen-maidтАЩs smuggling groceries out of the house. Mrs.┬аGryce had a kind of impersonal benevolence: cases of individual need she regarded with suspicion, but she subscribed to Institutions when their annual reports showed an impressive surplus. Her domestic duties were manifold, for they extended from furtive inspections of the servantsтАЩ bedrooms to unannounced descents to the cellar; but she had never allowed herself many pleasures. Once, however, she had had a special edition of the Sarum Rule printed in rubric and presented to every clergyman in the diocese; and the gilt album in which their letters of thanks were pasted formed the chief ornament of her drawing-room table. + 

Percy had been brought up in the principles which so excellent a woman was sure to inculcate. Every form of prudence and suspicion had been grafted on a nature originally reluctant and cautious, with the result that it would have seemed hardly needful for Mrs.┬аGryce to extract his promise about the overshoes, so little likely was he to hazard himself abroad in the rain. After attaining his majority, and coming into the fortune which the late Mr.┬аGryce had made out of a patent device for excluding fresh air from hotels, the young man continued to live with his mother in Albany; but on Jefferson GryceтАЩs death, when another large property passed into her sonтАЩs hands, Mrs.┬аGryce thought that what she called his тАЬinterestsтАЭ demanded his presence in New York. She accordingly installed herself in the Madison Avenue house, and Percy, whose sense of duty was not inferior to his motherтАЩs, spent all his week days in the handsome Broad Street office where a batch of pale men on small salaries had grown grey in the management of the Gryce estate, and where he was initiated with becoming reverence into every detail of the art of accumulation. + 

As far as Lily could learn, this had hitherto been Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs only occupation, and she might have been pardoned for thinking it not too hard a task to interest a young man who had been kept on such low diet. At any rate, she felt herself so completely in command of the situation that she yielded to a sense of security in which all fear of Mr.┬аRosedale, and of the difficulties on which that fear was contingent, vanished beyond the edge of thought. + 

The stopping of the train at Garrisons would not have distracted her from these thoughts, had she not caught a sudden look of distress in her companionтАЩs eye. His seat faced toward the door, and she guessed that he had been perturbed by the approach of an acquaintance; a fact confirmed by the turning of heads and general sense of commotion which her own entrance into a railway-carriage was apt to produce. + 

She knew the symptoms at once, and was not surprised to be hailed by the high notes of a pretty woman, who entered the train accompanied by a maid, a bull-terrier, and a footman staggering under a load of bags and dressing-cases. + 

тАЬOh, LilyтБатАФare you going to Bellomont? Then you canтАЩt let me have your seat, I suppose? But I must have a seat in this carriageтБатАФporter, you must find me a place at once. CanтАЩt someone be put somewhere else? I want to be with my friends. Oh, how do you do, Mr.┬аGryce? Do please make him understand that I must have a seat next to you and Lily.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аGeorge Dorset, regardless of the mild efforts of a traveller with a carpetbag, who was doing his best to make room for her by getting out of the train, stood in the middle of the aisle, diffusing about her that general sense of exasperation which a pretty woman on her travels not infrequently creates. + 

She was smaller and thinner than Lily Bart, with a restless pliability of pose, as if she could have been crumpled up and run through a ring, like the sinuous draperies she affected. Her small pale face seemed the mere setting of a pair of dark exaggerated eyes, of which the visionary gaze contrasted curiously with her self-assertive tone and gestures; so that, as one of her friends observed, she was like a disembodied spirit who took up a great deal of room. + 

Having finally discovered that the seat adjoining Miss BartтАЩs was at her disposal, she possessed herself of it with a farther displacement of her surroundings, explaining meanwhile that she had come across from Mount Kisco in her motorcar that morning, and had been kicking her heels for an hour at Garrisons, without even the alleviation of a cigarette, her brute of a husband having neglected to replenish her case before they parted that morning. + 

тАЬAnd at this hour of the day I donтАЩt suppose youтАЩve a single one left, have you, Lily?тАЭ she plaintively concluded. + 

Miss Bart caught the startled glance of Mr.┬аPercy Gryce, whose own lips were never defiled by tobacco. + 

тАЬWhat an absurd question, Bertha!тАЭ she exclaimed, blushing at the thought of the store she had laid in at Lawrence SeldenтАЩs. + 

тАЬWhy, donтАЩt you smoke? Since when have you given it up? WhatтБатАФyou neverтБатАФAnd you donтАЩt either, Mr.┬аGryce? Ah, of courseтБатАФhow stupid of meтБатАФI understand.тАЭ + 

And Mrs.┬аDorset leaned back against her travelling cushions with a smile which made Lily wish there had been no vacant seat beside her own. + 

III + 

Bridge at Bellomont usually lasted till the small hours; and when Lily went to bed that night she had played too long for her own good. + 

Feeling no desire for the self-communion which awaited her in her room, she lingered on the broad stairway, looking down into the hall below, where the last cardplayers were grouped about the tray of tall glasses and silver-collared decanters which the butler had just placed on a low table near the fire. + 

The hall was arcaded, with a gallery supported on columns of pale yellow marble. Tall clumps of flowering plants were grouped against a background of dark foliage in the angles of the walls. On the crimson carpet a deerhound and two or three spaniels dozed luxuriously before the fire, and the light from the great central lantern overhead shed a brightness on the womenтАЩs hair and struck sparks from their jewels as they moved. + 

There were moments when such scenes delighted Lily, when they gratified her sense of beauty and her craving for the external finish of life; there were others when they gave a sharper edge to the meagreness of her own opportunities. This was one of the moments when the sense of contrast was uppermost, and she turned away impatiently as Mrs.┬аGeorge Dorset, glittering in serpentine spangles, drew Percy Gryce in her wake to a confidential nook beneath the gallery. + 

It was not that Miss Bart was afraid of losing her newly-acquired hold over Mr.┬аGryce. Mrs.┬аDorset might startle or dazzle him, but she had neither the skill nor the patience to effect his capture. She was too self-engrossed to penetrate the recesses of his shyness, and besides, why should she care to give herself the trouble? At most it might amuse her to make sport of his simplicity for an eveningтБатАФafter that he would be merely a burden to her, and knowing this, she was far too experienced to encourage him. But the mere thought of that other woman, who could take a man up and toss him aside as she willed, without having to regard him as a possible factor in her plans, filled Lily Bart with envy. She had been bored all the afternoon by Percy GryceтБатАФthe mere thought seemed to waken an echo of his droning voiceтБатАФbut she could not ignore him on the morrow, she must follow up her success, must submit to more boredom, must be ready with fresh compliances and adaptabilities, and all on the bare chance that he might ultimately decide to do her the honour of boring her for life. + 

It was a hateful fateтБатАФbut how escape from it? What choice had she? To be herself, or a Gerty Farish. As she entered her bedroom, with its softly-shaded lights, her lace dressing-gown lying across the silken bedspread, her little embroidered slippers before the fire, a vase of carnations filling the air with perfume, and the last novels and magazines lying uncut on a table beside the reading-lamp, she had a vision of Miss FarishтАЩs cramped flat, with its cheap conveniences and hideous wallpapers. No; she was not made for mean and shabby surroundings, for the squalid compromises of poverty. Her whole being dilated in an atmosphere of luxury; it was the background she required, the only climate she could breathe in. But the luxury of others was not what she wanted. A few years ago it had sufficed her: she had taken her daily meed of pleasure without caring who provided it. Now she was beginning to chafe at the obligations it imposed, to feel herself a mere pensioner on the splendour which had once seemed to belong to her. There were even moments when she was conscious of having to pay her way. + 

For a long time she had refused to play bridge. She knew she could not afford it, and she was afraid of acquiring so expensive a taste. She had seen the danger exemplified in more than one of her associatesтБатАФin young Ned Silverton, for instance, the charming fair boy now seated in abject rapture at the elbow of Mrs.┬аFisher, a striking divorcee with eyes and gowns as emphatic as the headlines of her тАЬcase.тАЭ Lily could remember when young Silverton had stumbled into their circle, with the air of a strayed Arcadian who has published charming sonnets in his college journal. Since then he had developed a taste for Mrs.┬аFisher and bridge, and the latter at least had involved him in expenses from which he had been more than once rescued by harassed maiden sisters, who treasured the sonnets, and went without sugar in their tea to keep their darling afloat. NedтАЩs case was familiar to Lily: she had seen his charming eyesтБатАФwhich had a good deal more poetry in them than the sonnetsтБатАФchange from surprise to amusement, and from amusement to anxiety, as he passed under the spell of the terrible god of chance; and she was afraid of discovering the same symptoms in her own case. + 

For in the last year she had found that her hostesses expected her to take a place at the card-table. It was one of the taxes she had to pay for their prolonged hospitality, and for the dresses and trinkets which occasionally replenished her insufficient wardrobe. And since she had played regularly the passion had grown on her. Once or twice of late she had won a large sum, and instead of keeping it against future losses, had spent it in dress or jewelry; and the desire to atone for this imprudence, combined with the increasing exhilaration of the game, drove her to risk higher stakes at each fresh venture. She tried to excuse herself on the plea that, in the Trenor set, if one played at all one must either play high or be set down as priggish or stingy; but she knew that the gambling passion was upon her, and that in her present surroundings there was small hope of resisting it. + 

Tonight the luck had been persistently bad, and the little gold purse which hung among her trinkets was almost empty when she returned to her room. She unlocked the wardrobe, and taking out her jewel-case, looked under the tray for the roll of bills from which she had replenished the purse before going down to dinner. Only twenty dollars were left: the discovery was so startling that for a moment she fancied she must have been robbed. Then she took paper and pencil, and seating herself at the writing-table, tried to reckon up what she had spent during the day. Her head was throbbing with fatigue, and she had to go over the figures again and again; but at last it became clear to her that she had lost three hundred dollars at cards. She took out her chequebook to see if her balance was larger than she remembered, but found she had erred in the other direction. Then she returned to her calculations; but figure as she would, she could not conjure back the vanished three hundred dollars. It was the sum she had set aside to pacify her dressmakerтБатАФunless she should decide to use it as a sop to the jeweller. At any rate, she had so many uses for it that its very insufficiency had caused her to play high in the hope of doubling it. But of course she had lostтБатАФshe who needed every penny, while Bertha Dorset, whose husband showered money on her, must have pocketed at least five hundred, and Judy Trenor, who could have afforded to lose a thousand a night, had left the table clutching such a heap of bills that she had been unable to shake hands with her guests when they bade her good night. + 

A world in which such things could be seemed a miserable place to Lily Bart; but then she had never been able to understand the laws of a universe which was so ready to leave her out of its calculations. + 

She began to undress without ringing for her maid, whom she had sent to bed. She had been long enough in bondage to other peopleтАЩs pleasure to be considerate of those who depended on hers, and in her bitter moods it sometimes struck her that she and her maid were in the same position, except that the latter received her wages more regularly. + 

As she sat before the mirror brushing her hair, her face looked hollow and pale, and she was frightened by two little lines near her mouth, faint flaws in the smooth curve of the cheek. + 

тАЬOh, I must stop worrying!тАЭ she exclaimed. тАЬUnless itтАЩs the electric lightтБатАФтАЭ she reflected, springing up from her seat and lighting the candles on the dressing-table. + 

She turned out the wall-lights, and peered at herself between the candle-flames. The white oval of her face swam out waveringly from a background of shadows, the uncertain light blurring it like a haze; but the two lines about the mouth remained. + 

Lily rose and undressed in haste. + 

тАЬIt is only because I am tired and have such odious things to think about,тАЭ she kept repeating; and it seemed an added injustice that petty cares should leave a trace on the beauty which was her only defence against them. + 

But the odious things were there, and remained with her. She returned wearily to the thought of Percy Gryce, as a wayfarer picks up a heavy load and toils on after a brief rest. She was almost sure she had тАЬlandedтАЭ him: a few daysтАЩ work and she would win her reward. But the reward itself seemed unpalatable just then: she could get no zest from the thought of victory. It would be a rest from worry, no moreтБатАФand how little that would have seemed to her a few years earlier! Her ambitions had shrunk gradually in the desiccating air of failure. But why had she failed? Was it her own fault or that of destiny? + 

She remembered how her mother, after they had lost their money, used to say to her with a kind of fierce vindictiveness: тАЬBut youтАЩll get it all backтБатАФyouтАЩll get it all back, with your face.тАЭтБатАКтБатАж The remembrance roused a whole train of association, and she lay in the darkness reconstructing the past out of which her present had grown. + 

A house in which no one ever dined at home unless there was тАЬcompanyтАЭ; a doorbell perpetually ringing; a hall-table showered with square envelopes which were opened in haste, and oblong envelopes which were allowed to gather dust in the depths of a bronze jar; a series of French and English maids giving warning amid a chaos of hurriedly-ransacked wardrobes and dress-closets; an equally changing dynasty of nurses and footmen; quarrels in the pantry, the kitchen and the drawing-room; precipitate trips to Europe, and returns with gorged trunks and days of interminable unpacking; semiannual discussions as to where the summer should be spent, grey interludes of economy and brilliant reactions of expenseтБатАФsuch was the setting of Lily BartтАЩs first memories. + 

Ruling the turbulent element called home was the vigorous and determined figure of a mother still young enough to dance her ball-dresses to rags, while the hazy outline of a neutral-tinted father filled an intermediate space between the butler and the man who came to wind the clocks. Even to the eyes of infancy, Mrs.┬аHudson Bart had appeared young; but Lily could not recall the time when her father had not been bald and slightly stooping, with streaks of grey in his hair, and a tired walk. It was a shock to her to learn afterward that he was but two years older than her mother. + 

Lily seldom saw her father by daylight. All day he was тАЬdown townтАЭ; and in winter it was long after nightfall when she heard his fagged step on the stairs and his hand on the schoolroom door. He would kiss her in silence, and ask one or two questions of the nurse or the governess; then Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs maid would come to remind him that he was dining out, and he would hurry away with a nod to Lily. In summer, when he joined them for a Sunday at Newport or Southampton, he was even more effaced and silent than in winter. It seemed to tire him to rest, and he would sit for hours staring at the sea-line from a quiet corner of the verandah, while the clatter of his wifeтАЩs existence went on unheeded a few feet off. Generally, however, Mrs.┬аBart and Lily went to Europe for the summer, and before the steamer was halfway over Mr.┬аBart had dipped below the horizon. Sometimes his daughter heard him denounced for having neglected to forward Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs remittances; but for the most part he was never mentioned or thought of till his patient stooping figure presented itself on the New York dock as a buffer between the magnitude of his wifeтАЩs luggage and the restrictions of the American customhouse. + 

In this desultory yet agitated fashion life went on through LilyтАЩs teens: a zigzag broken course down which the family craft glided on a rapid current of amusement, tugged at by the underflow of a perpetual needтБатАФthe need of more money. Lily could not recall the time when there had been money enough, and in some vague way her father seemed always to blame for the deficiency. It could certainly not be the fault of Mrs.┬аBart, who was spoken of by her friends as a тАЬwonderful manager.тАЭ Mrs.┬аBart was famous for the unlimited effect she produced on limited means; and to the lady and her acquaintances there was something heroic in living as though one were much richer than oneтАЩs bankbook denoted. + 

Lily was naturally proud of her motherтАЩs aptitude in this line: she had been brought up in the faith that, whatever it cost, one must have a good cook, and be what Mrs.┬аBart called тАЬdecently dressed.тАЭ Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs worst reproach to her husband was to ask him if he expected her to тАЬlive like a pigтАЭ; and his replying in the negative was always regarded as a justification for cabling to Paris for an extra dress or two, and telephoning to the jeweller that he might, after all, send home the turquoise bracelet which Mrs.┬аBart had looked at that morning. + 

Lily knew people who тАЬlived like pigs,тАЭ and their appearance and surroundings justified her motherтАЩs repugnance to that form of existence. They were mostly cousins, who inhabited dingy houses with engravings from ColeтАЩs Voyage of Life on the drawing-room walls, and slatternly parlour-maids who said тАЬIтАЩll go and seeтАЭ to visitors calling at an hour when all right-minded persons are conventionally if not actually out. The disgusting part of it was that many of these cousins were rich, so that Lily imbibed the idea that if people lived like pigs it was from choice, and through the lack of any proper standard of conduct. This gave her a sense of reflected superiority, and she did not need Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs comments on the family frumps and misers to foster her naturally lively taste for splendour. + 

Lily was nineteen when circumstances caused her to revise her view of the universe. + 

The previous year she had made a dazzling debut fringed by a heavy thundercloud of bills. The light of the debut still lingered on the horizon, but the cloud had thickened; and suddenly it broke. The suddenness added to the horror; and there were still times when Lily relived with painful vividness every detail of the day on which the blow fell. She and her mother had been seated at the luncheon-table, over the chaufroix and cold salmon of the previous nightтАЩs dinner: it was one of Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs few economies to consume in private the expensive remnants of her hospitality. Lily was feeling the pleasant languor which is youthтАЩs penalty for dancing till dawn; but her mother, in spite of a few lines about the mouth, and under the yellow waves on her temples, was as alert, determined and high in colour as if she had risen from an untroubled sleep. + 

In the centre of the table, between the melting marrons glac├йs and candied cherries, a pyramid of American Beauties lifted their vigorous stems; they held their heads as high as Mrs.┬аBart, but their rose-colour had turned to a dissipated purple, and LilyтАЩs sense of fitness was disturbed by their reappearance on the luncheon-table. + 

тАЬI really think, mother,тАЭ she said reproachfully, тАЬwe might afford a few fresh flowers for luncheon. Just some jonquils or lilies-of-the-valleyтБатАФтАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аBart stared. Her own fastidiousness had its eye fixed on the world, and she did not care how the luncheon-table looked when there was no one present at it but the family. But she smiled at her daughterтАЩs innocence. + 

тАЬLilies-of-the-valley,тАЭ she said calmly, тАЬcost two dollars a dozen at this season.тАЭ + 

Lily was not impressed. She knew very little of the value of money. + 

тАЬIt would not take more than six dozen to fill that bowl,тАЭ she argued. + 

тАЬSix dozen what?тАЭ asked her fatherтАЩs voice in the doorway. + 

The two women looked up in surprise; though it was a Saturday, the sight of Mr.┬аBart at luncheon was an unwonted one. But neither his wife nor his daughter was sufficiently interested to ask an explanation. + 

Mr.┬аBart dropped into a chair, and sat gazing absently at the fragment of jellied salmon which the butler had placed before him. + 

тАЬI was only saying,тАЭ Lily began, тАЬthat I hate to see faded flowers at luncheon; and mother says a bunch of lilies-of-the-valley would not cost more than twelve dollars. MaynтАЩt I tell the florist to send a few every day?тАЭ + 

She leaned confidently toward her father: he seldom refused her anything, and Mrs.┬аBart had taught her to plead with him when her own entreaties failed. + 

Mr.┬аBart sat motionless, his gaze still fixed on the salmon, and his lower jaw dropped; he looked even paler than usual, and his thin hair lay in untidy streaks on his forehead. Suddenly he looked at his daughter and laughed. The laugh was so strange that Lily coloured under it: she disliked being ridiculed, and her father seemed to see something ridiculous in the request. Perhaps he thought it foolish that she should trouble him about such a trifle. + 

тАЬTwelve dollarsтБатАФtwelve dollars a day for flowers? Oh, certainly, my dearтБатАФgive him an order for twelve hundred.тАЭ He continued to laugh. + 

Mrs.┬аBart gave him a quick glance. + 

тАЬYou neednтАЩt wait, PoleworthтБатАФI will ring for you,тАЭ she said to the butler. + 

The butler withdrew with an air of silent disapproval, leaving the remains of the chaufroix on the sideboard. + 

тАЬWhat is the matter, Hudson? Are you ill?тАЭ said Mrs.┬аBart severely. + 

She had no tolerance for scenes which were not of her own making, and it was odious to her that her husband should make a show of himself before the servants. + 

тАЬAre you ill?тАЭ she repeated. + 

тАЬIll?тБатАФNo, IтАЩm ruined,тАЭ he said. + 

Lily made a frightened sound, and Mrs.┬аBart rose to her feet. + 

тАЬRuinedтБатАФ?тАЭ she cried; but controlling herself instantly, she turned a calm face to Lily. + 

тАЬShut the pantry door,тАЭ she said. + 

Lily obeyed, and when she turned back into the room her father was sitting with both elbows on the table, the plate of salmon between them, and his head bowed on his hands. + 

Mrs.┬аBart stood over him with a white face which made her hair unnaturally yellow. She looked at Lily as the latter approached: her look was terrible, but her voice was modulated to a ghastly cheerfulness. + 

тАЬYour father is not wellтБатАФhe doesnтАЩt know what he is saying. It is nothingтБатАФbut you had better go upstairs; and donтАЩt talk to the servants,тАЭ she added. + 

Lily obeyed; she always obeyed when her mother spoke in that voice. She had not been deceived by Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs words: she knew at once that they were ruined. In the dark hours which followed, that awful fact overshadowed even her fatherтАЩs slow and difficult dying. To his wife he no longer counted: he had become extinct when he ceased to fulfil his purpose, and she sat at his side with the provisional air of a traveller who waits for a belated train to start. LilyтАЩs feelings were softer: she pitied him in a frightened ineffectual way. But the fact that he was for the most part unconscious, and that his attention, when she stole into the room, drifted away from her after a moment, made him even more of a stranger than in the nursery days when he had never come home till after dark. She seemed always to have seen him through a blurтБатАФfirst of sleepiness, then of distance and indifferenceтБатАФand now the fog had thickened till he was almost indistinguishable. If she could have performed any little services for him, or have exchanged with him a few of those affecting words which an extensive perusal of fiction had led her to connect with such occasions, the filial instinct might have stirred in her; but her pity, finding no active expression, remained in a state of spectatorship, overshadowed by her motherтАЩs grim unflagging resentment. Every look and act of Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs seemed to say: тАЬYou are sorry for him nowтБатАФbut you will feel differently when you see what he has done to us.тАЭ + 

It was a relief to Lily when her father died. + 

Then a long winter set in. There was a little money left, but to Mrs.┬аBart it seemed worse than nothingтБатАФthe mere mockery of what she was entitled to. What was the use of living if one had to live like a pig? She sank into a kind of furious apathy, a state of inert anger against fate. Her faculty for тАЬmanagingтАЭ deserted her, or she no longer took sufficient pride in it to exert it. It was well enough to тАЬmanageтАЭ when by so doing one could keep oneтАЩs own carriage; but when oneтАЩs best contrivance did not conceal the fact that one had to go on foot, the effort was no longer worth making. + 

Lily and her mother wandered from place to place, now paying long visits to relations whose housekeeping Mrs.┬аBart criticized, and who deplored the fact that she let Lily breakfast in bed when the girl had no prospects before her, and now vegetating in cheap continental refuges, where Mrs.┬аBart held herself fiercely aloof from the frugal tea-tables of her companions in misfortune. She was especially careful to avoid her old friends and the scenes of her former successes. To be poor seemed to her such a confession of failure that it amounted to disgrace; and she detected a note of condescension in the friendliest advances. + 

Only one thought consoled her, and that was the contemplation of LilyтАЩs beauty. She studied it with a kind of passion, as though it were some weapon she had slowly fashioned for her vengeance. It was the last asset in their fortunes, the nucleus around which their life was to be rebuilt. She watched it jealously, as though it were her own property and Lily its mere custodian; and she tried to instil into the latter a sense of the responsibility that such a charge involved. She followed in imagination the career of other beauties, pointing out to her daughter what might be achieved through such a gift, and dwelling on the awful warning of those who, in spite of it, had failed to get what they wanted: to Mrs.┬аBart, only stupidity could explain the lamentable denouement of some of her examples. She was not above the inconsistency of charging fate, rather than herself, with her own misfortunes; but she inveighed so acrimoniously against love-matches that Lily would have fancied her own marriage had been of that nature, had not Mrs.┬аBart frequently assured her that she had been тАЬtalked into itтАЭтБатАФby whom, she never made clear. + 

Lily was duly impressed by the magnitude of her opportunities. The dinginess of her present life threw into enchanting relief the existence to which she felt herself entitled. To a less illuminated intelligence Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs counsels might have been dangerous; but Lily understood that beauty is only the raw material of conquest, and that to convert it into success other arts are required. She knew that to betray any sense of superiority was a subtler form of the stupidity her mother denounced, and it did not take her long to learn that a beauty needs more tact than the possessor of an average set of features. + 

Her ambitions were not as crude as Mrs.┬аBartтАЩs. It had been among that ladyтАЩs grievances that her husbandтБатАФin the early days, before he was too tiredтБатАФhad wasted his evenings in what she vaguely described as тАЬreading poetryтАЭ; and among the effects packed off to auction after his death were a score or two of dingy volumes which had struggled for existence among the boots and medicine bottles of his dressing-room shelves. There was in Lily a vein of sentiment, perhaps transmitted from this source, which gave an idealizing touch to her most prosaic purposes. She liked to think of her beauty as a power for good, as giving her the opportunity to attain a position where she should make her influence felt in the vague diffusion of refinement and good taste. She was fond of pictures and flowers, and of sentimental fiction, and she could not help thinking that the possession of such tastes ennobled her desire for worldly advantages. She would not indeed have cared to marry a man who was merely rich: she was secretly ashamed of her motherтАЩs crude passion for money. LilyтАЩs preference would have been for an English nobleman with political ambitions and vast estates; or, for second choice, an Italian prince with a castle in the Apennines and an hereditary office in the Vatican. Lost causes had a romantic charm for her, and she liked to picture herself as standing aloof from the vulgar press of the Quirinal, and sacrificing her pleasure to the claims of an immemorial tradition.тБатАКтБатАж + 

How long ago and how far off it all seemed! Those ambitions were hardly more futile and childish than the earlier ones which had centred about the possession of a French jointed doll with real hair. Was it only ten years since she had wavered in imagination between the English earl and the Italian prince? Relentlessly her mind travelled on over the dreary interval.тБатАКтБатАж + 

After two years of hungry roaming Mrs.┬аBart had diedтБатАФdied of a deep disgust. She had hated dinginess, and it was her fate to be dingy. Her visions of a brilliant marriage for Lily had faded after the first year. + 

тАЬPeople canтАЩt marry you if they donтАЩt see youтБатАФand how can they see you in these holes where weтАЩre stuck?тАЭ That was the burden of her lament; and her last adjuration to her daughter was to escape from dinginess if she could. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt let it creep up on you and drag you down. Fight your way out of it somehowтБатАФyouтАЩre young and can do it,тАЭ she insisted. + 

She had died during one of their brief visits to New York, and there Lily at once became the centre of a family council composed of the wealthy relatives whom she had been taught to despise for living like pigs. It may be that they had an inkling of the sentiments in which she had been brought up, for none of them manifested a very lively desire for her company; indeed, the question threatened to remain unsolved till Mrs.┬аPeniston with a sigh announced: тАЬIтАЩll try her for a year.тАЭ + 

Everyone was surprised, but one and all concealed their surprise, lest Mrs.┬аPeniston should be alarmed by it into reconsidering her decision. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston was Mr.┬аBartтАЩs widowed sister, and if she was by no means the richest of the family group, its other members nevertheless abounded in reasons why she was clearly destined by Providence to assume the charge of Lily. In the first place she was alone, and it would be charming for her to have a young companion. Then she sometimes travelled, and LilyтАЩs familiarity with foreign customsтБатАФdeplored as a misfortune by her more conservative relativesтБатАФwould at least enable her to act as a kind of courier. But as a matter of fact Mrs.┬аPeniston had not been affected by these considerations. She had taken the girl simply because no one else would have her, and because she had the kind of moral mauvaise honte which makes the public display of selfishness difficult, though it does not interfere with its private indulgence. It would have been impossible for Mrs.┬аPeniston to be heroic on a desert island, but with the eyes of her little world upon her she took a certain pleasure in her act. + 

She reaped the reward to which disinterestedness is entitled, and found an agreeable companion in her niece. She had expected to find Lily headstrong, critical and тАЬforeignтАЭтБатАФfor even Mrs.┬аPeniston, though she occasionally went abroad, had the family dread of foreignnessтБатАФbut the girl showed a pliancy, which, to a more penetrating mind than her auntтАЩs, might have been less reassuring than the open selfishness of youth. Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston, however, did not suffer from her nieceтАЩs adaptability. Lily had no intention of taking advantage of her auntтАЩs good nature. She was in truth grateful for the refuge offered her: Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs opulent interior was at least not externally dingy. But dinginess is a quality which assumes all manner of disguises; and Lily soon found that it was as latent in the expensive routine of her auntтАЩs life as in the makeshift existence of a continental pension. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston was one of the episodical persons who form the padding of life. It was impossible to believe that she had herself ever been a focus of activities. The most vivid thing about her was the fact that her grandmother had been a Van Alstyne. This connection with the well-fed and industrious stock of early New York revealed itself in the glacial neatness of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs drawing-room and in the excellence of her cuisine. She belonged to the class of old New Yorkers who have always lived well, dressed expensively, and done little else; and to these inherited obligations Mrs.┬аPeniston faithfully conformed. She had always been a looker-on at life, and her mind resembled one of those little mirrors which her Dutch ancestors were accustomed to affix to their upper windows, so that from the depths of an impenetrable domesticity they might see what was happening in the street. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston was the owner of a country-place in New Jersey, but she had never lived there since her husbandтАЩs deathтБатАФa remote event, which appeared to dwell in her memory chiefly as a dividing point in the personal reminiscences that formed the staple of her conversation. She was a woman who remembered dates with intensity, and could tell at a momentтАЩs notice whether the drawing-room curtains had been renewed before or after Mr.┬аPenistonтАЩs last illness. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston thought the country lonely and trees damp, and cherished a vague fear of meeting a bull. To guard against such contingencies she frequented the more populous watering-places, where she installed herself impersonally in a hired house and looked on at life through the matting screen of her verandah. In the care of such a guardian, it soon became clear to Lily that she was to enjoy only the material advantages of good food and expensive clothing; and, though far from underrating these, she would gladly have exchanged them for what Mrs.┬аBart had taught her to regard as opportunities. She sighed to think what her motherтАЩs fierce energies would have accomplished, had they been coupled with Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs resources. Lily had abundant energy of her own, but it was restricted by the necessity of adapting herself to her auntтАЩs habits. She saw that at all costs she must keep Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs favour till, as Mrs.┬аBart would have phrased it, she could stand on her own legs. Lily had no mind for the vagabond life of the poor relation, and to adapt herself to Mrs.┬аPeniston she had, to some degree, to assume that ladyтАЩs passive attitude. She had fancied at first that it would be easy to draw her aunt into the whirl of her own activities, but there was a static force in Mrs.┬аPeniston against which her nieceтАЩs efforts spent themselves in vain. To attempt to bring her into active relation with life was like tugging at a piece of furniture which has been screwed to the floor. She did not, indeed, expect Lily to remain equally immovable: she had all the American guardianтАЩs indulgence for the volatility of youth. She had indulgence also for certain other habits of her nieceтАЩs. It seemed to her natural that Lily should spend all her money on dress, and she supplemented the girlтАЩs scanty income by occasional тАЬhandsome presentsтАЭ meant to be applied to the same purpose. Lily, who was intensely practical, would have preferred a fixed allowance; but Mrs.┬аPeniston liked the periodical recurrence of gratitude evoked by unexpected cheques, and was perhaps shrewd enough to perceive that such a method of giving kept alive in her niece a salutary sense of dependence. + 

Beyond this, Mrs.┬аPeniston had not felt called upon to do anything for her charge: she had simply stood aside and let her take the field. Lily had taken it, at first with the confidence of assured possessorship, then with gradually narrowing demands, till now she found herself actually struggling for a foothold on the broad space which had once seemed her own for the asking. How it happened she did not yet know. Sometimes she thought it was because Mrs.┬аPeniston had been too passive, and again she feared it was because she herself had not been passive enough. Had she shown an undue eagerness for victory? Had she lacked patience, pliancy and dissimulation? Whether she charged herself with these faults or absolved herself from them, made no difference in the sum-total of her failure. Younger and plainer girls had been married off by dozens, and she was nine-and-twenty, and still Miss Bart. + 

She was beginning to have fits of angry rebellion against fate, when she longed to drop out of the race and make an independent life for herself. But what manner of life would it be? She had barely enough money to pay her dressmakersтАЩ bills and her gambling debts; and none of the desultory interests which she dignified with the name of tastes was pronounced enough to enable her to live contentedly in obscurity. Ah, noтБатАФshe was too intelligent not to be honest with herself. She knew that she hated dinginess as much as her mother had hated it, and to her last breath she meant to fight against it, dragging herself up again and again above its flood till she gained the bright pinnacles of success which presented such a slippery surface to her clutch. + 

IV + 

The next morning, on her breakfast tray, Miss Bart found a note from her hostess. + 

тАЬDearest Lily,тАЭ it ran, тАЬif it is not too much of a bore to be down by ten, will you come to my sitting-room to help me with some tiresome things?тАЭ + 

Lily tossed aside the note and subsided on her pillows with a sigh. It was a bore to be down by tenтБатАФan hour regarded at Bellomont as vaguely synchronous with sunriseтБатАФand she knew too well the nature of the tiresome things in question. Miss Pragg, the secretary, had been called away, and there would be notes and dinner-cards to write, lost addresses to hunt up, and other social drudgery to perform. It was understood that Miss Bart should fill the gap in such emergencies, and she usually recognized the obligation without a murmur. + 

Today, however, it renewed the sense of servitude which the previous nightтАЩs review of her chequebook had produced. Everything in her surroundings ministered to feelings of ease and amenity. The windows stood open to the sparkling freshness of the September morning, and between the yellow boughs she caught a perspective of hedges and parterres leading by degrees of lessening formality to the free undulations of the park. Her maid had kindled a little fire on the hearth, and it contended cheerfully with the sunlight which slanted across the moss-green carpet and caressed the curved sides of an old marquetry desk. Near the bed stood a table holding her breakfast tray, with its harmonious porcelain and silver, a handful of violets in a slender glass, and the morning paper folded beneath her letters. There was nothing new to Lily in these tokens of a studied luxury; but, though they formed a part of her atmosphere, she never lost her sensitiveness to their charm. Mere display left her with a sense of superior distinction; but she felt an affinity to all the subtler manifestations of wealth. + 

Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs summons, however, suddenly recalled her state of dependence, and she rose and dressed in a mood of irritability that she was usually too prudent to indulge. She knew that such emotions leave lines on the face as well as in the character, and she had meant to take warning by the little creases which her midnight survey had revealed. + 

The matter-of-course tone of Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs greeting deepened her irritation. If one did drag oneтАЩs self out of bed at such an hour, and come down fresh and radiant to the monotony of note-writing, some special recognition of the sacrifice seemed fitting. But Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs tone showed no consciousness of the fact. + 

тАЬOh, Lily, thatтАЩs nice of you,тАЭ she merely sighed across the chaos of letters, bills and other domestic documents which gave an incongruously commercial touch to the slender elegance of her writing-table. + 

тАЬThere are such lots of horrors this morning,тАЭ she added, clearing a space in the centre of the confusion and rising to yield her seat to Miss Bart. + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor was a tall fair woman, whose height just saved her from redundancy. Her rosy blondness had survived some forty years of futile activity without showing much trace of ill-usage except in a diminished play of feature. It was difficult to define her beyond saying that she seemed to exist only as a hostess, not so much from any exaggerated instinct of hospitality as because she could not sustain life except in a crowd. The collective nature of her interests exempted her from the ordinary rivalries of her sex, and she knew no more personal emotion than that of hatred for the woman who presumed to give bigger dinners or have more amusing house-parties than herself. As her social talents, backed by Mr.┬аTrenorтАЩs bank-account, almost always assured her ultimate triumph in such competitions, success had developed in her an unscrupulous good nature toward the rest of her sex, and in Miss BartтАЩs utilitarian classification of her friends, Mrs.┬аTrenor ranked as the woman who was least likely to тАЬgo backтАЭ on her. + 

тАЬIt was simply inhuman of Pragg to go off now,тАЭ Mrs.┬аTrenor declared, as her friend seated herself at the desk. тАЬShe says her sister is going to have a babyтБатАФas if that were anything to having a house-party! IтАЩm sure I shall get most horribly mixed up and there will be some awful rows. When I was down at Tuxedo I asked a lot of people for next week, and IтАЩve mislaid the list and canтАЩt remember who is coming. And this week is going to be a horrid failure tooтБатАФand Gwen Van Osburgh will go back and tell her mother how bored people were. I did mean to ask the WetherallsтБатАФthat was a blunder of GusтАЩs. They disapprove of Carry Fisher, you know. As if one could help having Carry Fisher! It was foolish of her to get that second divorceтБатАФCarry always overdoes thingsтБатАФbut she said the only way to get a penny out of Fisher was to divorce him and make him pay alimony. And poor Carry has to consider every dollar. ItтАЩs really absurd of Alice Wetherall to make such a fuss about meeting her, when one thinks of what society is coming to. Someone said the other day that there was a divorce and a case of appendicitis in every family one knows. Besides, Carry is the only person who can keep Gus in a good humour when we have bores in the house. Have you noticed that all the husbands like her? All, I mean, except her own. ItтАЩs rather clever of her to have made a specialty of devoting herself to dull peopleтБатАФthe field is such a large one, and she has it practically to herself. She finds compensations, no doubtтБатАФI know she borrows money of GusтБатАФbut then IтАЩd pay her to keep him in a good humour, so I canтАЩt complain, after all.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor paused to enjoy the spectacle of Miss BartтАЩs efforts to unravel her tangled correspondence. + 

тАЬBut it is only the Wetheralls and Carry,тАЭ she resumed, with a fresh note of lament. тАЬThe truth is, IтАЩm awfully disappointed in Lady Cressida Raith.тАЭ + 

тАЬDisappointed? Had you known her before?тАЭ + 

тАЬMercy, noтБатАФnever saw her till yesterday. Lady Skiddaw sent her over with letters to the Van Osburghs, and I heard that Maria Van Osburgh was asking a big party to meet her this week, so I thought it would be fun to get her away, and Jack Stepney, who knew her in India, managed it for me. Maria was furious, and actually had the impudence to make Gwen invite herself here, so that they shouldnтАЩt be quite out of itтБатАФif IтАЩd known what Lady Cressida was like, they could have had her and welcome! But I thought any friend of the SkiddawsтАЩ was sure to be amusing. You remember what fun Lady Skiddaw was? There were times when I simply had to send the girls out of the room. Besides, Lady Cressida is the Duchess of BeltshireтАЩs sister, and I naturally supposed she was the same sort; but you never can tell in those English families. They are so big that thereтАЩs room for all kinds, and it turns out that Lady Cressida is the moral oneтБатАФmarried a clergyman and does missionary work in the East End. Think of my taking such a lot of trouble about a clergymanтАЩs wife, who wears Indian jewelry and botanizes! She made Gus take her all through the glasshouses yesterday, and bothered him to death by asking him the names of the plants. Fancy treating Gus as if he were the gardener!тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor brought this out in a crescendo of indignation. + 

тАЬOh, well, perhaps Lady Cressida will reconcile the Wetheralls to meeting Carry Fisher,тАЭ said Miss Bart pacifically. + 

тАЬIтАЩm sure I hope so! But she is boring all the men horribly, and if she takes to distributing tracts, as I hear she does, it will be too depressing. The worst of it is that she would have been so useful at the right time. You know we have to have the Bishop once a year, and she would have given just the right tone to things. I always have horrid luck about the BishopтАЩs visits,тАЭ added Mrs.┬аTrenor, whose present misery was being fed by a rapidly rising tide of reminiscence; тАЬlast year, when he came, Gus forgot all about his being here, and brought home the Ned Wintons and the FarleysтБатАФfive divorces and six sets of children between them!тАЭ + 

тАЬWhen is Lady Cressida going?тАЭ Lily enquired. + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor cast up her eyes in despair. тАЬMy dear, if one only knew! I was in such a hurry to get her away from Maria that I actually forgot to name a date, and Gus says she told someone she meant to stop here all winter.тАЭ + 

тАЬTo stop here? In this house?тАЭ + 

тАЬDonтАЩt be sillyтБатАФin America. But if no one else asks herтБатАФyou know they never go to hotels.тАЭ + 

тАЬPerhaps Gus only said it to frighten you.тАЭ + 

тАЬNoтБатАФI heard her tell Bertha Dorset that she had six months to put in while her husband was taking the cure in the Engadine. You should have seen Bertha look vacant! But itтАЩs no joke, you knowтБатАФif she stays here all the autumn sheтАЩll spoil everything, and Maria Van Osburgh will simply exult.тАЭ + 

At this affecting vision Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs voice trembled with self-pity. + 

тАЬOh, JudyтБатАФas if anyone were ever bored at Bellomont!тАЭ Miss Bart tactfully protested. тАЬYou know perfectly well that, if Mrs.┬аVan Osburgh were to get all the right people and leave you with all the wrong ones, youтАЩd manage to make things go off, and she wouldnтАЩt.тАЭ + 

Such an assurance would usually have restored Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs complacency; but on this occasion it did not chase the cloud from her brow. + 

тАЬIt isnтАЩt only Lady Cressida,тАЭ she lamented. тАЬEverything has gone wrong this week. I can see that Bertha Dorset is furious with me.тАЭ + 

тАЬFurious with you? Why?тАЭ + 

тАЬBecause I told her that Lawrence Selden was coming; but he wouldnтАЩt, after all, and sheтАЩs quite unreasonable enough to think itтАЩs my fault.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart put down her pen and sat absently gazing at the note she had begun. + 

тАЬI thought that was all over,тАЭ she said. + 

тАЬSo it is, on his side. And of course Bertha has been idle since. But I fancy sheтАЩs out of a job just at presentтБатАФand someone gave me a hint that I had better ask Lawrence. Well, I did ask himтБатАФbut I couldnтАЩt make him come; and now I suppose sheтАЩll take it out of me by being perfectly nasty to everyone else.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, she may take it out of him by being perfectly charmingтБатАФto someone else.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor shook her head dolefully. тАЬShe knows he wouldnтАЩt mind. And who else is there? Alice Wetherall wonтАЩt let Lucius out of her sight. Ned Silverton canтАЩt take his eyes off Carry FisherтБатАФpoor boy! Gus is bored by Bertha, Jack Stepney knows her too wellтБатАФandтБатАФwell, to be sure, thereтАЩs Percy Gryce!тАЭ + 

She sat up smiling at the thought. + 

Miss BartтАЩs countenance did not reflect the smile. + 

тАЬOh, she and Mr.┬аGryce would not be likely to hit it off.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou mean that sheтАЩd shock him and heтАЩd bore her? Well, thatтАЩs not such a bad beginning, you know. But I hope she wonтАЩt take it into her head to be nice to him, for I asked him here on purpose for you.тАЭ + 

Lily laughed. тАЬMerci du compliment! I should certainly have no show against Bertha.тАЭ + 

тАЬDo you think I am uncomplimentary? IтАЩm not really, you know. Everyone knows youтАЩre a thousand times handsomer and cleverer than Bertha; but then youтАЩre not nasty. And for always getting what she wants in the long run, commend me to a nasty woman.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart stared in affected reproval. тАЬI thought you were so fond of Bertha.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, I amтБатАФitтАЩs much safer to be fond of dangerous people. But she is dangerousтБатАФand if I ever saw her up to mischief itтАЩs now. I can tell by poor GeorgeтАЩs manner. That man is a perfect barometerтБатАФhe always knows when Bertha is going toтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬTo fall?тАЭ Miss Bart suggested. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt be shocking! You know he believes in her still. And of course I donтАЩt say thereтАЩs any real harm in Bertha. Only she delights in making people miserable, and especially poor George.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, he seems cut out for the partтБатАФI donтАЩt wonder she likes more cheerful companionship.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, George is not as dismal as you think. If Bertha did worry him he would be quite different. Or if sheтАЩd leave him alone, and let him arrange his life as he pleases. But she doesnтАЩt dare lose her hold of him on account of the money, and so when he isnтАЩt jealous she pretends to be.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart went on writing in silence, and her hostess sat following her train of thought with frowning intensity. + 

тАЬDo you know,тАЭ she exclaimed after a long pause, тАЬI believe IтАЩll call up Lawrence on the telephone and tell him he simply must come?тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, donтАЩt,тАЭ said Lily, with a quick suffusion of colour. The blush surprised her almost as much as it did her hostess, who, though not commonly observant of facial changes, sat staring at her with puzzled eyes. + 

тАЬGood gracious, Lily, how handsome you are! Why? Do you dislike him so much?тАЭ + 

тАЬNot at all; I like him. But if you are actuated by the benevolent intention of protecting me from BerthaтБатАФI donтАЩt think I need your protection.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor sat up with an exclamation. тАЬLily!тБатАФPercy? Do you mean to say youтАЩve actually done it?тАЭ + 

Miss Bart smiled. тАЬI only mean to say that Mr.┬аGryce and I are getting to be very good friends.тАЭ + 

тАЬHтАЩmтБатАФI see.тАЭ Mrs.┬аTrenor fixed a rapt eye upon her. тАЬYou know they say he has eight hundred thousand a yearтБатАФand spends nothing, except on some rubbishy old books. And his mother has heart-disease and will leave him a lot more. Oh, Lily, do go slowly,тАЭ her friend adjured her. + 

Miss Bart continued to smile without annoyance. тАЬI shouldnтАЩt, for instance,тАЭ she remarked, тАЬbe in any haste to tell him that he had a lot of rubbishy old books.тАЭ + 

тАЬNo, of course not; I know youтАЩre wonderful about getting up peopleтАЩs subjects. But heтАЩs horribly shy, and easily shocked, andтБатАФandтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬWhy donтАЩt you say it, Judy? I have the reputation of being on the hunt for a rich husband?тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, I donтАЩt mean that; he wouldnтАЩt believe it of youтБатАФat first,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аTrenor, with candid shrewdness. тАЬBut you know things are rather lively here at timesтБатАФI must give Jack and Gus a hintтБатАФand if he thought you were what his mother would call fastтБатАФoh, well, you know what I mean. DonтАЩt wear your scarlet crepe de chine for dinner, and donтАЩt smoke if you can help it, Lily dear!тАЭ + 

Lily pushed aside her finished work with a dry smile. тАЬYouтАЩre very kind, Judy: IтАЩll lock up my cigarettes and wear that last yearтАЩs dress you sent me this morning. And if you are really interested in my career, perhaps youтАЩll be kind enough not to ask me to play bridge again this evening.тАЭ + 

тАЬBridge? Does he mind bridge, too? Oh, Lily, what an awful life youтАЩll lead! But of course I wonтАЩtтБатАФwhy didnтАЩt you give me a hint last night? ThereтАЩs nothing I wouldnтАЩt do, you poor duck, to see you happy!тАЭ + 

And Mrs.┬аTrenor, glowing with her sexтАЩs eagerness to smooth the course of true love, enveloped Lily in a long embrace. + 

тАЬYouтАЩre quite sure,тАЭ she added solicitously, as the latter extricated herself, тАЬthat you wouldnтАЩt like me to telephone for Lawrence Selden?тАЭ + 

тАЬQuite sure,тАЭ said Lily. + 

The next three days demonstrated to her own complete satisfaction Miss BartтАЩs ability to manage her affairs without extraneous aid. + 

As she sat, on the Saturday afternoon, on the terrace at Bellomont, she smiled at Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs fear that she might go too fast. If such a warning had ever been needful, the years had taught her a salutary lesson, and she flattered herself that she now knew how to adapt her pace to the object of pursuit. In the case of Mr.┬аGryce she had found it well to flutter ahead, losing herself elusively and luring him on from depth to depth of unconscious intimacy. The surrounding atmosphere was propitious to this scheme of courtship. Mrs.┬аTrenor, true to her word, had shown no signs of expecting Lily at the bridge-table, and had even hinted to the other cardplayers that they were to betray no surprise at her unwonted defection. In consequence of this hint, Lily found herself the centre of that feminine solicitude which envelops a young woman in the mating season. A solitude was tacitly created for her in the crowded existence of Bellomont, and her friends could not have shown a greater readiness for self-effacement had her wooing been adorned with all the attributes of romance. In LilyтАЩs set this conduct implied a sympathetic comprehension of her motives, and Mr.┬аGryce rose in her esteem as she saw the consideration he inspired. + 

The terrace at Bellomont on a September afternoon was a spot propitious to sentimental musings, and as Miss Bart stood leaning against the balustrade above the sunken garden, at a little distance from the animated group about the tea-table, she might have been lost in the mazes of an inarticulate happiness. In reality, her thoughts were finding definite utterance in the tranquil recapitulation of the blessings in store for her. From where she stood she could see them embodied in the form of Mr.┬аGryce, who, in a light overcoat and muffler, sat somewhat nervously on the edge of his chair, while Carry Fisher, with all the energy of eye and gesture with which nature and art had combined to endow her, pressed on him the duty of taking part in the task of municipal reform. + 

Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs latest hobby was municipal reform. It had been preceded by an equal zeal for socialism, which had in turn replaced an energetic advocacy of Christian Science. Mrs.┬аFisher was small, fiery and dramatic; and her hands and eyes were admirable instruments in the service of whatever causes she happened to espouse. She had, however, the fault common to enthusiasts of ignoring any slackness of response on the part of her hearers, and Lily was amused by her unconsciousness of the resistance displayed in every angle of Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs attitude. Lily herself knew that his mind was divided between the dread of catching cold if he remained out of doors too long at that hour, and the fear that, if he retreated to the house, Mrs.┬аFisher might follow him up with a paper to be signed. Mr.┬аGryce had a constitutional dislike to what he called тАЬcommitting himself,тАЭ and tenderly as he cherished his health, he evidently concluded that it was safer to stay out of reach of pen and ink till chance released him from Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs toils. Meanwhile he cast agonized glances in the direction of Miss Bart, whose only response was to sink into an attitude of more graceful abstraction. She had learned the value of contrast in throwing her charms into relief, and was fully aware of the extent to which Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs volubility was enhancing her own repose. + 

She was roused from her musings by the approach of her cousin Jack Stepney who, at Gwen Van OsburghтАЩs side, was returning across the garden from the tennis court. + 

The couple in question were engaged in the same kind of romance in which Lily figured, and the latter felt a certain annoyance in contemplating what seemed to her a caricature of her own situation. Miss Van Osburgh was a large girl with flat surfaces and no high lights: Jack Stepney had once said of her that she was as reliable as roast mutton. His own taste was in the line of less solid and more highly-seasoned diet; but hunger makes any fare palatable, and there had been times when Mr.┬аStepney had been reduced to a crust. + 

Lily considered with interest the expression of their faces: the girlтАЩs turned toward her companionтАЩs like an empty plate held up to be filled, while the man lounging at her side already betrayed the encroaching boredom which would presently crack the thin veneer of his smile. + 

тАЬHow impatient men are!тАЭ Lily reflected. тАЬAll Jack has to do to get everything he wants is to keep quiet and let that girl marry him; whereas I have to calculate and contrive, and retreat and advance, as if I were going through an intricate dance, where one misstep would throw me hopelessly out of time.тАЭ + 

As they drew nearer she was whimsically struck by a kind of family likeness between Miss Van Osburgh and Percy Gryce. There was no resemblance of feature. Gryce was handsome in a didactic wayтБатАФhe looked like a clever pupilтАЩs drawing from a plaster-castтБатАФwhile GwenтАЩs countenance had no more modelling than a face painted on a toy balloon. But the deeper affinity was unmistakable: the two had the same prejudices and ideals, and the same quality of making other standards nonexistent by ignoring them. This attribute was common to most of LilyтАЩs set: they had a force of negation which eliminated everything beyond their own range of perception. Gryce and Miss Van Osburgh were, in short, made for each other by every law of moral and physical correspondenceтБатАФтАЬYet they wouldnтАЩt look at each other,тАЭ Lily mused, тАЬthey never do. Each of them wants a creature of a different race, of JackтАЩs race and mine, with all sorts of intuitions, sensations and perceptions that they donтАЩt even guess the existence of. And they always get what they want.тАЭ + 

She stood talking with her cousin and Miss Van Osburgh, till a slight cloud on the latterтАЩs brow advised her that even cousinly amenities were subject to suspicion, and Miss Bart, mindful of the necessity of not exciting enmities at this crucial point of her career, dropped aside while the happy couple proceeded toward the tea-table. + 

Seating herself on the upper step of the terrace, Lily leaned her head against the honeysuckles wreathing the balustrade. The fragrance of the late blossoms seemed an emanation of the tranquil scene, a landscape tutored to the last degree of rural elegance. In the foreground glowed the warm tints of the gardens. Beyond the lawn, with its pyramidal pale-gold maples and velvety firs, sloped pastures dotted with cattle; and through a long glade the river widened like a lake under the silver light of September. Lily did not want to join the circle about the tea-table. They represented the future she had chosen, and she was content with it, but in no haste to anticipate its joys. The certainty that she could marry Percy Gryce when she pleased had lifted a heavy load from her mind, and her money troubles were too recent for their removal not to leave a sense of relief which a less discerning intelligence might have taken for happiness. Her vulgar cares were at an end. She would be able to arrange her life as she pleased, to soar into that empyrean of security where creditors cannot penetrate. She would have smarter gowns than Judy Trenor, and far, far more jewels than Bertha Dorset. She would be free forever from the shifts, the expedients, the humiliations of the relatively poor. Instead of having to flatter, she would be flattered; instead of being grateful, she would receive thanks. There were old scores she could pay off as well as old benefits she could return. And she had no doubts as to the extent of her power. She knew that Mr.┬аGryce was of the small chary type most inaccessible to impulses and emotions. He had the kind of character in which prudence is a vice, and good advice the most dangerous nourishment. But Lily had known the species before: she was aware that such a guarded nature must find one huge outlet of egoism, and she determined to be to him what his Americana had hitherto been: the one possession in which he took sufficient pride to spend money on it. She knew that this generosity to self is one of the forms of meanness, and she resolved so to identify herself with her husbandтАЩs vanity that to gratify her wishes would be to him the most exquisite form of self-indulgence. The system might at first necessitate a resort to some of the very shifts and expedients from which she intended it should free her; but she felt sure that in a short time she would be able to play the game in her own way. How should she have distrusted her powers? Her beauty itself was not the mere ephemeral possession it might have been in the hands of inexperience: her skill in enhancing it, the care she took of it, the use she made of it, seemed to give it a kind of permanence. She felt she could trust it to carry her through to the end. + 

And the end, on the whole, was worthwhile. Life was not the mockery she had thought it three days ago. There was room for her, after all, in this crowded selfish world of pleasure whence, so short a time since, her poverty had seemed to exclude her. These people whom she had ridiculed and yet envied were glad to make a place for her in the charmed circle about which all her desires revolved. They were not as brutal and self-engrossed as she had fanciedтБатАФor rather, since it would no longer be necessary to flatter and humour them, that side of their nature became less conspicuous. Society is a revolving body which is apt to be judged according to its place in each manтАЩs heaven; and at present it was turning its illuminated face to Lily. + 

In the rosy glow it diffused her companions seemed full of amiable qualities. She liked their elegance, their lightness, their lack of emphasis: even the self-assurance which at times was so like obtuseness now seemed the natural sign of social ascendency. They were lords of the only world she cared for, and they were ready to admit her to their ranks and let her lord it with them. Already she felt within her a stealing allegiance to their standards, an acceptance of their limitations, a disbelief in the things they did not believe in, a contemptuous pity for the people who were not able to live as they lived. + 

The early sunset was slanting across the park. Through the boughs of the long avenue beyond the gardens she caught the flash of wheels, and divined that more visitors were approaching. There was a movement behind her, a scattering of steps and voices: it was evident that the party about the tea-table was breaking up. Presently she heard a tread behind her on the terrace. She supposed that Mr.┬аGryce had at last found means to escape from his predicament, and she smiled at the significance of his coming to join her instead of beating an instant retreat to the fireside. + 

She turned to give him the welcome which such gallantry deserved; but her greeting wavered into a blush of wonder, for the man who had approached her was Lawrence Selden. + 

тАЬYou see I came after all,тАЭ he said; but before she had time to answer, Mrs.┬аDorset, breaking away from a lifeless colloquy with her host, had stepped between them with a little gesture of appropriation. + 

V + 

The observance of Sunday at Bellomont was chiefly marked by the punctual appearance of the smart omnibus destined to convey the household to the little church at the gates. Whether anyone got into the omnibus or not was a matter of secondary importance, since by standing there it not only bore witness to the orthodox intentions of the family, but made Mrs.┬аTrenor feel, when she finally heard it drive away, that she had somehow vicariously made use of it. + 

It was Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs theory that her daughters actually did go to church every Sunday; but their French governessтАЩs convictions calling her to the rival fane, and the fatigues of the week keeping their mother in her room till luncheon, there was seldom anyone present to verify the fact. Now and then, in a spasmodic burst of virtueтБатАФwhen the house had been too uproarious over nightтБатАФGus Trenor forced his genial bulk into a tight frock-coat and routed his daughters from their slumbers; but habitually, as Lily explained to Mr.┬аGryce, this parental duty was forgotten till the church bells were ringing across the park, and the omnibus had driven away empty. + 

Lily had hinted to Mr.┬аGryce that this neglect of religious observances was repugnant to her early traditions, and that during her visits to Bellomont she regularly accompanied Muriel and Hilda to church. This tallied with the assurance, also confidentially imparted, that, never having played bridge before, she had been тАЬdragged into itтАЭ on the night of her arrival, and had lost an appalling amount of money in consequence of her ignorance of the game and of the rules of betting. Mr.┬аGryce was undoubtedly enjoying Bellomont. He liked the ease and glitter of the life, and the lustre conferred on him by being a member of this group of rich and conspicuous people. But he thought it a very materialistic society; there were times when he was frightened by the talk of the men and the looks of the ladies, and he was glad to find that Miss Bart, for all her ease and self-possession, was not at home in so ambiguous an atmosphere. For this reason he had been especially pleased to learn that she would, as usual, attend the young Trenors to church on Sunday morning; and as he paced the gravel sweep before the door, his light overcoat on his arm and his prayerbook in one carefully-gloved hand, he reflected agreeably on the strength of character which kept her true to her early training in surroundings so subversive to religious principles. + 

For a long time Mr.┬аGryce and the omnibus had the gravel sweep to themselves; but, far from regretting this deplorable indifference on the part of the other guests, he found himself nourishing the hope that Miss Bart might be unaccompanied. The precious minutes were flying, however; the big chestnuts pawed the ground and flecked their impatient sides with foam; the coachman seemed to be slowly petrifying on the box, and the groom on the doorstep; and still the lady did not come. Suddenly, however, there was a sound of voices and a rustle of skirts in the doorway, and Mr.┬аGryce, restoring his watch to his pocket, turned with a nervous start; but it was only to find himself handing Mrs.┬аWetherall into the carriage. + 

The Wetheralls always went to church. They belonged to the vast group of human automata who go through life without neglecting to perform a single one of the gestures executed by the surrounding puppets. It is true that the Bellomont puppets did not go to church; but others equally important didтБатАФand Mr.┬аand Mrs.┬аWetherallтАЩs circle was so large that God was included in their visiting-list. They appeared, therefore, punctual and resigned, with the air of people bound for a dull тАЬAt Home,тАЭ and after them Hilda and Muriel straggled, yawning and pinning each otherтАЩs veils and ribbons as they came. They had promised Lily to go to church with her, they declared, and Lily was such a dear old duck that they didnтАЩt mind doing it to please her, though they couldnтАЩt fancy what had put the idea in her head, and though for their own part they would much rather have played lawn tennis with Jack and Gwen, if she hadnтАЩt told them she was coming. The Misses Trenor were followed by Lady Cressida Raith, a weather-beaten person in Liberty silk and ethnological trinkets, who, on seeing the omnibus, expressed her surprise that they were not to walk across the park; but at Mrs.┬аWetherallтАЩs horrified protest that the church was a mile away, her ladyship, after a glance at the height of the otherтАЩs heels, acquiesced in the necessity of driving, and poor Mr.┬аGryce found himself rolling off between four ladies for whose spiritual welfare he felt not the least concern. + 

It might have afforded him some consolation could he have known that Miss Bart had really meant to go to church. She had even risen earlier than usual in the execution of her purpose. She had an idea that the sight of her in a grey gown of devotional cut, with her famous lashes drooped above a prayerbook, would put the finishing touch to Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs subjugation, and render inevitable a certain incident which she had resolved should form a part of the walk they were to take together after luncheon. Her intentions in short had never been more definite; but poor Lily, for all the hard glaze of her exterior, was inwardly as malleable as wax. Her faculty for adapting herself, for entering into other peopleтАЩs feelings, if it served her now and then in small contingencies, hampered her in the decisive moments of life. She was like a water-plant in the flux of the tides, and today the whole current of her mood was carrying her toward Lawrence Selden. Why had he come? Was it to see herself or Bertha Dorset? It was the last question which, at that moment, should have engaged her. She might better have contented herself with thinking that he had simply responded to the despairing summons of his hostess, anxious to interpose him between herself and the ill-humour of Mrs.┬аDorset. But Lily had not rested till she learned from Mrs.┬аTrenor that Selden had come of his own accord. + 

тАЬHe didnтАЩt even wire meтБатАФhe just happened to find the trap at the station. Perhaps itтАЩs not over with Bertha after all,тАЭ Mrs.┬аTrenor musingly concluded; and went away to arrange her dinner-cards accordingly. + 

Perhaps it was not, Lily reflected; but it should be soon, unless she had lost her cunning. If Selden had come at Mrs.┬аDorsetтАЩs call, it was at her own that he would stay. So much the previous evening had told her. Mrs.┬аTrenor, true to her simple principle of making her married friends happy, had placed Selden and Mrs.┬аDorset next to each other at dinner; but, in obedience to the time-honoured traditions of the matchmaker, she had separated Lily and Mr.┬аGryce, sending in the former with George Dorset, while Mr.┬аGryce was coupled with Gwen Van Osburgh. + 

George DorsetтАЩs talk did not interfere with the range of his neighbourтАЩs thoughts. He was a mournful dyspeptic, intent on finding out the deleterious ingredients of every dish and diverted from this care only by the sound of his wifeтАЩs voice. On this occasion, however, Mrs.┬аDorset took no part in the general conversation. She sat talking in low murmurs with Selden, and turning a contemptuous and denuded shoulder toward her host, who, far from resenting his exclusion, plunged into the excesses of the menu with the joyous irresponsibility of a free man. To Mr.┬аDorset, however, his wifeтАЩs attitude was a subject of such evident concern that, when he was not scraping the sauce from his fish, or scooping the moist breadcrumbs from the interior of his roll, he sat straining his thin neck for a glimpse of her between the lights. + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor, as it chanced, had placed the husband and wife on opposite sides of the table, and Lily was therefore able to observe Mrs.┬аDorset also, and by carrying her glance a few feet farther, to set up a rapid comparison between Lawrence Selden and Mr.┬аGryce. It was that comparison which was her undoing. Why else had she suddenly grown interested in Selden? She had known him for eight years or more: ever since her return to America he had formed a part of her background. She had always been glad to sit next to him at dinner, had found him more agreeable than most men, and had vaguely wished that he possessed the other qualities needful to fix her attention; but till now she had been too busy with her own affairs to regard him as more than one of the pleasant accessories of life. Miss Bart was a keen reader of her own heart, and she saw that her sudden preoccupation with Selden was due to the fact that his presence shed a new light on her surroundings. Not that he was notably brilliant or exceptional; in his own profession he was surpassed by more than one man who had bored Lily through many a weary dinner. It was rather that he had preserved a certain social detachment, a happy air of viewing the show objectively, of having points of contact outside the great gilt cage in which they were all huddled for the mob to gape at. How alluring the world outside the cage appeared to Lily, as she heard its door clang on her! In reality, as she knew, the door never clanged: it stood always open; but most of the captives were like flies in a bottle, and having once flown in, could never regain their freedom. It was SeldenтАЩs distinction that he had never forgotten the way out. + 

That was the secret of his way of readjusting her vision. Lily, turning her eyes from him, found herself scanning her little world through his retina: it was as though the pink lamps had been shut off and the dusty daylight let in. She looked down the long table, studying its occupants one by one, from Gus Trenor, with his heavy carnivorous head sunk between his shoulders, as he preyed on a jellied plover, to his wife, at the opposite end of the long bank of orchids, suggestive, with her glaring good-looks, of a jewellerтАЩs window lit by electricity. And between the two, what a long stretch of vacuity! How dreary and trivial these people were! Lily reviewed them with a scornful impatience: Carry Fisher, with her shoulders, her eyes, her divorces, her general air of embodying a тАЬspicy paragraphтАЭ; young Silverton, who had meant to live on proofreading and write an epic, and who now lived on his friends and had become critical of truffles; Alice Wetherall, an animated visiting-list, whose most fervid convictions turned on the wording of invitations and the engraving of dinner-cards; Wetherall, with his perpetual nervous nod of acquiescence, his air of agreeing with people before he knew what they were saying; Jack Stepney, with his confident smile and anxious eyes, halfway between the sheriff and an heiress; Gwen Van Osburgh, with all the guileless confidence of a young girl who has always been told that there is no one richer than her father. + 

Lily smiled at her classification of her friends. How different they had seemed to her a few hours ago! Then they had symbolized what she was gaining, now they stood for what she was giving up. That very afternoon they had seemed full of brilliant qualities; now she saw that they were merely dull in a loud way. Under the glitter of their opportunities she saw the poverty of their achievement. It was not that she wanted them to be more disinterested; but she would have liked them to be more picturesque. And she had a shamed recollection of the way in which, a few hours since, she had felt the centripetal force of their standards. She closed her eyes an instant, and the vacuous routine of the life she had chosen stretched before her like a long white road without dip or turning: it was true she was to roll over it in a carriage instead of trudging it on foot, but sometimes the pedestrian enjoys the diversion of a shortcut which is denied to those on wheels. + 

She was roused by a chuckle which Mr.┬аDorset seemed to eject from the depths of his lean throat. + 

тАЬI say, do look at her,тАЭ he exclaimed, turning to Miss Bart with lugubrious merrimentтБатАФтАЬI beg your pardon, but do just look at my wife making a fool of that poor devil over there! One would really suppose she was gone on himтБатАФand itтАЩs all the other way round, I assure you.тАЭ + 

Thus adjured, Lily turned her eyes on the spectacle which was affording Mr.┬аDorset such legitimate mirth. It certainly appeared, as he said, that Mrs.┬аDorset was the more active participant in the scene: her neighbour seemed to receive her advances with a temperate zest which did not distract him from his dinner. The sight restored LilyтАЩs good humour, and knowing the peculiar disguise which Mr.┬аDorsetтАЩs marital fears assumed, she asked gaily: тАЬArenтАЩt you horribly jealous of her?тАЭ + 

Dorset greeted the sally with delight. тАЬOh, abominablyтБатАФyouтАЩve just hit itтБатАФkeeps me awake at night. The doctors tell me thatтАЩs what has knocked my digestion outтБатАФbeing so infernally jealous of her.тБатАФI canтАЩt eat a mouthful of this stuff, you know,тАЭ he added suddenly, pushing back his plate with a clouded countenance; and Lily, unfailingly adaptable, accorded her radiant attention to his prolonged denunciation of other peopleтАЩs cooks, with a supplementary tirade on the toxic qualities of melted butter. + 

It was not often that he found so ready an ear; and, being a man as well as a dyspeptic, it may be that as he poured his grievances into it he was not insensible to its rosy symmetry. At any rate he engaged Lily so long that the sweets were being handed when she caught a phrase on her other side, where Miss Corby, the comic woman of the company, was bantering Jack Stepney on his approaching engagement. Miss CorbyтАЩs role was jocularity: she always entered the conversation with a handspring. + 

тАЬAnd of course youтАЩll have Sim Rosedale as best man!тАЭ Lily heard her fling out as the climax of her prognostications; and Stepney responded, as if struck: тАЬJove, thatтАЩs an idea. What a thumping present IтАЩd get out of him!тАЭ + 

Sim Rosedale! The name, made more odious by its diminutive, obtruded itself on LilyтАЩs thoughts like a leer. It stood for one of the many hated possibilities hovering on the edge of life. If she did not marry Percy Gryce, the day might come when she would have to be civil to such men as Rosedale. If she did not marry him? But she meant to marry himтБатАФshe was sure of him and sure of herself. She drew back with a shiver from the pleasant paths in which her thoughts had been straying, and set her feet once more in the middle of the long white road.тБатАКтБатАж When she went upstairs that night she found that the late post had brought her a fresh batch of bills. Mrs.┬аPeniston, who was a conscientious woman, had forwarded them all to Bellomont. + 

Miss Bart, accordingly, rose the next morning with the most earnest conviction that it was her duty to go to church. She tore herself betimes from the lingering enjoyment of her breakfast-tray, rang to have her grey gown laid out, and despatched her maid to borrow a prayerbook from Mrs.┬аTrenor. + 

But her course was too purely reasonable not to contain the germs of rebellion. No sooner were her preparations made than they roused a smothered sense of resistance. A small spark was enough to kindle LilyтАЩs imagination, and the sight of the grey dress and the borrowed prayerbook flashed a long light down the years. She would have to go to church with Percy Gryce every Sunday. They would have a front pew in the most expensive church in New York, and his name would figure handsomely in the list of parish charities. In a few years, when he grew stouter, he would be made a warden. Once in the winter the rector would come to dine, and her husband would beg her to go over the list and see that no divorcees were included, except those who had showed signs of penitence by being remarried to the very wealthy. There was nothing especially arduous in this round of religious obligations; but it stood for a fraction of that great bulk of boredom which loomed across her path. And who could consent to be bored on such a morning? Lily had slept well, and her bath had filled her with a pleasant glow, which was becomingly reflected in the clear curve of her cheek. No lines were visible this morning, or else the glass was at a happier angle. + 

And the day was the accomplice of her mood: it was a day for impulse and truancy. The light air seemed full of powdered gold; below the dewy bloom of the lawns the woodlands blushed and smouldered, and the hills across the river swam in molten blue. Every drop of blood in LilyтАЩs veins invited her to happiness. + 

The sound of wheels roused her from these musings, and leaning behind her shutters she saw the omnibus take up its freight. She was too late, thenтБатАФbut the fact did not alarm her. A glimpse of Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs crestfallen face even suggested that she had done wisely in absenting herself, since the disappointment he so candidly betrayed would surely whet his appetite for the afternoon walk. That walk she did not mean to miss; one glance at the bills on her writing-table was enough to recall its necessity. But meanwhile she had the morning to herself, and could muse pleasantly on the disposal of its hours. She was familiar enough with the habits of Bellomont to know that she was likely to have a free field till luncheon. She had seen the Wetheralls, the Trenor girls and Lady Cressida packed safely into the omnibus; Judy Trenor was sure to be having her hair shampooed; Carry Fisher had doubtless carried off her host for a drive; Ned Silverton was probably smoking the cigarette of young despair in his bedroom; and Kate Corby was certain to be playing tennis with Jack Stepney and Miss Van Osburgh. Of the ladies, this left only Mrs.┬аDorset unaccounted for, and Mrs.┬аDorset never came down till luncheon: her doctors, she averred, had forbidden her to expose herself to the crude air of the morning. + 

To the remaining members of the party Lily gave no special thought; wherever they were, they were not likely to interfere with her plans. These, for the moment, took the shape of assuming a dress somewhat more rustic and summerlike in style than the garment she had first selected, and rustling downstairs, sunshade in hand, with the disengaged air of a lady in quest of exercise. The great hall was empty but for the knot of dogs by the fire, who, taking in at a glance the outdoor aspect of Miss Bart, were upon her at once with lavish offers of companionship. She put aside the ramming paws which conveyed these offers, and assuring the joyous volunteers that she might presently have a use for their company, sauntered on through the empty drawing-room to the library at the end of the house. The library was almost the only surviving portion of the old manor-house of Bellomont: a long spacious room, revealing the traditions of the mother-country in its classically-cased doors, the Dutch tiles of the chimney, and the elaborate hob-grate with its shining brass urns. A few family portraits of lantern-jawed gentlemen in tie-wigs, and ladies with large headdresses and small bodies, hung between the shelves lined with pleasantly-shabby books: books mostly contemporaneous with the ancestors in question, and to which the subsequent Trenors had made no perceptible additions. The library at Bellomont was in fact never used for reading, though it had a certain popularity as a smoking-room or a quiet retreat for flirtation. It had occurred to Lily, however, that it might on this occasion have been resorted to by the only member of the party in the least likely to put it to its original use. She advanced noiselessly over the dense old rug scattered with easy-chairs, and before she reached the middle of the room she saw that she had not been mistaken. Lawrence Selden was in fact seated at its farther end; but though a book lay on his knee, his attention was not engaged with it, but directed to a lady whose lace-clad figure, as she leaned back in an adjoining chair, detached itself with exaggerated slimness against the dusky leather of the upholstery. + 

Lily paused as she caught sight of the group; for a moment she seemed about to withdraw, but thinking better of this, she announced her approach by a slight shake of her skirts which made the couple raise their heads, Mrs.┬аDorset with a look of frank displeasure, and Selden with his usual quiet smile. The sight of his composure had a disturbing effect on Lily; but to be disturbed was in her case to make a more brilliant effort at self-possession. + 

тАЬDear me, am I late?тАЭ she asked, putting a hand in his as he advanced to greet her. + 

тАЬLate for what?тАЭ enquired Mrs.┬аDorset tartly. тАЬNot for luncheon, certainlyтБатАФbut perhaps you had an earlier engagement?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes, I had,тАЭ said Lily confidingly. + 

тАЬReally? Perhaps I am in the way, then? But Mr.┬аSelden is entirely at your disposal.тАЭ Mrs.┬аDorset was pale with temper, and her antagonist felt a certain pleasure in prolonging her distress. + 

тАЬOh, dear, noтБатАФdo stay,тАЭ she said good-humouredly. тАЬI donтАЩt in the least want to drive you away.тАЭ + 

тАЬYouтАЩre awfully good, dear, but I never interfere with Mr.┬аSeldenтАЩs engagements.тАЭ + 

The remark was uttered with a little air of proprietorship not lost on its object, who concealed a faint blush of annoyance by stooping to pick up the book he had dropped at LilyтАЩs approach. The latterтАЩs eyes widened charmingly and she broke into a light laugh. + 

тАЬBut I have no engagement with Mr.┬аSelden! My engagement was to go to church; and IтАЩm afraid the omnibus has started without me. Has it started, do you know?тАЭ + 

She turned to Selden, who replied that he had heard it drive away some time since. + 

тАЬAh, then I shall have to walk; I promised Hilda and Muriel to go to church with them. ItтАЩs too late to walk there, you say? Well, I shall have the credit of trying, at any rateтБатАФand the advantage of escaping part of the service. IтАЩm not so sorry for myself, after all!тАЭ + 

And with a bright nod to the couple on whom she had intruded, Miss Bart strolled through the glass doors and carried her rustling grace down the long perspective of the garden walk. + 

She was taking her way churchward, but at no very quick pace; a fact not lost on one of her observers, who stood in the doorway looking after her with an air of puzzled amusement. The truth is that she was conscious of a somewhat keen shock of disappointment. All her plans for the day had been built on the assumption that it was to see her that Selden had come to Bellomont. She had expected, when she came downstairs, to find him on the watch for her; and she had found him, instead, in a situation which might well denote that he had been on the watch for another lady. Was it possible, after all, that he had come for Bertha Dorset? The latter had acted on the assumption to the extent of appearing at an hour when she never showed herself to ordinary mortals, and Lily, for the moment, saw no way of putting her in the wrong. It did not occur to her that Selden might have been actuated merely by the desire to spend a Sunday out of town: women never learn to dispense with the sentimental motive in their judgments of men. But Lily was not easily disconcerted; competition put her on her mettle, and she reflected that SeldenтАЩs coming, if it did not declare him to be still in Mrs.┬аDorsetтАЩs toils, showed him to be so completely free from them that he was not afraid of her proximity. + 

These thoughts so engaged her that she fell into a gait hardly likely to carry her to church before the sermon, and at length, having passed from the gardens to the wood-path beyond, so far forgot her intention as to sink into a rustic seat at a bend of the walk. The spot was charming, and Lily was not insensible to the charm, or to the fact that her presence enhanced it; but she was not accustomed to taste the joys of solitude except in company, and the combination of a handsome girl and a romantic scene struck her as too good to be wasted. No one, however, appeared to profit by the opportunity; and after a half hour of fruitless waiting she rose and wandered on. She felt a stealing sense of fatigue as she walked; the sparkle had died out of her, and the taste of life was stale on her lips. She hardly knew what she had been seeking, or why the failure to find it had so blotted the light from her sky: she was only aware of a vague sense of failure, of an inner isolation deeper than the loneliness about her. + 

Her footsteps flagged, and she stood gazing listlessly ahead, digging the ferny edge of the path with the tip of her sunshade. As she did so a step sounded behind her, and she saw Selden at her side. + 

тАЬHow fast you walk!тАЭ he remarked. тАЬI thought I should never catch up with you.тАЭ + 

She answered gaily: тАЬYou must be quite breathless! IтАЩve been sitting under that tree for an hour.тАЭ + 

тАЬWaiting for me, I hope?тАЭ he rejoined; and she said with a vague laugh: + 

тАЬWellтБатАФwaiting to see if you would come.тАЭ + 

тАЬI seize the distinction, but I donтАЩt mind it, since doing the one involved doing the other. But werenтАЩt you sure that I should come?тАЭ + 

тАЬIf I waited long enoughтБатАФbut you see I had only a limited time to give to the experiment.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhy limited? Limited by luncheon?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo; by my other engagement.тАЭ + 

тАЬYour engagement to go to church with Muriel and Hilda?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo; but to come home from church with another person.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, I see; I might have known you were fully provided with alternatives. And is the other person coming home this way?тАЭ + 

Lily laughed again. тАЬThatтАЩs just what I donтАЩt know; and to find out, it is my business to get to church before the service is over.тАЭ + 

тАЬExactly; and it is my business to prevent your doing so; in which case the other person, piqued by your absence, will form the desperate resolve of driving back in the omnibus.тАЭ + 

Lily received this with fresh appreciation; his nonsense was like the bubbling of her inner mood. тАЬIs that what you would do in such an emergency?тАЭ she enquired. + 

Selden looked at her with solemnity. тАЬI am here to prove to you,тАЭ he cried, тАЬwhat I am capable of doing in an emergency!тАЭ + 

тАЬWalking a mile in an hourтБатАФyou must own that the omnibus would be quicker!тАЭ + 

тАЬAhтБатАФbut will he find you in the end? ThatтАЩs the only test of success.тАЭ + 

They looked at each other with the same luxury of enjoyment that they had felt in exchanging absurdities over his tea-table; but suddenly LilyтАЩs face changed, and she said: тАЬWell, if it is, he has succeeded.тАЭ + 

Selden, following her glance, perceived a party of people advancing toward them from the farther bend of the path. Lady Cressida had evidently insisted on walking home, and the rest of the churchgoers had thought it their duty to accompany her. LilyтАЩs companion looked rapidly from one to the other of the two men of the party; Wetherall walking respectfully at Lady CressidaтАЩs side with his little sidelong look of nervous attention, and Percy Gryce bringing up the rear with Mrs.┬аWetherall and the Trenors. + 

тАЬAhтБатАФnow I see why you were getting up your Americana!тАЭ Selden exclaimed with a note of the freest admiration but the blush with which the sally was received checked whatever amplifications he had meant to give it. + 

That Lily Bart should object to being bantered about her suitors, or even about her means of attracting them, was so new to Selden that he had a momentary flash of surprise, which lit up a number of possibilities; but she rose gallantly to the defence of her confusion, by saying, as its object approached: тАЬThat was why I was waiting for youтБатАФto thank you for having given me so many points!тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, you can hardly do justice to the subject in such a short time,тАЭ said Selden, as the Trenor girls caught sight of Miss Bart; and while she signalled a response to their boisterous greeting, he added quickly: тАЬWonтАЩt you devote your afternoon to it? You know I must be off tomorrow morning. WeтАЩll take a walk, and you can thank me at your leisure.тАЭ + 

VI + 

The afternoon was perfect. A deeper stillness possessed the air, and the glitter of the American autumn was tempered by a haze which diffused the brightness without dulling it. + 

In the woody hollows of the park there was already a faint chill; but as the ground rose the air grew lighter, and ascending the long slopes beyond the high road, Lily and her companion reached a zone of lingering summer. The path wound across a meadow with scattered trees; then it dipped into a lane plumed with asters and purpling sprays of bramble, whence, through the light quiver of ash-leaves, the country unrolled itself in pastoral distances. + 

Higher up, the lane showed thickening tufts of fern and of the creeping glossy verdure of shaded slopes; trees began to overhang it, and the shade deepened to the checkered dusk of a beech-grove. The boles of the trees stood well apart, with only a light feathering of undergrowth; the path wound along the edge of the wood, now and then looking out on a sunlit pasture or on an orchard spangled with fruit. + 

Lily had no real intimacy with nature, but she had a passion for the appropriate and could be keenly sensitive to a scene which was the fitting background of her own sensations. The landscape outspread below her seemed an enlargement of her present mood, and she found something of herself in its calmness, its breadth, its long free reaches. On the nearer slopes the sugar-maples wavered like pyres of light; lower down was a massing of grey orchards, and here and there the lingering green of an oak-grove. Two or three red farmhouses dozed under the apple-trees, and the white wooden spire of a village church showed beyond the shoulder of the hill; while far below, in a haze of dust, the high road ran between the fields. + 

тАЬLet us sit here,тАЭ Selden suggested, as they reached an open ledge of rock above which the beeches rose steeply between mossy boulders. + 

Lily dropped down on the rock, glowing with her long climb. She sat quiet, her lips parted by the stress of the ascent, her eyes wandering peacefully over the broken ranges of the landscape. Selden stretched himself on the grass at her feet, tilting his hat against the level sun-rays, and clasping his hands behind his head, which rested against the side of the rock. He had no wish to make her talk; her quick-breathing silence seemed a part of the general hush and harmony of things. In his own mind there was only a lazy sense of pleasure, veiling the sharp edges of sensation as the September haze veiled the scene at their feet. But Lily, though her attitude was as calm as his, was throbbing inwardly with a rush of thoughts. There were in her at the moment two beings, one drawing deep breaths of freedom and exhilaration, the other gasping for air in a little black prison-house of fears. But gradually the captiveтАЩs gasps grew fainter, or the other paid less heed to them: the horizon expanded, the air grew stronger, and the free spirit quivered for flight. + 

She could not herself have explained the sense of buoyancy which seemed to lift and swing her above the sun-suffused world at her feet. Was it love, she wondered, or a mere fortuitous combination of happy thoughts and sensations? How much of it was owing to the spell of the perfect afternoon, the scent of the fading woods, the thought of the dullness she had fled from? Lily had no definite experience by which to test the quality of her feelings. She had several times been in love with fortunes or careers, but only once with a man. That was years ago, when she first came out, and had been smitten with a romantic passion for a young gentleman named Herbert Melson, who had blue eyes and a little wave in his hair. Mr.┬аMelson, who was possessed of no other negotiable securities, had hastened to employ these in capturing the eldest Miss Van Osburgh: since then he had grown stout and wheezy, and was given to telling anecdotes about his children. If Lily recalled this early emotion it was not to compare it with that which now possessed her; the only point of comparison was the sense of lightness, of emancipation, which she remembered feeling, in the whirl of a waltz or the seclusion of a conservatory, during the brief course of her youthful romance. She had not known again till today that lightness, that glow of freedom; but now it was something more than a blind groping of the blood. The peculiar charm of her feeling for Selden was that she understood it; she could put her finger on every link of the chain that was drawing them together. Though his popularity was of the quiet kind, felt rather than actively expressed among his friends, she had never mistaken his inconspicuousness for obscurity. His reputed cultivation was generally regarded as a slight obstacle to easy intercourse, but Lily, who prided herself on her broad-minded recognition of literature, and always carried an Omar Khayyam in her travelling-bag, was attracted by this attribute, which she felt would have had its distinction in an older society. It was, moreover, one of his gifts to look his part; to have a height which lifted his head above the crowd, and the keenly-modelled dark features which, in a land of amorphous types, gave him the air of belonging to a more specialized race, of carrying the impress of a concentrated past. Expansive persons found him a little dry, and very young girls thought him sarcastic; but this air of friendly aloofness, as far removed as possible from any assertion of personal advantage, was the quality which piqued LilyтАЩs interest. Everything about him accorded with the fastidious element in her taste, even to the light irony with which he surveyed what seemed to her most sacred. She admired him most of all, perhaps, for being able to convey as distinct a sense of superiority as the richest man she had ever met. + 

It was the unconscious prolongation of this thought which led her to say presently, with a laugh: тАЬI have broken two engagements for you today. How many have you broken for me?тАЭ + 

тАЬNone,тАЭ said Selden calmly. тАЬMy only engagement at Bellomont was with you.тАЭ + 

She glanced down at him, faintly smiling. + 

тАЬDid you really come to Bellomont to see me?тАЭ + 

тАЬOf course I did.тАЭ + 

Her look deepened meditatively. тАЬWhy?тАЭ she murmured, with an accent which took all tinge of coquetry from the question. + 

тАЬBecause youтАЩre such a wonderful spectacle: I always like to see what you are doing.тАЭ + 

тАЬHow do you know what I should be doing if you were not here?тАЭ + 

Selden smiled. тАЬI donтАЩt flatter myself that my coming has deflected your course of action by a hairтАЩs breadth.тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs absurdтБатАФsince, if you were not here, I could obviously not be taking a walk with you.тАЭ + 

тАЬNo; but your taking a walk with me is only another way of making use of your material. You are an artist and I happen to be the bit of colour you are using today. ItтАЩs a part of your cleverness to be able to produce premeditated effects extemporaneously.тАЭ + 

Lily smiled also: his words were too acute not to strike her sense of humour. It was true that she meant to use the accident of his presence as part of a very definite effect; or that, at least, was the secret pretext she had found for breaking her promise to walk with Mr.┬аGryce. She had sometimes been accused of being too eagerтБатАФeven Judy Trenor had warned her to go slowly. Well, she would not be too eager in this case; she would give her suitor a longer taste of suspense. Where duty and inclination jumped together, it was not in LilyтАЩs nature to hold them asunder. She had excused herself from the walk on the plea of a headache: the horrid headache which, in the morning, had prevented her venturing to church. Her appearance at luncheon justified the excuse. She looked languid, full of a suffering sweetness; she carried a scent-bottle in her hand. Mr.┬аGryce was new to such manifestations; he wondered rather nervously if she were delicate, having far-reaching fears about the future of his progeny. But sympathy won the day, and he besought her not to expose herself: he always connected the outer air with ideas of exposure. + 

Lily had received his sympathy with languid gratitude, urging him, since she should be such poor company, to join the rest of the party who, after luncheon, were starting in automobiles on a visit to the Van Osburghs at Peekskill. Mr.┬аGryce was touched by her disinterestedness, and, to escape from the threatened vacuity of the afternoon, had taken her advice and departed mournfully, in a dust-hood and goggles: as the motorcar plunged down the avenue she smiled at his resemblance to a baffled beetle. + 

Selden had watched her manoeuvres with lazy amusement. She had made no reply to his suggestion that they should spend the afternoon together, but as her plan unfolded itself he felt fairly confident of being included in it. The house was empty when at length he heard her step on the stair and strolled out of the billiard-room to join her. She had on a hat and walking-dress, and the dogs were bounding at her feet. + 

тАЬI thought, after all, the air might do me good,тАЭ she explained; and he agreed that so simple a remedy was worth trying. + 

The excursionists would be gone at least four hours; Lily and Selden had the whole afternoon before them, and the sense of leisure and safety gave the last touch of lightness to her spirit. With so much time to talk, and no definite object to be led up to, she could taste the rare joys of mental vagrancy. + 

She felt so free from ulterior motives that she took up his charge with a touch of resentment. + 

тАЬI donтАЩt know,тАЭ she said, тАЬwhy you are always accusing me of premeditation.тАЭ + 

тАЬI thought you confessed to it: you told me the other day that you had to follow a certain lineтБатАФand if one does a thing at all it is a merit to do it thoroughly.тАЭ + 

тАЬIf you mean that a girl who has no one to think for her is obliged to think for herself, I am quite willing to accept the imputation. But you must find me a dismal kind of person if you suppose that I never yield to an impulse.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, but I donтАЩt suppose that: havenтАЩt I told you that your genius lies in converting impulses into intentions?тАЭ + 

тАЬMy genius?тАЭ she echoed with a sudden note of weariness. тАЬIs there any final test of genius but success? And I certainly havenтАЩt succeeded.тАЭ + 

Selden pushed his hat back and took a side-glance at her. тАЬSuccessтБатАФwhat is success? I shall be interested to have your definition.тАЭ + 

тАЬSuccess?тАЭ She hesitated. тАЬWhy, to get as much as one can out of life, I suppose. ItтАЩs a relative quality, after all. IsnтАЩt that your idea of it?тАЭ + 

тАЬMy idea of it? God forbid!тАЭ He sat up with sudden energy, resting his elbows on his knees and staring out upon the mellow fields. тАЬMy idea of success,тАЭ he said, тАЬis personal freedom.тАЭ + 

тАЬFreedom? Freedom from worries?тАЭ + 

тАЬFrom everythingтБатАФfrom money, from poverty, from ease and anxiety, from all the material accidents. To keep a kind of republic of the spiritтБатАФthatтАЩs what I call success.тАЭ + 

She leaned forward with a responsive flash. тАЬI knowтБатАФI knowтБатАФitтАЩs strange; but thatтАЩs just what IтАЩve been feeling today.тАЭ + 

He met her eyes with the latent sweetness of his. тАЬIs the feeling so rare with you?тАЭ he said. + 

She blushed a little under his gaze. тАЬYou think me horribly sordid, donтАЩt you? But perhaps itтАЩs rather that I never had any choice. There was no one, I mean, to tell me about the republic of the spirit.тАЭ + 

тАЬThere never isтБатАФitтАЩs a country one has to find the way to oneтАЩs self.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut I should never have found my way there if you hadnтАЩt told me.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, there are signpostsтБатАФbut one has to know how to read them.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, I have known, I have known!тАЭ she cried with a glow of eagerness. тАЬWhenever I see you, I find myself spelling out a letter of the signтБатАФand yesterdayтБатАФlast evening at dinnerтБатАФI suddenly saw a little way into your republic.тАЭ + 

Selden was still looking at her, but with a changed eye. Hitherto he had found, in her presence and her talk, the aesthetic amusement which a reflective man is apt to seek in desultory intercourse with pretty women. His attitude had been one of admiring spectatorship, and he would have been almost sorry to detect in her any emotional weakness which should interfere with the fulfilment of her aims. But now the hint of this weakness had become the most interesting thing about her. He had come on her that morning in a moment of disarray; her face had been pale and altered, and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm. тАЬThat is how she looks when she is alone!тАЭ had been his first thought; and the second was to note in her the change which his coming produced. It was the danger-point of their intercourse that he could not doubt the spontaneity of her liking. From whatever angle he viewed their dawning intimacy, he could not see it as part of her scheme of life; and to be the unforeseen element in a career so accurately planned was stimulating even to a man who had renounced sentimental experiments. + 

тАЬWell,тАЭ he said, тАЬdid it make you want to see more? Are you going to become one of us?тАЭ + 

He had drawn out his cigarettes as he spoke, and she reached her hand toward the case. + 

тАЬOh, do give me oneтБатАФI havenтАЩt smoked for days!тАЭ + 

тАЬWhy such unnatural abstinence? Everybody smokes at Bellomont.тАЭ + 

тАЬYesтБатАФbut it is not considered becoming in a jeune fille ├а marier; and at the present moment I am a jeune fille ├а marier.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, then IтАЩm afraid we canтАЩt let you into the republic.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhy not? Is it a celibate order?тАЭ + 

тАЬNot in the least, though IтАЩm bound to say there are not many married people in it. But you will marry someone very rich, and itтАЩs as hard for rich people to get into as the kingdom of heaven.тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs unjust, I think, because, as I understand it, one of the conditions of citizenship is not to think too much about money, and the only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou might as well say that the only way not to think about air is to have enough to breathe. That is true enough in a sense; but your lungs are thinking about the air, if you are not. And so it is with your rich peopleтБатАФthey may not be thinking of money, but theyтАЩre breathing it all the while; take them into another element and see how they squirm and gasp!тАЭ + 

Lily sat gazing absently through the blue rings of her cigarette-smoke. + 

тАЬIt seems to me,тАЭ she said at length, тАЬthat you spend a good deal of your time in the element you disapprove of.тАЭ + 

Selden received this thrust without discomposure. тАЬYes; but I have tried to remain amphibious: itтАЩs all right as long as oneтАЩs lungs can work in another air. The real alchemy consists in being able to turn gold back again into something else; and thatтАЩs the secret that most of your friends have lost.тАЭ + 

Lily mused. тАЬDonтАЩt you think,тАЭ she rejoined after a moment, тАЬthat the people who find fault with society are too apt to regard it as an end and not a means, just as the people who despise money speak as if its only use were to be kept in bags and gloated over? IsnтАЩt it fairer to look at them both as opportunities, which may be used either stupidly or intelligently, according to the capacity of the user?тАЭ + 

тАЬThat is certainly the sane view; but the queer thing about society is that the people who regard it as an end are those who are in it, and not the critics on the fence. ItтАЩs just the other way with most showsтБатАФthe audience may be under the illusion, but the actors know that real life is on the other side of the footlights. The people who take society as an escape from work are putting it to its proper use; but when it becomes the thing worked for it distorts all the relations of life.тАЭ Selden raised himself on his elbow. тАЬGood heavens!тАЭ he went on, тАЬI donтАЩt underrate the decorative side of life. It seems to me the sense of splendour has justified itself by what it has produced. The worst of it is that so much human nature is used up in the process. If weтАЩre all the raw stuff of the cosmic effects, one would rather be the fire that tempers a sword than the fish that dyes a purple cloak. And a society like ours wastes such good material in producing its little patch of purple! Look at a boy like Ned SilvertonтБатАФheтАЩs really too good to be used to refurbish anybodyтАЩs social shabbiness. ThereтАЩs a lad just setting out to discover the universe: isnтАЩt it a pity he should end by finding it in Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs drawing-room?тАЭ + 

тАЬNed is a dear boy, and I hope he will keep his illusions long enough to write some nice poetry about them; but do you think it is only in society that he is likely to lose them?тАЭ + 

Selden answered her with a shrug. тАЬWhy do we call all our generous ideas illusions, and the mean ones truths? IsnтАЩt it a sufficient condemnation of society to find oneтАЩs self accepting such phraseology? I very nearly acquired the jargon at SilvertonтАЩs age, and I know how names can alter the colour of beliefs.тАЭ + 

She had never heard him speak with such energy of affirmation. His habitual touch was that of the eclectic, who lightly turns over and compares; and she was moved by this sudden glimpse into the laboratory where his faiths were formed. + 

тАЬAh, you are as bad as the other sectarians,тАЭ she exclaimed; тАЬwhy do you call your republic a republic? It is a closed corporation, and you create arbitrary objections in order to keep people out.тАЭ + 

тАЬIt is not my republic; if it were, I should have a coup dтАЩ├йtat and seat you on the throne.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhereas, in reality, you think I can never even get my foot across the threshold? Oh, I understand what you mean. You despise my ambitionsтБатАФyou think them unworthy of me!тАЭ + 

Selden smiled, but not ironically. тАЬWell, isnтАЩt that a tribute? I think them quite worthy of most of the people who live by them.тАЭ + 

She had turned to gaze on him gravely. тАЬBut isnтАЩt it possible that, if I had the opportunities of these people, I might make a better use of them? Money stands for all kinds of thingsтБатАФits purchasing quality isnтАЩt limited to diamonds and motorcars.тАЭ + 

тАЬNot in the least: you might expiate your enjoyment of them by founding a hospital.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut if you think they are what I should really enjoy, you must think my ambitions are good enough for me.тАЭ + 

Selden met this appeal with a laugh. тАЬAh, my dear Miss Bart, I am not divine Providence, to guarantee your enjoying the things you are trying to get!тАЭ + 

тАЬThen the best you can say for me is, that after struggling to get them I probably shanтАЩt like them?тАЭ She drew a deep breath. тАЬWhat a miserable future you foresee for me!тАЭ + 

тАЬWellтБатАФhave you never foreseen it for yourself?тАЭ + 

The slow colour rose to her cheek, not a blush of excitement but drawn from the deep wells of feeling; it was as if the effort of her spirit had produced it. + 

тАЬOften and often,тАЭ she said. тАЬBut it looks so much darker when you show it to me!тАЭ + 

He made no answer to this exclamation, and for a while they sat silent, while something throbbed between them in the wide quiet of the air. But suddenly she turned on him with a kind of vehemence. + 

тАЬWhy do you do this to me?тАЭ she cried. тАЬWhy do you make the things I have chosen seem hateful to me, if you have nothing to give me instead?тАЭ + 

The words roused Selden from the musing fit into which he had fallen. He himself did not know why he had led their talk along such lines; it was the last use he would have imagined himself making of an afternoonтАЩs solitude with Miss Bart. But it was one of those moments when neither seemed to speak deliberately, when an indwelling voice in each called to the other across unsounded depths of feeling. + 

тАЬNo, I have nothing to give you instead,тАЭ he said, sitting up and turning so that he faced her. тАЬIf I had, it should be yours, you know.тАЭ + 

She received this abrupt declaration in a way even stranger than the manner of its making: she dropped her face on her hands and he saw that for a moment she wept. + 

It was for a moment only, however; for when he leaned nearer and drew down her hands with a gesture less passionate than grave, she turned on him a face softened but not disfigured by emotion, and he said to himself, somewhat cruelly, that even her weeping was an art. + 

The reflection steadied his voice as he asked, between pity and irony: тАЬIsnтАЩt it natural that I should try to belittle all the things I canтАЩt offer you?тАЭ + 

Her face brightened at this, but she drew her hand away, not with a gesture of coquetry, but as though renouncing something to which she had no claim. + 

тАЬBut you belittle me, donтАЩt you,тАЭ she returned gently, тАЬin being so sure they are the only things I care for?тАЭ + 

Selden felt an inner start; but it was only the last quiver of his egoism. Almost at once he answered quite simply: тАЬBut you do care for them, donтАЩt you? And no wishing of mine can alter that.тАЭ + 

He had so completely ceased to consider how far this might carry him, that he had a distinct sense of disappointment when she turned on him a face sparkling with derision. + 

тАЬAh,тАЭ she cried, тАЬfor all your fine phrases youтАЩre really as great a coward as I am, for you wouldnтАЩt have made one of them if you hadnтАЩt been so sure of my answer.тАЭ + 

The shock of this retort had the effect of crystallizing SeldenтАЩs wavering intentions. + 

тАЬI am not so sure of your answer,тАЭ he said quietly. тАЬAnd I do you the justice to believe that you are not either.тАЭ + 

It was her turn to look at him with surprise; and after a momentтБатАФтАЬDo you want to marry me?тАЭ she asked. + 

He broke into a laugh. тАЬNo, I donтАЩt want toтБатАФbut perhaps I should if you did!тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs what I told youтБатАФyouтАЩre so sure of me that you can amuse yourself with experiments.тАЭ She drew back the hand he had regained, and sat looking down on him sadly. + 

тАЬI am not making experiments,тАЭ he returned. тАЬOr if I am, it is not on you but on myself. I donтАЩt know what effect they are going to have on meтБатАФbut if marrying you is one of them, I will take the risk.тАЭ + 

She smiled faintly. тАЬIt would be a great risk, certainlyтБатАФI have never concealed from you how great.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, itтАЩs you who are the coward!тАЭ he exclaimed. + 

She had risen, and he stood facing her with his eyes on hers. The soft isolation of the falling day enveloped them: they seemed lifted into a finer air. All the exquisite influences of the hour trembled in their veins, and drew them to each other as the loosened leaves were drawn to the earth. + 

тАЬItтАЩs you who are the coward,тАЭ he repeated, catching her hands in his. + 

She leaned on him for a moment, as if with a drop of tired wings: he felt as though her heart were beating rather with the stress of a long flight than the thrill of new distances. Then, drawing back with a little smile of warningтБатАФтАЬI shall look hideous in dowdy clothes; but I can trim my own hats,тАЭ she declared. + 

They stood silent for a while after this, smiling at each other like adventurous children who have climbed to a forbidden height from which they discover a new world. The actual world at their feet was veiling itself in dimness, and across the valley a clear moon rose in the denser blue. + 

Suddenly they heard a remote sound, like the hum of a giant insect, and following the high road, which wound whiter through the surrounding twilight, a black object rushed across their vision. + 

Lily started from her attitude of absorption; her smile faded and she began to move toward the lane. + 

тАЬI had no idea it was so late! We shall not be back till after dark,тАЭ she said, almost impatiently. + 

Selden was looking at her with surprise: it took him a moment to regain his usual view of her; then he said, with an uncontrollable note of dryness: тАЬThat was not one of our party; the motor was going the other way.тАЭ + 

тАЬI knowтБатАФI knowтБатАФтАЭ She paused, and he saw her redden through the twilight. тАЬBut I told them I was not wellтБатАФthat I should not go out. Let us go down!тАЭ she murmured. + 

Selden continued to look at her; then he drew his cigarette-case from his pocket and slowly lit a cigarette. It seemed to him necessary, at that moment, to proclaim, by some habitual gesture of this sort, his recovered hold on the actual: he had an almost puerile wish to let his companion see that, their flight over, he had landed on his feet. + 

She waited while the spark flickered under his curved palm; then he held out the cigarettes to her. + 

She took one with an unsteady hand, and putting it to her lips, leaned forward to draw her light from his. In the indistinctness the little red gleam lit up the lower part of her face, and he saw her mouth tremble into a smile. + 

тАЬWere you serious?тАЭ she asked, with an odd thrill of gaiety which she might have caught up, in haste, from a heap of stock inflections, without having time to select the just note. + 

SeldenтАЩs voice was under better control. тАЬWhy not?тАЭ he returned. тАЬYou see I took no risks in being so.тАЭ And as she continued to stand before him, a little pale under the retort, he added quickly: тАЬLet us go down.тАЭ + 

VII + 

It spoke much for the depth of Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs friendship that her voice, in admonishing Miss Bart, took the same note of personal despair as if she had been lamenting the collapse of a house-party. + 

тАЬAll I can say is, Lily, that I canтАЩt make you out!тАЭ She leaned back, sighing, in the morning abandon of lace and muslin, turning an indifferent shoulder to the heaped-up importunities of her desk, while she considered, with the eye of a physician who has given up the case, the erect exterior of the patient confronting her. + 

тАЬIf you hadnтАЩt told me you were going in for him seriouslyтБатАФbut IтАЩm sure you made that plain enough from the beginning! Why else did you ask me to let you off bridge, and to keep away Carry and Kate Corby? I donтАЩt suppose you did it because he amused you; we could none of us imagine your putting up with him for a moment unless you meant to marry him. And IтАЩm sure everybody played fair! They all wanted to help it along. Even Bertha kept her hands offтБатАФI will say thatтБатАФtill Lawrence came down and you dragged him away from her. After that she had a right to retaliateтБатАФwhy on earth did you interfere with her? YouтАЩve known Lawrence Selden for yearsтБатАФwhy did you behave as if you had just discovered him? If you had a grudge against Bertha it was a stupid time to show itтБатАФyou could have paid her back just as well after you were married! I told you Bertha was dangerous. She was in an odious mood when she came here, but LawrenceтАЩs turning up put her in a good humour, and if youтАЩd only let her think he came for her it would have never occurred to her to play you this trick. Oh, Lily, youтАЩll never do anything if youтАЩre not serious!тАЭ + 

Miss Bart accepted this exhortation in a spirit of the purest impartiality. Why should she have been angry? It was the voice of her own conscience which spoke to her through Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs reproachful accents. But even to her own conscience she must trump up a semblance of defence. + 

тАЬI only took a day offтБатАФI thought he meant to stay on all this week, and I knew Mr.┬аSelden was leaving this morning.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor brushed aside the plea with a gesture which laid bare its weakness. + 

тАЬHe did mean to stayтБатАФthatтАЩs the worst of it. It shows that heтАЩs run away from you; that BerthaтАЩs done her work and poisoned him thoroughly.тАЭ + 

Lily gave a slight laugh. тАЬOh, if heтАЩs running IтАЩll overtake him!тАЭ + 

Her friend threw out an arresting hand. тАЬWhatever you do, Lily, do nothing!тАЭ + 

Miss Bart received the warning with a smile. тАЬI donтАЩt mean, literally, to take the next train. There are waysтБатАФтАЭ But she did not go on to specify them. + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor sharply corrected the tense. тАЬThere were waysтБатАФplenty of them! I didnтАЩt suppose you needed to have them pointed out. But donтАЩt deceive yourselfтБатАФheтАЩs thoroughly frightened. He has run straight home to his mother, and sheтАЩll protect him!тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, to the death,тАЭ Lily agreed, dimpling at the vision. + 

тАЬHow you can laughтБатАФтАЭ her friend rebuked her; and she dropped back to a soberer perception of things with the question: тАЬWhat was it Bertha really told him?тАЭ + 

тАЬDonтАЩt ask meтБатАФhorrors! She seemed to have raked up everything. Oh, you know what I meanтБатАФof course there isnтАЩt anything, really; but I suppose she brought in Prince VariglianoтБатАФand Lord HubertтБатАФand there was some story of your having borrowed money of old Ned Van Alstyne: did you ever?тАЭ + 

тАЬHe is my fatherтАЩs cousin,тАЭ Miss Bart interposed. + 

тАЬWell, of course she left that out. It seems Ned told Carry Fisher; and she told Bertha, naturally. TheyтАЩre all alike, you know: they hold their tongues for years, and you think youтАЩre safe, but when their opportunity comes they remember everything.тАЭ + 

Lily had grown pale: her voice had a harsh note in it. тАЬIt was some money I lost at bridge at the Van OsburghsтАЩ. I repaid it, of course.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, well, they wouldnтАЩt remember that; besides, it was the idea of the gambling debt that frightened Percy. Oh, Bertha knew her manтБатАФshe knew just what to tell him!тАЭ + 

In this strain Mrs.┬аTrenor continued for nearly an hour to admonish her friend. Miss Bart listened with admirable equanimity. Her naturally good temper had been disciplined by years of enforced compliance, since she had almost always had to attain her ends by the circuitous path of other peopleтАЩs; and, being naturally inclined to face unpleasant facts as soon as they presented themselves, she was not sorry to hear an impartial statement of what her folly was likely to cost, the more so as her own thoughts were still insisting on the other side of the case. Presented in the light of Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs vigorous comments, the reckoning was certainly a formidable one, and Lily, as she listened, found herself gradually reverting to her friendтАЩs view of the situation. Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs words were moreover emphasized for her hearer by anxieties which she herself could scarcely guess. Affluence, unless stimulated by a keen imagination, forms but the vaguest notion of the practical strain of poverty. Judy knew it must be тАЬhorridтАЭ for poor Lily to have to stop to consider whether she could afford real lace on her petticoats, and not to have a motorcar and a steam-yacht at her orders; but the daily friction of unpaid bills, the daily nibble of small temptations to expenditure, were trials as far out of her experience as the domestic problems of the charwoman. Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs unconsciousness of the real stress of the situation had the effect of making it more galling to Lily. While her friend reproached her for missing the opportunity to eclipse her rivals, she was once more battling in imagination with the mounting tide of indebtedness from which she had so nearly escaped. What wind of folly had driven her out again on those dark seas? + 

If anything was needed to put the last touch to her self-abasement it was the sense of the way her old life was opening its ruts again to receive her. Yesterday her fancy had fluttered free pinions above a choice of occupations; now she had to drop to the level of the familiar routine, in which moments of seeming brilliancy and freedom alternated with long hours of subjection. + 

She laid a deprecating hand on her friendтАЩs. тАЬDear Judy! IтАЩm sorry to have been such a bore, and you are very good to me. But you must have some letters for me to answerтБатАФlet me at least be useful.тАЭ + 

She settled herself at the desk, and Mrs.┬аTrenor accepted her resumption of the morningтАЩs task with a sigh which implied that, after all, she had proved herself unfit for higher uses. + 

The luncheon table showed a depleted circle. All the men but Jack Stepney and Dorset had returned to town (it seemed to Lily a last touch of irony that Selden and Percy Gryce should have gone in the same train), and Lady Cressida and the attendant Wetheralls had been despatched by motor to lunch at a distant country-house. At such moments of diminished interest it was usual for Mrs.┬аDorset to keep her room till the afternoon; but on this occasion she drifted in when luncheon was half over, hollowed-eyed and drooping, but with an edge of malice under her indifference. + 

She raised her eyebrows as she looked about the table. тАЬHow few of us are left! I do so enjoy the quietтБатАФdonтАЩt you, Lily? I wish the men would always stop awayтБатАФitтАЩs really much nicer without them. Oh, you donтАЩt count, George: one doesnтАЩt have to talk to oneтАЩs husband. But I thought Mr.┬аGryce was to stay for the rest of the week?тАЭ she added enquiringly. тАЬDidnтАЩt he intend to, Judy? HeтАЩs such a nice boyтБатАФI wonder what drove him away? He is rather shy, and IтАЩm afraid we may have shocked him: he has been brought up in such an old-fashioned way. Do you know, Lily, he told me he had never seen a girl play cards for money till he saw you doing it the other night? And he lives on the interest of his income, and always has a lot left over to invest!тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher leaned forward eagerly. тАЬI do believe it is someoneтАЩs duty to educate that young man. It is shocking that he has never been made to realize his duties as a citizen. Every wealthy man should be compelled to study the laws of his country.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аDorset glanced at her quietly. тАЬI think he has studied the divorce laws. He told me he had promised the Bishop to sign some kind of a petition against divorce.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher reddened under her powder, and Stepney said with a laughing glance at Miss Bart: тАЬI suppose he is thinking of marriage, and wants to tinker up the old ship before he goes aboard.тАЭ + 

His betrothed looked shocked at the metaphor, and George Dorset exclaimed with a sardonic growl: тАЬPoor devil! It isnтАЩt the ship that will do for him, itтАЩs the crew.тАЭ + 

тАЬOr the stowaways,тАЭ said Miss Corby brightly. тАЬIf I contemplated a voyage with him I should try to start with a friend in the hold.тАЭ + 

Miss Van OsburghтАЩs vague feeling of pique was struggling for appropriate expression. тАЬIтАЩm sure I donтАЩt see why you laugh at him; I think heтАЩs very nice,тАЭ she exclaimed; тАЬand, at any rate, a girl who married him would always have enough to be comfortable.тАЭ + 

She looked puzzled at the redoubled laughter which hailed her words, but it might have consoled her to know how deeply they had sunk into the breast of one of her hearers. + 

Comfortable! At that moment the word was more eloquent to Lily Bart than any other in the language. She could not even pause to smile over the heiressтАЩs view of a colossal fortune as a mere shelter against want: her mind was filled with the vision of what that shelter might have been to her. Mrs.┬аDorsetтАЩs pinpricks did not smart, for her own irony cut deeper: no one could hurt her as much as she was hurting herself, for no one elseтБатАФnot even Judy TrenorтБатАФknew the full magnitude of her folly. + 

She was roused from these unprofitable considerations by a whispered request from her hostess, who drew her apart as they left the luncheon-table. + 

тАЬLily, dear, if youтАЩve nothing special to do, may I tell Carry Fisher that you intend to drive to the station and fetch Gus? He will be back at four, and I know she has it in her mind to meet him. Of course IтАЩm very glad to have him amused, but I happen to know that she has bled him rather severely since sheтАЩs been here, and she is so keen about going to fetch him that I fancy she must have got a lot more bills this morning. It seems to me,тАЭ Mrs.┬аTrenor feelingly concluded, тАЬthat most of her alimony is paid by other womenтАЩs husbands!тАЭ + 

Miss Bart, on her way to the station, had leisure to muse over her friendтАЩs words, and their peculiar application to herself. Why should she have to suffer for having once, for a few hours, borrowed money of an elderly cousin, when a woman like Carry Fisher could make a living unrebuked from the good-nature of her men friends and the tolerance of their wives? It all turned on the tiresome distinction between what a married woman might, and a girl might not, do. Of course it was shocking for a married woman to borrow moneyтБатАФand Lily was expertly aware of the implication involvedтБатАФbut still, it was the mere malum prohibitum which the world decries but condones, and which, though it may be punished by private vengeance, does not provoke the collective disapprobation of society. To Miss Bart, in short, no such opportunities were possible. She could of course borrow from her women friendsтБатАФa hundred here or there, at the utmostтБатАФbut they were more ready to give a gown or a trinket, and looked a little askance when she hinted her preference for a cheque. Women are not generous lenders, and those among whom her lot was cast were either in the same case as herself, or else too far removed from it to understand its necessities. The result of her meditations was the decision to join her aunt at Richfield. She could not remain at Bellomont without playing bridge, and being involved in other expenses; and to continue her usual series of autumn visits would merely prolong the same difficulties. She had reached a point where abrupt retrenchment was necessary, and the only cheap life was a dull life. She would start the next morning for Richfield. + 

At the station she thought Gus Trenor seemed surprised, and not wholly unrelieved, to see her. She yielded up the reins of the light runabout in which she had driven over, and as he climbed heavily to her side, crushing her into a scant third of the seat, he said: тАЬHalloo! It isnтАЩt often you honour me. You must have been uncommonly hard up for something to do.тАЭ + 

The afternoon was warm, and propinquity made her more than usually conscious that he was red and massive, and that beads of moisture had caused the dust of the train to adhere unpleasantly to the broad expanse of cheek and neck which he turned to her; but she was aware also, from the look in his small dull eyes, that the contact with her freshness and slenderness was as agreeable to him as the sight of a cooling beverage. + 

The perception of this fact helped her to answer gaily: тАЬItтАЩs not often I have the chance. There are too many ladies to dispute the privilege with me.тАЭ + 

тАЬThe privilege of driving me home? Well, IтАЩm glad you won the race, anyhow. But I know what really happenedтБатАФmy wife sent you. Now didnтАЩt she?тАЭ + 

He had the dull manтАЩs unexpected flashes of astuteness, and Lily could not help joining in the laugh with which he had pounced on the truth. + 

тАЬYou see, Judy thinks IтАЩm the safest person for you to be with; and sheтАЩs quite right,тАЭ she rejoined. + 

тАЬOh, is she, though? If she is, itтАЩs because you wouldnтАЩt waste your time on an old hulk like me. We married men have to put up with what we can get: all the prizes are for the clever chaps whoтАЩve kept a free foot. Let me light a cigar, will you? IтАЩve had a beastly day of it.тАЭ + 

He drew up in the shade of the village street, and passed the reins to her while he held a match to his cigar. The little flame under his hand cast a deeper crimson on his puffing face, and Lily averted her eyes with a momentary feeling of repugnance. And yet some women thought him handsome! + 

As she handed back the reins, she said sympathetically: тАЬDid you have such a lot of tiresome things to do?тАЭ + 

тАЬI should say soтБатАФrather!тАЭ Trenor, who was seldom listened to, either by his wife or her friends, settled down into the rare enjoyment of a confidential talk. тАЬYou donтАЩt know how a fellow has to hustle to keep this kind of thing going.тАЭ He waved his whip in the direction of the Bellomont acres, which lay outspread before them in opulent undulations. тАЬJudy has no idea of what she spendsтБатАФnot that there isnтАЩt plenty to keep the thing going,тАЭ he interrupted himself, тАЬbut a man has got to keep his eyes open and pick up all the tips he can. My father and mother used to live like fighting-cocks on their income, and put by a good bit of it tooтБатАФluckily for meтБатАФbut at the pace we go now, I donтАЩt know where I should be if it werenтАЩt for taking a flyer now and then. The women all thinkтБатАФI mean Judy thinksтБатАФIтАЩve nothing to do but to go down town once a month and cut off coupons, but the truth is it takes a devilish lot of hard work to keep the machinery running. Not that I ought to complain today, though,тАЭ he went on after a moment, тАЬfor I did a very neat stroke of business, thanks to StepneyтАЩs friend Rosedale: by the way, Miss Lily, I wish youтАЩd try to persuade Judy to be decently civil to that chap. HeтАЩs going to be rich enough to buy us all out one of these days, and if sheтАЩd only ask him to dine now and then I could get almost anything out of him. The man is mad to know the people who donтАЩt want to know him, and when a fellowтАЩs in that state there is nothing he wonтАЩt do for the first woman who takes him up.тАЭ + 

Lily hesitated a moment. The first part of her companionтАЩs discourse had started an interesting train of thought, which was rudely interrupted by the mention of Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЩs name. She uttered a faint protest. + 

тАЬBut you know Jack did try to take him about, and he was impossible.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, hang itтБатАФbecause heтАЩs fat and shiny, and has a sloppy manner! Well, all I can say is that the people who are clever enough to be civil to him now will make a mighty good thing of it. A few years from now heтАЩll be in it whether we want him or not, and then he wonтАЩt be giving away a half-a-million tip for a dinner.тАЭ + 

LilyтАЩs mind had reverted from the intrusive personality of Mr.┬аRosedale to the train of thought set in motion by TrenorтАЩs first words. This vast mysterious Wall Street world of тАЬtipsтАЭ and тАЬdealsтАЭтБатАФmight she not find in it the means of escape from her dreary predicament? She had often heard of women making money in this way through their friends: she had no more notion than most of her sex of the exact nature of the transaction, and its vagueness seemed to diminish its indelicacy. She could not, indeed, imagine herself, in any extremity, stooping to extract a тАЬtipтАЭ from Mr.┬аRosedale; but at her side was a man in possession of that precious commodity, and who, as the husband of her dearest friend, stood to her in a relation of almost fraternal intimacy. + 

In her inmost heart Lily knew it was not by appealing to the fraternal instinct that she was likely to move Gus Trenor; but this way of explaining the situation helped to drape its crudity, and she was always scrupulous about keeping up appearances to herself. Her personal fastidiousness had a moral equivalent, and when she made a tour of inspection in her own mind there were certain closed doors she did not open. + 

As they reached the gates of Bellomont she turned to Trenor with a smile. + 

тАЬThe afternoon is so perfectтБатАФdonтАЩt you want to drive me a little farther? IтАЩve been rather out of spirits all day, and itтАЩs so restful to be away from people, with someone who wonтАЩt mind if IтАЩm a little dull.тАЭ + 

She looked so plaintively lovely as she proffered the request, so trustfully sure of his sympathy and understanding, that Trenor felt himself wishing that his wife could see how other women treated himтБатАФnot battered wire-pullers like Mrs.┬аFisher, but a girl that most men would have given their boots to get such a look from. + 

тАЬOut of spirits? Why on earth should you ever be out of spirits? Is your last box of Doucet dresses a failure, or did Judy rook you out of everything at bridge last night?тАЭ + 

Lily shook her head with a sigh. тАЬI have had to give up Doucet; and bridge tooтБатАФI canтАЩt afford it. In fact I canтАЩt afford any of the things my friends do, and I am afraid Judy often thinks me a bore because I donтАЩt play cards any longer, and because I am not as smartly dressed as the other women. But you will think me a bore too if I talk to you about my worries, and I only mention them because I want you to do me a favourтБатАФthe very greatest of favours.тАЭ + 

Her eyes sought his once more, and she smiled inwardly at the tinge of apprehension that she read in them. + 

тАЬWhy, of courseтБатАФif itтАЩs anything I can manageтБатАФтАЭ He broke off, and she guessed that his enjoyment was disturbed by the remembrance of Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs methods. + 

тАЬThe greatest of favours,тАЭ she rejoined gently. тАЬThe fact is, Judy is angry with me, and I want you to make my peace.тАЭ + 

тАЬAngry with you? Oh, come, nonsenseтБатАФтАЭ his relief broke through in a laugh. тАЬWhy, you know sheтАЩs devoted to you.тАЭ + 

тАЬShe is the best friend I have, and that is why I mind having to vex her. But I daresay you know what she has wanted me to do. She has set her heartтБатАФpoor dearтБатАФon my marryingтБатАФmarrying a great deal of money.тАЭ + 

She paused with a slight falter of embarrassment, and Trenor, turning abruptly, fixed on her a look of growing intelligence. + 

тАЬA great deal of money? Oh, by JoveтБатАФyou donтАЩt mean Gryce? WhatтБатАФyou do? Oh, no, of course I wonтАЩt mention itтБатАФyou can trust me to keep my mouth shutтБатАФbut GryceтБатАФgood Lord, Gryce! Did Judy really think you could bring yourself to marry that portentous little ass? But you couldnтАЩt, eh? And so you gave him the sack, and thatтАЩs the reason why he lit out by the first train this morning?тАЭ He leaned back, spreading himself farther across the seat, as if dilated by the joyful sense of his own discernment. тАЬHow on earth could Judy think you would do such a thing? I could have told her youтАЩd never put up with such a little milksop!тАЭ + 

Lily sighed more deeply. тАЬI sometimes think,тАЭ she murmured, тАЬthat men understand a womanтАЩs motives better than other women do.тАЭ + 

тАЬSome menтБатАФIтАЩm certain of it! I could have told Judy,тАЭ he repeated, exulting in the implied superiority over his wife. + 

тАЬI thought you would understand; thatтАЩs why I wanted to speak to you,тАЭ Miss Bart rejoined. тАЬI canтАЩt make that kind of marriage; itтАЩs impossible. But neither can I go on living as all the women in my set do. I am almost entirely dependent on my aunt, and though she is very kind to me she makes me no regular allowance, and lately IтАЩve lost money at cards, and I donтАЩt dare tell her about it. I have paid my card debts, of course, but there is hardly anything left for my other expenses, and if I go on with my present life I shall be in horrible difficulties. I have a tiny income of my own, but IтАЩm afraid itтАЩs badly invested, for it seems to bring in less every year, and I am so ignorant of money matters that I donтАЩt know if my auntтАЩs agent, who looks after it, is a good adviser.тАЭ She paused a moment, and added in a lighter tone: тАЬI didnтАЩt mean to bore you with all this, but I want your help in making Judy understand that I canтАЩt, at present, go on living as one must live among you all. I am going away tomorrow to join my aunt at Richfield, and I shall stay there for the rest of the autumn, and dismiss my maid and learn how to mend my own clothes.тАЭ + 

At this picture of loveliness in distress, the pathos of which was heightened by the light touch with which it was drawn, a murmur of indignant sympathy broke from Trenor. Twenty-four hours earlier, if his wife had consulted him on the subject of Miss BartтАЩs future, he would have said that a girl with extravagant tastes and no money had better marry the first rich man she could get; but with the subject of discussion at his side, turning to him for sympathy, making him feel that he understood her better than her dearest friends, and confirming the assurance by the appeal of her exquisite nearness, he was ready to swear that such a marriage was a desecration, and that, as a man of honour, he was bound to do all he could to protect her from the results of her disinterestedness. This impulse was reinforced by the reflection that if she had married Gryce she would have been surrounded by flattery and approval, whereas, having refused to sacrifice herself to expediency, she was left to bear the whole cost of her resistance. Hang it, if he could find a way out of such difficulties for a professional sponge like Carry Fisher, who was simply a mental habit corresponding to the physical titillations of the cigarette or the cocktail, he could surely do as much for a girl who appealed to his highest sympathies, and who brought her troubles to him with the trustfulness of a child. + 

Trenor and Miss Bart prolonged their drive till long after sunset; and before it was over he had tried, with some show of success, to prove to her that, if she would only trust him, he could make a handsome sum of money for her without endangering the small amount she possessed. She was too genuinely ignorant of the manipulations of the stock-market to understand his technical explanations, or even perhaps to perceive that certain points in them were slurred; the haziness enveloping the transaction served as a veil for her embarrassment, and through the general blur her hopes dilated like lamps in a fog. She understood only that her modest investments were to be mysteriously multiplied without risk to herself; and the assurance that this miracle would take place within a short time, that there would be no tedious interval for suspense and reaction, relieved her of her lingering scruples. + 

Again she felt the lightening of her load, and with it the release of repressed activities. Her immediate worries conjured, it was easy to resolve that she would never again find herself in such straits, and as the need of economy and self-denial receded from her foreground she felt herself ready to meet any other demand which life might make. Even the immediate one of letting Trenor, as they drove homeward, lean a little nearer and rest his hand reassuringly on hers, cost her only a momentary shiver of reluctance. It was part of the game to make him feel that her appeal had been an uncalculated impulse, provoked by the liking he inspired; and the renewed sense of power in handling men, while it consoled her wounded vanity, helped also to obscure the thought of the claim at which his manner hinted. He was a coarse dull man who, under all his show of authority, was a mere supernumerary in the costly show for which his money paid: surely, to a clever girl, it would be easy to hold him by his vanity, and so keep the obligation on his side. + 

VIII + 

The first thousand dollar cheque which Lily received with a blotted scrawl from Gus Trenor strengthened her self-confidence in the exact degree to which it effaced her debts. + 

The transaction had justified itself by its results: she saw now how absurd it would have been to let any primitive scruple deprive her of this easy means of appeasing her creditors. Lily felt really virtuous as she dispensed the sum in sops to her tradesmen, and the fact that a fresh order accompanied each payment did not lessen her sense of disinterestedness. How many women, in her place, would have given the orders without making the payment! + 

She had found it reassuringly easy to keep Trenor in a good humour. To listen to his stories, to receive his confidences and laugh at his jokes, seemed for the moment all that was required of her, and the complacency with which her hostess regarded these attentions freed them of the least hint of ambiguity. Mrs.┬аTrenor evidently assumed that LilyтАЩs growing intimacy with her husband was simply an indirect way of returning her own kindness. + 

тАЬIтАЩm so glad you and Gus have become such good friends,тАЭ she said approvingly. тАЬItтАЩs too delightful of you to be so nice to him, and put up with all his tiresome stories. I know what they are, because I had to listen to them when we were engagedтБатАФIтАЩm sure he is telling the same ones still. And now I shanтАЩt always have to be asking Carry Fisher here to keep him in a good-humour. SheтАЩs a perfect vulture, you know; and she hasnтАЩt the least moral sense. She is always getting Gus to speculate for her, and IтАЩm sure she never pays when she loses.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart could shudder at this state of things without the embarrassment of a personal application. Her own position was surely quite different. There could be no question of her not paying when she lost, since Trenor had assured her that she was certain not to lose. In sending her the cheque he had explained that he had made five thousand for her out of RosedaleтАЩs тАЬtip,тАЭ and had put four thousand back in the same venture, as there was the promise of another тАЬbig riseтАЭ; she understood therefore that he was now speculating with her own money, and that she consequently owed him no more than the gratitude which such a trifling service demanded. She vaguely supposed that, to raise the first sum, he had borrowed on her securities; but this was a point over which her curiosity did not linger. It was concentrated, for the moment, on the probable date of the next тАЬbig rise.тАЭ + 

The news of this event was received by her some weeks later, on the occasion of Jack StepneyтАЩs marriage to Miss Van Osburgh. As a cousin of the bridegroom, Miss Bart had been asked to act as bridesmaid; but she had declined on the plea that, since she was much taller than the other attendant virgins, her presence might mar the symmetry of the group. The truth was, she had attended too many brides to the altar: when next seen there she meant to be the chief figure in the ceremony. She knew the pleasantries made at the expense of young girls who have been too long before the public, and she was resolved to avoid such assumptions of youthfulness as might lead people to think her older than she really was. + 

The Van Osburgh marriage was celebrated in the village church near the paternal estate on the Hudson. It was the тАЬsimple country weddingтАЭ to which guests are convoyed in special trains, and from which the hordes of the uninvited have to be fended off by the intervention of the police. While these sylvan rites were taking place, in a church packed with fashion and festooned with orchids, the representatives of the press were threading their way, notebook in hand, through the labyrinth of wedding presents, and the agent of a cinematograph syndicate was setting up his apparatus at the church door. It was the kind of scene in which Lily had often pictured herself as taking the principal part, and on this occasion the fact that she was once more merely a casual spectator, instead of the mystically veiled figure occupying the centre of attention, strengthened her resolve to assume the latter part before the year was over. The fact that her immediate anxieties were relieved did not blind her to a possibility of their recurrence; it merely gave her enough buoyancy to rise once more above her doubts and feel a renewed faith in her beauty, her power, and her general fitness to attract a brilliant destiny. It could not be that one conscious of such aptitudes for mastery and enjoyment was doomed to a perpetuity of failure; and her mistakes looked easily reparable in the light of her restored self-confidence. + 

A special appositeness was given to these reflections by the discovery, in a neighbouring pew, of the serious profile and neatly-trimmed beard of Mr.┬аPercy Gryce. There was something almost bridal in his own aspect: his large white gardenia had a symbolic air that struck Lily as a good omen. After all, seen in an assemblage of his kind he was not ridiculous-looking: a friendly critic might have called his heaviness weighty, and he was at his best in the attitude of vacant passivity which brings out the oddities of the restless. She fancied he was the kind of man whose sentimental associations would be stirred by the conventional imagery of a wedding, and she pictured herself, in the seclusion of the Van Osburgh conservatories, playing skillfully upon sensibilities thus prepared for her touch. In fact, when she looked at the other women about her, and recalled the image she had brought away from her own glass, it did not seem as though any special skill would be needed to repair her blunder and bring him once more to her feet. + 

The sight of SeldenтАЩs dark head, in a pew almost facing her, disturbed for a moment the balance of her complacency. The rise of her blood as their eyes met was succeeded by a contrary motion, a wave of resistance and withdrawal. She did not wish to see him again, not because she feared his influence, but because his presence always had the effect of cheapening her aspirations, of throwing her whole world out of focus. Besides, he was a living reminder of the worst mistake in her career, and the fact that he had been its cause did not soften her feelings toward him. She could still imagine an ideal state of existence in which, all else being superadded, intercourse with Selden might be the last touch of luxury; but in the world as it was, such a privilege was likely to cost more than it was worth. + 

тАЬLily, dear, I never saw you look so lovely! You look as if something delightful had just happened to you!тАЭ + 

The young lady who thus formulated her admiration of her brilliant friend did not, in her own person, suggest such happy possibilities. Miss Gertrude Farish, in fact, typified the mediocre and the ineffectual. If there were compensating qualities in her wide frank glance and the freshness of her smile, these were qualities which only the sympathetic observer would perceive before noticing that her eyes were of a workaday grey and her lips without haunting curves. LilyтАЩs own view of her wavered between pity for her limitations and impatience at her cheerful acceptance of them. To Miss Bart, as to her mother, acquiescence in dinginess was evidence of stupidity; and there were moments when, in the consciousness of her own power to look and to be so exactly what the occasion required, she almost felt that other girls were plain and inferior from choice. Certainly no one need have confessed such acquiescence in her lot as was revealed in the тАЬusefulтАЭ colour of Gerty FarishтАЩs gown and the subdued lines of her hat: it is almost as stupid to let your clothes betray that you know you are ugly as to have them proclaim that you think you are beautiful. + 

Of course, being fatally poor and dingy, it was wise of Gerty to have taken up philanthropy and symphony concerts; but there was something irritating in her assumption that existence yielded no higher pleasures, and that one might get as much interest and excitement out of life in a cramped flat as in the splendours of the Van Osburgh establishment. Today, however, her chirping enthusiasms did not irritate Lily. They seemed only to throw her own exceptionalness into becoming relief, and give a soaring vastness to her scheme of life. + 

тАЬDo let us go and take a peep at the presents before everyone else leaves the dining-room!тАЭ suggested Miss Farish, linking her arm in her friendтАЩs. It was characteristic of her to take a sentimental and unenvious interest in all the details of a wedding: she was the kind of person who always kept her handkerchief out during the service, and departed clutching a box of wedding-cake. + 

тАЬIsnтАЩt everything beautifully done?тАЭ she pursued, as they entered the distant drawing-room assigned to the display of Miss Van OsburghтАЩs bridal spoils. тАЬI always say no one does things better than cousin Grace! Did you ever taste anything more delicious than that mousse of lobster with champagne sauce? I made up my mind weeks ago that I wouldnтАЩt miss this wedding, and just fancy how delightfully it all came about. When Lawrence Selden heard I was coming, he insisted on fetching me himself and driving me to the station, and when we go back this evening I am to dine with him at SherryтАЩs. I really feel as excited as if I were getting married myself!тАЭ + 

Lily smiled: she knew that Selden had always been kind to his dull cousin, and she had sometimes wondered why he wasted so much time in such an unremunerative manner; but now the thought gave her a vague pleasure. + 

тАЬDo you see him often?тАЭ she asked. + 

тАЬYes; he is very good about dropping in on Sundays. And now and then we do a play together; but lately I havenтАЩt seen much of him. He doesnтАЩt look well, and he seems nervous and unsettled. The dear fellow! I do wish he would marry some nice girl. I told him so today, but he said he didnтАЩt care for the really nice ones, and the other kind didnтАЩt care for himтБатАФbut that was just his joke, of course. He could never marry a girl who wasnтАЩt nice. Oh, my dear, did you ever see such pearls?тАЭ + 

They had paused before the table on which the brideтАЩs jewels were displayed, and LilyтАЩs heart gave an envious throb as she caught the refraction of light from their surfacesтБатАФthe milky gleam of perfectly matched pearls, the flash of rubies relieved against contrasting velvet, the intense blue rays of sapphires kindled into light by surrounding diamonds: all these precious tints enhanced and deepened by the varied art of their setting. The glow of the stones warmed LilyтАЩs veins like wine. More completely than any other expression of wealth they symbolized the life she longed to lead, the life of fastidious aloofness and refinement in which every detail should have the finish of a jewel, and the whole form a harmonious setting to her own jewel-like rareness. + 

тАЬOh, Lily, do look at this diamond pendantтБатАФitтАЩs as big as a dinner-plate! Who can have given it?тАЭ Miss Farish bent short-sightedly over the accompanying card. тАЬтАКтАШMr.┬аSimon Rosedale.тАЩ What, that horrid man? Oh, yesтБатАФI remember heтАЩs a friend of JackтАЩs, and I suppose cousin Grace had to ask him here today; but she must rather hate having to let Gwen accept such a present from him.тАЭ + 

Lily smiled. She doubted Mrs.┬аVan OsburghтАЩs reluctance, but was aware of Miss FarishтАЩs habit of ascribing her own delicacies of feeling to the persons least likely to be encumbered by them. + 

тАЬWell, if Gwen doesnтАЩt care to be seen wearing it she can always exchange it for something else,тАЭ she remarked. + 

тАЬAh, here is something so much prettier,тАЭ Miss Farish continued. тАЬDo look at this exquisite white sapphire. IтАЩm sure the person who chose it must have taken particular pains. What is the name? Percy Gryce? Ah, then IтАЩm not surprised!тАЭ She smiled significantly as she replaced the card. тАЬOf course youтАЩve heard that heтАЩs perfectly devoted to Evie Van Osburgh? Cousin Grace is so pleased about itтБатАФitтАЩs quite a romance! He met her first at the George DorsetsтАЩ, only about six weeks ago, and itтАЩs just the nicest possible marriage for dear Evie. Oh, I donтАЩt mean the moneyтБатАФof course she has plenty of her ownтБатАФbut sheтАЩs such a quiet stay-at-home kind of girl, and it seems he has just the same tastes; so they are exactly suited to each other.тАЭ + 

Lily stood staring vacantly at the white sapphire on its velvet bed. Evie Van Osburgh and Percy Gryce? The names rang derisively through her brain. Evie Van Osburgh? The youngest, dumpiest, dullest of the four dull and dumpy daughters whom Mrs.┬аVan Osburgh, with unsurpassed astuteness, had тАЬplacedтАЭ one by one in enviable niches of existence! Ah, lucky girls who grow up in the shelter of a motherтАЩs loveтБатАФa mother who knows how to contrive opportunities without conceding favours, how to take advantage of propinquity without allowing appetite to be dulled by habit! The cleverest girl may miscalculate where her own interests are concerned, may yield too much at one moment and withdraw too far at the next: it takes a motherтАЩs unerring vigilance and foresight to land her daughters safely in the arms of wealth and suitability. + 

LilyтАЩs passing lightheartedness sank beneath a renewed sense of failure. Life was too stupid, too blundering! Why should Percy GryceтАЩs millions be joined to another great fortune, why should this clumsy girl be put in possession of powers she would never know how to use? + 

She was roused from these speculations by a familiar touch on her arm, and turning saw Gus Trenor beside her. She felt a thrill of vexation: what right had he to touch her? Luckily Gerty Farish had wandered off to the next table, and they were alone. + 

Trenor, looking stouter than ever in his tight frock-coat, and unbecomingly flushed by the bridal libations, gazed at her with undisguised approval. + 

тАЬBy Jove, Lily, you do look a stunner!тАЭ He had slipped insensibly into the use of her Christian name, and she had never found the right moment to correct him. Besides, in her set all the men and women called each other by their Christian names; it was only on TrenorтАЩs lips that the familiar address had an unpleasant significance. + 

тАЬWell,тАЭ he continued, still jovially impervious to her annoyance, тАЬhave you made up your mind which of these little trinkets you mean to duplicate at TiffanyтАЩs tomorrow? IтАЩve got a cheque for you in my pocket that will go a long way in that line!тАЭ + 

Lily gave him a startled look: his voice was louder than usual, and the room was beginning to fill with people. But as her glance assured her that they were still beyond earshot a sense of pleasure replaced her apprehension. + 

тАЬAnother dividend?тАЭ she asked, smiling and drawing near him in the desire not to be overheard. + 

тАЬWell, not exactly: I sold out on the rise and IтАЩve pulled off four thouтАЩ for you. Not so bad for a beginner, eh? I suppose youтАЩll begin to think youтАЩre a pretty knowing speculator. And perhaps you wonтАЩt think poor old Gus such an awful ass as some people do.тАЭ + 

тАЬI think you the kindest of friends; but I canтАЩt thank you properly now.тАЭ + 

She let her eyes shine into his with a look that made up for the handclasp he would have claimed if they had been aloneтБатАФand how glad she was that they were not! The news filled her with the glow produced by a sudden cessation of physical pain. The world was not so stupid and blundering after all: now and then a stroke of luck came to the unluckiest. At the thought her spirits began to rise: it was characteristic of her that one trifling piece of good fortune should give wings to all her hopes. Instantly came the reflection that Percy Gryce was not irretrievably lost; and she smiled to think of the excitement of recapturing him from Evie Van Osburgh. What chance could such a simpleton have against her if she chose to exert herself? She glanced about, hoping to catch a glimpse of Gryce; but her eyes lit instead on the glossy countenance of Mr.┬аRosedale, who was slipping through the crowd with an air half obsequious, half obtrusive, as though, the moment his presence was recognized, it would swell to the dimensions of the room. + 

Not wishing to be the means of effecting this enlargement, Lily quickly transferred her glance to Trenor, to whom the expression of her gratitude seemed not to have brought the complete gratification she had meant it to give. + 

тАЬHang thanking meтБатАФI donтАЩt want to be thanked, but I should like the chance to say two words to you now and then,тАЭ he grumbled. тАЬI thought you were going to spend the whole autumn with us, and IтАЩve hardly laid eyes on you for the last month. Why canтАЩt you come back to Bellomont this evening? WeтАЩre all alone, and Judy is as cross as two sticks. Do come and cheer a fellow up. If you say yes IтАЩll run you over in the motor, and you can telephone your maid to bring your traps from town by the next train.тАЭ + 

Lily shook her head with a charming semblance of regret. тАЬI wish I couldтБатАФbut itтАЩs quite impossible. My aunt has come back to town, and I must be with her for the next few days.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, IтАЩve seen a good deal less of you since weтАЩve got to be such pals than I used to when you were JudyтАЩs friend,тАЭ he continued with unconscious penetration. + 

тАЬWhen I was JudyтАЩs friend? Am I not her friend still? Really, you say the most absurd things! If I were always at Bellomont you would tire of me much sooner than JudyтБатАФbut come and see me at my auntтАЩs the next afternoon you are in town; then we can have a nice quiet talk, and you can tell me how I had better invest my fortune.тАЭ + 

It was true that, during the last three or four weeks, she had absented herself from Bellomont on the pretext of having other visits to pay; but she now began to feel that the reckoning she had thus contrived to evade had rolled up interest in the interval. + 

The prospect of the nice quiet talk did not appear as all-sufficing to Trenor as she had hoped, and his brows continued to lower as he said: тАЬOh, I donтАЩt know that I can promise you a fresh tip every day. But thereтАЩs one thing you might do for me; and that is, just to be a little civil to Rosedale. Judy has promised to ask him to dine when we get to town, but I canтАЩt induce her to have him at Bellomont, and if you would let me bring him up now it would make a lot of difference. I donтАЩt believe two women have spoken to him this afternoon, and I can tell you heтАЩs a chap it pays to be decent to.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart made an impatient movement, but suppressed the words which seemed about to accompany it. After all, this was an unexpectedly easy way of acquitting her debt; and had she not reasons of her own for wishing to be civil to Mr.┬аRosedale? + 

тАЬOh, bring him by all means,тАЭ she said smiling; тАЬperhaps I can get a tip out of him on my own account.тАЭ + 

Trenor paused abruptly, and his eyes fixed themselves on hers with a look which made her change colour. + 

тАЬI say, you knowтБатАФyouтАЩll please remember heтАЩs a blooming bounder,тАЭ he said; and with a slight laugh she turned toward the open window near which they had been standing. + 

The throng in the room had increased, and she felt a desire for space and fresh air. Both of these she found on the terrace, where only a few men were lingering over cigarettes and liqueur, while scattered couples strolled across the lawn to the autumn-tinted borders of the flower-garden. + 

As she emerged, a man moved toward her from the knot of smokers, and she found herself face to face with Selden. The stir of the pulses which his nearness always caused was increased by a slight sense of constraint. They had not met since their Sunday afternoon walk at Bellomont, and that episode was still so vivid to her that she could hardly believe him to be less conscious of it. But his greeting expressed no more than the satisfaction which every pretty woman expects to see reflected in masculine eyes; and the discovery, if distasteful to her vanity, was reassuring to her nerves. Between the relief of her escape from Trenor, and the vague apprehension of her meeting with Rosedale, it was pleasant to rest a moment on the sense of complete understanding which Lawrence SeldenтАЩs manner always conveyed. + 

тАЬThis is luck,тАЭ he said smiling. тАЬI was wondering if I should be able to have a word with you before the special snatches us away. I came with Gerty Farish, and promised not to let her miss the train, but I am sure she is still extracting sentimental solace from the wedding presents. She appears to regard their number and value as evidence of the disinterested affection of the contracting parties.тАЭ + 

There was not the least trace of embarrassment in his voice, and as he spoke, leaning slightly against the jamb of the window, and letting his eyes rest on her in the frank enjoyment of her grace, she felt with a faint chill of regret that he had gone back without an effort to the footing on which they had stood before their last talk together. Her vanity was stung by the sight of his unscathed smile. She longed to be to him something more than a piece of sentient prettiness, a passing diversion to his eye and brain; and the longing betrayed itself in her reply. + 

тАЬAh,тАЭ she said, тАЬI envy Gerty that power she has of dressing up with romance all our ugly and prosaic arrangements! I have never recovered my self-respect since you showed me how poor and unimportant my ambitions were.тАЭ + 

The words were hardly spoken when she realized their infelicity. It seemed to be her fate to appear at her worst to Selden. + 

тАЬI thought, on the contrary,тАЭ he returned lightly, тАЬthat I had been the means of proving they were more important to you than anything else.тАЭ + 

It was as if the eager current of her being had been checked by a sudden obstacle which drove it back upon itself. She looked at him helplessly, like a hurt or frightened child: this real self of hers, which he had the faculty of drawing out of the depths, was so little accustomed to go alone! + 

The appeal of her helplessness touched in him, as it always did, a latent chord of inclination. It would have meant nothing to him to discover that his nearness made her more brilliant, but this glimpse of a twilight mood to which he alone had the clue seemed once more to set him in a world apart with her. + 

тАЬAt least you canтАЩt think worse things of me than you say!тАЭ she exclaimed with a trembling laugh; but before he could answer, the flow of comprehension between them was abruptly stayed by the reappearance of Gus Trenor, who advanced with Mr.┬аRosedale in his wake. + 

тАЬHang it, Lily, I thought youтАЩd given me the slip: Rosedale and I have been hunting all over for you!тАЭ + 

His voice had a note of conjugal familiarity: Miss Bart fancied she detected in RosedaleтАЩs eye a twinkling perception of the fact, and the idea turned her dislike of him to repugnance. + 

She returned his profound bow with a slight nod, made more disdainful by the sense of SeldenтАЩs surprise that she should number Rosedale among her acquaintances. Trenor had turned away, and his companion continued to stand before Miss Bart, alert and expectant, his lips parted in a smile at whatever she might be about to say, and his very back conscious of the privilege of being seen with her. + 

It was the moment for tact; for the quick bridging over of gaps; but Selden still leaned against the window, a detached observer of the scene, and under the spell of his observation Lily felt herself powerless to exert her usual arts. The dread of SeldenтАЩs suspecting that there was any need for her to propitiate such a man as Rosedale checked the trivial phrases of politeness. Rosedale still stood before her in an expectant attitude, and she continued to face him in silence, her glance just level with his polished baldness. The look put the finishing touch to what her silence implied. + 

He reddened slowly, shifting from one foot to the other, fingered the plump black pearl in his tie, and gave a nervous twist to his moustache; then, running his eye over her, he drew back, and said, with a side-glance at Selden: тАЬUpon my soul, I never saw a more ripping getup. Is that the last creation of the dressmaker you go to see at the Benedick? If so, I wonder all the other women donтАЩt go to her too!тАЭ + 

The words were projected sharply against LilyтАЩs silence, and she saw in a flash that her own act had given them their emphasis. In ordinary talk they might have passed unheeded; but following on her prolonged pause they acquired a special meaning. She felt, without looking, that Selden had immediately seized it, and would inevitably connect the allusion with her visit to himself. The consciousness increased her irritation against Rosedale, but also her feeling that now, if ever, was the moment to propitiate him, hateful as it was to do so in SeldenтАЩs presence. + 

тАЬHow do you know the other women donтАЩt go to my dressmaker?тАЭ she returned. тАЬYou see IтАЩm not afraid to give her address to my friends!тАЭ + 

Her glance and accent so plainly included Rosedale in this privileged circle that his small eyes puckered with gratification, and a knowing smile drew up his moustache. + 

тАЬBy Jove, you neednтАЩt be!тАЭ he declared. тАЬYou could give тАЩem the whole outfit and win at a canter!тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, thatтАЩs nice of you; and it would be nicer still if you would carry me off to a quiet corner, and get me a glass of lemonade or some innocent drink before we all have to rush for the train.тАЭ + 

She turned away as she spoke, letting him strut at her side through the gathering groups on the terrace, while every nerve in her throbbed with the consciousness of what Selden must have thought of the scene. + 

But under her angry sense of the perverseness of things, and the light surface of her talk with Rosedale, a third idea persisted: she did not mean to leave without an attempt to discover the truth about Percy Gryce. Chance, or perhaps his own resolve, had kept them apart since his hasty withdrawal from Bellomont; but Miss Bart was an expert in making the most of the unexpected, and the distasteful incidents of the last few minutesтБатАФthe revelation to Selden of precisely that part of her life which she most wished him to ignoreтБатАФincreased her longing for shelter, for escape from such humiliating contingencies. Any definite situation would be more tolerable than this buffeting of chances, which kept her in an attitude of uneasy alertness toward every possibility of life. + 

Indoors there was a general sense of dispersal in the air, as of an audience gathering itself up for departure after the principal actors had left the stage; but among the remaining groups, Lily could discover neither Gryce nor the youngest Miss Van Osburgh. That both should be missing struck her with foreboding; and she charmed Mr.┬аRosedale by proposing that they should make their way to the conservatories at the farther end of the house. There were just enough people left in the long suite of rooms to make their progress conspicuous, and Lily was aware of being followed by looks of amusement and interrogation, which glanced off as harmlessly from her indifference as from her companionтАЩs self-satisfaction. She cared very little at that moment about being seen with Rosedale: all her thoughts were centred on the object of her search. The latter, however, was not discoverable in the conservatories, and Lily, oppressed by a sudden conviction of failure, was casting about for a way to rid herself of her now superfluous companion, when they came upon Mrs.┬аVan Osburgh, flushed and exhausted, but beaming with the consciousness of duty performed. + 

She glanced at them a moment with the benign but vacant eye of the tired hostess, to whom her guests have become mere whirling spots in a kaleidoscope of fatigue; then her attention became suddenly fixed, and she seized on Miss Bart with a confidential gesture. + 

тАЬMy dear Lily, I havenтАЩt had time for a word with you, and now I suppose you are just off. Have you seen Evie? SheтАЩs been looking everywhere for you: she wanted to tell you her little secret; but I daresay you have guessed it already. The engagement is not to be announced till next weekтБатАФbut you are such a friend of Mr.┬аGryceтАЩs that they both wished you to be the first to know of their happiness.тАЭ + 

IX + 

In Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs youth, fashion had returned to town in October; therefore on the tenth day of the month the blinds of her Fifth Avenue residence were drawn up, and the eyes of the Dying Gladiator in bronze who occupied the drawing-room window resumed their survey of that deserted thoroughfare. + 

The first two weeks after her return represented to Mrs.┬аPeniston the domestic equivalent of a religious retreat. She тАЬwent throughтАЭ the linen and blankets in the precise spirit of the penitent exploring the inner folds of conscience; she sought for moths as the stricken soul seeks for lurking infirmities. The topmost shelf of every closet was made to yield up its secret, cellar and coal-bin were probed to their darkest depths and, as a final stage in the lustral rites, the entire house was swathed in penitential white and deluged with expiatory soapsuds. + 

It was on this phase of the proceedings that Miss Bart entered on the afternoon of her return from the Van Osburgh wedding. The journey back to town had not been calculated to soothe her nerves. Though Evie Van OsburghтАЩs engagement was still officially a secret, it was one of which the innumerable intimate friends of the family were already possessed; and the trainful of returning guests buzzed with allusions and anticipations. Lily was acutely aware of her own part in this drama of innuendo: she knew the exact quality of the amusement the situation evoked. The crude forms in which her friends took their pleasure included a loud enjoyment of such complications: the zest of surprising destiny in the act of playing a practical joke. Lily knew well enough how to bear herself in difficult situations. She had, to a shade, the exact manner between victory and defeat: every insinuation was shed without an effort by the bright indifference of her manner. But she was beginning to feel the strain of the attitude; the reaction was more rapid, and she lapsed to a deeper self-disgust. + 

As was always the case with her, this moral repulsion found a physical outlet in a quickened distaste for her surroundings. She revolted from the complacent ugliness of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs black walnut, from the slippery gloss of the vestibule tiles, and the mingled odour of sapolio and furniture-polish that met her at the door. + 

The stairs were still carpetless, and on the way up to her room she was arrested on the landing by an encroaching tide of soapsuds. Gathering up her skirts, she drew aside with an impatient gesture; and as she did so she had the odd sensation of having already found herself in the same situation but in different surroundings. It seemed to her that she was again descending the staircase from SeldenтАЩs rooms; and looking down to remonstrate with the dispenser of the soapy flood, she found herself met by a lifted stare which had once before confronted her under similar circumstances. It was the charwoman of the Benedick who, resting on crimson elbows, examined her with the same unflinching curiosity, the same apparent reluctance to let her pass. On this occasion, however, Miss Bart was on her own ground. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt you see that I wish to go by? Please move your pail,тАЭ she said sharply. + 

The woman at first seemed not to hear; then, without a word of excuse, she pushed back her pail and dragged a wet floor-cloth across the landing, keeping her eyes fixed on Lily while the latter swept by. It was insufferable that Mrs.┬аPeniston should have such creatures about the house; and Lily entered her room resolved that the woman should be dismissed that evening. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston, however, was at the moment inaccessible to remonstrance: since early morning she had been shut up with her maid, going over her furs, a process which formed the culminating episode in the drama of household renovation. In the evening also Lily found herself alone, for her aunt, who rarely dined out, had responded to the summons of a Van Alstyne cousin who was passing through town. The house, in its state of unnatural immaculateness and order, was as dreary as a tomb, and as Lily, turning from her brief repast between shrouded sideboards, wandered into the newly-uncovered glare of the drawing-room she felt as though she were buried alive in the stifling limits of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs existence. + 

She usually contrived to avoid being at home during the season of domestic renewal. On the present occasion, however, a variety of reasons had combined to bring her to town; and foremost among them was the fact that she had fewer invitations than usual for the autumn. She had so long been accustomed to pass from one country-house to another, till the close of the holidays brought her friends to town, that the unfilled gaps of time confronting her produced a sharp sense of waning popularity. It was as she had said to SeldenтБатАФpeople were tired of her. They would welcome her in a new character, but as Miss Bart they knew her by heart. She knew herself by heart too, and was sick of the old story. There were moments when she longed blindly for anything different, anything strange, remote and untried; but the utmost reach of her imagination did not go beyond picturing her usual life in a new setting. She could not figure herself as anywhere but in a drawing-room, diffusing elegance as a flower sheds perfume. + 

Meanwhile, as October advanced she had to face the alternative of returning to the Trenors or joining her aunt in town. Even the desolating dullness of New York in October, and the soapy discomforts of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs interior, seemed preferable to what might await her at Bellomont; and with an air of heroic devotion she announced her intention of remaining with her aunt till the holidays. + 

Sacrifices of this nature are sometimes received with feelings as mixed as those which actuate them; and Mrs.┬аPeniston remarked to her confidential maid that, if any of the family were to be with her at such a crisis (though for forty years she had been thought competent to see to the hanging of her own curtains), she would certainly have preferred Miss Grace to Miss Lily. Grace Stepney was an obscure cousin, of adaptable manners and vicarious interests, who тАЬran inтАЭ to sit with Mrs.┬аPeniston when Lily dined out too continuously; who played bezique, picked up dropped stitches, read out the deaths from the Times, and sincerely admired the purple satin drawing-room curtains, the Dying Gladiator in the window, and the seven-by-five painting of Niagara which represented the one artistic excess of Mr.┬аPenistonтАЩs temperate career. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston, under ordinary circumstances, was as much bored by her excellent cousin as the recipient of such services usually is by the person who performs them. She greatly preferred the brilliant and unreliable Lily, who did not know one end of a crochet-needle from the other, and had frequently wounded her susceptibilities by suggesting that the drawing-room should be тАЬdone over.тАЭ But when it came to hunting for missing napkins, or helping to decide whether the backstairs needed re-carpeting, GraceтАЩs judgment was certainly sounder than LilyтАЩs: not to mention the fact that the latter resented the smell of beeswax and brown soap, and behaved as though she thought a house ought to keep clean of itself, without extraneous assistance. + 

Seated under the cheerless blaze of the drawing-room chandelierтБатАФMrs.┬аPeniston never lit the lamps unless there was тАЬcompanyтАЭтБатАФLily seemed to watch her own figure retreating down vistas of neutral-tinted dullness to a middle age like Grace StepneyтАЩs. When she ceased to amuse Judy Trenor and her friends she would have to fall back on amusing Mrs.┬аPeniston; whichever way she looked she saw only a future of servitude to the whims of others, never the possibility of asserting her own eager individuality. + 

A ring at the doorbell, sounding emphatically through the empty house, roused her suddenly to the extent of her boredom. It was as though all the weariness of the past months had culminated in the vacuity of that interminable evening. If only the ring meant a summons from the outer worldтБатАФa token that she was still remembered and wanted! + 

After some delay a parlourmaid presented herself with the announcement that there was a person outside who was asking to see Miss Bart; and on LilyтАЩs pressing for a more specific description, she added: + 

тАЬItтАЩs Mrs.┬аHaffen, Miss; she wonтАЩt say what she wants.тАЭ + 

Lily, to whom the name conveyed nothing, opened the door upon a woman in a battered bonnet, who stood firmly planted under the hall-light. The glare of the unshaded gas shone familiarly on her pockmarked face and the reddish baldness visible through thin strands of straw-coloured hair. Lily looked at the charwoman in surprise. + 

тАЬDo you wish to see me?тАЭ she asked. + 

тАЬI should like to say a word to you, Miss.тАЭ The tone was neither aggressive nor conciliatory: it revealed nothing of the speakerтАЩs errand. Nevertheless, some precautionary instinct warned Lily to withdraw beyond earshot of the hovering parlourmaid. + 

She signed to Mrs.┬аHaffen to follow her into the drawing-room, and closed the door when they had entered. + 

тАЬWhat is it that you wish?тАЭ she enquired. + 

The charwoman, after the manner of her kind, stood with her arms folded in her shawl. Unwinding the latter, she produced a small parcel wrapped in dirty newspaper. + 

тАЬI have something here that you might like to see, Miss Bart.тАЭ She spoke the name with an unpleasant emphasis, as though her knowing it made a part of her reason for being there. To Lily the intonation sounded like a threat. + 

тАЬYou have found something belonging to me?тАЭ she asked, extending her hand. + 

Mrs.┬аHaffen drew back. тАЬWell, if it comes to that, I guess itтАЩs mine as much as anybodyтАЩs,тАЭ she returned. + 

Lily looked at her perplexedly. She was sure, now, that her visitorтАЩs manner conveyed a threat; but, expert as she was in certain directions, there was nothing in her experience to prepare her for the exact significance of the present scene. She felt, however, that it must be ended as promptly as possible. + 

тАЬI donтАЩt understand; if this parcel is not mine, why have you asked for me?тАЭ + 

The woman was unabashed by the question. She was evidently prepared to answer it, but like all her class she had to go a long way back to make a beginning, and it was only after a pause that she replied: тАЬMy husband was janitor to the Benedick till the first of the month; since then he canтАЩt get nothing to do.тАЭ + 

Lily remained silent and she continued: тАЬIt wasnтАЩt no fault of our own, neither: the agent had another man he wanted the place for, and we was put out, bag and baggage, just to suit his fancy. I had a long sickness last winter, and an operation that ate up all weтАЩd put by; and itтАЩs hard for me and the children, Haffen being so long out of a job.тАЭ + 

After all, then, she had come only to ask Miss Bart to find a place for her husband; or, more probably, to seek the young ladyтАЩs intervention with Mrs.┬аPeniston. Lily had such an air of always getting what she wanted that she was used to being appealed to as an intermediary, and, relieved of her vague apprehension, she took refuge in the conventional formula. + 

тАЬI am sorry you have been in trouble,тАЭ she said. + 

тАЬOh, that we have, Miss, and itтАЩs onтАЩy just beginning. If onтАЩy weтАЩd тАЩa got another situationтБатАФbut the agent, heтАЩs dead against us. It ainтАЩt no fault of ours, neither, butтБатАФтАЭ + 

At this point LilyтАЩs impatience overcame her. тАЬIf you have anything to say to meтБатАФтАЭ she interposed. + 

The womanтАЩs resentment of the rebuff seemed to spur her lagging ideas. + 

тАЬYes, Miss; IтАЩm coming to that,тАЭ she said. She paused again, with her eyes on Lily, and then continued, in a tone of diffuse narrative: тАЬWhen we was at the Benedick I had charge of some of the gentlemenтАЩs rooms; leastways, I swepтАЩ тАЩem out on Saturdays. Some of the gentlemen got the greatest sight of letters: I never saw the like of it. Their wastepaper baskets тАЩd be fairly brimming, and papers falling over on the floor. Maybe havinтАЩ so many is how they get so careless. Some of тАЩem is worse than others. Mr.┬аSelden, Mr.┬аLawrence Selden, he was always one of the carefullest: burnt his letters in winter, and tore тАЩem in little bits in summer. But sometimes heтАЩd have so many heтАЩd just bunch тАЩem together, the way the others did, and tear the lot through onceтБатАФlike this.тАЭ + 

While she spoke she had loosened the string from the parcel in her hand, and now she drew forth a letter which she laid on the table between Miss Bart and herself. As she had said, the letter was torn in two; but with a rapid gesture she laid the torn edges together and smoothed out the page. + 

A wave of indignation swept over Lily. She felt herself in the presence of something vile, as yet but dimly conjecturedтБатАФthe kind of vileness of which people whispered, but which she had never thought of as touching her own life. She drew back with a motion of disgust, but her withdrawal was checked by a sudden discovery: under the glare of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs chandelier she had recognized the handwriting of the letter. It was a large disjointed hand, with a flourish of masculinity which but slightly disguised its rambling weakness, and the words, scrawled in heavy ink on pale-tinted notepaper, smote on LilyтАЩs ear as though she had heard them spoken. + 

At first she did not grasp the full import of the situation. She understood only that before her lay a letter written by Bertha Dorset, and addressed, presumably, to Lawrence Selden. There was no date, but the blackness of the ink proved the writing to be comparatively recent. The packet in Mrs.┬аHaffenтАЩs hand doubtless contained more letters of the same kindтБатАФa dozen, Lily conjectured from its thickness. The letter before her was short, but its few words, which had leapt into her brain before she was conscious of reading them, told a long historyтБатАФa history over which, for the last four years, the friends of the writer had smiled and shrugged, viewing it merely as one among the countless тАЬgood situationsтАЭ of the mundane comedy. Now the other side presented itself to Lily, the volcanic nether side of the surface over which conjecture and innuendo glide so lightly till the first fissure turns their whisper to a shriek. Lily knew that there is nothing society resents so much as having given its protection to those who have not known how to profit by it: it is for having betrayed its connivance that the body social punishes the offender who is found out. And in this case there was no doubt of the issue. The code of LilyтАЩs world decreed that a womanтАЩs husband should be the only judge of her conduct: she was technically above suspicion while she had the shelter of his approval, or even of his indifference. But with a man of George DorsetтАЩs temper there could be no thought of condonationтБатАФthe possessor of his wifeтАЩs letters could overthrow with a touch the whole structure of her existence. And into what hands Bertha DorsetтАЩs secret had been delivered! For a moment the irony of the coincidence tinged LilyтАЩs disgust with a confused sense of triumph. But the disgust prevailedтБатАФall her instinctive resistances, of taste, of training, of blind inherited scruples, rose against the other feeling. Her strongest sense was one of personal contamination. + 

She moved away, as though to put as much distance as possible between herself and her visitor. тАЬI know nothing of these letters,тАЭ she said; тАЬI have no idea why you have brought them here.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аHaffen faced her steadily. тАЬIтАЩll tell you why, Miss. I brought тАЩem to you to sell, because I ainтАЩt got no other way of raising money, and if we donтАЩt pay our rent by tomorrow night weтАЩll be put out. I never done anythinтАЩ of the kind before, and if youтАЩd speak to Mr.┬аSelden or to Mr.┬аRosedale about getting Haffen taken on again at the BenedickтБатАФI seen you talking to Mr.┬аRosedale on the steps that day you come out of Mr.┬аSeldenтАЩs roomsтБатАФтАЭ + 

The blood rushed to LilyтАЩs forehead. She understood nowтБатАФMrs.┬аHaffen supposed her to be the writer of the letters. In the first leap of her anger she was about to ring and order the woman out; but an obscure impulse restrained her. The mention of SeldenтАЩs name had started a new train of thought. Bertha DorsetтАЩs letters were nothing to herтБатАФthey might go where the current of chance carried them! But Selden was inextricably involved in their fate. Men do not, at worst, suffer much from such exposure; and in this instance the flash of divination which had carried the meaning of the letters to LilyтАЩs brain had revealed also that they were appealsтБатАФrepeated and therefore probably unansweredтБатАФfor the renewal of a tie which time had evidently relaxed. Nevertheless, the fact that the correspondence had been allowed to fall into strange hands would convict Selden of negligence in a matter where the world holds it least pardonable; and there were graver risks to consider where a man of DorsetтАЩs ticklish balance was concerned. + 

If she weighed all these things it was unconsciously: she was aware only of feeling that Selden would wish the letters rescued, and that therefore she must obtain possession of them. Beyond that her mind did not travel. She had, indeed, a quick vision of returning the packet to Bertha Dorset, and of the opportunities the restitution offered; but this thought lit up abysses from which she shrank back ashamed. + 

Meanwhile Mrs.┬аHaffen, prompt to perceive her hesitation, had already opened the packet and ranged its contents on the table. All the letters had been pieced together with strips of thin paper. Some were in small fragments, the others merely torn in half. Though there were not many, thus spread out they nearly covered the table. LilyтАЩs glance fell on a word here and thereтБатАФthen she said in a low voice: тАЬWhat do you wish me to pay you?тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аHaffenтАЩs face reddened with satisfaction. It was clear that the young lady was badly frightened, and Mrs.┬аHaffen was the woman to make the most of such fears. Anticipating an easier victory than she had foreseen, she named an exorbitant sum. + 

But Miss Bart showed herself a less ready prey than might have been expected from her imprudent opening. She refused to pay the price named, and after a momentтАЩs hesitation, met it by a counteroffer of half the amount. + 

Mrs.┬аHaffen immediately stiffened. Her hand travelled toward the outspread letters, and folding them slowly, she made as though to restore them to their wrapping. + 

тАЬI guess theyтАЩre worth more to you than to me, Miss, but the poor has got to live as well as the rich,тАЭ she observed sententiously. + 

Lily was throbbing with fear, but the insinuation fortified her resistance. + 

тАЬYou are mistaken,тАЭ she said indifferently. тАЬI have offered all I am willing to give for the letters; but there may be other ways of getting them.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аHaffen raised a suspicious glance: she was too experienced not to know that the traffic she was engaged in had perils as great as its rewards, and she had a vision of the elaborate machinery of revenge which a word of this commanding young ladyтАЩs might set in motion. + 

She applied the corner of her shawl to her eyes, and murmured through it that no good came of bearing too hard on the poor, but that for her part she had never been mixed up in such a business before, and that on her honour as a Christian all she and Haffen had thought of was that the letters mustnтАЩt go any farther. + 

Lily stood motionless, keeping between herself and the charwoman the greatest distance compatible with the need of speaking in low tones. The idea of bargaining for the letters was intolerable to her, but she knew that, if she appeared to weaken, Mrs.┬аHaffen would at once increase her original demand. + 

She could never afterward recall how long the duel lasted, or what was the decisive stroke which finally, after a lapse of time recorded in minutes by the clock, in hours by the precipitate beat of her pulses, put her in possession of the letters; she knew only that the door had finally closed, and that she stood alone with the packet in her hand. + 

She had no idea of reading the letters; even to unfold Mrs.┬аHaffenтАЩs dirty newspaper would have seemed degrading. But what did she intend to do with its contents? The recipient of the letters had meant to destroy them, and it was her duty to carry out his intention. She had no right to keep themтБатАФto do so was to lessen whatever merit lay in having secured their possession. But how destroy them so effectually that there should be no second risk of their falling in such hands? Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs icy drawing-room grate shone with a forbidding lustre: the fire, like the lamps, was never lit except when there was company. + 

Miss Bart was turning to carry the letters upstairs when she heard the opening of the outer door, and her aunt entered the drawing-room. Mrs.┬аPeniston was a small plump woman, with a colourless skin lined with trivial wrinkles. Her grey hair was arranged with precision, and her clothes looked excessively new and yet slightly old-fashioned. They were always black and tightly fitting, with an expensive glitter: she was the kind of woman who wore jet at breakfast. Lily had never seen her when she was not cuirassed in shining black, with small tight boots, and an air of being packed and ready to start; yet she never started. + 

She looked about the drawing-room with an expression of minute scrutiny. тАЬI saw a streak of light under one of the blinds as I drove up: itтАЩs extraordinary that I can never teach that woman to draw them down evenly.тАЭ + 

Having corrected the irregularity, she seated herself on one of the glossy purple armchairs; Mrs.┬аPeniston always sat on a chair, never in it. Then she turned her glance to Miss Bart. + 

тАЬMy dear, you look tired; I suppose itтАЩs the excitement of the wedding. Cornelia Van Alstyne was full of it: Molly was there, and Gerty Farish ran in for a minute to tell us about it. I think it was odd, their serving melons before the consomm├й: a wedding breakfast should always begin with consomm├й. Molly didnтАЩt care for the bridesmaidsтАЩ dresses. She had it straight from Julia Melson that they cost three hundred dollars apiece at C├йlesteтАЩs, but she says they didnтАЩt look it. IтАЩm glad you decided not to be a bridesmaid; that shade of salmon-pink wouldnтАЩt have suited you.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston delighted in discussing the minutest details of festivities in which she had not taken part. Nothing would have induced her to undergo the exertion and fatigue of attending the Van Osburgh wedding, but so great was her interest in the event that, having heard two versions of it, she now prepared to extract a third from her niece. Lily, however, had been deplorably careless in noting the particulars of the entertainment. She had failed to observe the colour of Mrs.┬аVan OsburghтАЩs gown, and could not even say whether the old Van Osburgh S├йvres had been used at the brideтАЩs table: Mrs.┬аPeniston, in short, found that she was of more service as a listener than as a narrator. + 

тАЬReally, Lily, I donтАЩt see why you took the trouble to go to the wedding, if you donтАЩt remember what happened or whom you saw there. When I was a girl I used to keep the menu of every dinner I went to, and write the names of the people on the back; and I never threw away my cotillion favours till after your uncleтАЩs death, when it seemed unsuitable to have so many coloured things about the house. I had a whole closet-full, I remember; and I can tell to this day what balls I got them at. Molly Van Alstyne reminds me of what I was at that age; itтАЩs wonderful how she notices. She was able to tell her mother exactly how the wedding-dress was cut, and we knew at once, from the fold in the back, that it must have come from Paquin.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston rose abruptly, and, advancing to the ormolu clock surmounted by a helmeted Minerva, which throned on the chimneypiece between two malachite vases, passed her lace handkerchief between the helmet and its visor. + 

тАЬI knew itтБатАФthe parlourmaid never dusts there!тАЭ she exclaimed, triumphantly displaying a minute spot on the handkerchief; then, reseating herself, she went on: тАЬMolly thought Mrs.┬аDorset the best-dressed woman at the wedding. IтАЩve no doubt her dress did cost more than anyone elseтАЩs, but I canтАЩt quite like the ideaтБатАФa combination of sable and point de Milan. It seems she goes to a new man in Paris, who wonтАЩt take an order till his client has spent a day with him at his villa at Neuilly. He says he must study his subjectтАЩs home lifeтБатАФa most peculiar arrangement, I should say! But Mrs.┬аDorset told Molly about it herself: she said the villa was full of the most exquisite things and she was really sorry to leave. Molly said she never saw her looking better; she was in tremendous spirits, and said she had made a match between Evie Van Osburgh and Percy Gryce. She really seems to have a very good influence on young men. I hear she is interesting herself now in that silly Silverton boy, who has had his head turned by Carry Fisher, and has been gambling so dreadfully. Well, as I was saying, Evie is really engaged: Mrs.┬аDorset had her to stay with Percy Gryce, and managed it all, and Grace Van Osburgh is in the seventh heavenтБатАФshe had almost despaired of marrying Evie.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston again paused, but this time her scrutiny addressed itself, not to the furniture, but to her niece. + 

тАЬCornelia Van Alstyne was so surprised: she had heard that you were to marry young Gryce. She saw the Wetheralls just after they had stopped with you at Bellomont, and Alice Wetherall was quite sure there was an engagement. She said that when Mr.┬аGryce left unexpectedly one morning, they all thought he had rushed to town for the ring.тАЭ + 

Lily rose and moved toward the door. + 

тАЬI believe I am tired: I think I will go to bed,тАЭ she said; and Mrs.┬аPeniston, suddenly distracted by the discovery that the easel sustaining the late Mr.┬аPenistonтАЩs crayon-portrait was not exactly in line with the sofa in front of it, presented an absentminded brow to her kiss. + 

In her own room Lily turned up the gas-jet and glanced toward the grate. It was as brilliantly polished as the one below, but here at least she could burn a few papers with less risk of incurring her auntтАЩs disapproval. She made no immediate motion to do so, however, but dropping into a chair looked wearily about her. Her room was large and comfortably-furnishedтБатАФit was the envy and admiration of poor Grace Stepney, who boarded; but, contrasted with the light tints and luxurious appointments of the guestrooms where so many weeks of LilyтАЩs existence were spent, it seemed as dreary as a prison. The monumental wardrobe and bedstead of black walnut had migrated from Mr.┬аPenistonтАЩs bedroom, and the magenta тАЬflockтАЭ wallpaper, of a pattern dear to the early тАЩsixties, was hung with large steel engravings of an anecdotic character. Lily had tried to mitigate this charmless background by a few frivolous touches, in the shape of a lace-decked toilet table and a little painted desk surmounted by photographs; but the futility of the attempt struck her as she looked about the room. What a contrast to the subtle elegance of the setting she had pictured for herselfтБатАФan apartment which should surpass the complicated luxury of her friendsтАЩ surroundings by the whole extent of that artistic sensibility which made her feel herself their superior; in which every tint and line should combine to enhance her beauty and give distinction to her leisure! Once more the haunting sense of physical ugliness was intensified by her mental depression, so that each piece of the offending furniture seemed to thrust forth its most aggressive angle. + 

Her auntтАЩs words had told her nothing new; but they had revived the vision of Bertha Dorset, smiling, flattered, victorious, holding her up to ridicule by insinuations intelligible to every member of their little group. The thought of the ridicule struck deeper than any other sensation: Lily knew every turn of the allusive jargon which could flay its victims without the shedding of blood. Her cheek burned at the recollection, and she rose and caught up the letters. She no longer meant to destroy them: that intention had been effaced by the quick corrosion of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs words. + 

Instead, she approached her desk, and lighting a taper, tied and sealed the packet; then she opened the wardrobe, drew out a despatch-box, and deposited the letters within it. As she did so, it struck her with a flash of irony that she was indebted to Gus Trenor for the means of buying them. + 

X + 

The autumn dragged on monotonously. Miss Bart had received one or two notes from Judy Trenor, reproaching her for not returning to Bellomont; but she replied evasively, alleging the obligation to remain with her aunt. In truth, however, she was fast wearying of her solitary existence with Mrs.┬аPeniston, and only the excitement of spending her newly-acquired money lightened the dullness of the days. + 

All her life Lily had seen money go out as quickly as it came in, and whatever theories she cultivated as to the prudence of setting aside a part of her gains, she had unhappily no saving vision of the risks of the opposite course. It was a keen satisfaction to feel that, for a few months at least, she would be independent of her friendsтАЩ bounty, that she could show herself abroad without wondering whether some penetrating eye would detect in her dress the traces of Judy TrenorтАЩs refurbished splendour. The fact that the money freed her temporarily from all minor obligations obscured her sense of the greater one it represented, and having never before known what it was to command so large a sum, she lingered delectably over the amusement of spending it. + 

It was on one of these occasions that, leaving a shop where she had spent an hour of deliberation over a dressing-case of the most complicated elegance, she ran across Miss Farish, who had entered the same establishment with the modest object of having her watch repaired. Lily was feeling unusually virtuous. She had decided to defer the purchase of the dressing-case till she should receive the bill for her new opera-cloak, and the resolve made her feel much richer than when she had entered the shop. In this mood of self-approval she had a sympathetic eye for others, and she was struck by her friendтАЩs air of dejection. + 

Miss Farish, it appeared, had just left the committee-meeting of a struggling charity in which she was interested. The object of the association was to provide comfortable lodgings, with a reading-room and other modest distractions, where young women of the class employed in down-town offices might find a home when out of work, or in need of rest, and the first yearтАЩs financial report showed so deplorably small a balance that Miss Farish, who was convinced of the urgency of the work, felt proportionately discouraged by the small amount of interest it aroused. The other-regarding sentiments had not been cultivated in Lily, and she was often bored by the relation of her friendтАЩs philanthropic efforts, but today her quick dramatizing fancy seized on the contrast between her own situation and that represented by some of GertyтАЩs тАЬcases.тАЭ These were young girls, like herself; some perhaps pretty, some not without a trace of her finer sensibilities. She pictured herself leading such a life as theirsтБатАФa life in which achievement seemed as squalid as failureтБатАФand the vision made her shudder sympathetically. The price of the dressing-case was still in her pocket; and drawing out her little gold purse she slipped a liberal fraction of the amount into Miss FarishтАЩs hand. + 

The satisfaction derived from this act was all that the most ardent moralist could have desired. Lily felt a new interest in herself as a person of charitable instincts: she had never before thought of doing good with the wealth she had so often dreamed of possessing, but now her horizon was enlarged by the vision of a prodigal philanthropy. Moreover, by some obscure process of logic, she felt that her momentary burst of generosity had justified all previous extravagances, and excused any in which she might subsequently indulge. Miss FarishтАЩs surprise and gratitude confirmed this feeling, and Lily parted from her with a sense of self-esteem which she naturally mistook for the fruits of altruism. + 

About this time she was farther cheered by an invitation to spend the Thanksgiving week at a camp in the Adirondacks. The invitation was one which, a year earlier, would have provoked a less ready response, for the party, though organized by Mrs.┬аFisher, was ostensibly given by a lady of obscure origin and indomitable social ambitions, whose acquaintance Lily had hitherto avoided. Now, however, she was disposed to coincide with Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs view, that it didnтАЩt matter who gave the party, as long as things were well done; and doing things well (under competent direction) was Mrs.┬аWellington BryтАЩs strong point. The lady (whose consort was known as тАЬWellyтАЭ Bry on the Stock Exchange and in sporting circles) had already sacrificed one husband, and sundry minor considerations, to her determination to get on; and, having obtained a hold on Carry Fisher, she was astute enough to perceive the wisdom of committing herself entirely to that ladyтАЩs guidance. Everything, accordingly, was well done, for there was no limit to Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs prodigality when she was not spending her own money, and as she remarked to her pupil, a good cook was the best introduction to society. If the company was not as select as the cuisine, the Welly Brys at least had the satisfaction of figuring for the first time in the society columns in company with one or two noticeable names; and foremost among these was of course Miss BartтАЩs. The young lady was treated by her hosts with corresponding deference; and she was in the mood when such attentions are acceptable, whatever their source. Mrs.┬аBryтАЩs admiration was a mirror in which LilyтАЩs self-complacency recovered its lost outline. No insect hangs its nest on threads as frail as those which will sustain the weight of human vanity; and the sense of being of importance among the insignificant was enough to restore to Miss Bart the gratifying consciousness of power. If these people paid court to her it proved that she was still conspicuous in the world to which they aspired; and she was not above a certain enjoyment in dazzling them by her fineness, in developing their puzzled perception of her superiorities. + 

Perhaps, however, her enjoyment proceeded more than she was aware from the physical stimulus of the excursion, the challenge of crisp cold and hard exercise, the responsive thrill of her body to the influences of the winter woods. She returned to town in a glow of rejuvenation, conscious of a clearer colour in her cheeks, a fresh elasticity in her muscles. The future seemed full of a vague promise, and all her apprehensions were swept out of sight on the buoyant current of her mood. + 

A few days after her return to town she had the unpleasant surprise of a visit from Mr.┬аRosedale. He came late, at the confidential hour when the tea-table still lingers by the fire in friendly expectancy; and his manner showed a readiness to adapt itself to the intimacy of the occasion. + 

Lily, who had a vague sense of his being somehow connected with her lucky speculations, tried to give him the welcome he expected; but there was something in the quality of his geniality which chilled her own, and she was conscious of marking each step in their acquaintance by a fresh blunder. + 

Mr.┬аRosedaleтБатАФmaking himself promptly at home in an adjoining easy-chair, and sipping his tea critically, with the comment: тАЬYou ought to go to my man for something really goodтАЭтБатАФappeared totally unconscious of the repugnance which kept her in frozen erectness behind the urn. It was perhaps her very manner of holding herself aloof that appealed to his collectorтАЩs passion for the rare and unattainable. He gave, at any rate, no sign of resenting it and seemed prepared to supply in his own manner all the ease that was lacking in hers. + 

His object in calling was to ask her to go to the opera in his box on the opening night, and seeing her hesitate he said persuasively: тАЬMrs.┬аFisher is coming, and IтАЩve secured a tremendous admirer of yours, whoтАЩll never forgive me if you donтАЩt accept.тАЭ + 

As LilyтАЩs silence left him with this allusion on his hands, he added with a confidential smile: тАЬGus Trenor has promised to come to town on purpose. I fancy heтАЩd go a good deal farther for the pleasure of seeing you.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart felt an inward motion of annoyance: it was distasteful enough to hear her name coupled with TrenorтАЩs, and on RosedaleтАЩs lips the allusion was peculiarly unpleasant. + 

тАЬThe Trenors are my best friendsтБатАФI think we should all go a long way to see each other,тАЭ she said, absorbing herself in the preparation of fresh tea. + 

Her visitorтАЩs smile grew increasingly intimate. тАЬWell, I wasnтАЩt thinking of Mrs.┬аTrenor at the momentтБатАФthey say Gus doesnтАЩt always, you know.тАЭ Then, dimly conscious that he had not struck the right note, he added, with a well-meant effort at diversion: тАЬHowтАЩs your luck been going in Wall Street, by the way? I hear Gus pulled off a nice little pile for you last month.тАЭ + 

Lily put down the tea-caddy with an abrupt gesture. She felt that her hands were trembling, and clasped them on her knee to steady them; but her lip trembled too, and for a moment she was afraid the tremor might communicate itself to her voice. When she spoke, however, it was in a tone of perfect lightness. + 

тАЬAh, yesтБатАФI had a little bit of money to invest, and Mr.┬аTrenor, who helps me about such matters, advised my putting it in stocks instead of a mortgage, as my auntтАЩs agent wanted me to do; and as it happened, I made a lucky тАШturnтАЩтБатАФis that what you call it? For you make a great many yourself, I believe.тАЭ + 

She was smiling back at him now, relaxing the tension of her attitude, and admitting him, by imperceptible gradations of glance and manner, a step farther toward intimacy. The protective instinct always nerved her to successful dissimulation, and it was not the first time she had used her beauty to divert attention from an inconvenient topic. + 

When Mr.┬аRosedale took leave, he carried with him, not only her acceptance of his invitation, but a general sense of having comported himself in a way calculated to advance his cause. He had always believed he had a light touch and a knowing way with women, and the prompt manner in which Miss Bart (as he would have phrased it) had тАЬcome into line,тАЭ confirmed his confidence in his powers of handling this skittish sex. Her way of glossing over the transaction with Trenor he regarded at once as a tribute to his own acuteness, and a confirmation of his suspicions. The girl was evidently nervous, and Mr.┬аRosedale, if he saw no other means of advancing his acquaintance with her, was not above taking advantage of her nervousness. + 

He left Lily to a passion of disgust and fear. It seemed incredible that Gus Trenor should have spoken of her to Rosedale. With all his faults, Trenor had the safeguard of his traditions, and was the less likely to overstep them because they were so purely instinctive. But Lily recalled with a pang that there were convivial moments when, as Judy had confided to her, Gus тАЬtalked foolishlyтАЭ: in one of these, no doubt, the fatal word had slipped from him. As for Rosedale, she did not, after the first shock, greatly care what conclusions he had drawn. Though usually adroit enough where her own interests were concerned, she made the mistake, not uncommon to persons in whom the social habits are instinctive, of supposing that the inability to acquire them quickly implies a general dullness. Because a bluebottle bangs irrationally against a windowpane, the drawing-room naturalist may forget that under less artificial conditions it is capable of measuring distances and drawing conclusions with all the accuracy needful to its welfare; and the fact that Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЩs drawing-room manner lacked perspective made Lily class him with Trenor and the other dull men she knew, and assume that a little flattery, and the occasional acceptance of his hospitality, would suffice to render him innocuous. However, there could be no doubt of the expediency of showing herself in his box on the opening night of the opera; and after all, since Judy Trenor had promised to take him up that winter, it was as well to reap the advantage of being first in the field. + 

For a day or two after RosedaleтАЩs visit, LilyтАЩs thoughts were dogged by the consciousness of TrenorтАЩs shadowy claim, and she wished she had a clearer notion of the exact nature of the transaction which seemed to have put her in his power; but her mind shrank from any unusual application, and she was always helplessly puzzled by figures. Moreover she had not seen Trenor since the day of the Van Osburgh wedding, and in his continued absence the trace of RosedaleтАЩs words was soon effaced by other impressions. + 

When the opening night of the opera came, her apprehensions had so completely vanished that the sight of TrenorтАЩs ruddy countenance in the back of Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЩs box filled her with a sense of pleasant reassurance. Lily had not quite reconciled herself to the necessity of appearing as RosedaleтАЩs guest on so conspicuous an occasion, and it was a relief to find herself supported by anyone of her own setтБатАФfor Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs social habits were too promiscuous for her presence to justify Miss BartтАЩs. + 

To Lily, always inspirited by the prospect of showing her beauty in public, and conscious tonight of all the added enhancements of dress, the insistency of TrenorтАЩs gaze merged itself in the general stream of admiring looks of which she felt herself the centre. Ah, it was good to be young, to be radiant, to glow with the sense of slenderness, strength and elasticity, of well-poised lines and happy tints, to feel oneтАЩs self lifted to a height apart by that incommunicable grace which is the bodily counterpart of genius! + 

All means seemed justifiable to attain such an end, or rather, by a happy shifting of lights with which practice had familiarized Miss Bart, the cause shrank to a pinpoint in the general brightness of the effect. But brilliant young ladies, a little blinded by their own effulgence, are apt to forget that the modest satellite drowned in their light is still performing its own revolutions and generating heat at its own rate. If LilyтАЩs poetic enjoyment of the moment was undisturbed by the base thought that her gown and opera cloak had been indirectly paid for by Gus Trenor, the latter had not sufficient poetry in his composition to lose sight of these prosaic facts. He knew only that he had never seen Lily look smarter in her life, that there wasnтАЩt a woman in the house who showed off good clothes as she did, and that hitherto he, to whom she owed the opportunity of making this display, had reaped no return beyond that of gazing at her in company with several hundred other pairs of eyes. + 

It came to Lily therefore as a disagreeable surprise when, in the back of the box, where they found themselves alone between two acts, Trenor said, without preamble, and in a tone of sulky authority: тАЬLook here, Lily, how is a fellow ever to see anything of you? IтАЩm in town three or four days in the week, and you know a line to the club will always find me, but you donтАЩt seem to remember my existence nowadays unless you want to get a tip out of me.тАЭ + 

The fact that the remark was in distinctly bad taste did not make it any easier to answer, for Lily was vividly aware that it was not the moment for that drawing up of her slim figure and surprised lifting of the brows by which she usually quelled incipient signs of familiarity. + 

тАЬIтАЩm very much flattered by your wanting to see me,тАЭ she returned, essaying lightness instead, тАЬbut, unless you have mislaid my address, it would have been easy to find me any afternoon at my auntтАЩsтБатАФin fact, I rather expected you to look me up there.тАЭ + 

If she hoped to mollify him by this last concession the attempt was a failure, for he only replied, with the familiar lowering of the brows that made him look his dullest when he was angry: тАЬHang going to your auntтАЩs, and wasting the afternoon listening to a lot of other chaps talking to you! You know IтАЩm not the kind to sit in a crowd and jawтБатАФIтАЩd always rather clear out when that sort of circus is going on. But why canтАЩt we go off somewhere on a little lark togetherтБатАФa nice quiet little expedition like that drive at Bellomont, the day you met me at the station?тАЭ + 

He leaned unpleasantly close in order to convey this suggestion, and she fancied she caught a significant aroma which explained the dark flush on his face and the glistening dampness of his forehead. + 

The idea that any rash answer might provoke an unpleasant outburst tempered her disgust with caution, and she answered with a laugh: тАЬI donтАЩt see how one can very well take country drives in town, but I am not always surrounded by an admiring throng, and if you will let me know what afternoon you are coming I will arrange things so that we can have a nice quiet talk.тАЭ + 

тАЬHang talking! ThatтАЩs what you always say,тАЭ returned Trenor, whose expletives lacked variety. тАЬYou put me off with that at the Van Osburgh weddingтБатАФbut the plain English of it is that, now youтАЩve got what you wanted out of me, youтАЩd rather have any other fellow about.тАЭ + 

His voice had risen sharply with the last words, and Lily flushed with annoyance, but she kept command of the situation and laid a persuasive hand on his arm. + 

тАЬDonтАЩt be foolish, Gus; I canтАЩt let you talk to me in that ridiculous way. If you really want to see me, why shouldnтАЩt we take a walk in the Park some afternoon? I agree with you that itтАЩs amusing to be rustic in town, and if you like IтАЩll meet you there, and weтАЩll go and feed the squirrels, and you shall take me out on the lake in the steam-gondola.тАЭ + 

She smiled as she spoke, letting her eyes rest on his in a way that took the edge from her banter and made him suddenly malleable to her will. + 

тАЬAll right, then: thatтАЩs a go. Will you come tomorrow? Tomorrow at three oтАЩclock, at the end of the Mall. IтАЩll be there sharp, remember; you wonтАЩt go back on me, Lily?тАЭ + 

But to Miss BartтАЩs relief the repetition of her promise was cut short by the opening of the box door to admit George Dorset. + 

Trenor sulkily yielded his place, and Lily turned a brilliant smile on the newcomer. She had not talked with Dorset since their visit at Bellomont, but something in his look and manner told her that he recalled the friendly footing on which they had last met. He was not a man to whom the expression of admiration came easily: his long sallow face and distrustful eyes seemed always barricaded against the expansive emotions. But, where her own influence was concerned, LilyтАЩs intuitions sent out threadlike feelers, and as she made room for him on the narrow sofa she was sure he found a dumb pleasure in being near her. Few women took the trouble to make themselves agreeable to Dorset, and Lily had been kind to him at Bellomont, and was now smiling on him with a divine renewal of kindness. + 

тАЬWell, here we are, in for another six months of caterwauling,тАЭ he began complainingly. тАЬNot a shade of difference between this year and last, except that the women have got new clothes and the singers havenтАЩt got new voices. My wifeтАЩs musical, you knowтБатАФputs me through a course of this every winter. It isnтАЩt so bad on Italian nightsтБатАФthen she comes late, and thereтАЩs time to digest. But when they give Wagner we have to rush dinner, and I pay up for it. And the draughts are damnableтБатАФasphyxia in front and pleurisy in the back. ThereтАЩs Trenor leaving the box without drawing the curtain! With a hide like that draughts donтАЩt make any difference. Did you ever watch Trenor eat? If you did, youтАЩd wonder why heтАЩs alive; I suppose heтАЩs leather inside too.тБатАФBut I came to say that my wife wants you to come down to our place next Sunday. Do for heavenтАЩs sake say yes. SheтАЩs got a lot of bores comingтБатАФintellectual ones, I mean; thatтАЩs her new line, you know, and IтАЩm not sure it ainтАЩt worse than the music. Some of тАЩem have long hair, and they start an argument with the soup, and donтАЩt notice when things are handed to them. The consequence is the dinner gets cold, and I have dyspepsia. That silly ass Silverton brings them to the houseтБатАФhe writes poetry, you know, and Bertha and he are getting tremendously thick. She could write better than any of тАЩem if she chose, and I donтАЩt blame her for wanting clever fellows about; all I say is: тАШDonтАЩt let me see тАЩem eat!тАЩтАКтАЭ + 

The gist of this strange communication gave Lily a distinct thrill of pleasure. Under ordinary circumstances, there would have been nothing surprising in an invitation from Bertha Dorset; but since the Bellomont episode an unavowed hostility had kept the two women apart. Now, with a start of inner wonder, Lily felt that her thirst for retaliation had died out. тАЬIf you would forgive your enemy,тАЭ says the Malay proverb, тАЬfirst inflict a hurt on him;тАЭ and Lily was experiencing the truth of the apothegm. If she had destroyed Mrs.┬аDorsetтАЩs letters, she might have continued to hate her; but the fact that they remained in her possession had fed her resentment to satiety. + 

She uttered a smiling acceptance, hailing in the renewal of the tie an escape from TrenorтАЩs importunities. + 

XI + 

Meanwhile the holidays had gone by and the season was beginning. Fifth Avenue had become a nightly torrent of carriages surging upward to the fashionable quarters about the Park, where illuminated windows and outspread awnings betokened the usual routine of hospitality. Other tributary currents crossed the mainstream, bearing their freight to the theatres, restaurants or opera; and Mrs.┬аPeniston, from the secluded watchtower of her upper window, could tell to a nicety just when the chronic volume of sound was increased by the sudden influx setting toward a Van Osburgh ball, or when the multiplication of wheels meant merely that the opera was over, or that there was a big supper at SherryтАЩs. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston followed the rise and culmination of the season as keenly as the most active sharer in its gaieties; and, as a looker-on, she enjoyed opportunities of comparison and generalization such as those who take part must proverbially forego. No one could have kept a more accurate record of social fluctuations, or have put a more unerring finger on the distinguishing features of each season: its dullness, its extravagance, its lack of balls or excess of divorces. She had a special memory for the vicissitudes of the тАЬnew peopleтАЭ who rose to the surface with each recurring tide, and were either submerged beneath its rush or landed triumphantly beyond the reach of envious breakers; and she was apt to display a remarkable retrospective insight into their ultimate fate, so that, when they had fulfilled their destiny, she was almost always able to say to Grace StepneyтБатАФthe recipient of her propheciesтБатАФthat she had known exactly what would happen. + 

This particular season Mrs.┬аPeniston would have characterized as that in which everybody тАЬfelt poorтАЭ except the Welly Brys and Mr.┬аSimon Rosedale. It had been a bad autumn in Wall Street, where prices fell in accordance with that peculiar law which proves railway stocks and bales of cotton to be more sensitive to the allotment of executive power than many estimable citizens trained to all the advantages of self-government. Even fortunes supposed to be independent of the market either betrayed a secret dependence on it, or suffered from a sympathetic affection: fashion sulked in its country houses, or came to town incognito, general entertainments were discountenanced, and informality and short dinners became the fashion. + 

But society, amused for a while at playing Cinderella, soon wearied of the hearthside role, and welcomed the Fairy Godmother in the shape of any magician powerful enough to turn the shrunken pumpkin back again into the golden coach. The mere fact of growing richer at a time when most peopleтАЩs investments are shrinking, is calculated to attract envious attention; and according to Wall Street rumours, Welly Bry and Rosedale had found the secret of performing this miracle. + 

Rosedale, in particular, was said to have doubled his fortune, and there was talk of his buying the newly-finished house of one of the victims of the crash, who, in the space of twelve short months, had made the same number of millions, built a house in Fifth Avenue, filled a picture-gallery with old masters, entertained all New York in it, and been smuggled out of the country between a trained nurse and a doctor, while his creditors mounted guard over the old masters, and his guests explained to each other that they had dined with him only because they wanted to see the pictures. Mr.┬аRosedale meant to have a less meteoric career. He knew he should have to go slowly, and the instincts of his race fitted him to suffer rebuffs and put up with delays. But he was prompt to perceive that the general dullness of the season afforded him an unusual opportunity to shine, and he set about with patient industry to form a background for his growing glory. Mrs.┬аFisher was of immense service to him at this period. She had set off so many newcomers on the social stage that she was like one of those pieces of stock scenery which tell the experienced spectator exactly what is going to take place. But Mr.┬аRosedale wanted, in the long run, a more individual environment. He was sensitive to shades of difference which Miss Bart would never have credited him with perceiving, because he had no corresponding variations of manner; and it was becoming more and more clear to him that Miss Bart herself possessed precisely the complementary qualities needed to round off his social personality. + 

Such details did not fall within the range of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs vision. Like many minds of panoramic sweep, hers was apt to overlook the minutiae of the foreground, and she was much more likely to know where Carry Fisher had found the Welly BrysтАЩ chef for them, than what was happening to her own niece. She was not, however, without purveyors of information ready to supplement her deficiencies. Grace StepneyтАЩs mind was like a kind of moral flypaper, to which the buzzing items of gossip were drawn by a fatal attraction, and where they hung fast in the toils of an inexorable memory. Lily would have been surprised to know how many trivial facts concerning herself were lodged in Miss StepneyтАЩs head. She was quite aware that she was of interest to dingy people, but she assumed that there is only one form of dinginess, and that admiration for brilliancy is the natural expression of its inferior state. She knew that Gerty Farish admired her blindly, and therefore supposed that she inspired the same sentiments in Grace Stepney, whom she classified as a Gerty Farish without the saving traits of youth and enthusiasm. + 

In reality, the two differed from each other as much as they differed from the object of their mutual contemplation. Miss FarishтАЩs heart was a fountain of tender illusions, Miss StepneyтАЩs a precise register of facts as manifested in their relation to herself. She had sensibilities which, to Lily, would have seemed comic in a person with a freckled nose and red eyelids, who lived in a boardinghouse and admired Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs drawing-room; but poor GraceтАЩs limitations gave them a more concentrated inner life, as poor soil starves certain plants into intenser efflorescence. She had in truth no abstract propensity to malice: she did not dislike Lily because the latter was brilliant and predominant, but because she thought that Lily disliked her. It is less mortifying to believe oneтАЩs self unpopular than insignificant, and vanity prefers to assume that indifference is a latent form of unfriendliness. Even such scant civilities as Lily accorded to Mr.┬аRosedale would have made Miss Stepney her friend for life; but how could she foresee that such a friend was worth cultivating? How, moreover, can a young woman who has never been ignored measure the pang which this injury inflicts? And, lastly, how could Lily, accustomed to choose between a pressure of engagements, guess that she had mortally offended Miss Stepney by causing her to be excluded from one of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs infrequent dinner-parties? + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston disliked giving dinners, but she had a high sense of family obligation, and on the Jack StepneysтАЩ return from their honeymoon she felt it incumbent upon her to light the drawing-room lamps and extract her best silver from the Safe Deposit vaults. Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs rare entertainments were preceded by days of heartrending vacillation as to every detail of the feast, from the seating of the guests to the pattern of the tablecloth, and in the course of one of these preliminary discussions she had imprudently suggested to her cousin Grace that, as the dinner was a family affair, she might be included in it. For a week the prospect had lighted up Miss StepneyтАЩs colourless existence; then she had been given to understand that it would be more convenient to have her another day. Miss Stepney knew exactly what had happened. Lily, to whom family reunions were occasions of unalloyed dullness, had persuaded her aunt that a dinner of тАЬsmartтАЭ people would be much more to the taste of the young couple, and Mrs.┬аPeniston, who leaned helplessly on her niece in social matters, had been prevailed upon to pronounce GraceтАЩs exile. After all, Grace could come any other day; why should she mind being put off? + 

It was precisely because Miss Stepney could come any other dayтБатАФand because she knew her relations were in the secret of her unoccupied eveningsтБатАФthat this incident loomed gigantically on her horizon. She was aware that she had Lily to thank for it; and dull resentment was turned to active animosity. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston, on whom she had looked in a day or two after the dinner, laid down her crochet-work and turned abruptly from her oblique survey of Fifth Avenue. + 

тАЬGus Trenor?тБатАФLily and Gus Trenor?тАЭ she said, growing so suddenly pale that her visitor was almost alarmed. + 

тАЬOh, cousin JuliaтБатАКтБатАж of course I donтАЩt meanтБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬI donтАЩt know what you do mean,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аPeniston, with a frightened quiver in her small fretful voice. тАЬSuch things were never heard of in my day. And my own niece! IтАЩm not sure I understand you. Do people say heтАЩs in love with her?тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs horror was genuine. Though she boasted an unequalled familiarity with the secret chronicles of society, she had the innocence of the schoolgirl who regards wickedness as a part of тАЬhistory,тАЭ and to whom it never occurs that the scandals she reads of in lesson-hours may be repeating themselves in the next street. Mrs.┬аPeniston had kept her imagination shrouded, like the drawing-room furniture. She knew, of course, that society was тАЬvery much changed,тАЭ and that many women her mother would have thought тАЬpeculiarтАЭ were now in a position to be critical about their visiting-lists; she had discussed the perils of divorce with her rector, and had felt thankful at times that Lily was still unmarried; but the idea that any scandal could attach to a young girlтАЩs name, above all that it could be lightly coupled with that of a married man, was so new to her that she was as much aghast as if she had been accused of leaving her carpets down all summer, or of violating any of the other cardinal laws of housekeeping. + 

Miss Stepney, when her first fright had subsided, began to feel the superiority that greater breadth of mind confers. It was really pitiable to be as ignorant of the world as Mrs.┬аPeniston! + 

She smiled at the latterтАЩs question. тАЬPeople always say unpleasant thingsтБатАФand certainly theyтАЩre a great deal together. A friend of mine met them the other afternoon in the ParkтБатАФquite late, after the lamps were lit. ItтАЩs a pity Lily makes herself so conspicuous.тАЭ + 

тАЬConspicuous!тАЭ gasped Mrs.┬аPeniston. She bent forward, lowering her voice to mitigate the horror. тАЬWhat sort of things do they say? That he means to get a divorce and marry her?тАЭ + 

Grace Stepney laughed outright. тАЬDear me, no! He would hardly do that. ItтБатАФitтАЩs a flirtationтБатАФnothing more.тАЭ + 

тАЬA flirtation? Between my niece and a married man? Do you mean to tell me that, with LilyтАЩs looks and advantages, she could find no better use for her time than to waste it on a fat stupid man almost old enough to be her father?тАЭ This argument had such a convincing ring that it gave Mrs.┬аPeniston sufficient reassurance to pick up her work, while she waited for Grace Stepney to rally her scattered forces. + 

But Miss Stepney was on the spot in an instant. тАЬThatтАЩs the worst of itтБатАФpeople say she isnтАЩt wasting her time! Everyone knows, as you say, that Lily is too handsome andтБатАФand charmingтБатАФto devote herself to a man like Gus Trenor unlessтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬUnless?тАЭ echoed Mrs.┬аPeniston. Her visitor drew breath nervously. It was agreeable to shock Mrs.┬аPeniston, but not to shock her to the verge of anger. Miss Stepney was not sufficiently familiar with the classic drama to have recalled in advance how bearers of bad tidings are proverbially received, but she now had a rapid vision of forfeited dinners and a reduced wardrobe as the possible consequence of her disinterestedness. To the honour of her sex, however, hatred of Lily prevailed over more personal considerations. Mrs.┬аPeniston had chosen the wrong moment to boast of her nieceтАЩs charms. + 

тАЬUnless,тАЭ said Grace, leaning forward to speak with low-toned emphasis, тАЬunless there are material advantages to be gained by making herself agreeable to him.тАЭ + 

She felt that the moment was tremendous, and remembered suddenly that Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs black brocade, with the cut jet fringe, would have been hers at the end of the season. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston put down her work again. Another aspect of the same idea had presented itself to her, and she felt that it was beneath her dignity to have her nerves racked by a dependent relative who wore her old clothes. + 

тАЬIf you take pleasure in annoying me by mysterious insinuations,тАЭ she said coldly, тАЬyou might at least have chosen a more suitable time than just as I am recovering from the strain of giving a large dinner.тАЭ + 

The mention of the dinner dispelled Miss StepneyтАЩs last scruples. тАЬI donтАЩt know why I should be accused of taking pleasure in telling you about Lily. I was sure I shouldnтАЩt get any thanks for it,тАЭ she returned with a flare of temper. тАЬBut I have some family feeling left, and as you are the only person who has any authority over Lily, I thought you ought to know what is being said of her.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аPeniston, тАЬwhat I complain of is that you havenтАЩt told me yet what is being said.тАЭ + 

тАЬI didnтАЩt suppose I should have to put it so plainly. People say that Gus Trenor pays her bills.тАЭ + 

тАЬPays her billsтБатАФher bills?тАЭ Mrs.┬аPeniston broke into a laugh. тАЬI canтАЩt imagine where you can have picked up such rubbish. Lily has her own incomeтБатАФand I provide for her very handsomelyтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬOh, we all know that,тАЭ interposed Miss Stepney drily. тАЬBut Lily wears a great many smart gownsтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬI like her to be well-dressedтБатАФitтАЩs only suitable!тАЭ + 

тАЬCertainly; but then there are her gambling debts besides.тАЭ + 

Miss Stepney, in the beginning, had not meant to bring up this point; but Mrs.┬аPeniston had only her own incredulity to blame. She was like the stiff-necked unbelievers of Scripture, who must be annihilated to be convinced. + 

тАЬGambling debts? Lily?тАЭ Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs voice shook with anger and bewilderment. She wondered whether Grace Stepney had gone out of her mind. тАЬWhat do you mean by her gambling debts?тАЭ + 

тАЬSimply that if one plays bridge for money in LilyтАЩs set one is liable to lose a great dealтБатАФand I donтАЩt suppose Lily always wins.тАЭ + 

тАЬWho told you that my niece played cards for money?тАЭ + 

тАЬMercy, cousin Julia, donтАЩt look at me as if I were trying to turn you against Lily! Everybody knows she is crazy about bridge. Mrs.┬аGryce told me herself that it was her gambling that frightened Percy GryceтБатАФit seems he was really taken with her at first. But, of course, among LilyтАЩs friends itтАЩs quite the custom for girls to play for money. In fact, people are inclined to excuse her on that accountтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬTo excuse her for what?тАЭ + 

тАЬFor being hard upтБатАФand accepting attentions from men like Gus TrenorтБатАФand George DorsetтБатАФтАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston gave another cry. тАЬGeorge Dorset? Is there anyone else? I should like to know the worst, if you please.тАЭ + 

тАЬDonтАЩt put it in that way, cousin Julia. Lately Lily has been a good deal with the Dorsets, and he seems to admire herтБатАФbut of course thatтАЩs only natural. And IтАЩm sure there is no truth in the horrid things people say; but she has been spending a great deal of money this winter. Evie Van Osburgh was at C├йlesteтАЩs ordering her trousseau the other dayтБатАФyes, the marriage takes place next monthтБатАФand she told me that C├йleste showed her the most exquisite things she was just sending home to Lily. And people say that Judy Trenor has quarrelled with her on account of Gus; but IтАЩm sure IтАЩm sorry I spoke, though I only meant it as a kindness.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs genuine incredulity enabled her to dismiss Miss Stepney with a disdain which boded ill for that ladyтАЩs prospect of succeeding to the black brocade; but minds impenetrable to reason have generally some crack through which suspicion filters, and her visitorтАЩs insinuations did not glide off as easily as she had expected. Mrs.┬аPeniston disliked scenes, and her determination to avoid them had always led her to hold herself aloof from the details of LilyтАЩs life. In her youth, girls had not been supposed to require close supervision. They were generally assumed to be taken up with the legitimate business of courtship and marriage, and interference in such affairs on the part of their natural guardians was considered as unwarrantable as a spectatorтАЩs suddenly joining in a game. There had of course been тАЬfastтАЭ girls even in Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs early experience; but their fastness, at worst, was understood to be a mere excess of animal spirits, against which there could be no graver charge than that of being тАЬunladylike.тАЭ The modern fastness appeared synonymous with immorality, and the mere idea of immorality was as offensive to Mrs.┬аPeniston as a smell of cooking in the drawing-room: it was one of the conceptions her mind refused to admit. + 

She had no immediate intention of repeating to Lily what she had heard, or even of trying to ascertain its truth by means of discreet interrogation. To do so might be to provoke a scene; and a scene, in the shaken state of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs nerves, with the effects of her dinner not worn off, and her mind still tremulous with new impressions, was a risk she deemed it her duty to avoid. But there remained in her thoughts a settled deposit of resentment against her niece, all the denser because it was not to be cleared by explanation or discussion. It was horrible of a young girl to let herself be talked about; however unfounded the charges against her, she must be to blame for their having been made. Mrs.┬аPeniston felt as if there had been a contagious illness in the house, and she was doomed to sit shivering among her contaminated furniture. + 

XII + 

Miss Bart had in fact been treading a devious way, and none of her critics could have been more alive to the fact than herself; but she had a fatalistic sense of being drawn from one wrong turning to another, without ever perceiving the right road till it was too late to take it. + 

Lily, who considered herself above narrow prejudices, had not imagined that the fact of letting Gus Trenor make a little money for her would ever disturb her self-complacency. And the fact in itself still seemed harmless enough; only it was a fertile source of harmful complications. As she exhausted the amusement of spending the money these complications became more pressing, and Lily, whose mind could be severely logical in tracing the causes of her ill-luck to others, justified herself by the thought that she owed all her troubles to the enmity of Bertha Dorset. This enmity, however, had apparently expired in a renewal of friendliness between the two women. LilyтАЩs visit to the Dorsets had resulted, for both, in the discovery that they could be of use to each other; and the civilized instinct finds a subtler pleasure in making use of its antagonist than in confounding him. Mrs.┬аDorset was, in fact, engaged in a new sentimental experiment, of which Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs late property, Ned Silverton, was the rosy victim; and at such moments, as Judy Trenor had once remarked, she felt a peculiar need of distracting her husbandтАЩs attention. Dorset was as difficult to amuse as a savage; but even his self-engrossment was not proof against LilyтАЩs arts, or rather these were especially adapted to soothe an uneasy egoism. Her experience with Percy Gryce stood her in good stead in ministering to DorsetтАЩs humours, and if the incentive to please was less urgent, the difficulties of her situation were teaching her to make much of minor opportunities. + 

Intimacy with the Dorsets was not likely to lessen such difficulties on the material side. Mrs.┬аDorset had none of Judy TrenorтАЩs lavish impulses, and DorsetтАЩs admiration was not likely to express itself in financial тАЬtips,тАЭ even had Lily cared to renew her experiences in that line. What she required, for the moment, of the DorsetsтАЩ friendship, was simply its social sanction. She knew that people were beginning to talk of her; but this fact did not alarm her as it had alarmed Mrs.┬аPeniston. In her set such gossip was not unusual, and a handsome girl who flirted with a married man was merely assumed to be pressing to the limit of her opportunities. It was Trenor himself who frightened her. Their walk in the Park had not been a success. Trenor had married young, and since his marriage his intercourse with women had not taken the form of the sentimental small-talk which doubles upon itself like the paths in a maze. He was first puzzled and then irritated to find himself always led back to the same starting-point, and Lily felt that she was gradually losing control of the situation. Trenor was in truth in an unmanageable mood. In spite of his understanding with Rosedale he had been somewhat heavily тАЬtouchedтАЭ by the fall in stocks; his household expenses weighed on him, and he seemed to be meeting, on all sides, a sullen opposition to his wishes, instead of the easy good luck he had hitherto encountered. + 

Mrs.┬аTrenor was still at Bellomont, keeping the town-house open, and descending on it now and then for a taste of the world, but preferring the recurrent excitement of weekend parties to the restrictions of a dull season. Since the holidays she had not urged Lily to return to Bellomont, and the first time they met in town Lily fancied there was a shade of coldness in her manner. Was it merely the expression of her displeasure at Miss BartтАЩs neglect, or had disquieting rumours reached her? The latter contingency seemed improbable, yet Lily was not without a sense of uneasiness. If her roaming sympathies had struck root anywhere, it was in her friendship with Judy Trenor. She believed in the sincerity of her friendтАЩs affection, though it sometimes showed itself in self-interested ways, and she shrank with peculiar reluctance from any risk of estranging it. But, aside from this, she was keenly conscious of the way in which such an estrangement would react on herself. The fact that Gus Trenor was JudyтАЩs husband was at times LilyтАЩs strongest reason for disliking him, and for resenting the obligation under which he had placed her. + 

To set her doubts at rest, Miss Bart, soon after the New Year, тАЬproposedтАЭ herself for a weekend at Bellomont. She had learned in advance that the presence of a large party would protect her from too great assiduity on TrenorтАЩs part, and his wifeтАЩs telegraphic тАЬcome by all meansтАЭ seemed to assure her of her usual welcome. + 

Judy received her amicably. The cares of a large party always prevailed over personal feelings, and Lily saw no change in her hostessтАЩs manner. Nevertheless, she was soon aware that the experiment of coming to Bellomont was destined not to be successful. The party was made up of what Mrs.┬аTrenor called тАЬpoky peopleтАЭтБатАФher generic name for persons who did not play bridgeтБатАФand, it being her habit to group all such obstructionists in one class, she usually invited them together, regardless of their other characteristics. The result was apt to be an irreducible combination of persons having no other quality in common than their abstinence from bridge, and the antagonisms developed in a group lacking the one taste which might have amalgamated them, were in this case aggravated by bad weather, and by the ill-concealed boredom of their host and hostess. In such emergencies, Judy would usually have turned to Lily to fuse the discordant elements; and Miss Bart, assuming that such a service was expected of her, threw herself into it with her accustomed zeal. But at the outset she perceived a subtle resistance to her efforts. If Mrs.┬аTrenorтАЩs manner toward her was unchanged, there was certainly a faint coldness in that of the other ladies. An occasional caustic allusion to тАЬyour friends the Wellington Brys,тАЭ or to тАЬthe little Jew who has bought the Greiner houseтБатАФsomeone told us you knew him, Miss Bart,тАЭтБатАФshowed Lily that she was in disfavour with that portion of society which, while contributing least to its amusement, has assumed the right to decide what forms that amusement shall take. The indication was a slight one, and a year ago Lily would have smiled at it, trusting to the charm of her personality to dispel any prejudice against her. But now she had grown more sensitive to criticism and less confident in her power of disarming it. She knew, moreover, that if the ladies at Bellomont permitted themselves to criticize her friends openly, it was a proof that they were not afraid of subjecting her to the same treatment behind her back. The nervous dread lest anything in TrenorтАЩs manner should seem to justify their disapproval made her seek every pretext for avoiding him, and she left Bellomont conscious of having failed in every purpose which had taken her there. + 

In town she returned to preoccupations which, for the moment, had the happy effect of banishing troublesome thoughts. The Welly Brys, after much debate, and anxious counsel with their newly acquired friends, had decided on the bold move of giving a general entertainment. To attack society collectively, when oneтАЩs means of approach are limited to a few acquaintances, is like advancing into a strange country with an insufficient number of scouts; but such rash tactics have sometimes led to brilliant victories, and the Brys had determined to put their fate to the touch. Mrs.┬аFisher, to whom they had entrusted the conduct of the affair, had decided that tableaux vivants and expensive music were the two baits most likely to attract the desired prey, and after prolonged negotiations, and the kind of wire-pulling in which she was known to excel, she had induced a dozen fashionable women to exhibit themselves in a series of pictures which, by a farther miracle of persuasion, the distinguished portrait painter, Paul Morpeth, had been prevailed upon to organize. + 

Lily was in her element on such occasions. Under MorpethтАЩs guidance her vivid plastic sense, hitherto nurtured on no higher food than dressmaking and upholstery, found eager expression in the disposal of draperies, the study of attitudes, the shifting of lights and shadows. Her dramatic instinct was roused by the choice of subjects, and the gorgeous reproductions of historic dress stirred an imagination which only visual impressions could reach. But keenest of all was the exhilaration of displaying her own beauty under a new aspect: of showing that her loveliness was no mere fixed quality, but an element shaping all emotions to fresh forms of grace. + 

Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs measures had been well-taken, and society, surprised in a dull moment, succumbed to the temptation of Mrs.┬аBryтАЩs hospitality. The protesting minority were forgotten in the throng which abjured and came; and the audience was almost as brilliant as the show. + 

Lawrence Selden was among those who had yielded to the proffered inducements. If he did not often act on the accepted social axiom that a man may go where he pleases, it was because he had long since learned that his pleasures were mainly to be found in a small group of the like-minded. But he enjoyed spectacular effects, and was not insensible to the part money plays in their production: all he asked was that the very rich should live up to their calling as stage-managers, and not spend their money in a dull way. This the Brys could certainly not be charged with doing. Their recently built house, whatever it might lack as a frame for domesticity, was almost as well-designed for the display of a festal assemblage as one of those airy pleasure-halls which the Italian architects improvised to set off the hospitality of princes. The air of improvisation was in fact strikingly present: so recent, so rapidly-evoked was the whole mise-en-sc├иne that one had to touch the marble columns to learn they were not of cardboard, to seat oneтАЩs self in one of the damask-and-gold armchairs to be sure it was not painted against the wall. + 

Selden, who had put one of these seats to the test, found himself, from an angle of the ballroom, surveying the scene with frank enjoyment. The company, in obedience to the decorative instinct which calls for fine clothes in fine surroundings, had dressed rather with an eye to Mrs.┬аBryтАЩs background than to herself. The seated throng, filling the immense room without undue crowding, presented a surface of rich tissues and jewelled shoulders in harmony with the festooned and gilded walls, and the flushed splendours of the Venetian ceiling. At the farther end of the room a stage had been constructed behind a proscenium arch curtained with folds of old damask; but in the pause before the parting of the folds there was little thought of what they might reveal, for every woman who had accepted Mrs.┬аBryтАЩs invitation was engaged in trying to find out how many of her friends had done the same. + 

Gerty Farish, seated next to Selden, was lost in that indiscriminate and uncritical enjoyment so irritating to Miss BartтАЩs finer perceptions. It may be that SeldenтАЩs nearness had something to do with the quality of his cousinтАЩs pleasure; but Miss Farish was so little accustomed to refer her enjoyment of such scenes to her own share in them, that she was merely conscious of a deeper sense of contentment. + 

тАЬWasnтАЩt it dear of Lily to get me an invitation? Of course it would never have occurred to Carry Fisher to put me on the list, and I should have been so sorry to miss seeing it allтБатАФand especially Lily herself. Someone told me the ceiling was by VeroneseтБатАФyou would know, of course, Lawrence. I suppose itтАЩs very beautiful, but his women are so dreadfully fat. Goddesses? Well, I can only say that if theyтАЩd been mortals and had to wear corsets, it would have been better for them. I think our women are much handsomer. And this room is wonderfully becomingтБатАФeveryone looks so well! Did you ever see such jewels? Do look at Mrs.┬аGeorge DorsetтАЩs pearlsтБатАФI suppose the smallest of them would pay the rent of our GirlsтАЩ Club for a year. Not that I ought to complain about the club; everyone has been so wonderfully kind. Did I tell you that Lily had given us three hundred dollars? WasnтАЩt it splendid of her? And then she collected a lot of money from her friendsтБатАФMrs.┬аBry gave us five hundred, and Mr.┬аRosedale a thousand. I wish Lily were not so nice to Mr.┬аRosedale, but she says itтАЩs no use being rude to him, because he doesnтАЩt see the difference. She really canтАЩt bear to hurt peopleтАЩs feelingsтБатАФit makes me so angry when I hear her called cold and conceited! The girls at the club donтАЩt call her that. Do you know she has been there with me twice?тБатАФyes, Lily! And you should have seen their eyes! One of them said it was as good as a day in the country just to look at her. And she sat there, and laughed and talked with themтБатАФnot a bit as if she were being charitable, you know, but as if she liked it as much as they did. TheyтАЩve been asking ever since when sheтАЩs coming back; and sheтАЩs promised meтБатАФoh!тАЭ + 

Miss FarishтАЩs confidences were cut short by the parting of the curtain on the first tableauтБатАФa group of nymphs dancing across flower-strewn sward in the rhythmic postures of BotticelliтАЩs Spring. Tableaux vivants depend for their effect not only on the happy disposal of lights and the delusive interposition of layers of gauze, but on a corresponding adjustment of the mental vision. To unfurnished minds they remain, in spite of every enhancement of art, only a superior kind of waxworks; but to the responsive fancy they may give magic glimpses of the boundary world between fact and imagination. SeldenтАЩs mind was of this order: he could yield to vision-making influences as completely as a child to the spell of a fairytale. Mrs.┬аBryтАЩs tableaux wanted none of the qualities which go to the producing of such illusions, and under MorpethтАЩs organizing hand the pictures succeeded each other with the rhythmic march of some splendid frieze, in which the fugitive curves of living flesh and the wandering light of young eyes have been subdued to plastic harmony without losing the charm of life. + 

The scenes were taken from old pictures, and the participators had been cleverly fitted with characters suited to their types. No one, for instance, could have made a more typical Goya than Carry Fisher, with her short dark-skinned face, the exaggerated glow of her eyes, the provocation of her frankly-painted smile. A brilliant Miss Smedden from Brooklyn showed to perfection the sumptuous curves of TitianтАЩs Daughter, lifting her gold salver laden with grapes above the harmonizing gold of rippled hair and rich brocade, and a young Mrs.┬аVan Alstyne, who showed the frailer Dutch type, with high blue-veined forehead and pale eyes and lashes, made a characteristic Vandyck, in black satin, against a curtained archway. Then there were Kauffmann nymphs garlanding the altar of Love; a Veronese supper, all sheeny textures, pearl-woven heads and marble architecture; and a Watteau group of lute-playing comedians, lounging by a fountain in a sunlit glade. + 

Each evanescent picture touched the vision-building faculty in Selden, leading him so far down the vistas of fancy that even Gerty FarishтАЩs running commentaryтБатАФтАЬOh, how lovely Lulu Melson looks!тАЭ or: тАЬThat must be Kate Corby, to the right there, in purpleтАЭтБатАФdid not break the spell of the illusion. Indeed, so skilfully had the personality of the actors been subdued to the scenes they figured in that even the least imaginative of the audience must have felt a thrill of contrast when the curtain suddenly parted on a picture which was simply and undisguisedly the portrait of Miss Bart. + 

Here there could be no mistaking the predominance of personalityтБатАФthe unanimous тАЬOh!тАЭ of the spectators was a tribute, not to the brushwork of ReynoldsтАЩs Mrs.┬аLloyd but to the flesh and blood loveliness of Lily Bart. She had shown her artistic intelligence in selecting a type so like her own that she could embody the person represented without ceasing to be herself. It was as though she had stepped, not out of, but into, ReynoldsтАЩs canvas, banishing the phantom of his dead beauty by the beams of her living grace. The impulse to show herself in a splendid settingтБатАФshe had thought for a moment of representing TiepoloтАЩs CleopatraтБатАФhad yielded to the truer instinct of trusting to her unassisted beauty, and she had purposely chosen a picture without distracting accessories of dress or surroundings. Her pale draperies, and the background of foliage against which she stood, served only to relieve the long dryad-like curves that swept upward from her poised foot to her lifted arm. The noble buoyancy of her attitude, its suggestion of soaring grace, revealed the touch of poetry in her beauty that Selden always felt in her presence, yet lost the sense of when he was not with her. Its expression was now so vivid that for the first time he seemed to see before him the real Lily Bart, divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part. + 

тАЬDeuced bold thing to show herself in that getup; but, gad, there isnтАЩt a break in the lines anywhere, and I suppose she wanted us to know it!тАЭ + 

These words, uttered by that experienced connoisseur, Mr.┬аNed Van Alstyne, whose scented white moustache had brushed SeldenтАЩs shoulder whenever the parting of the curtains presented any exceptional opportunity for the study of the female outline, affected their hearer in an unexpected way. It was not the first time that Selden had heard LilyтАЩs beauty lightly remarked on, and hitherto the tone of the comments had imperceptibly coloured his view of her. But now it woke only a motion of indignant contempt. This was the world she lived in, these were the standards by which she was fated to be measured! Does one go to Caliban for a judgment on Miranda? + 

In the long moment before the curtain fell, he had time to feel the whole tragedy of her life. It was as though her beauty, thus detached from all that cheapened and vulgarized it, had held out suppliant hands to him from the world in which he and she had once met for a moment, and where he felt an overmastering longing to be with her again. + 

He was roused by the pressure of ecstatic fingers. тАЬWasnтАЩt she too beautiful, Lawrence? DonтАЩt you like her best in that simple dress? It makes her look like the real LilyтБатАФthe Lily I know.тАЭ + 

He met Gerty FarishтАЩs brimming gaze. тАЬThe Lily we know,тАЭ he corrected; and his cousin, beaming at the implied understanding, exclaimed joyfully: тАЬIтАЩll tell her that! She always says you dislike her.тАЭ + 

The performance over, SeldenтАЩs first impulse was to seek Miss Bart. During the interlude of music which succeeded the tableaux, the actors had seated themselves here and there in the audience, diversifying its conventional appearance by the varied picturesqueness of their dress. Lily, however, was not among them, and her absence served to protract the effect she had produced on Selden: it would have broken the spell to see her too soon in the surroundings from which accident had so happily detached her. They had not met since the day of the Van Osburgh wedding, and on his side the avoidance had been intentional. Tonight, however, he knew that, sooner or later, he should find himself at her side; and though he let the dispersing crowd drift him whither it would, without making an immediate effort to reach her, his procrastination was not due to any lingering resistance, but to the desire to luxuriate a moment in the sense of complete surrender. + 

Lily had not an instantтАЩs doubt as to the meaning of the murmur greeting her appearance. No other tableau had been received with that precise note of approval: it had obviously been called forth by herself, and not by the picture she impersonated. She had feared at the last moment that she was risking too much in dispensing with the advantages of a more sumptuous setting, and the completeness of her triumph gave her an intoxicating sense of recovered power. Not caring to diminish the impression she had produced, she held herself aloof from the audience till the movement of dispersal before supper, and thus had a second opportunity of showing herself to advantage, as the throng poured slowly into the empty drawing-room where she was standing. + 

She was soon the centre of a group which increased and renewed itself as the circulation became general, and the individual comments on her success were a delightful prolongation of the collective applause. At such moments she lost something of her natural fastidiousness, and cared less for the quality of the admiration received than for its quantity. Differences of personality were merged in a warm atmosphere of praise, in which her beauty expanded like a flower in sunlight; and if Selden had approached a moment or two sooner he would have seen her turning on Ned Van Alstyne and George Dorset the look he had dreamed of capturing for himself. + 

Fortune willed, however, that the hurried approach of Mrs.┬аFisher, as whose aide-de-camp Van Alstyne was acting, should break up the group before Selden reached the threshold of the room. One or two of the men wandered off in search of their partners for supper, and the others, noticing SeldenтАЩs approach, gave way to him in accordance with the tacit freemasonry of the ballroom. Lily was therefore standing alone when he reached her; and finding the expected look in her eye, he had the satisfaction of supposing he had kindled it. The look did indeed deepen as it rested on him, for even in that moment of self-intoxication Lily felt the quicker beat of life that his nearness always produced. She read, too, in his answering gaze the delicious confirmation of her triumph, and for the moment it seemed to her that it was for him only she cared to be beautiful. + 

Selden had given her his arm without speaking. She took it in silence, and they moved away, not toward the supper-room, but against the tide which was setting thither. The faces about her flowed by like the streaming images of sleep: she hardly noticed where Selden was leading her, till they passed through a glass doorway at the end of the long suite of rooms and stood suddenly in the fragrant hush of a garden. Gravel grated beneath their feet, and about them was the transparent dimness of a midsummer night. Hanging lights made emerald caverns in the depths of foliage, and whitened the spray of a fountain falling among lilies. The magic place was deserted: there was no sound but the splash of the water on the lily-pads, and a distant drift of music that might have been blown across a sleeping lake. + 

Selden and Lily stood still, accepting the unreality of the scene as a part of their own dreamlike sensations. It would not have surprised them to feel a summer breeze on their faces, or to see the lights among the boughs reduplicated in the arch of a starry sky. The strange solitude about them was no stranger than the sweetness of being alone in it together. + 

At length Lily withdrew her hand, and moved away a step, so that her white-robed slimness was outlined against the dusk of the branches. Selden followed her, and still without speaking they seated themselves on a bench beside the fountain. + 

Suddenly she raised her eyes with the beseeching earnestness of a child. тАЬYou never speak to meтБатАФyou think hard things of me,тАЭ she murmured. + 

тАЬI think of you at any rate, God knows!тАЭ he said. + 

тАЬThen why do we never see each other? Why canтАЩt we be friends? You promised once to help me,тАЭ she continued in the same tone, as though the words were drawn from her unwillingly. + 

тАЬThe only way I can help you is by loving you,тАЭ Selden said in a low voice. + 

She made no reply, but her face turned to him with the soft motion of a flower. His own met it slowly, and their lips touched. + 

She drew back and rose from her seat. Selden rose too, and they stood facing each other. Suddenly she caught his hand and pressed it a moment against her cheek. + 

тАЬAh, love me, love meтБатАФbut donтАЩt tell me so!тАЭ she sighed with her eyes in his; and before he could speak she had turned and slipped through the arch of boughs, disappearing in the brightness of the room beyond. + 

Selden stood where she had left him. He knew too well the transiency of exquisite moments to attempt to follow her; but presently he reentered the house and made his way through the deserted rooms to the door. A few sumptuously-cloaked ladies were already gathered in the marble vestibule, and in the coatroom he found Van Alstyne and Gus Trenor. + 

The former, at SeldenтАЩs approach, paused in the careful selection of a cigar from one of the silver boxes invitingly set out near the door. + 

тАЬHallo, Selden, going too? YouтАЩre an Epicurean like myself, I see: you donтАЩt want to see all those goddesses gobbling terrapin. Gad, what a show of good-looking women; but not one of тАЩem could touch that little cousin of mine. Talk of jewelsтБатАФwhatтАЩs a woman want with jewels when sheтАЩs got herself to show? The trouble is that all these fal-bals they wear cover up their figures when theyтАЩve got тАЩem. I never knew till tonight what an outline Lily has.тАЭ + 

тАЬItтАЩs not her fault if everybody donтАЩt know it now,тАЭ growled Trenor, flushed with the struggle of getting into his fur-lined coat. тАЬDamned bad taste, I call itтБатАФno, no cigar for me. You canтАЩt tell what youтАЩre smoking in one of these new housesтБатАФlikely as not the chef buys the cigars. Stay for supper? Not if I know it! When people crowd their rooms so that you canтАЩt get near anyone you want to speak to, IтАЩd as soon sup in the elevated at the rush hour. My wife was dead right to stay away: she says lifeтАЩs too short to spend it in breaking in new people.тАЭ + 

XIII + 

Lily woke from happy dreams to find two notes at her bedside. + 

One was from Mrs.┬аTrenor, who announced that she was coming to town that afternoon for a flying visit, and hoped Miss Bart would be able to dine with her. The other was from Selden. He wrote briefly that an important case called him to Albany, whence he would be unable to return till the evening, and asked Lily to let him know at what hour on the following day she would see him. + 

Lily, leaning back among her pillows, gazed musingly at his letter. The scene in the BrysтАЩ conservatory had been like a part of her dreams; she had not expected to wake to such evidence of its reality. Her first movement was one of annoyance: this unforeseen act of SeldenтАЩs added another complication to life. It was so unlike him to yield to such an irrational impulse! Did he really mean to ask her to marry him? She had once shown him the impossibility of such a hope, and his subsequent behaviour seemed to prove that he had accepted the situation with a reasonableness somewhat mortifying to her vanity. It was all the more agreeable to find that this reasonableness was maintained only at the cost of not seeing her; but, though nothing in life was as sweet as the sense of her power over him, she saw the danger of allowing the episode of the previous night to have a sequel. Since she could not marry him, it would be kinder to him, as well as easier for herself, to write a line amicably evading his request to see her: he was not the man to mistake such a hint, and when next they met it would be on their usual friendly footing. + 

Lily sprang out of bed, and went straight to her desk. She wanted to write at once, while she could trust to the strength of her resolve. She was still languid from her brief sleep and the exhilaration of the evening, and the sight of SeldenтАЩs writing brought back the culminating moment of her triumph: the moment when she had read in his eyes that no philosophy was proof against her power. It would be pleasant to have that sensation againтБатАКтБатАж no one else could give it to her in its fullness; and she could not bear to mar her mood of luxurious retrospection by an act of definite refusal. She took up her pen and wrote hastily: тАЬTomorrow at four;тАЭ murmuring to herself, as she slipped the sheet into its envelope: тАЬI can easily put him off when tomorrow comes.тАЭ + 

Judy TrenorтАЩs summons was very welcome to Lily. It was the first time she had received a direct communication from Bellomont since the close of her last visit there, and she was still visited by the dread of having incurred JudyтАЩs displeasure. But this characteristic command seemed to reestablish their former relations; and Lily smiled at the thought that her friend had probably summoned her in order to hear about the BrysтАЩ entertainment. Mrs.┬аTrenor had absented herself from the feast, perhaps for the reason so frankly enunciated by her husband, perhaps because, as Mrs.┬аFisher somewhat differently put it, she тАЬcouldnтАЩt bear new people when she hadnтАЩt discovered them herself.тАЭ At any rate, though she remained haughtily at Bellomont, Lily suspected in her a devouring eagerness to hear of what she had missed, and to learn exactly in what measure Mrs.┬аWellington Bry had surpassed all previous competitors for social recognition. Lily was quite ready to gratify this curiosity, but it happened that she was dining out. She determined, however, to see Mrs.┬аTrenor for a few moments, and ringing for her maid she despatched a telegram to say that she would be with her friend that evening at ten. + 

She was dining with Mrs.┬аFisher, who had gathered at an informal feast a few of the performers of the previous evening. There was to be plantation music in the studio after dinnerтБатАФfor Mrs.┬аFisher, despairing of the republic, had taken up modelling, and annexed to her small crowded house a spacious apartment, which, whatever its uses in her hours of plastic inspiration, served at other times for the exercise of an indefatigable hospitality. Lily was reluctant to leave, for the dinner was amusing, and she would have liked to lounge over a cigarette and hear a few songs; but she could not break her engagement with Judy, and shortly after ten she asked her hostess to ring for a hansom, and drove up Fifth Avenue to the TrenorsтАЩ. + 

She waited long enough on the doorstep to wonder that JudyтАЩs presence in town was not signalized by a greater promptness in admitting her; and her surprise was increased when, instead of the expected footman, pushing his shoulders into a tardy coat, a shabby care-taking person in calico let her into the shrouded hall. Trenor, however, appeared at once on the threshold of the drawing-room, welcoming her with unusual volubility while he relieved her of her cloak and drew her into the room. + 

тАЬCome along to the den; itтАЩs the only comfortable place in the house. DoesnтАЩt this room look as if it was waiting for the body to be brought down? CanтАЩt see why Judy keeps the house wrapped up in this awful slippery white stuffтБатАФitтАЩs enough to give a fellow pneumonia to walk through these rooms on a cold day. You look a little pinched yourself, by the way: itтАЩs rather a sharp night out. I noticed it walking up from the club. Come along, and IтАЩll give you a nip of brandy, and you can toast yourself over the fire and try some of my new EgyptiansтБатАФthat little Turkish chap at the Embassy put me on to a brand that I want you to try, and if you like тАЩem IтАЩll get out a lot for you: they donтАЩt have тАЩem here yet, but IтАЩll cable.тАЭ + 

He led her through the house to the large room at the back, where Mrs.┬аTrenor usually sat, and where, even in her absence, there was an air of occupancy. Here, as usual, were flowers, newspapers, a littered writing-table, and a general aspect of lamp-lit familiarity, so that it was a surprise not to see JudyтАЩs energetic figure start up from the armchair near the fire. + 

It was apparently Trenor himself who had been occupying the seat in question, for it was overhung by a cloud of cigar smoke, and near it stood one of those intricate folding tables which British ingenuity has devised to facilitate the circulation of tobacco and spirits. The sight of such appliances in a drawing-room was not unusual in LilyтАЩs set, where smoking and drinking were unrestricted by considerations of time and place, and her first movement was to help herself to one of the cigarettes recommended by Trenor, while she checked his loquacity by asking, with a surprised glance: тАЬWhereтАЩs Judy?тАЭ + 

Trenor, a little heated by his unusual flow of words, and perhaps by prolonged propinquity with the decanters, was bending over the latter to decipher their silver labels. + 

тАЬHere, now, Lily, just a drop of cognac in a little fizzy waterтБатАФyou do look pinched, you know: I swear the end of your nose is red. IтАЩll take another glass to keep you companyтБатАФJudy?тБатАФWhy, you see, JudyтАЩs got a devil of a head acheтБатАФquite knocked out with it, poor thingтБатАФshe asked me to explainтБатАФmake it all right, you knowтБатАФDo come up to the fire, though; you look dead-beat, really. Now do let me make you comfortable, thereтАЩs a good girl.тАЭ + 

He had taken her hand, half-banteringly, and was drawing her toward a low seat by the hearth; but she stopped and freed herself quietly. + 

тАЬDo you mean to say that JudyтАЩs not well enough to see me? DoesnтАЩt she want me to go upstairs?тАЭ + 

Trenor drained the glass he had filled for himself, and paused to set it down before he answered. + 

тАЬWhy, noтБатАФthe fact is, sheтАЩs not up to seeing anybody. It came on suddenly, you know, and she asked me to tell you how awfully sorry she wasтБатАФif sheтАЩd known where you were dining sheтАЩd have sent you word.тАЭ + 

тАЬShe did know where I was dining; I mentioned it in my telegram. But it doesnтАЩt matter, of course. I suppose if sheтАЩs so poorly she wonтАЩt go back to Bellomont in the morning, and I can come and see her then.тАЭ + 

тАЬYes: exactlyтБатАФthatтАЩs capital. IтАЩll tell her youтАЩll pop in tomorrow morning. And now do sit down a minute, thereтАЩs a dear, and letтАЩs have a nice quiet jaw together. You wonтАЩt take a drop, just for sociability? Tell me what you think of that cigarette. Why, donтАЩt you like it? What are you chucking it away for?тАЭ + 

тАЬI am chucking it away because I must go, if youтАЩll have the goodness to call a cab for me,тАЭ Lily returned with a smile. + 

She did not like TrenorтАЩs unusual excitability, with its too evident explanation, and the thought of being alone with him, with her friend out of reach upstairs, at the other end of the great empty house, did not conduce to a desire to prolong their t├кte-├а-t├кte. + 

But Trenor, with a promptness which did not escape her, had moved between herself and the door. + 

тАЬWhy must you go, I should like to know? If JudyтАЩd been here youтАЩd have sat gossiping till all hoursтБатАФand you canтАЩt even give me five minutes! ItтАЩs always the same story. Last night I couldnтАЩt get near youтБатАФI went to that damned vulgar party just to see you, and there was everybody talking about you, and asking me if IтАЩd ever seen anything so stunning, and when I tried to come up and say a word, you never took any notice, but just went on laughing and joking with a lot of asses who only wanted to be able to swagger about afterward, and look knowing when you were mentioned.тАЭ + 

He paused, flushed by his diatribe, and fixing on her a look in which resentment was the ingredient she least disliked. But she had regained her presence of mind, and stood composedly in the middle of the room, while her slight smile seemed to put an ever increasing distance between herself and Trenor. + 

Across it she said: тАЬDonтАЩt be absurd, Gus. ItтАЩs past eleven, and I must really ask you to ring for a cab.тАЭ + 

He remained immovable, with the lowering forehead she had grown to detest. + 

тАЬAnd supposing I wonтАЩt ring for oneтБатАФwhatтАЩll you do then?тАЭ + 

тАЬI shall go upstairs to Judy if you force me to disturb her.тАЭ + 

Trenor drew a step nearer and laid his hand on her arm. тАЬLook here, Lily: wonтАЩt you give me five minutes of your own accord?тАЭ + 

тАЬNot tonight, Gus: youтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬVery good, then: IтАЩll take тАЩem. And as many more as I want.тАЭ He had squared himself on the threshold, his hands thrust deep in his pockets. He nodded toward the chair on the hearth. + 

тАЬGo and sit down there, please: IтАЩve got a word to say to you.тАЭ + 

LilyтАЩs quick temper was getting the better of her fears. She drew herself up and moved toward the door. + 

тАЬIf you have anything to say to me, you must say it another time. I shall go up to Judy unless you call a cab for me at once.тАЭ + 

He burst into a laugh. тАЬGo upstairs and welcome, my dear; but you wonтАЩt find Judy. She ainтАЩt there.тАЭ + 

Lily cast a startled look upon him. тАЬDo you mean that Judy is not in the houseтБатАФnot in town?тАЭ she exclaimed. + 

тАЬThatтАЩs just what I do mean,тАЭ returned Trenor, his bluster sinking to sullenness under her look. + 

тАЬNonsenseтБатАФI donтАЩt believe you. I am going upstairs,тАЭ she said impatiently. + 

He drew unexpectedly aside, letting her reach the threshold unimpeded. + 

тАЬGo up and welcome; but my wife is at Bellomont.тАЭ + 

But Lily had a flash of reassurance. тАЬIf she hadnтАЩt come she would have sent me wordтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬShe did; she telephoned me this afternoon to let you know.тАЭ + 

тАЬI received no message.тАЭ + 

тАЬI didnтАЩt send any.тАЭ + 

The two measured each other for a moment, but Lily still saw her opponent through a blur of scorn that made all other considerations indistinct. + 

тАЬI canтАЩt imagine your object in playing such a stupid trick on me; but if you have fully gratified your peculiar sense of humour I must again ask you to send for a cab.тАЭ + 

It was the wrong note, and she knew it as she spoke. To be stung by irony it is not necessary to understand it, and the angry streaks on TrenorтАЩs face might have been raised by an actual lash. + 

тАЬLook here, Lily, donтАЩt take that high and mighty tone with me.тАЭ He had again moved toward the door, and in her instinctive shrinking from him she let him regain command of the threshold. тАЬI did play a trick on you; I own up to it; but if you think IтАЩm ashamed youтАЩre mistaken. Lord knows IтАЩve been patient enoughтБатАФIтАЩve hung round and looked like an ass. And all the while you were letting a lot of other fellows make up to youтБатАКтБатАж letting тАЩem make fun of me, I daresayтБатАКтБатАж IтАЩm not sharp, and canтАЩt dress my friends up to look funny, as you doтБатАКтБатАж but I can tell when itтАЩs being done to meтБатАКтБатАж I can tell fast enough when IтАЩm made a fool ofтБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬAh, I shouldnтАЩt have thought that!тАЭ flashed from Lily; but her laugh dropped to silence under his look. + 

тАЬNo; you wouldnтАЩt have thought it; but youтАЩll know better now. ThatтАЩs what youтАЩre here for tonight. IтАЩve been waiting for a quiet time to talk things over, and now IтАЩve got it I mean to make you hear me out.тАЭ + 

His first rush of inarticulate resentment had been followed by a steadiness and concentration of tone more disconcerting to Lily than the excitement preceding it. For a moment her presence of mind forsook her. She had more than once been in situations where a quick swordplay of wit had been needful to cover her retreat; but her frightened heartthrobs told her that here such skill would not avail. + 

To gain time she repeated: тАЬI donтАЩt understand what you want.тАЭ + 

Trenor had pushed a chair between herself and the door. He threw himself in it, and leaned back, looking up at her. + 

тАЬIтАЩll tell you what I want: I want to know just where you and I stand. Hang it, the man who pays for the dinner is generally allowed to have a seat at table.тАЭ + 

She flamed with anger and abasement, and the sickening need of having to conciliate where she longed to humble. + 

тАЬI donтАЩt know what you meanтБатАФbut you must see, Gus, that I canтАЩt stay here talking to you at this hourтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬGad, you go to menтАЩs houses fast enough in broad daylightтБатАФstrikes me youтАЩre not always so deuced careful of appearances.тАЭ + 

The brutality of the thrust gave her the sense of dizziness that follows on a physical blow. Rosedale had spoken thenтБатАФthis was the way men talked of herтБатАФShe felt suddenly weak and defenceless: there was a throb of self-pity in her throat. But all the while another self was sharpening her to vigilance, whispering the terrified warning that every word and gesture must be measured. + 

тАЬIf you have brought me here to say insulting thingsтБатАФтАЭ she began. + 

Trenor laughed. тАЬDonтАЩt talk stage-rot. I donтАЩt want to insult you. But a manтАЩs got his feelingsтБатАФand youтАЩve played with mine too long. I didnтАЩt begin this businessтБатАФkept out of the way, and left the track clear for the other chaps, till you rummaged me out and set to work to make an ass of meтБатАФand an easy job you had of it, too. ThatтАЩs the troubleтБатАФit was too easy for youтБатАФyou got recklessтБатАФthought you could turn me inside out, and chuck me in the gutter like an empty purse. But, by gad, that ainтАЩt playing fair: thatтАЩs dodging the rules of the game. Of course I know now what you wantedтБатАФit wasnтАЩt my beautiful eyes you were afterтБатАФbut I tell you what, Miss Lily, youтАЩve got to pay up for making me think soтБатАФтАЭ + 

He rose, squaring his shoulders aggressively, and stepped toward her with a reddening brow; but she held her footing, though every nerve tore at her to retreat as he advanced. + 

тАЬPay up?тАЭ she faltered. тАЬDo you mean that I owe you money?тАЭ + 

He laughed again. тАЬOh, IтАЩm not asking for payment in kind. But thereтАЩs such a thing as fair playтБатАФand interest on oneтАЩs moneyтБатАФand hang me if IтАЩve had as much as a look from youтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬYour money? What have I to do with your money? You advised me how to invest mineтБатАКтБатАж you must have seen I knew nothing of businessтБатАКтБатАж you told me it was all rightтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬIt was all rightтБатАФit is, Lily: youтАЩre welcome to all of it, and ten times more. IтАЩm only asking for a word of thanks from you.тАЭ He was closer still, with a hand that grew formidable; and the frightened self in her was dragging the other down. + 

тАЬI have thanked you; IтАЩve shown I was grateful. What more have you done than any friend might do, or anyone accept from a friend?тАЭ + 

Trenor caught her up with a sneer. тАЬI donтАЩt doubt youтАЩve accepted as much beforeтБатАФand chucked the other chaps as youтАЩd like to chuck me. I donтАЩt care how you settled your score with themтБатАФif you fooled тАЩem IтАЩm that much to the good. DonтАЩt stare at me like thatтБатАФI know IтАЩm not talking the way a man is supposed to talk to a girlтБатАФbut, hang it, if you donтАЩt like it you can stop me quick enoughтБатАФyou know IтАЩm mad about youтБатАФdamn the money, thereтАЩs plenty more of itтБатАФif that bothers youтБатАКтБатАж I was a brute, LilyтБатАФLily!тБатАФjust look at meтБатАФтАЭ + 

Over and over her the sea of humiliation brokeтБатАФwave crashing on wave so close that the moral shame was one with the physical dread. It seemed to her that self-esteem would have made her invulnerableтБатАФthat it was her own dishonour which put a fearful solitude about her. + 

His touch was a shock to her drowning consciousness. She drew back from him with a desperate assumption of scorn. + 

тАЬIтАЩve told you I donтАЩt understandтБатАФbut if I owe you money you shall be paidтБатАФтАЭ + 

TrenorтАЩs face darkened to rage: her recoil of abhorrence had called out the primitive man. + 

тАЬAhтБатАФyouтАЩll borrow from Selden or RosedaleтБатАФand take your chances of fooling them as youтАЩve fooled me! UnlessтБатАФunless youтАЩve settled your other scores alreadyтБатАФand IтАЩm the only one left out in the cold!тАЭ + 

She stood silent, frozen to her place. The wordsтБатАФthe words were worse than the touch! Her heart was beating all over her bodyтБатАФin her throat, her limbs, her helpless useless hands. Her eyes travelled despairingly about the roomтБатАФthey lit on the bell, and she remembered that help was in call. Yes, but scandal with itтБатАФa hideous mustering of tongues. No, she must fight her way out alone. It was enough that the servants knew her to be in the house with TrenorтБатАФthere must be nothing to excite conjecture in her way of leaving it. + 

She raised her head, and achieved a last clear look at him. + 

тАЬI am here alone with you,тАЭ she said. тАЬWhat more have you to say?тАЭ + 

To her surprise, Trenor answered the look with a speechless stare. With his last gust of words the flame had died out, leaving him chill and humbled. It was as though a cold air had dispersed the fumes of his libations, and the situation loomed before him black and naked as the ruins of a fire. Old habits, old restraints, the hand of inherited order, plucked back the bewildered mind which passion had jolted from its ruts. TrenorтАЩs eye had the haggard look of the sleepwalker waked on a deathly ledge. + 

тАЬGo home! Go away from hereтАЭтБатАФhe stammered, and turning his back on her walked toward the hearth. + 

The sharp release from her fears restored Lily to immediate lucidity. The collapse of TrenorтАЩs will left her in control, and she heard herself, in a voice that was her own yet outside herself, bidding him ring for the servant, bidding him give the order for a hansom, directing him to put her in it when it came. Whence the strength came to her she knew not; but an insistent voice warned her that she must leave the house openly, and nerved her, in the hall before the hovering care taker, to exchange light words with Trenor, and charge him with the usual messages for Judy, while all the while she shook with inward loathing. On the doorstep, with the street before her, she felt a mad throb of liberation, intoxicating as the prisonerтАЩs first draught of free air; but the clearness of brain continued, and she noted the mute aspect of Fifth Avenue, guessed at the lateness of the hour, and even observed a manтАЩs figureтБатАФwas there something half-familiar in its outline?тБатАФwhich, as she entered the hansom, turned from the opposite corner and vanished in the obscurity of the side street. + 

But with the turn of the wheels reaction came, and shuddering darkness closed on her. тАЬI canтАЩt thinkтБатАФI canтАЩt think,тАЭ she moaned, and leaned her head against the rattling side of the cab. She seemed a stranger to herself, or rather there were two selves in her, the one she had always known, and a new abhorrent being to which it found itself chained. She had once picked up, in a house where she was staying, a translation of the Eumenides, and her imagination had been seized by the high terror of the scene where Orestes, in the cave of the oracle, finds his implacable huntresses asleep, and snatches an hourтАЩs repose. Yes, the Furies might sometimes sleep, but they were there, always there in the dark corners, and now they were awake and the iron clang of their wings was in her brainтБатАКтБатАж She opened her eyes and saw the streets passingтБатАФthe familiar alien streets. All she looked on was the same and yet changed. There was a great gulf fixed between today and yesterday. Everything in the past seemed simple, natural, full of daylightтБатАФand she was alone in a place of darkness and pollution.тБатАФAlone! It was the loneliness that frightened her. Her eyes fell on an illuminated clock at a street corner, and she saw that the hands marked the half hour after eleven. Only half-past elevenтБатАФthere were hours and hours left of the night! And she must spend them alone, shuddering sleepless on her bed. Her soft nature recoiled from this ordeal, which had none of the stimulus of conflict to goad her through it. Oh, the slow cold drip of the minutes on her head! She had a vision of herself lying on the black walnut bedтБатАФand the darkness would frighten her, and if she left the light burning the dreary details of the room would brand themselves forever on her brain. She had always hated her room at Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩsтБатАФits ugliness, its impersonality, the fact that nothing in it was really hers. To a torn heart uncomforted by human nearness a room may open almost human arms, and the being to whom no four walls mean more than any others, is, at such hours, expatriate everywhere. + 

Lily had no heart to lean on. Her relation with her aunt was as superficial as that of chance lodgers who pass on the stairs. But even had the two been in closer contact, it was impossible to think of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs mind as offering shelter or comprehension to such misery as LilyтАЩs. As the pain that can be told is but half a pain, so the pity that questions has little healing in its touch. What Lily craved was the darkness made by enfolding arms, the silence which is not solitude, but compassion holding its breath. + 

She started up and looked forth on the passing streets. Gerty!тБатАФthey were nearing GertyтАЩs corner. If only she could reach there before this labouring anguish burst from her breast to her lipsтБатАФif only she could feel the hold of GertyтАЩs arms while she shook in the ague-fit of fear that was coming upon her! She pushed up the door in the roof and called the address to the driver. It was not so lateтБатАФGerty might still be waking. And even if she were not, the sound of the bell would penetrate every recess of her tiny apartment, and rouse her to answer her friendтАЩs call. + 

XIV + 

Gerty Farish, the morning after the Wellington BrysтАЩ entertainment, woke from dreams as happy as LilyтАЩs. If they were less vivid in hue, more subdued to the half-tints of her personality and her experience, they were for that very reason better suited to her mental vision. Such flashes of joy as Lily moved in would have blinded Miss Farish, who was accustomed, in the way of happiness, to such scant light as shone through the cracks of other peopleтАЩs lives. + 

Now she was the centre of a little illumination of her own: a mild but unmistakable beam, compounded of Lawrence SeldenтАЩs growing kindness to herself and the discovery that he extended his liking to Lily Bart. If these two factors seem incompatible to the student of feminine psychology, it must be remembered that Gerty had always been a parasite in the moral order, living on the crumbs of other tables, and content to look through the window at the banquet spread for her friends. Now that she was enjoying a little private feast of her own, it would have seemed incredibly selfish not to lay a plate for a friend; and there was no one with whom she would rather have shared her enjoyment than Miss Bart. + 

As to the nature of SeldenтАЩs growing kindness, Gerty would no more have dared to define it than she would have tried to learn a butterflyтАЩs colours by knocking the dust from its wings. To seize on the wonder would be to brush off its bloom, and perhaps see it fade and stiffen in her hand: better the sense of beauty palpitating out of reach, while she held her breath and watched where it would alight. Yet SeldenтАЩs manner at the BrysтАЩ had brought the flutter of wings so close that they seemed to be beating in her own heart. She had never seen him so alert, so responsive, so attentive to what she had to say. His habitual manner had an absentminded kindliness which she accepted, and was grateful for, as the liveliest sentiment her presence was likely to inspire; but she was quick to feel in him a change implying that for once she could give pleasure as well as receive it. + 

And it was so delightful that this higher degree of sympathy should be reached through their interest in Lily Bart! GertyтАЩs affection for her friendтБатАФa sentiment that had learned to keep itself alive on the scantiest dietтБатАФhad grown to active adoration since LilyтАЩs restless curiosity had drawn her into the circle of Miss FarishтАЩs work. LilyтАЩs taste of beneficence had wakened in her a momentary appetite for well-doing. Her visit to the GirlsтАЩ Club had first brought her in contact with the dramatic contrasts of life. She had always accepted with philosophic calm the fact that such existences as hers were pedestalled on foundations of obscure humanity. The dreary limbo of dinginess lay all around and beneath that little illuminated circle in which life reached its finest efflorescence, as the mud and sleet of a winter night enclose a hothouse filled with tropical flowers. All this was in the natural order of things, and the orchid basking in its artificially created atmosphere could round the delicate curves of its petals undisturbed by the ice on the panes. + 

But it is one thing to live comfortably with the abstract conception of poverty, another to be brought in contact with its human embodiments. Lily had never conceived of these victims of fate otherwise than in the mass. That the mass was composed of individual lives, innumerable separate centres of sensation, with her own eager reachings for pleasure, her own fierce revulsions from painтБатАФthat some of these bundles of feeling were clothed in shapes not so unlike her own, with eyes meant to look on gladness, and young lips shaped for loveтБатАФthis discovery gave Lily one of those sudden shocks of pity that sometimes decentralize a life. LilyтАЩs nature was incapable of such renewal: she could feel other demands only through her own, and no pain was long vivid which did not press on an answering nerve. But for the moment she was drawn out of herself by the interest of her direct relation with a world so unlike her own. She had supplemented her first gift by personal assistance to one or two of Miss FarishтАЩs most appealing subjects, and the admiration and interest her presence excited among the tired workers at the club ministered in a new form to her insatiable desire to please. + 

Gerty Farish was not a close enough reader of character to disentangle the mixed threads of which LilyтАЩs philanthropy was woven. She supposed her beautiful friend to be actuated by the same motive as herselfтБатАФthat sharpening of the moral vision which makes all human suffering so near and insistent that the other aspects of life fade into remoteness. Gerty lived by such simple formulas that she did not hesitate to class her friendтАЩs state with the emotional тАЬchange of heartтАЭ to which her dealings with the poor had accustomed her; and she rejoiced in the thought that she had been the humble instrument of this renewal. Now she had an answer to all criticisms of LilyтАЩs conduct: as she had said, she knew тАЬthe real Lily,тАЭ and the discovery that Selden shared her knowledge raised her placid acceptance of life to a dazzled sense of its possibilitiesтБатАФa sense farther enlarged, in the course of the afternoon, by the receipt of a telegram from Selden asking if he might dine with her that evening. + 

While Gerty was lost in the happy bustle which this announcement produced in her small household, Selden was at one with her in thinking with intensity of Lily Bart. The case which had called him to Albany was not complicated enough to absorb all his attention, and he had the professional faculty of keeping a part of his mind free when its services were not needed. This partтБатАФwhich at the moment seemed dangerously like the wholeтБатАФwas filled to the brim with the sensations of the previous evening. Selden understood the symptoms: he recognized the fact that he was paying up, as there had always been a chance of his having to pay up, for the voluntary exclusions of his past. He had meant to keep free from permanent ties, not from any poverty of feeling, but because, in a different way, he was, as much as Lily, the victim of his environment. There had been a germ of truth in his declaration to Gerty Farish that he had never wanted to marry a тАЬniceтАЭ girl: the adjective connoting, in his cousinтАЩs vocabulary, certain utilitarian qualities which are apt to preclude the luxury of charm. Now it had been SeldenтАЩs fate to have a charming mother: her graceful portrait, all smiles and Cashmere, still emitted a faded scent of the undefinable quality. His father was the kind of man who delights in a charming woman: who quotes her, stimulates her, and keeps her perennially charming. Neither one of the couple cared for money, but their disdain of it took the form of always spending a little more than was prudent. If their house was shabby, it was exquisitely kept; if there were good books on the shelves there were also good dishes on the table. Selden senior had an eye for a picture, his wife an understanding of old lace; and both were so conscious of restraint and discrimination in buying that they never quite knew how it was that the bills mounted up. + 

Though many of SeldenтАЩs friends would have called his parents poor, he had grown up in an atmosphere where restricted means were felt only as a check on aimless profusion: where the few possessions were so good that their rarity gave them a merited relief, and abstinence was combined with elegance in a way exemplified by Mrs.┬аSeldenтАЩs knack of wearing her old velvet as if it were new. A man has the advantage of being delivered early from the home point of view, and before Selden left college he had learned that there are as many different ways of going without money as of spending it. Unfortunately, he found no way as agreeable as that practised at home; and his views of womankind in especial were tinged by the remembrance of the one woman who had given him his sense of тАЬvalues.тАЭ It was from her that he inherited his detachment from the sumptuary side of life: the stoicтАЩs carelessness of material things, combined with the EpicureanтАЩs pleasure in them. Life shorn of either feeling appeared to him a diminished thing; and nowhere was the blending of the two ingredients so essential as in the character of a pretty woman. + 

It had always seemed to Selden that experience offered a great deal besides the sentimental adventure, yet he could vividly conceive of a love which should broaden and deepen till it became the central fact of life. What he could not accept, in his own case, was the makeshift alternative of a relation that should be less than this: that should leave some portions of his nature unsatisfied, while it put an undue strain on others. He would not, in other words, yield to the growth of an affection which might appeal to pity yet leave the understanding untouched: sympathy should no more delude him than a trick of the eyes, the grace of helplessness than a curve of the cheek. + 

But nowтБатАФthat little тАЬbutтАЭ passed like a sponge over all his vows. His reasoned-out resistances seemed for the moment so much less important than the question as to when Lily would receive his note! He yielded himself to the charm of trivial preoccupations, wondering at what hour her reply would be sent, with what words it would begin. As to its import he had no doubtтБатАФhe was as sure of her surrender as of his own. And so he had leisure to muse on all its exquisite details, as a hard worker, on a holiday morning, might lie still and watch the beam of light travel gradually across his room. But if the new light dazzled, it did not blind him. He could still discern the outline of facts, though his own relation to them had changed. He was no less conscious than before of what was said of Lily Bart, but he could separate the woman he knew from the vulgar estimate of her. His mind turned to Gerty FarishтАЩs words, and the wisdom of the world seemed a groping thing beside the insight of innocence. тАЬBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see GodтАЭтБатАФeven the hidden god in their neighbourтАЩs breast! Selden was in the state of impassioned self-absorption that the first surrender to love produces. His craving was for the companionship of one whose point of view should justify his own, who should confirm, by deliberate observation, the truth to which his intuitions had leaped. He could not wait for the midday recess, but seized a momentтАЩs leisure in court to scribble his telegram to Gerty Farish. + 

Reaching town, he was driven direct to his club, where he hoped a note from Miss Bart might await him. But his box contained only a line of rapturous assent from Gerty, and he was turning away disappointed when he was hailed by a voice from the smoking room. + 

тАЬHallo, Lawrence! Dining here? Take a bite with meтБатАФIтАЩve ordered a canvasback.тАЭ + 

He discovered Trenor, in his day clothes, sitting, with a tall glass at his elbow, behind the folds of a sporting journal. + 

Selden thanked him, but pleaded an engagement. + 

тАЬHang it, I believe every man in town has an engagement tonight. I shall have the club to myself. You know how IтАЩm living this winter, rattling round in that empty house. My wife meant to come to town today, but sheтАЩs put it off again, and how is a fellow to dine alone in a room with the looking-glasses covered, and nothing but a bottle of Harvey sauce on the sideboard? I say, Lawrence, chuck your engagement and take pity on meтБатАФit gives me the blue devils to dine alone, and thereтАЩs nobody but that canting ass Wetherall in the club.тАЭ + 

тАЬSorry, GusтБатАФI canтАЩt do it.тАЭ + 

As Selden turned away, he noticed the dark flush on TrenorтАЩs face, the unpleasant moisture of his intensely white forehead, the way his jewelled rings were wedged in the creases of his fat red fingers. Certainly the beast was predominatingтБатАФthe beast at the bottom of the glass. And he had heard this manтАЩs name coupled with LilyтАЩs! BahтБатАФthe thought sickened him; all the way back to his rooms he was haunted by the sight of TrenorтАЩs fat creased handsтБатАФ + 

On his table lay the note: Lily had sent it to his rooms. He knew what was in it before he broke the sealтБатАФa grey seal with тАЬBeyond!тАЭ beneath a flying ship. Ah, he would take her beyondтБатАФbeyond the ugliness, the pettiness, the attrition and corrosion of the soulтБатАФ + 

GertyтАЩs little sitting-room sparkled with welcome when Selden entered it. Its modest тАЬeffects,тАЭ compact of enamel paint and ingenuity, spoke to him in the language just then sweetest to his ear. It is surprising how little narrow walls and a low ceiling matter, when the roof of the soul has suddenly been raised. Gerty sparkled too; or at least shone with a tempered radiance. He had never before noticed that she had тАЬpointsтАЭтБатАФreally, some good fellow might do worseтБатАКтБатАж Over the little dinner (and here, again, the effects were wonderful) he told her she ought to marryтБатАФhe was in a mood to pair off the whole world. She had made the caramel custard with her own hands? It was sinful to keep such gifts to herself. He reflected with a throb of pride that Lily could trim her own hatsтБатАФshe had told him so the day of their walk at Bellomont. + 

He did not speak of Lily till after dinner. During the little repast he kept the talk on his hostess, who, fluttered at being the centre of observation, shone as rosy as the candle-shades she had manufactured for the occasion. Selden evinced an extraordinary interest in her household arrangements: complimented her on the ingenuity with which she had utilized every inch of her small quarters, asked how her servant managed about afternoons out, learned that one may improvise delicious dinners in a chafing-dish, and uttered thoughtful generalizations on the burden of a large establishment. + 

When they were in the sitting-room again, where they fitted as snugly as bits in a puzzle, and she had brewed the coffee, and poured it into her grandmotherтАЩs eggshell cups, his eye, as he leaned back, basking in the warm fragrance, lighted on a recent photograph of Miss Bart, and the desired transition was effected without an effort. The photograph was well enoughтБатАФbut to catch her as she had looked last night! Gerty agreed with himтБатАФnever had she been so radiant. But could photography capture that light? There had been a new look in her faceтБатАФsomething different; yes, Selden agreed there had been something different. The coffee was so exquisite that he asked for a second cup: such a contrast to the watery stuff at the club! Ah, your poor bachelor with his impersonal club fare, alternating with the equally impersonal cuisine of the dinner-party! A man who lived in lodgings missed the best part of lifeтБатАФhe pictured the flavourless solitude of TrenorтАЩs repast, and felt a momentтАЩs compassion for the manтБатАКтБатАж But to return to LilyтБатАФand again and again he returned, questioning, conjecturing, leading Gerty on, draining her inmost thoughts of their stored tenderness for her friend. + 

At first she poured herself out unstintingly, happy in this perfect communion of their sympathies. His understanding of Lily helped to confirm her own belief in her friend. They dwelt together on the fact that Lily had had no chance. Gerty instanced her generous impulsesтБатАФher restlessness and discontent. The fact that her life had never satisfied her proved that she was made for better things. She might have married more than onceтБатАФthe conventional rich marriage which she had been taught to consider the sole end of existenceтБатАФbut when the opportunity came she had always shrunk from it. Percy Gryce, for instance, had been in love with herтБатАФeveryone at Bellomont had supposed them to be engaged, and her dismissal of him was thought inexplicable. This view of the Gryce incident chimed too well with SeldenтАЩs mood not to be instantly adopted by him, with a flash of retrospective contempt for what had once seemed the obvious solution. If rejection there had beenтБатАФand he wondered now that he had ever doubted it!тБатАФthen he held the key to the secret, and the hillsides of Bellomont were lit up, not with sunset, but with dawn. It was he who had wavered and disowned the face of opportunityтБатАФand the joy now warming his breast might have been a familiar inmate if he had captured it in its first flight. + 

It was at this point, perhaps, that a joy just trying its wings in GertyтАЩs heart dropped to earth and lay still. She sat facing Selden, repeating mechanically: тАЬNo, she has never been understoodтБатАФтАЭ and all the while she herself seemed to be sitting in the centre of a great glare of comprehension. The little confidential room, where a moment ago their thoughts had touched elbows like their chairs, grew to unfriendly vastness, separating her from Selden by all the length of her new vision of the futureтБатАФand that future stretched out interminably, with her lonely figure toiling down it, a mere speck on the solitude. + 

тАЬShe is herself with a few people only; and you are one of them,тАЭ she heard Selden saying. And again: тАЬBe good to her, Gerty, wonтАЩt you?тАЭ and: тАЬShe has it in her to become whatever she is believed to beтБатАФyouтАЩll help her by believing the best of her?тАЭ + 

The words beat on GertyтАЩs brain like the sound of a language which has seemed familiar at a distance, but on approaching is found to be unintelligible. He had come to talk to her of LilyтБатАФthat was all! There had been a third at the feast she had spread for him, and that third had taken her own place. She tried to follow what he was saying, to cling to her own part in the talkтБатАФbut it was all as meaningless as the boom of waves in a drowning head, and she felt, as the drowning may feel, that to sink would be nothing beside the pain of struggling to keep up. + 

Selden rose, and she drew a deep breath, feeling that soon she could yield to the blessed waves. + 

тАЬMrs.┬аFisherтАЩs? You say she was dining there? ThereтАЩs music afterward; I believe I had a card from her.тАЭ He glanced at the foolish pink-faced clock that was drumming out this hideous hour. тАЬA quarter past ten? I might look in there now; the Fisher evenings are amusing. I havenтАЩt kept you up too late, Gerty? You look tiredтБатАФIтАЩve rambled on and bored you.тАЭ And in the unwonted overflow of his feelings, he left a cousinly kiss upon her cheek. + 

At Mrs.┬аFisherтАЩs, through the cigar-smoke of the studio, a dozen voices greeted Selden. A song was pending as he entered, and he dropped into a seat near his hostess, his eyes roaming in search of Miss Bart. But she was not there, and the discovery gave him a pang out of all proportion to its seriousness; since the note in his breast-pocket assured him that at four the next day they would meet. To his impatience it seemed immeasurably long to wait, and half-ashamed of the impulse, he leaned to Mrs.┬аFisher to ask, as the music ceased, if Miss Bart had not dined with her. + 

тАЬLily? SheтАЩs just gone. She had to run off, I forget where. WasnтАЩt she wonderful last night?тАЭ + 

тАЬWhoтАЩs that? Lily?тАЭ asked Jack Stepney, from the depths of a neighbouring armchair. тАЬReally, you know, IтАЩm no prude, but when it comes to a girl standing there as if she was up at auctionтБатАФI thought seriously of speaking to cousin Julia.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou didnтАЩt know Jack had become our social censor?тАЭ Mrs.┬аFisher said to Selden with a laugh; and Stepney spluttered, amid the general derision: тАЬBut sheтАЩs a cousin, hang it, and when a manтАЩs marriedтБатАФтАШTown TalkтАЩ was full of her this morning.тАЭ + 

тАЬYes: lively reading that was,тАЭ said Mr.┬аNed Van Alstyne, stroking his moustache to hide the smile behind it. тАЬBuy the dirty sheet? No, of course not; some fellow showed it to meтБатАФbut IтАЩd heard the stories before. When a girlтАЩs as good-looking as that sheтАЩd better marry; then no questions are asked. In our imperfectly organized society there is no provision as yet for the young woman who claims the privileges of marriage without assuming its obligations.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, I understand Lily is about to assume them in the shape of Mr.┬аRosedale,тАЭ Mrs.┬аFisher said with a laugh. + 

тАЬRosedaleтБатАФgood heavens!тАЭ exclaimed Van Alstyne, dropping his eyeglass. тАЬStepney, thatтАЩs your fault for foisting the brute on us.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, confound it, you know, we donтАЩt marry Rosedale in our family,тАЭ Stepney languidly protested; but his wife, who sat in oppressive bridal finery at the other side of the room, quelled him with the judicial reflection: тАЬIn LilyтАЩs circumstances itтАЩs a mistake to have too high a standard.тАЭ + 

тАЬI hear even Rosedale has been scared by the talk lately,тАЭ Mrs.┬аFisher rejoined; тАЬbut the sight of her last night sent him off his head. What do you think he said to me after her tableau? тАШMy God, Mrs.┬аFisher, if I could get Paul Morpeth to paint her like that, the pictureтАЩd appreciate a hundred percent in ten years.тАЩтАКтАЭ + 

тАЬBy JoveтБатАФbut isnтАЩt she about somewhere?тАЭ exclaimed Van Alstyne, restoring his glass with an uneasy glance. + 

тАЬNo; she ran off while you were all mixing the punch downstairs. Where was she going, by the way? WhatтАЩs on tonight? I hadnтАЩt heard of anything.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, not a party, I think,тАЭ said an inexperienced young Farish who had arrived late. тАЬI put her in her cab as I was coming in, and she gave the driver the TrenorsтАЩ address.тАЭ + 

тАЬThe TrenorsтАЩ?тАЭ exclaimed Mrs.┬аJack Stepney. тАЬWhy, the house is closedтБатАФJudy telephoned me from Bellomont this evening.тАЭ + 

тАЬDid she? ThatтАЩs queer. IтАЩm sure IтАЩm not mistaken. Well, come now, TrenorтАЩs there, anyhowтБатАФIтБатАФoh, wellтБатАФthe fact is, IтАЩve no head for numbers,тАЭ he broke off, admonished by the nudge of an adjoining foot, and the smile that circled the room. + 

In its unpleasant light Selden had risen and was shaking hands with his hostess. The air of the place stifled him, and he wondered why he had stayed in it so long. + 

On the doorstep he stood still, remembering a phrase of LilyтАЩs: тАЬIt seems to me you spend a good deal of time in the element you disapprove of.тАЭ + 

WellтБатАФwhat had brought him there but the quest of her? It was her element, not his. But he would lift her out of it, take her beyond! That тАЬBeyond!тАЭ on her letter was like a cry for rescue. He knew that PerseusтАЩs task is not done when he has loosed AndromedaтАЩs chains, for her limbs are numb with bondage, and she cannot rise and walk, but clings to him with dragging arms as he beats back to land with his burden. Well, he had strength for bothтБатАФit was her weakness which had put the strength in him. It was not, alas, a clean rush of waves they had to win through, but a clogging morass of old associations and habits, and for the moment its vapours were in his throat. But he would see clearer, breathe freer in her presence: she was at once the dead weight at his breast and the spar which should float them to safety. He smiled at the whirl of metaphor with which he was trying to build up a defence against the influences of the last hour. It was pitiable that he, who knew the mixed motives on which social judgments depend, should still feel himself so swayed by them. How could he lift Lily to a freer vision of life, if his own view of her was to be coloured by any mind in which he saw her reflected? + 

The moral oppression had produced a physical craving for air, and he strode on, opening his lungs to the reverberating coldness of the night. At the corner of Fifth Avenue Van Alstyne hailed him with an offer of company. + 

тАЬWalking? A good thing to blow the smoke out of oneтАЩs head. Now that women have taken to tobacco we live in a bath of nicotine. It would be a curious thing to study the effect of cigarettes on the relation of the sexes. Smoke is almost as great a solvent as divorce: both tend to obscure the moral issue.тАЭ + 

Nothing could have been less consonant with SeldenтАЩs mood than Van AlstyneтАЩs after-dinner aphorisms, but as long as the latter confined himself to generalities his listenerтАЩs nerves were in control. Happily Van Alstyne prided himself on his summing up of social aspects, and with Selden for audience was eager to show the sureness of his touch. Mrs.┬аFisher lived in an East side street near the Park, and as the two men walked down Fifth Avenue the new architectural developments of that versatile thoroughfare invited Van AlstyneтАЩs comment. + 

тАЬThat Greiner house, nowтБатАФa typical rung in the social ladder! The man who built it came from a milieu where all the dishes are put on the table at once. His fa├зade is a complete architectural meal; if he had omitted a style his friends might have thought the money had given out. Not a bad purchase for Rosedale, though: attracts attention, and awes the Western sightseer. By and by heтАЩll get out of that phase, and want something that the crowd will pass and the few pause before. Especially if he marries my clever cousinтБатАФтАЭ + 

Selden dashed in with the query: тАЬAnd the Wellington BrysтАЩ? Rather clever of its kind, donтАЩt you think?тАЭ + 

They were just beneath the wide white fa├зade, with its rich restraint of line, which suggested the clever corseting of a redundant figure. + 

тАЬThatтАЩs the next stage: the desire to imply that one has been to Europe, and has a standard. IтАЩm sure Mrs.┬аBry thinks her house a copy of the Trianon; in America every marble house with gilt furniture is thought to be a copy of the Trianon. What a clever chap that architect is, thoughтБатАФhow he takes his clientтАЩs measure! He has put the whole of Mrs.┬аBry in his use of the composite order. Now for the Trenors, you remember, he chose the Corinthian: exuberant, but based on the best precedent. The Trenor house is one of his best thingsтБатАФdoesnтАЩt look like a banqueting-hall turned inside out. I hear Mrs.┬аTrenor wants to build out a new ballroom, and that divergence from Gus on that point keeps her at Bellomont. The dimensions of the BrysтАЩ ballroom must rankle: you may be sure she knows тАЩem as well as if sheтАЩd been there last night with a yard-measure. Who said she was in town, by the way? That Farish boy? She isnтАЩt, I know; Mrs.┬аStepney was right; the house is dark, you see: I suppose Gus lives in the back.тАЭ + 

He had halted opposite the TrenorsтАЩ corner, and Selden perforce stayed his steps also. The house loomed obscure and uninhabited; only an oblong gleam above the door spoke of provisional occupancy. + 

тАЬTheyтАЩve bought the house at the back: it gives them a hundred and fifty feet in the side street. ThereтАЩs where the ballroomтАЩs to be, with a gallery connecting it: billiard-room and so on above. I suggested changing the entrance, and carrying the drawing-room across the whole Fifth Avenue front; you see the front door corresponds with the windowsтБатАФтАЭ + 

The walking-stick which Van Alstyne swung in demonstration dropped to a startled тАЬHallo!тАЭ as the door opened and two figures were seen silhouetted against the hall-light. At the same moment a hansom halted at the curbstone, and one of the figures floated down to it in a haze of evening draperies; while the other, black and bulky, remained persistently projected against the light. + 

For an immeasurable second the two spectators of the incident were silent; then the house-door closed, the hansom rolled off, and the whole scene slipped by as if with the turn of a stereopticon. + 

Van Alstyne dropped his eyeglass with a low whistle. + 

тАЬAтБатАФhemтБатАФnothing of this, eh, Selden? As one of the family, I know I may count on youтБатАФappearances are deceptiveтБатАФand Fifth Avenue is so imperfectly lightedтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬGoodnight,тАЭ said Selden, turning sharply down the side street without seeing the otherтАЩs extended hand. + 

Alone with her cousinтАЩs kiss, Gerty stared upon her thoughts. He had kissed her beforeтБатАФbut not with another woman on his lips. If he had spared her that she could have drowned quietly, welcoming the dark flood as it submerged her. But now the flood was shot through with glory, and it was harder to drown at sunrise than in darkness. Gerty hid her face from the light, but it pierced to the crannies of her soul. She had been so contented, life had seemed so simple and sufficientтБатАФwhy had he come to trouble her with new hopes? And LilyтБатАФLily, her best friend! Womanlike, she accused the woman. Perhaps, had it not been for Lily, her fond imagining might have become truth. Selden had always liked herтБатАФhad understood and sympathized with the modest independence of her life. He, who had the reputation of weighing all things in the nice balance of fastidious perceptions, had been uncritical and simple in his view of her: his cleverness had never overawed her because she had felt at home in his heart. And now she was thrust out, and the door barred against her by LilyтАЩs hand! Lily, for whose admission there she herself had pleaded! The situation was lighted up by a dreary flash of irony. She knew SeldenтБатАФshe saw how the force of her faith in Lily must have helped to dispel his hesitations. She remembered, too, how Lily had talked of himтБатАФshe saw herself bringing the two together, making them known to each other. On SeldenтАЩs part, no doubt, the wound inflicted was inconscient; he had never guessed her foolish secret; but LilyтБатАФLily must have known! When, in such matters, are a womanтАЩs perceptions at fault? And if she knew, then she had deliberately despoiled her friend, and in mere wantonness of power, since, even to GertyтАЩs suddenly flaming jealousy, it seemed incredible that Lily should wish to be SeldenтАЩs wife. Lily might be incapable of marrying for money, but she was equally incapable of living without it, and SeldenтАЩs eager investigations into the small economies of housekeeping made him appear to Gerty as tragically duped as herself. + 

She remained long in her sitting-room, where the embers were crumbling to cold grey, and the lamp paled under its gay shade. Just beneath it stood the photograph of Lily Bart, looking out imperially on the cheap gimcracks, the cramped furniture of the little room. Could Selden picture her in such an interior? Gerty felt the poverty, the insignificance of her surroundings: she beheld her life as it must appear to Lily. And the cruelty of LilyтАЩs judgments smote upon her memory. She saw that she had dressed her idol with attributes of her own making. When had Lily ever really felt, or pitied, or understood? All she wanted was the taste of new experiences: she seemed like some cruel creature experimenting in a laboratory. + 

The pink-faced clock drummed out another hour, and Gerty rose with a start. She had an appointment early the next morning with a district visitor on the East side. She put out her lamp, covered the fire, and went into her bedroom to undress. In the little glass above her dressing-table she saw her face reflected against the shadows of the room, and tears blotted the reflection. What right had she to dream the dreams of loveliness? A dull face invited a dull fate. She cried quietly as she undressed, laying aside her clothes with her habitual precision, setting everything in order for the next day, when the old life must be taken up as though there had been no break in its routine. Her servant did not come till eight oтАЩclock, and she prepared her own tea-tray and placed it beside the bed. Then she locked the door of the flat, extinguished her light and lay down. But on her bed sleep would not come, and she lay face to face with the fact that she hated Lily Bart. It closed with her in the darkness like some formless evil to be blindly grappled with. Reason, judgment, renunciation, all the sane daylight forces, were beaten back in the sharp struggle for self-preservation. She wanted happinessтБатАФwanted it as fiercely and unscrupulously as Lily did, but without LilyтАЩs power of obtaining it. And in her conscious impotence she lay shivering, and hated her friendтБатАФ + 

A ring at the doorbell caught her to her feet. She struck a light and stood startled, listening. For a moment her heart beat incoherently, then she felt the sobering touch of fact, and remembered that such calls were not unknown in her charitable work. She flung on her dressing-gown to answer the summons, and unlocking her door, confronted the shining vision of Lily Bart. + 

GertyтАЩs first movement was one of revulsion. She shrank back as though LilyтАЩs presence flashed too sudden a light upon her misery. Then she heard her name in a cry, had a glimpse of her friendтАЩs face, and felt herself caught and clung to. + 

тАЬLilyтБатАФwhat is it?тАЭ she exclaimed. + 

Miss Bart released her, and stood breathing brokenly, like one who has gained shelter after a long flight. + 

тАЬI was so coldтБатАФI couldnтАЩt go home. Have you a fire?тАЭ + 

GertyтАЩs compassionate instincts, responding to the swift call of habit, swept aside all her reluctances. Lily was simply someone who needed helpтБатАФfor what reason, there was no time to pause and conjecture: disciplined sympathy checked the wonder on GertyтАЩs lips, and made her draw her friend silently into the sitting-room and seat her by the darkened hearth. + 

тАЬThere is kindling wood here: the fire will burn in a minute.тАЭ + 

She knelt down, and the flame leapt under her rapid hands. It flashed strangely through the tears which still blurred her eyes, and smote on the white ruin of LilyтАЩs face. The girls looked at each other in silence; then Lily repeated: тАЬI couldnтАЩt go home.тАЭ + 

тАЬNoтБатАФnoтБатАФyou came here, dear! YouтАЩre cold and tiredтБатАФsit quiet, and IтАЩll make you some tea.тАЭ + 

Gerty had unconsciously adopted the soothing note of her trade: all personal feeling was merged in the sense of ministry, and experience had taught her that the bleeding must be stayed before the wound is probed. + 

Lily sat quiet, leaning to the fire: the clatter of cups behind her soothed her as familiar noises hush a child whom silence has kept wakeful. But when Gerty stood at her side with the tea she pushed it away, and turned an estranged eye on the familiar room. + 

тАЬI came here because I couldnтАЩt bear to be alone,тАЭ she said. + 

Gerty set down the cup and knelt beside her. + 

тАЬLily! Something has happenedтБатАФcanтАЩt you tell me?тАЭ + 

тАЬI couldnтАЩt bear to lie awake in my room till morning. I hate my room at Aunt JuliaтАЩsтБатАФso I came hereтБатАФтАЭ + 

She stirred suddenly, broke from her apathy, and clung to Gerty in a fresh burst of fear. + 

тАЬOh, Gerty, the furiesтБатАКтБатАж you know the noise of their wingsтБатАФalone, at night, in the dark? But you donтАЩt knowтБатАФthere is nothing to make the dark dreadful to youтБатАФтАЭ + 

The words, flashing back on GertyтАЩs last hours, struck from her a faint derisive murmur; but Lily, in the blaze of her own misery, was blinded to everything outside it. + 

тАЬYouтАЩll let me stay? I shanтАЩt mind when daylight comesтБатАФIs it late? Is the night nearly over? It must be awful to be sleeplessтБатАФeverything stands by the bed and staresтБатАФтАЭ + 

Miss Farish caught her straying hands. тАЬLily, look at me! Something has happenedтБатАФan accident? You have been frightenedтБатАФwhat has frightened you? Tell me if you canтБатАФa word or twoтБатАФso that I can help you.тАЭ + 

Lily shook her head. + 

тАЬI am not frightened: thatтАЩs not the word. Can you imagine looking into your glass some morning and seeing a disfigurementтБатАФsome hideous change that has come to you while you slept? Well, I seem to myself like thatтБатАФI canтАЩt bear to see myself in my own thoughtsтБатАФI hate ugliness, you knowтБатАФIтАЩve always turned from itтБатАФbut I canтАЩt explain to youтБатАФyou wouldnтАЩt understand.тАЭ + 

She lifted her head and her eyes fell on the clock. + 

тАЬHow long the night is! And I know I shanтАЩt sleep tomorrow. Someone told me my father used to lie sleepless and think of horrors. And he was not wicked, only unfortunateтБатАФand I see now how he must have suffered, lying alone with his thoughts! But I am badтБатАФa bad girlтБатАФall my thoughts are badтБатАФI have always had bad people about me. Is that any excuse? I thought I could manage my own lifeтБатАФI was proudтБатАФproud! but now IтАЩm on their levelтБатАФтАЭ + 

Sobs shook her, and she bowed to them like a tree in a dry storm. + 

Gerty knelt beside her, waiting, with the patience born of experience, till this gust of misery should loosen fresh speech. She had first imagined some physical shock, some peril of the crowded streets, since Lily was presumably on her way home from Carry FisherтАЩs; but she now saw that other nerve-centres were smitten, and her mind trembled back from conjecture. + 

LilyтАЩs sobs ceased, and she lifted her head. + 

тАЬThere are bad girls in your slums. Tell meтБатАФdo they ever pick themselves up? Ever forget, and feel as they did before?тАЭ + 

тАЬLily! you mustnтАЩt speak soтБатАФyouтАЩre dreaming.тАЭ + 

тАЬDonтАЩt they always go from bad to worse? ThereтАЩs no turning backтБатАФyour old self rejects you, and shuts you out.тАЭ + 

She rose, stretching her arms as if in utter physical weariness. тАЬGo to bed, dear! You work hard and get up early. IтАЩll watch here by the fire, and youтАЩll leave the light, and your door open. All I want is to feel that you are near me.тАЭ She laid both hands on GertyтАЩs shoulders, with a smile that was like sunrise on a sea strewn with wreckage. + 

тАЬI canтАЩt leave you, Lily. Come and lie on my bed. Your hands are frozenтБатАФyou must undress and be made warm.тАЭ Gerty paused with sudden compunction. тАЬBut Mrs.┬аPenistonтБатАФitтАЩs past midnight! What will she think?тАЭ + 

тАЬShe goes to bed. I have a latchkey. It doesnтАЩt matterтБатАФI canтАЩt go back there.тАЭ + 

тАЬThereтАЩs no need to: you shall stay here. But you must tell me where you have been. Listen, LilyтБатАФit will help you to speak!тАЭ She regained Miss BartтАЩs hands, and pressed them against her. тАЬTry to tell meтБатАФit will clear your poor head. ListenтБатАФyou were dining at Carry FisherтАЩs.тАЭ Gerty paused and added with a flash of heroism: тАЬLawrence Selden went from here to find you.тАЭ + 

At the word, LilyтАЩs face melted from locked anguish to the open misery of a child. Her lips trembled and her gaze widened with tears. + 

тАЬHe went to find me? And I missed him! Oh, Gerty, he tried to help me. He told meтБатАФhe warned me long agoтБатАФhe foresaw that I should grow hateful to myself!тАЭ + 

The name, as Gerty saw with a clutch at the heart, had loosened the springs of self-pity in her friendтАЩs dry breast, and tear by tear Lily poured out the measure of her anguish. She had dropped sideways in GertyтАЩs big armchair, her head buried where lately SeldenтАЩs had leaned, in a beauty of abandonment that drove home to GertyтАЩs aching senses the inevitableness of her own defeat. Ah, it needed no deliberate purpose on LilyтАЩs part to rob her of her dream! To look on that prone loveliness was to see in it a natural force, to recognize that love and power belong to such as Lily, as renunciation and service are the lot of those they despoil. But if SeldenтАЩs infatuation seemed a fatal necessity, the effect that his name produced shook GertyтАЩs steadfastness with a last pang. Men pass through such superhuman loves and outlive them: they are the probation subduing the heart to human joys. How gladly Gerty would have welcomed the ministry of healing: how willingly have soothed the sufferer back to tolerance of life! But LilyтАЩs self-betrayal took this last hope from her. The mortal maid on the shore is helpless against the siren who loves her prey: such victims are floated back dead from their adventure. + 

Lily sprang up and caught her with strong hands. тАЬGerty, you know himтБатАФyou understand himтБатАФtell me; if I went to him, if I told him everythingтБатАФif I said: тАШI am bad through and throughтБатАФI want admiration, I want excitement, I want moneyтБатАФтАЩ yes, money! ThatтАЩs my shame, GertyтБатАФand itтАЩs known, itтАЩs said of meтБатАФitтАЩs what men think of meтБатАФIf I said it all to himтБатАФtold him the whole storyтБатАФsaid plainly: тАШIтАЩve sunk lower than the lowest, for IтАЩve taken what they take, and not paid as they payтАЩтБатАФoh, Gerty, you know him, you can speak for him: if I told him everything would he loathe me? Or would he pity me, and understand me, and save me from loathing myself?тАЭ + 

Gerty stood cold and passive. She knew the hour of her probation had come, and her poor heart beat wildly against its destiny. As a dark river sweeps by under a lightning flash, she saw her chance of happiness surge past under a flash of temptation. What prevented her from saying: тАЬHe is like other men?тАЭ She was not so sure of him, after all! But to do so would have been like blaspheming her love. She could not put him before herself in any light but the noblest: she must trust him to the height of her own passion. + 

тАЬYes: I know him; he will help you,тАЭ she said; and in a moment LilyтАЩs passion was weeping itself out against her breast. + 

There was but one bed in the little flat, and the two girls lay down on it side by side when Gerty had unlaced LilyтАЩs dress and persuaded her to put her lips to the warm tea. The light extinguished, they lay still in the darkness, Gerty shrinking to the outer edge of the narrow couch to avoid contact with her bedfellow. Knowing that Lily disliked to be caressed, she had long ago learned to check her demonstrative impulses toward her friend. But tonight every fibre in her body shrank from LilyтАЩs nearness: it was torture to listen to her breathing, and feel the sheet stir with it. As Lily turned, and settled to completer rest, a strand of her hair swept GertyтАЩs cheek with its fragrance. Everything about her was warm and soft and scented: even the stains of her grief became her as raindrops do the beaten rose. But as Gerty lay with arms drawn down her side, in the motionless narrowness of an effigy, she felt a stir of sobs from the breathing warmth beside her, and Lily flung out her hand, groped for her friendтАЩs, and held it fast. + 

тАЬHold me, Gerty, hold me, or I shall think of things,тАЭ she moaned; and Gerty silently slipped an arm under her, pillowing her head in its hollow as a mother makes a nest for a tossing child. In the warm hollow Lily lay still and her breathing grew low and regular. Her hand still clung to GertyтАЩs as if to ward off evil dreams, but the hold of her fingers relaxed, her head sank deeper into its shelter, and Gerty felt that she slept. + 

XV + 

When Lily woke she had the bed to herself, and the winter light was in the room. + 

She sat up, bewildered by the strangeness of her surroundings; then memory returned, and she looked about her with a shiver. In the cold slant of light reflected from the back wall of a neighbouring building, she saw her evening dress and opera cloak lying in a tawdry heap on a chair. Finery laid off is as unappetizing as the remains of a feast, and it occurred to Lily that, at home, her maidтАЩs vigilance had always spared her the sight of such incongruities. Her body ached with fatigue, and with the constriction of her attitude in GertyтАЩs bed. All through her troubled sleep she had been conscious of having no space to toss in, and the long effort to remain motionless made her feel as if she had spent her night in a train. + 

This sense of physical discomfort was the first to assert itself; then she perceived, beneath it, a corresponding mental prostration, a languor of horror more insufferable than the first rush of her disgust. The thought of having to wake every morning with this weight on her breast roused her tired mind to fresh effort. She must find some way out of the slough into which she had stumbled: it was not so much compunction as the dread of her morning thoughts that pressed on her the need of action. But she was unutterably tired; it was weariness to think connectedly. She lay back, looking about the poor slit of a room with a renewal of physical distaste. The outer air, penned between high buildings, brought no freshness through the window; steam-heat was beginning to sing in a coil of dingy pipes, and a smell of cooking penetrated the crack of the door. + 

The door opened, and Gerty, dressed and hatted, entered with a cup of tea. Her face looked sallow and swollen in the dreary light, and her dull hair shaded imperceptibly into the tones of her skin. + 

She glanced shyly at Lily, asking in an embarrassed tone how she felt; Lily answered with the same constraint, and raised herself up to drink the tea. + 

тАЬI must have been overtired last night; I think I had a nervous attack in the carriage,тАЭ she said, as the drink brought clearness to her sluggish thoughts. + 

тАЬYou were not well; I am so glad you came here,тАЭ Gerty returned. + 

тАЬBut how am I to get home? And Aunt JuliaтБатАФ?тАЭ + 

тАЬShe knows; I telephoned early, and your maid has brought your things. But wonтАЩt you eat something? I scrambled the eggs myself.тАЭ + 

Lily could not eat; but the tea strengthened her to rise and dress under her maidтАЩs searching gaze. It was a relief to her that Gerty was obliged to hasten away: the two kissed silently, but without a trace of the previous nightтАЩs emotion. + 

Lily found Mrs.┬аPeniston in a state of agitation. She had sent for Grace Stepney and was taking digitalis. Lily breasted the storm of enquiries as best she could, explaining that she had had an attack of faintness on her way back from Carry FisherтАЩs; that, fearing she would not have strength to reach home, she had gone to Miss FarishтАЩs instead; but that a quiet night had restored her, and that she had no need of a doctor. + 

This was a relief to Mrs.┬аPeniston, who could give herself up to her own symptoms, and Lily was advised to go and lie down, her auntтАЩs panacea for all physical and moral disorders. In the solitude of her own room she was brought back to a sharp contemplation of facts. Her daylight view of them necessarily differed from the cloudy vision of the night. The winged furies were now prowling gossips who dropped in on each other for tea. But her fears seemed the uglier, thus shorn of their vagueness; and besides, she had to act, not rave. For the first time she forced herself to reckon up the exact amount of her debt to Trenor; and the result of this hateful computation was the discovery that she had, in all, received nine thousand dollars from him. The flimsy pretext on which it had been given and received shrivelled up in the blaze of her shame: she knew that not a penny of it was her own, and that to restore her self-respect she must at once repay the whole amount. The inability thus to solace her outraged feelings gave her a paralyzing sense of insignificance. She was realizing for the first time that a womanтАЩs dignity may cost more to keep up than her carriage; and that the maintenance of a moral attribute should be dependent on dollars and cents, made the world appear a more sordid place than she had conceived it. + 

After luncheon, when Grace StepneyтАЩs prying eyes had been removed, Lily asked for a word with her aunt. The two ladies went upstairs to the sitting-room, where Mrs.┬аPeniston seated herself in her black satin armchair tufted with yellow buttons, beside a bead-work table bearing a bronze box with a miniature of Beatrice Cenci in the lid. Lily felt for these objects the same distaste which the prisoner may entertain for the fittings of the courtroom. It was here that her aunt received her rare confidences, and the pink-eyed smirk of the turbaned Beatrice was associated in her mind with the gradual fading of the smile from Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs lips. That ladyтАЩs dread of a scene gave her an inexorableness which the greatest strength of character could not have produced, since it was independent of all considerations of right or wrong; and knowing this, Lily seldom ventured to assail it. She had never felt less like making the attempt than on the present occasion; but she had sought in vain for any other means of escape from an intolerable situation. + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston examined her critically. тАЬYouтАЩre a bad colour, Lily: this incessant rushing about is beginning to tell on you,тАЭ she said. + 

Miss Bart saw an opening. тАЬI donтАЩt think itтАЩs that, Aunt Julia; IтАЩve had worries,тАЭ she replied. + 

тАЬAh,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аPeniston, shutting her lips with the snap of a purse closing against a beggar. + 

тАЬIтАЩm sorry to bother you with them,тАЭ Lily continued, тАЬbut I really believe my faintness last night was brought on partly by anxious thoughtsтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬI should have said Carry FisherтАЩs cook was enough to account for it. She has a woman who was with Maria Melson in 1891тБатАФthe spring of the year we went to AixтБатАФand I remember dining there two days before we sailed, and feeling sure the coppers hadnтАЩt been scoured.тАЭ + 

тАЬI donтАЩt think I ate much; I canтАЩt eat or sleep.тАЭ Lily paused, and then said abruptly: тАЬThe fact is, Aunt Julia, I owe some money.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs face clouded perceptibly, but did not express the astonishment her niece had expected. She was silent, and Lily was forced to continue: тАЬI have been foolishтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬNo doubt you have: extremely foolish,тАЭ Mrs.┬аPeniston interposed. тАЬI fail to see how anyone with your income, and no expensesтБатАФnot to mention the handsome presents IтАЩve always given youтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬOh, youтАЩve been most generous, Aunt Julia; I shall never forget your kindness. But perhaps you donтАЩt quite realize the expense a girl is put to nowadaysтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬI donтАЩt realize that you are put to any expense except for your clothes and your railway fares. I expect you to be handsomely dressed; but I paid C├йlesteтАЩs bill for you last October.тАЭ + 

Lily hesitated: her auntтАЩs implacable memory had never been more inconvenient. тАЬYou were as kind as possible; but I have had to get a few things sinceтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬWhat kind of things? Clothes? How much have you spent? Let me see the billтБатАФI daresay the woman is swindling you.тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, no, I think not: clothes have grown so frightfully expensive; and one needs so many different kinds, with country visits, and golf and skating, and Aiken and TuxedoтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬLet me see the bill,тАЭ Mrs.┬аPeniston repeated. + 

Lily hesitated again. In the first place, Mme.┬аC├йleste had not yet sent in her account, and secondly, the amount it represented was only a fraction of the sum that Lily needed. + 

тАЬShe hasnтАЩt sent in the bill for my winter things, but I know itтАЩs large; and there are one or two other things; IтАЩve been careless and imprudentтБатАФIтАЩm frightened to think of what I oweтБатАФтАЭ + 

She raised the troubled loveliness of her face to Mrs.┬аPeniston, vainly hoping that a sight so moving to the other sex might not be without effect upon her own. But the effect produced was that of making Mrs.┬аPeniston shrink back apprehensively. + 

тАЬReally, Lily, you are old enough to manage your own affairs, and after frightening me to death by your performance of last night you might at least choose a better time to worry me with such matters.тАЭ Mrs.┬аPeniston glanced at the clock, and swallowed a tablet of digitalis. тАЬIf you owe C├йleste another thousand, she may send me her account,тАЭ she added, as though to end the discussion at any cost. + 

тАЬI am very sorry, Aunt Julia; I hate to trouble you at such a time; but I have really no choiceтБатАФI ought to have spoken soonerтБатАФI owe a great deal more than a thousand dollars.тАЭ + 

тАЬA great deal more? Do you owe two? She must have robbed you!тАЭ + 

тАЬI told you it was not only C├йleste. IтБатАФthere are other billsтБатАФmore pressingтБатАФthat must be settled.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat on earth have you been buying? Jewelry? You must have gone off your head,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аPeniston with asperity. тАЬBut if you have run into debt, you must suffer the consequences, and put aside your monthly income till your bills are paid. If you stay quietly here until next spring, instead of racing about all over the country, you will have no expenses at all, and surely in four or five months you can settle the rest of your bills if I pay the dressmaker now.тАЭ + 

Lily was again silent. She knew she could not hope to extract even a thousand dollars from Mrs.┬аPeniston on the mere plea of paying C├йlesteтАЩs bill: Mrs.┬аPeniston would expect to go over the dressmakerтАЩs account, and would make out the cheque to her and not to Lily. And yet the money must be obtained before the day was over! + 

тАЬThe debts I speak of areтБатАФdifferentтБатАФnot like tradesmenтАЩs bills,тАЭ she began confusedly; but Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs look made her almost afraid to continue. Could it be that her aunt suspected anything? The idea precipitated LilyтАЩs avowal. + 

тАЬThe fact is, IтАЩve played cards a good dealтБатАФbridge; the women all do it; girls tooтБатАФitтАЩs expected. Sometimes IтАЩve wonтБатАФwon a good dealтБатАФbut lately IтАЩve been unluckyтБатАФand of course such debts canтАЩt be paid off graduallyтБатАФтАЭ + 

She paused: Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs face seemed to be petrifying as she listened. + 

тАЬCardsтБатАФyouтАЩve played cards for money? ItтАЩs true, then: when I was told so I wouldnтАЩt believe it. I wonтАЩt ask if the other horrors I was told were true too; IтАЩve heard enough for the state of my nerves. When I think of the example youтАЩve had in this house! But I suppose itтАЩs your foreign bringing-upтБатАФno one knew where your mother picked up her friends. And her Sundays were a scandalтБатАФthat I know.тАЭ Mrs.┬аPeniston wheeled round suddenly. тАЬYou play cards on Sunday?тАЭ + 

Lily flushed with the recollection of certain rainy Sundays at Bellomont and with the Dorsets. + 

тАЬYouтАЩre hard on me, Aunt Julia: I have never really cared for cards, but a girl hates to be thought priggish and superior, and one drifts into doing what the others do. IтАЩve had a dreadful lesson, and if youтАЩll help me out this time I promise youтБатАФтАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аPeniston raised her hand warningly. тАЬYou neednтАЩt make any promises: itтАЩs unnecessary. When I offered you a home I didnтАЩt undertake to pay your gambling debts.тАЭ + 

тАЬAunt Julia! You donтАЩt mean that you wonтАЩt help me?тАЭ + 

тАЬI shall certainly not do anything to give the impression that I countenance your behaviour. If you really owe your dressmaker, I will settle with herтБатАФbeyond that I recognize no obligation to assume your debts.тАЭ + 

Lily had risen, and stood pale and quivering before her aunt. Pride stormed in her, but humiliation forced the cry from her lips: тАЬAunt Julia, I shall be disgracedтБатАФIтБатАФтАЭ But she could go no farther. If her aunt turned such a stony ear to the fiction of the gambling debts, in what spirit would she receive the terrible avowal of the truth? + 

тАЬI consider that you are disgraced, Lily: disgraced by your conduct far more than by its results. You say your friends have persuaded you to play cards with them; well, they may as well learn a lesson too. They can probably afford to lose a little moneyтБатАФand at any rate, I am not going to waste any of mine in paying them. And now I must ask you to leave meтБатАФthis scene has been extremely painful, and I have my own health to consider. Draw down the blinds, please; and tell Jennings I will see no one this afternoon but Grace Stepney.тАЭ + 

Lily went up to her own room and bolted the door. She was trembling with fear and angerтБатАФthe rush of the furiesтАЩ wings was in her ears. She walked up and down the room with blind irregular steps. The last door of escape was closedтБатАФshe felt herself shut in with her dishonour. + 

Suddenly her wild pacing brought her before the clock on the chimneypiece. Its hands stood at half-past three, and she remembered that Selden was to come to her at four. She had meant to put him off with a wordтБатАФbut now her heart leaped at the thought of seeing him. Was there not a promise of rescue in his love? As she had lain at GertyтАЩs side the night before, she had thought of his coming, and of the sweetness of weeping out her pain upon his breast. Of course she had meant to clear herself of its consequences before she met himтБатАФshe had never really doubted that Mrs.┬аPeniston would come to her aid. And she had felt, even in the full storm of her misery, that SeldenтАЩs love could not be her ultimate refuge; only it would be so sweet to take a momentтАЩs shelter there, while she gathered fresh strength to go on. + 

But now his love was her only hope, and as she sat alone with her wretchedness the thought of confiding in him became as seductive as the riverтАЩs flow to the suicide. The first plunge would be terribleтБатАФbut afterward, what blessedness might come! She remembered GertyтАЩs words: тАЬI know himтБатАФhe will help youтАЭ; and her mind clung to them as a sick person might cling to a healing relic. Oh, if he really understoodтБатАФif he would help her to gather up her broken life, and put it together in some new semblance in which no trace of the past should remain! He had always made her feel that she was worthy of better things, and she had never been in greater need of such solace. Once and again she shrank at the thought of imperilling his love by her confession: for love was what she neededтБатАФit would take the glow of passion to weld together the shattered fragments of her self-esteem. But she recurred to GertyтАЩs words and held fast to them. She was sure that Gerty knew SeldenтАЩs feeling for her, and it had never dawned upon her blindness that GertyтАЩs own judgment of him was coloured by emotions far more ardent than her own. + 

Four oтАЩclock found her in the drawing-room: she was sure that Selden would be punctual. But the hour came and passedтБатАФit moved on feverishly, measured by her impatient heartbeats. She had time to take a fresh survey of her wretchedness, and to fluctuate anew between the impulse to confide in Selden and the dread of destroying his illusions. But as the minutes passed the need of throwing herself on his comprehension became more urgent: she could not bear the weight of her misery alone. There would be a perilous moment, perhaps: but could she not trust to her beauty to bridge it over, to land her safe in the shelter of his devotion? + 

But the hour sped on and Selden did not come. Doubtless he had been detained, or had misread her hurriedly scrawled note, taking the four for a five. The ringing of the doorbell a few minutes after five confirmed this supposition, and made Lily hastily resolve to write more legibly in future. The sound of steps in the hall, and of the butlerтАЩs voice preceding them, poured fresh energy into her veins. She felt herself once more the alert and competent moulder of emergencies, and the remembrance of her power over Selden flushed her with sudden confidence. But when the drawing-room door opened it was Rosedale who came in. + 

The reaction caused her a sharp pang, but after a passing movement of irritation at the clumsiness of fate, and at her own carelessness in not denying the door to all but Selden, she controlled herself and greeted Rosedale amicably. It was annoying that Selden, when he came, should find that particular visitor in possession, but Lily was mistress of the art of ridding herself of superfluous company, and to her present mood Rosedale seemed distinctly negligible. + 

His own view of the situation forced itself upon her after a few momentsтАЩ conversation. She had caught at the BrysтАЩ entertainment as an easy impersonal subject, likely to tide them over the interval till Selden appeared, but Mr.┬аRosedale, tenaciously planted beside the tea-table, his hands in his pockets, his legs a little too freely extended, at once gave the topic a personal turn. + 

тАЬPretty well doneтБатАФwell, yes, I suppose it was: Welly BryтАЩs got his back up and donтАЩt mean to let go till heтАЩs got the hang of the thing. Of course, there were things here and thereтБатАФthings Mrs.┬аFisher couldnтАЩt be expected to see toтБатАФthe champagne wasnтАЩt cold, and the coats got mixed in the coatroom. I would have spent more money on the music. But thatтАЩs my character: if I want a thing IтАЩm willing to pay: I donтАЩt go up to the counter, and then wonder if the articleтАЩs worth the price. I wouldnтАЩt be satisfied to entertain like the Welly Brys; IтАЩd want something that would look more easy and natural, more as if I took it in my stride. And it takes just two things to do that, Miss Bart: money, and the right woman to spend it.тАЭ + 

He paused, and examined her attentively while she affected to rearrange the teacups. + 

тАЬIтАЩve got the money,тАЭ he continued, clearing his throat, тАЬand what I want is the womanтБатАФand I mean to have her too.тАЭ + 

He leaned forward a little, resting his hands on the head of his walking-stick. He had seen men of Ned Van AlstyneтАЩs type bring their hats and sticks into a drawing-room, and he thought it added a touch of elegant familiarity to their appearance. + 

Lily was silent, smiling faintly, with her eyes absently resting on his face. She was in reality reflecting that a declaration would take some time to make, and that Selden must surely appear before the moment of refusal had been reached. Her brooding look, as of a mind withdrawn yet not averted, seemed to Mr.┬аRosedale full of a subtle encouragement. He would not have liked any evidence of eagerness. + 

тАЬI mean to have her too,тАЭ he repeated, with a laugh intended to strengthen his self-assurance. тАЬI generally have got what I wanted in life, Miss Bart. I wanted money, and IтАЩve got more than I know how to invest; and now the money doesnтАЩt seem to be of any account unless I can spend it on the right woman. ThatтАЩs what I want to do with it: I want my wife to make all the other women feel small. IтАЩd never grudge a dollar that was spent on that. But it isnтАЩt every woman can do it, no matter how much you spend on her. There was a girl in some history book who wanted gold shields, or something, and the fellows threw тАЩem at her, and she was crushed under тАЩem: they killed her. Well, thatтАЩs true enough: some women looked buried under their jewelry. What I want is a woman whoтАЩll hold her head higher the more diamonds I put on it. And when I looked at you the other night at the BrysтАЩ, in that plain white dress, looking as if you had a crown on, I said to myself: тАШBy gad, if she had one sheтАЩd wear it as if it grew on her.тАЩтАКтАЭ + 

Still Lily did not speak, and he continued, warming with his theme: тАЬTell you what it is, though, that kind of woman costs more than all the rest of тАЩem put together. If a womanтАЩs going to ignore her pearls, they want to be better than anybody elseтАЩsтБатАФand so it is with everything else. You know what I meanтБатАФyou know itтАЩs only the showy things that are cheap. Well, I should want my wife to be able to take the earth for granted if she wanted to. I know thereтАЩs one thing vulgar about money, and thatтАЩs the thinking about it; and my wife would never have to demean herself in that way.тАЭ He paused, and then added, with an unfortunate lapse to an earlier manner: тАЬI guess you know the lady IтАЩve got in view, Miss Bart.тАЭ + 

Lily raised her head, brightening a little under the challenge. Even through the dark tumult of her thoughts, the clink of Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЩs millions had a faintly seductive note. Oh, for enough of them to cancel her one miserable debt! But the man behind them grew increasingly repugnant in the light of SeldenтАЩs expected coming. The contrast was too grotesque: she could scarcely suppress the smile it provoked. She decided that directness would be best. + 

тАЬIf you mean me, Mr.┬аRosedale, I am very gratefulтБатАФvery much flattered; but I donтАЩt know what I have ever done to make you thinkтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬOh, if you mean youтАЩre not dead in love with me, IтАЩve got sense enough left to see that. And I ainтАЩt talking to you as if you wereтБатАФI presume I know the kind of talk thatтАЩs expected under those circumstances. IтАЩm confoundedly gone on youтБатАФthatтАЩs about the size of itтБатАФand IтАЩm just giving you a plain business statement of the consequences. YouтАЩre not very fond of meтБатАФyetтБатАФbut youтАЩre fond of luxury, and style, and amusement, and of not having to worry about cash. You like to have a good time, and not have to settle for it; and what I propose to do is to provide for the good time and do the settling.тАЭ + 

He paused, and she returned with a chilling smile: тАЬYou are mistaken in one point, Mr.┬аRosedale: whatever I enjoy I am prepared to settle for.тАЭ + 

She spoke with the intention of making him see that, if his words implied a tentative allusion to her private affairs, she was prepared to meet and repudiate it. But if he recognized her meaning it failed to abash him, and he went on in the same tone: тАЬI didnтАЩt mean to give offence; excuse me if IтАЩve spoken too plainly. But why ainтАЩt you straight with meтБатАФwhy do you put up that kind of bluff? You know thereтАЩve been times when you were botheredтБатАФdamned botheredтБатАФand as a girl gets older, and things keep moving along, why, before she knows it, the things she wants are liable to move past her and not come back. I donтАЩt say itтАЩs anywhere near that with you yet; but youтАЩve had a taste of bothers that a girl like yourself ought never to have known about, and what IтАЩm offering you is the chance to turn your back on them once for all.тАЭ + 

The colour burned in LilyтАЩs face as he ended; there was no mistaking the point he meant to make, and to permit it to pass unheeded was a fatal confession of weakness, while to resent it too openly was to risk offending him at a perilous moment. Indignation quivered on her lip; but it was quelled by the secret voice which warned her that she must not quarrel with him. He knew too much about her, and even at the moment when it was essential that he should show himself at his best, he did not scruple to let her see how much he knew. How then would he use his power when her expression of contempt had dispelled his one motive for restraint? Her whole future might hinge on her way of answering him: she had to stop and consider that, in the stress of her other anxieties, as a breathless fugitive may have to pause at the crossroads and try to decide coolly which turn to take. + 

тАЬYou are quite right, Mr.┬аRosedale. I have had bothers; and I am grateful to you for wanting to relieve me of them. It is not always easy to be quite independent and self-respecting when one is poor and lives among rich people; I have been careless about money, and have worried about my bills. But I should be selfish and ungrateful if I made that a reason for accepting all you offer, with no better return to make than the desire to be free from my anxieties. You must give me timeтБатАФtime to think of your kindnessтБатАФand of what I could give you in return for itтБатАФтАЭ + 

She held out her hand with a charming gesture in which dismissal was shorn of its rigour. Its hint of future leniency made Rosedale rise in obedience to it, a little flushed with his unhoped-for success, and disciplined by the tradition of his blood to accept what was conceded, without undue haste to press for more. Something in his prompt acquiescence frightened her; she felt behind it the stored force of a patience that might subdue the strongest will. But at least they had parted amicably, and he was out of the house without meeting SeldenтБатАФSelden, whose continued absence now smote her with a new alarm. Rosedale had remained over an hour, and she understood that it was now too late to hope for Selden. He would write explaining his absence, of course; there would be a note from him by the late post. But her confession would have to be postponed; and the chill of the delay settled heavily on her fagged spirit. + 

It lay heavier when the postmanтАЩs last ring brought no note for her, and she had to go upstairs to a lonely nightтБатАФa night as grim and sleepless as her tortured fancy had pictured it to Gerty. She had never learned to live with her own thoughts, and to be confronted with them through such hours of lucid misery made the confused wretchedness of her previous vigil seem easily bearable. + 

Daylight disbanded the phantom crew, and made it clear to her that she would hear from Selden before noon; but the day passed without his writing or coming. Lily remained at home, lunching and dining alone with her aunt, who complained of flutterings of the heart, and talked icily on general topics. Mrs.┬аPeniston went to bed early, and when she had gone Lily sat down and wrote a note to Selden. She was about to ring for a messenger to despatch it when her eye fell on a paragraph in the evening paper which lay at her elbow: тАЬMr.┬аLawrence Selden was among the passengers sailing this afternoon for Havana and the West Indies on the Windward Liner Antilles.тАЭ + 

She laid down the paper and sat motionless, staring at her note. She understood now that he was never comingтБатАФthat he had gone away because he was afraid that he might come. She rose, and walking across the floor stood gazing at herself for a long time in the brightly-lit mirror above the mantelpiece. The lines in her face came out terriblyтБатАФshe looked old; and when a girl looks old to herself, how does she look to other people? She moved away, and began to wander aimlessly about the room, fitting her steps with mechanical precision between the monstrous roses of Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs Axminster. Suddenly she noticed that the pen with which she had written to Selden still rested against the uncovered inkstand. She seated herself again, and taking out an envelope, addressed it rapidly to Rosedale. Then she laid out a sheet of paper, and sat over it with suspended pen. It had been easy enough to write the date, and тАЬDear Mr.┬аRosedaleтАЭтБатАФbut after that her inspiration flagged. She meant to tell him to come to her, but the words refused to shape themselves. At length she began: тАЬI have been thinkingтБатАФтАЭ then she laid the pen down, and sat with her elbows on the table and her face hidden in her hands. + 

Suddenly she started up at the sound of the doorbell. It was not lateтБатАФbarely ten oтАЩclockтБатАФand there might still be a note from Selden, or a messageтБатАФor he might be there himself, on the other side of the door! The announcement of his sailing might have been a mistakeтБатАФit might be another Lawrence Selden who had gone to HavanaтБатАФall these possibilities had time to flash through her mind, and build up the conviction that she was after all to see or hear from him, before the drawing-room door opened to admit a servant carrying a telegram. + 

Lily tore it open with shaking hands, and read Bertha DorsetтАЩs name below the message: тАЬSailing unexpectedly tomorrow. Will you join us on a cruise in Mediterranean?тАЭ + 