V + 

It seemed to Lily, as Mrs.┬аPenistonтАЩs door closed on her, that she was taking a final leave of her old life. The future stretched before her dull and bare as the deserted length of Fifth Avenue, and opportunities showed as meagrely as the few cabs trailing in quest of fares that did not come. The completeness of the analogy was, however, disturbed as she reached the sidewalk by the rapid approach of a hansom which pulled up at sight of her. + 

From beneath its luggage-laden top, she caught the wave of a signalling hand; and the next moment Mrs.┬аFisher, springing to the street, had folded her in a demonstrative embrace. + 

тАЬMy dear, you donтАЩt mean to say youтАЩre still in town? When I saw you the other day at SherryтАЩs I didnтАЩt have time to askтБатАФтАЭ She broke off, and added with a burst of frankness: тАЬThe truth is I was horrid, Lily, and IтАЩve wanted to tell you so ever since.тАЭ + 

тАЬOhтБатАФтАЭ Miss Bart protested, drawing back from her penitent clasp; but Mrs.┬аFisher went on with her usual directness: тАЬLook here, Lily, donтАЩt letтАЩs beat about the bush: half the trouble in life is caused by pretending there isnтАЩt any. ThatтАЩs not my way, and I can only say IтАЩm thoroughly ashamed of myself for following the other womenтАЩs lead. But weтАЩll talk of that by and byтБатАФtell me now where youтАЩre staying and what your plans are. I donтАЩt suppose youтАЩre keeping house in there with Grace Stepney, eh?тБатАФand it struck me you might be rather at loose ends.тАЭ + 

In LilyтАЩs present mood there was no resisting the honest friendliness of this appeal, and she said with a smile: тАЬI am at loose ends for the moment, but Gerty Farish is still in town, and sheтАЩs good enough to let me be with her whenever she can spare the time.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher made a slight grimace. тАЬHтАЩmтБатАФthatтАЩs a temperate joy. Oh, I knowтБатАФGertyтАЩs a trump, and worth all the rest of us put together; but ├а la longue youтАЩre used to a little higher seasoning, arenтАЩt you, dear? And besides, I suppose sheтАЩll be off herself before longтБатАФthe first of August, you say? Well, look here, you canтАЩt spend your summer in town; weтАЩll talk of that later too. But meanwhile, what do you say to putting a few things in a trunk and coming down with me to the Sam GormersтАЩ tonight?тАЭ + 

And as Lily stared at the breathless suddenness of the suggestion, she continued with her easy laugh: тАЬYou donтАЩt know them and they donтАЩt know you; but that donтАЩt make a rap of difference. TheyтАЩve taken the Van Alstyne place at Roslyn, and IтАЩve got carte blanche to bring my friends down thereтБатАФthe more the merrier. They do things awfully well, and thereтАЩs to be rather a jolly party there this weekтБатАФтАЭ she broke off, checked by an undefinable change in Miss BartтАЩs expression. тАЬOh, I donтАЩt mean your particular set, you know: rather a different crowd, but very good fun. The fact is, the Gormers have struck out on a line of their own: what they want is to have a good time, and to have it in their own way. They gave the other thing a few monthsтАЩ trial, under my distinguished auspices, and they were really doing extremely wellтБатАФgetting on a good deal faster than the Brys, just because they didnтАЩt care as muchтБатАФbut suddenly they decided that the whole business bored them, and that what they wanted was a crowd they could really feel at home with. Rather original of them, donтАЩt you think so? Mattie Gormer has got aspirations still; women always have; but sheтАЩs awfully easygoing, and Sam wonтАЩt be bothered, and they both like to be the most important people in sight, so theyтАЩve started a sort of continuous performance of their own, a kind of social Coney Island, where everybody is welcome who can make noise enough and doesnтАЩt put on airs. I think itтАЩs awfully good fun myselfтБатАФsome of the artistic set, you know, any pretty actress thatтАЩs going, and so on. This week, for instance, they have Audrey Anstell, who made such a hit last spring in The Winning of Winny; and Paul MorpethтБатАФheтАЩs painting Mattie GormerтБатАФand the Dick Bellingers, and Kate CorbyтБатАФwell, everyone you can think of whoтАЩs jolly and makes a row. Now donтАЩt stand there with your nose in the air, my dearтБатАФit will be a good deal better than a broiling Sunday in town, and youтАЩll find clever people as well as noisy onesтБатАФMorpeth, who admires Mattie enormously, always brings one or two of his set.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher drew Lily toward the hansom with friendly authority. тАЬJump in now, thereтАЩs a dear, and weтАЩll drive round to your hotel and have your things packed, and then weтАЩll have tea, and the two maids can meet us at the train.тАЭ + 

It was a good deal better than a broiling Sunday in townтБатАФof that no doubt remained to Lily as, reclining in the shade of a leafy verandah, she looked seaward across a stretch of greensward picturesquely dotted with groups of ladies in lace raiment and men in tennis flannels. The huge Van Alstyne house and its rambling dependencies were packed to their fullest capacity with the GormersтАЩ weekend guests, who now, in the radiance of the Sunday forenoon, were dispersing themselves over the grounds in quest of the various distractions the place afforded: distractions ranging from tennis-courts to shooting-galleries, from bridge and whiskey within doors to motors and steam-launches without. Lily had the odd sense of having been caught up into the crowd as carelessly as a passenger is gathered in by an express train. The blonde and genial Mrs.┬аGormer might, indeed, have figured the conductor, calmly assigning seats to the rush of travellers, while Carry Fisher represented the porter pushing their bags into place, giving them their numbers for the dining-car, and warning them when their station was at hand. The train, meanwhile, had scarcely slackened speedтБатАФlife whizzed on with a deafeningтАЩ rattle and roar, in which one traveller at least found a welcome refuge from the sound of her own thoughts. + 

The Gormer milieu represented a social outskirt which Lily had always fastidiously avoided; but it struck her, now that she was in it, as only a flamboyant copy of her own world, a caricature approximating the real thing as the тАЬsociety playтАЭ approaches the manners of the drawing-room. The people about her were doing the same things as the Trenors, the Van Osburghs and the Dorsets: the difference lay in a hundred shades of aspect and manner, from the pattern of the menтАЩs waistcoats to the inflection of the womenтАЩs voices. Everything was pitched in a higher key, and there was more of each thing: more noise, more colour, more champagne, more familiarityтБатАФbut also greater good-nature, less rivalry, and a fresher capacity for enjoyment. + 

Miss BartтАЩs arrival had been welcomed with an uncritical friendliness that first irritated her pride and then brought her to a sharp sense of her own situationтБатАФof the place in life which, for the moment, she must accept and make the best of. These people knew her storyтБатАФof that her first long talk with Carry Fisher had left no doubt: she was publicly branded as the heroine of a тАЬqueerтАЭ episodeтБатАФbut instead of shrinking from her as her own friends had done, they received her without question into the easy promiscuity of their lives. They swallowed her past as easily as they did Miss AnstellтАЩs, and with no apparent sense of any difference in the size of the mouthful: all they asked was that she shouldтБатАФin her own way, for they recognized a diversity of giftsтБатАФcontribute as much to the general amusement as that graceful actress, whose talents, when off the stage, were of the most varied order. Lily felt at once that any tendency to be тАЬstuck-up,тАЭ to mark a sense of differences and distinctions, would be fatal to her continuance in the Gormer set. To be taken in on such termsтБатАФand into such a world!тБатАФwas hard enough to the lingering pride in her; but she realized, with a pang of self-contempt, that to be excluded from it would, after all, be harder still. For, almost at once, she had felt the insidious charm of slipping back into a life where every material difficulty was smoothed away. The sudden escape from a stifling hotel in a dusty deserted city to the space and luxury of a great country-house fanned by sea breezes, had produced a state of moral lassitude agreeable enough after the nervous tension and physical discomfort of the past weeks. For the moment she must yield to the refreshment her senses cravedтБатАФafter that she would reconsider her situation, and take counsel with her dignity. Her enjoyment of her surroundings was, indeed, tinged by the unpleasant consideration that she was accepting the hospitality and courting the approval of people she had disdained under other conditions. But she was growing less sensitive on such points: a hard glaze of indifference was fast forming over her delicacies and susceptibilities, and each concession to expediency hardened the surface a little more. + 

On the Monday, when the party disbanded with uproarious adieux, the return to town threw into stronger relief the charms of the life she was leaving. The other guests were dispersing to take up the same existence in a different setting: some at Newport, some at Bar Harbour, some in the elaborate rusticity of an Adirondack camp. Even Gerty Farish, who welcomed LilyтАЩs return with tender solicitude, would soon be preparing to join the aunt with whom she spent her summers on Lake George: only Lily herself remained without plan or purpose, stranded in a backwater of the great current of pleasure. But Carry Fisher, who had insisted on transporting her to her own house, where she herself was to perch for a day or two on the way to the BrysтАЩ camp, came to the rescue with a new suggestion. + 

тАЬLook here, LilyтБатАФIтАЩll tell you what it is: I want you to take my place with Mattie Gormer this summer. TheyтАЩre taking a party out to Alaska next month in their private car, and Mattie, who is the laziest woman alive, wants me to go with them, and relieve her of the bother of arranging things; but the Brys want me tooтБатАФoh, yes, weтАЩve made it up: didnтАЩt I tell you?тБатАФand, to put it frankly, though I like the Gormers best, thereтАЩs more profit for me in the Brys. The fact is, they want to try Newport this summer, and if I can make it a success for them theyтБатАФwell, theyтАЩll make it a success for me.тАЭ Mrs.┬аFisher clasped her hands enthusiastically. тАЬDo you know, Lily, the more I think of my idea the better I like itтБатАФquite as much for you as for myself. The Gormers have both taken a tremendous fancy to you, and the trip to Alaska isтБатАФwellтБатАФthe very thing I should want for you just at present.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart lifted her eyes with a keen glance. тАЬTo take me out of my friendsтАЩ way, you mean?тАЭ she said quietly; and Mrs.┬аFisher responded with a deprecating kiss: тАЬTo keep you out of their sight till they realize how much they miss you.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart went with the Gormers to Alaska; and the expedition, if it did not produce the effect anticipated by her friend, had at least the negative advantage of removing her from the fiery centre of criticism and discussion. Gerty Farish had opposed the plan with all the energy of her somewhat inarticulate nature. She had even offered to give up her visit to Lake George, and remain in town with Miss Bart, if the latter would renounce her journey; but Lily could disguise her real distaste for this plan under a sufficiently valid reason. + 

тАЬYou dear innocent, donтАЩt you see,тАЭ she protested, тАЬthat Carry is quite right, and that I must take up my usual life, and go about among people as much as possible? If my old friends choose to believe lies about me I shall have to make new ones, thatтАЩs all; and you know beggars mustnтАЩt be choosers. Not that I donтАЩt like Mattie GormerтБатАФI do like her: sheтАЩs kind and honest and unaffected; and donтАЩt you suppose I feel grateful to her for making me welcome at a time when, as youтАЩve yourself seen, my own family have unanimously washed their hands of me?тАЭ + 

Gerty shook her head, mutely unconvinced. She felt not only that Lily was cheapening herself by making use of an intimacy she would never have cultivated from choice, but that, in drifting back now to her former manner of life, she was forfeiting her last chance of ever escaping from it. Gerty had but an obscure conception of what LilyтАЩs actual experience had been: but its consequences had established a lasting hold on her pity since the memorable night when she had offered up her own secret hope to her friendтАЩs extremity. To characters like GertyтАЩs such a sacrifice constitutes a moral claim on the part of the person in whose behalf it has been made. Having once helped Lily, she must continue to help her; and helping her, must believe in her, because faith is the mainspring of such natures. But even if Miss Bart, after her renewed taste of the amenities of life, could have returned to the barrenness of a New York August, mitigated only by poor GertyтАЩs presence, her worldly wisdom would have counselled her against such an act of abnegation. She knew that Carry Fisher was right: that an opportune absence might be the first step toward rehabilitation, and that, at any rate, to linger on in town out of season was a fatal admission of defeat. + 

From the GormersтАЩ tumultuous progress across their native continent, she returned with an altered view of her situation. The renewed habit of luxuryтБатАФthe daily waking to an assured absence of care and presence of material easeтБатАФgradually blunted her appreciation of these values, and left her more conscious of the void they could not fill. Mattie GormerтАЩs undiscriminating good-nature, and the slapdash sociability of her friends, who treated Lily precisely as they treated each otherтБатАФall these characteristic notes of difference began to wear upon her endurance; and the more she saw to criticize in her companions, the less justification she found for making use of them. The longing to get back to her former surroundings hardened to a fixed idea; but with the strengthening of her purpose came the inevitable perception that, to attain it, she must exact fresh concessions from her pride. These, for the moment, took the unpleasant form of continuing to cling to her hosts after their return from Alaska. Little as she was in the key of their milieu, her immense social facility, her long habit of adapting herself to others without suffering her own outline to be blurred, the skilled manipulation of all the polished implements of her craft, had won for her an important place in the Gormer group. If their resonant hilarity could never be hers, she contributed a note of easy elegance more valuable to Mattie Gormer than the louder passages of the band. Sam Gormer and his special cronies stood indeed a little in awe of her; but MattieтАЩs following, headed by Paul Morpeth, made her feel that they prized her for the very qualities they most conspicuously lacked. If Morpeth, whose social indolence was as great as his artistic activity, had abandoned himself to the easy current of the Gormer existence, where the minor exactions of politeness were unknown or ignored, and a man could either break his engagements, or keep them in a painting-jacket and slippers, he still preserved his sense of differences, and his appreciation of graces he had no time to cultivate. During the preparations for the BrysтАЩ tableaux he had been immensely struck by LilyтАЩs plastic possibilitiesтБатАФтАЬnot the face: too self-controlled for expression; but the rest of herтБатАФgad, what a model sheтАЩd make!тАЭтБатАФand though his abhorrence of the world in which he had seen her was too great for him to think of seeking her there, he was fully alive to the privilege of having her to look at and listen to while he lounged in Mattie GormerтАЩs dishevelled drawing-room. + 

Lily had thus formed, in the tumult of her surroundings, a little nucleus of friendly relations which mitigated the crudeness of her course in lingering with the Gormers after their return. Nor was she without pale glimpses of her own world, especially since the breaking-up of the Newport season had set the social current once more toward Long Island. Kate Corby, whose tastes made her as promiscuous as Carry Fisher was rendered by her necessities, occasionally descended on the Gormers, where, after a first stare of surprise, she took LilyтАЩs presence almost too much as a matter of course. Mrs.┬аFisher, too, appearing frequently in the neighbourhood, drove over to impart her experiences and give Lily what she called the latest report from the weather-bureau; and the latter, who had never directly invited her confidence, could yet talk with her more freely than with Gerty Farish, in whose presence it was impossible even to admit the existence of much that Mrs.┬аFisher conveniently took for granted. + 

Mrs.┬аFisher, moreover, had no embarrassing curiosity. She did not wish to probe the inwardness of LilyтАЩs situation, but simply to view it from the outside, and draw her conclusions accordingly; and these conclusions, at the end of a confidential talk, she summed up to her friend in the succinct remark: тАЬYou must marry as soon as you can.тАЭ + 

Lily uttered a faint laughтБатАФfor once Mrs.┬аFisher lacked originality. тАЬDo you mean, like Gerty Farish, to recommend the unfailing panacea of тАШa good manтАЩs loveтАЩ?тАЭ + 

тАЬNoтБатАФI donтАЩt think either of my candidates would answer to that description,тАЭ said Mrs.┬аFisher after a pause of reflection. + 

тАЬEither? Are there actually two?тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, perhaps I ought to say one and a halfтБатАФfor the moment.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart received this with increasing amusement. тАЬOther things being equal, I think I should prefer a half-husband: who is he?тАЭ + 

тАЬDonтАЩt fly out at me till you hear my reasonsтБатАФGeorge Dorset.тАЭ + 

тАЬOhтБатАФтАЭ Lily murmured reproachfully; but Mrs.┬аFisher pressed on unrebuffed. тАЬWell, why not? They had a few weeksтАЩ honeymoon when they first got back from Europe, but now things are going badly with them again. Bertha has been behaving more than ever like a madwoman, and GeorgeтАЩs powers of credulity are very nearly exhausted. TheyтАЩre at their place here, you know, and I spent last Sunday with them. It was a ghastly partyтБатАФno one else but poor Neddy Silverton, who looks like a galley-slave (they used to talk of my making that poor boy unhappy!)тБатАФand after luncheon George carried me off on a long walk, and told me the end would have to come soon.тАЭ + 

Miss Bart made an incredulous gesture. тАЬAs far as that goes, the end will never comeтБатАФBertha will always know how to get him back when she wants him.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher continued to observe her tentatively. тАЬNot if he has anyone else to turn to! YesтБатАФthatтАЩs just what it comes to: the poor creature canтАЩt stand alone. And I remember him such a good fellow, full of life and enthusiasm.тАЭ She paused, and went on, dropping her glance from LilyтАЩs: тАЬHe wouldnтАЩt stay with her ten minutes if he knewтБатАФтАЭ + 

тАЬKnewтБатАФ?тАЭ Miss Bart repeated. + 

тАЬWhat you must, for instanceтБатАФwith the opportunities youтАЩve had! If he had positive proof, I meanтБатАФтАЭ + 

Lily interrupted her with a deep blush of displeasure. тАЬPlease let us drop the subject, Carry: itтАЩs too odious to me.тАЭ And to divert her companionтАЩs attention she added, with an attempt at lightness: тАЬAnd your second candidate? We must not forget him.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher echoed her laugh. тАЬI wonder if youтАЩll cry out just as loud if I sayтБатАФSim Rosedale?тАЭ + 

Miss Bart did not cry out: she sat silent, gazing thoughtfully at her friend. The suggestion, in truth, gave expression to a possibility which, in the last weeks, had more than once recurred to her; but after a moment she said carelessly: тАЬMr.┬аRosedale wants a wife who can establish him in the bosom of the Van Osburghs and Trenors.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аFisher caught her up eagerly. тАЬAnd so you couldтБатАФwith his money! DonтАЩt you see how beautifully it would work out for you both?тАЭ + 

тАЬI donтАЩt see any way of making him see it,тАЭ Lily returned, with a laugh intended to dismiss the subject. + 

But in reality it lingered with her long after Mrs.┬аFisher had taken leave. She had seen very little of Rosedale since her annexation by the Gormers, for he was still steadily bent on penetrating to the inner Paradise from which she was now excluded; but once or twice, when nothing better offered, he had turned up for a Sunday, and on these occasions he had left her in no doubt as to his view of her situation. That he still admired her was, more than ever, offensively evident; for in the Gormer circle, where he expanded as in his native element, there were no puzzling conventions to check the full expression of his approval. But it was in the quality of his admiration that she read his shrewd estimate of her case. He enjoyed letting the Gormers see that he had known тАЬMiss LilyтАЭтБатАФshe was тАЬMiss LilyтАЭ to him nowтБатАФbefore they had had the faintest social existence: enjoyed more especially impressing Paul Morpeth with the distance to which their intimacy dated back. But he let it be felt that that intimacy was a mere ripple on the surface of a rushing social current, the kind of relaxation which a man of large interests and manifold preoccupations permits himself in his hours of ease. + 

The necessity of accepting this view of their past relation, and of meeting it in the key of pleasantry prevalent among her new friends, was deeply humiliating to Lily. But she dared less than ever to quarrel with Rosedale. She suspected that her rejection rankled among the most unforgettable of his rebuffs, and the fact that he knew something of her wretched transaction with Trenor, and was sure to put the basest construction on it, seemed to place her hopelessly in his power. Yet at Carry FisherтАЩs suggestion a new hope had stirred in her. Much as she disliked Rosedale, she no longer absolutely despised him. For he was gradually attaining his object in life, and that, to Lily, was always less despicable than to miss it. With the slow unalterable persistency which she had always felt in him, he was making his way through the dense mass of social antagonisms. Already his wealth, and the masterly use he had made of it, were giving him an enviable prominence in the world of affairs, and placing Wall Street under obligations which only Fifth Avenue could repay. In response to these claims, his name began to figure on municipal committees and charitable boards; he appeared at banquets to distinguished strangers, and his candidacy at one of the fashionable clubs was discussed with diminishing opposition. He had figured once or twice at the Trenor dinners, and had learned to speak with just the right note of disdain of the big Van Osburgh crushes; and all he now needed was a wife whose affiliations would shorten the last tedious steps of his ascent. It was with that object that, a year earlier, he had fixed his affections on Miss Bart; but in the interval he had mounted nearer to the goal, while she had lost the power to abbreviate the remaining steps of the way. All this she saw with the clearness of vision that came to her in moments of despondency. It was success that dazzled herтБатАФshe could distinguish facts plainly enough in the twilight of failure. And the twilight, as she now sought to pierce it, was gradually lighted by a faint spark of reassurance. Under the utilitarian motive of RosedaleтАЩs wooing she had felt, clearly enough, the heat of personal inclination. She would not have detested him so heartily had she not known that he dared to admire her. What, then, if the passion persisted, though the other motive had ceased to sustain it? She had never even tried to please himтБатАФhe had been drawn to her in spite of her manifest disdain. What if she now chose to exert the power which, even in its passive state, he had felt so strongly? What if she made him marry her for love, now that he had no other reason for marrying her? + 