diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4518-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 52023 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4518-h/4518-h.htm | 3799 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4518.txt | 2766 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4518.zip | bin | 0 -> 50354 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mdmdt10.txt | 2775 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mdmdt10.zip | bin | 0 -> 49543 bytes |
9 files changed, 9356 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4518-h.zip b/4518-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3df337f --- /dev/null +++ b/4518-h.zip diff --git a/4518-h/4518-h.htm b/4518-h/4518-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a012a89 --- /dev/null +++ b/4518-h/4518-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3799 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Madame de Treymes, by Edith Wharton +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Madame de Treymes, by Edith Wharton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Madame de Treymes + +Author: Edith Wharton + +Posting Date: August 8, 2009 [EBook #4518] +Release Date: October, 2003 +First Posted: January 29, 2002 +[Last updated: September 7, 2017] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME DE TREYMES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +MADAME DE TREYMES +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +EDITH WHARTON +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +MADAME DE TREYMES +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +John Durham, while he waited for Madame de Malrive to draw on her +gloves, stood in the hotel doorway looking out across the Rue de +Rivoli at the afternoon brightness of the Tuileries gardens. +</P> + +<P> +His European visits were infrequent enough to have kept unimpaired +the freshness of his eye, and he was always struck anew by the vast +and consummately ordered spectacle of Paris: by its look of having +been boldly and deliberately planned as a background for the +enjoyment of life, instead of being forced into grudging concessions +to the festive instincts, or barricading itself against them in +unenlightened ugliness, like his own lamentable New York. +</P> + +<P> +But to-day, if the scene had never presented itself more alluringly, +in that moist spring bloom between showers, when the horse-chestnuts +dome themselves in unreal green against a gauzy sky, and the very +dust of the pavement seems the fragrance of lilac made visible—to-day +for the first time the sense of a personal stake in it all, of having +to reckon individually with its effects and influences, kept Durham +from an unrestrained yielding to the spell. Paris might still be—to +the unimplicated it doubtless still was—the most beautiful city in +the world; but whether it were the most lovable or the most detestable +depended for him, in the last analysis, on the buttoning of the white +glove over which Fanny de Malrive still lingered. +</P> + +<P> +The mere fact of her having forgotten to draw on her gloves as they +were descending in the hotel lift from his mother's drawing-room +was, in this connection, charged with significance to Durham. She +was the kind of woman who always presents herself to the mind's eye +as completely equipped, as made up of exquisitely cared for and +finely-related details; and that the heat of her parting with his +family should have left her unconscious that she was emerging +gloveless into Paris, seemed, on the whole, to speak hopefully for +Durham's future opinion of the city. +</P> + +<P> +Even now, he could detect a certain confusion, a desire to draw +breath and catch up with life, in the way she dawdled over the last +buttons in the dimness of the porte-cochere, while her footman, +outside, hung on her retarded signal. +</P> + +<P> +When at length they emerged, it was to learn from that functionary +that Madame la Marquise's carriage had been obliged to yield its +place at the door, but was at the moment in the act of regaining it. +Madame de Malrive cut the explanation short. "I shall walk home. The +carriage this evening at eight." +</P> + +<P> +As the footman turned away, she raised her eyes for the first time +to Durham's. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you walk with me? Let us cross the Tuileries. I should like to +sit a moment on the terrace." +</P> + +<P> +She spoke quite easily and naturally, as if it were the most +commonplace thing in the world for them to be straying afoot +together over Paris; but even his vague knowledge of the world she +lived in—a knowledge mainly acquired through the perusal of +yellow-backed fiction—gave a thrilling significance to her +naturalness. Durham, indeed, was beginning to find that one of the +charms of a sophisticated society is that it lends point and +perspective to the slightest contact between the sexes. If, in the +old unrestricted New York days, Fanny Frisbee, from a brown stone +door-step, had proposed that they should take a walk in the Park, +the idea would have presented itself to her companion as agreeable +but unimportant; whereas Fanny de Malrive's suggestion that they +should stroll across the Tuileries was obviously fraught with +unspecified possibilities. +</P> + +<P> +He was so throbbing with the sense of these possibilities that he +walked beside her without speaking down the length of the wide alley +which follows the line of the Rue de Rivoli, suffering her even, +when they reached its farthest end, to direct him in silence up the +steps to the terrace of the Feuillants. For, after all, the +possibilities were double-faced, and her bold departure from custom +might simply mean that what she had to say was so dreadful that it +needed all the tenderest mitigation of circumstance. +</P> + +<P> +There was apparently nothing embarrassing to her in his silence: it +was a part of her long European discipline that she had learned to +manage pauses with ease. In her Frisbee days she might have packed +this one with a random fluency; now she was content to let it widen +slowly before them like the spacious prospect opening at their feet. +The complicated beauty of this prospect, as they moved toward it +between the symmetrically clipped limes of the lateral terrace, +touched him anew through her nearness, as with the hint of some vast +impersonal power, controlling and regulating her life in ways he +could not guess, putting between himself and her the whole width of +the civilization into which her marriage had absorbed her. And there +was such fear in the thought—he read such derision of what he had +to offer in the splendour of the great avenues tapering upward to +the sunset glories of the Arch—that all he had meant to say when he +finally spoke compressed itself at last into an abrupt unmitigated: +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +She answered at once—as though she had only awaited the call of the +national interrogation—"I don't know when I have been so happy." +</P> + +<P> +"So happy?" The suddenness of his joy flushed up through his fair +skin. +</P> + +<P> +"As I was just now—taking tea with your mother and sisters." +</P> + +<P> +Durham's "Oh!" of surprise betrayed also a note of disillusionment, +which she met only by the reconciling murmur: "Shall we sit down?" +</P> + +<P> +He found two of the springy yellow chairs indigenous to the spot, +and placed them under the tree near which they had paused, saying +reluctantly, as he did so: "Of course it was an immense pleasure to +<I>them</I> to see you again." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not in the same way. I mean—" she paused, sinking into the +chair, and betraying, for the first time, a momentary inability to +deal becomingly with the situation. "I mean," she resumed smiling, +"that it was not an event for them, as it was for me." +</P> + +<P> +"An event?" he caught her up again, eagerly; for what, in the +language of any civilization, could that word mean but just the one +thing he most wished it to? +</P> + +<P> +"To be with dear, good, sweet, simple, real Americans again!" she +burst out, heaping up her epithets with reckless prodigality. +</P> + +<P> +Durham's smile once more faded to impersonality, as he rejoined, +just a shade on the defensive: "If it's merely our Americanism you +enjoyed—I've no doubt we can give you all you want in that line." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's just that! But if you knew what the word means to me! It +means—it means—" she paused as if to assure herself that they were +sufficiently isolated from the desultory groups beneath the other +trees—"it means that I'm <I>safe</I> with them: as safe as in a bank!" +</P> + +<P> +Durham felt a sudden warmth behind his eyes and in his throat. "I +think I do know—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you don't, really; you can't know how dear and strange and +familiar it all sounded: the old New York names that kept coming up +in your mother's talk, and her charming quaint ideas about +Europe—their all regarding it as a great big innocent pleasure +ground and shop for Americans; and your mother's missing the +home-made bread and preferring the American asparagus—I'm so tired +of Americans who despise even their own asparagus! And then your +married sister's spending her summers at—where is it?—the +Kittawittany House on Lake Pohunk—" +</P> + +<P> +A vision of earnest women in Shetland shawls, with spectacles and +thin knobs of hair, eating blueberry pie at unwholesome hours in a +shingled dining-room on a bare New England hill-top, rose pallidly +between Durham and the verdant brightness of the Champs Elysees, and +he protested with a slight smile: "Oh, but my married sister is the +black sheep of the family—the rest of us never sank as low as +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Low? I think it's beautiful—fresh and innocent and simple. I +remember going to such a place once. They have early dinner—rather +late—and go off in buckboards over terrible roads, and bring back +golden rod and autumn leaves, and read nature books aloud on the +piazza; and there is always one shy young man in flannels—only +one—who has come to see the prettiest girl (though how he can +choose among so many!) and who takes her off in a buggy for hours +and hours—" She paused and summed up with a long sigh: "It is +fifteen years since I was in America." +</P> + +<P> +"And you're still so good an American." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, a better and better one every day!" +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated. "Then why did you never come back?" +</P> + +<P> +Her face altered instantly, exchanging its retrospective light for +the look of slightly shadowed watchfulness which he had known as +most habitual to it. +</P> + +<P> +"It was impossible—it has always been so. My husband would not go; +and since—since our separation—there have been family reasons." +</P> + +<P> +Durham sighed impatiently. "Why do you talk of reasons? The truth +is, you have made your life here. You could never give all this up!" +He made a discouraged gesture in the direction of the Place de la +Concorde. +</P> + +<P> +"Give it up! I would go tomorrow! But it could never, now, be for +more than a visit. I must live in France on account of my boy." +</P> + +<P> +Durham's heart gave a quick beat. At last the talk had neared the +point toward which his whole mind was straining, and he began to +feel a personal application in her words. But that made him all the +more cautious about choosing his own. +</P> + +<P> +"It is an agreement—about the boy?" he ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"I gave my word. They knew that was enough," she said proudly; +adding, as if to put him in full possession of her reasons: "It +would have been much more difficult for me to obtain complete +control of my son if it had not been understood that I was to live +in France." +</P> + +<P> +"That seems fair," Durham assented after a moment's reflection: it +was his instinct, even in the heat of personal endeavour, to pause a +moment on the question of "fairness." The personal claim reasserted +itself as he added tentatively: "But when he <I>is</I> brought up—when +he's grown up: then you would feel freer?" +</P> + +<P> +She received this with a start, as a possibility too remote to have +entered into her view of the future. "He is only eight years old!" +she objected. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, of course it would be a long way off?" +</P> + +<P> +"A long way off, thank heaven! French mothers part late with their +sons, and in that one respect I mean to be a French mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course—naturally—since he has only you," Durham again +assented. +</P> + +<P> +He was eager to show how fully he took her point of view, if only to +dispose her to the reciprocal fairness of taking his when the time +came to present it. And he began to think that the time had now +come; that their walk would not have thus resolved itself, without +excuse or pretext, into a tranquil session beneath the trees, for +any purpose less important than that of giving him his opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +He took it, characteristically, without seeking a transition. "When +I spoke to you, the other day, about myself—about what I felt for +you—I said nothing of the future, because, for the moment, my mind +refused to travel beyond its immediate hope of happiness. But I +felt, of course, even then, that the hope involved various +difficulties—that we can't, as we might once have done, come +together without any thought but for ourselves; and whatever your +answer is to be, I want to tell you now that I am ready to accept my +share of the difficulties." He paused, and then added explicitly: +"If there's the least chance of your listening to me, I'm willing to +live over here as long as you can keep your boy with you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<P> +Whatever Madame de Malrive's answer was to be, there could be no +doubt as to her readiness to listen. She received Durham's words +without sign of resistance, and took time to ponder them gently +before she answered in a voice touched by emotion: "You are very +generous—very unselfish; but when you fix a limit—no matter how +remote—to my remaining here, I see how wrong it is to let myself +consider for a moment such possibilities as we have been talking +of." +</P> + +<P> +"Wrong? Why should it be wrong?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I shall want to keep my boy always! Not, of course, in the +sense of living with him, or even forming an important part of his +life; I am not deluded enough to think that possible. But I do +believe it possible never to pass wholly out of his life; and while +there is a hope of that, how can I leave him?" She paused, and +turned on him a new face, a face in which the past of which he was +still so ignorant showed itself like a shadow suddenly darkening a +clear pane. "How can I make you understand?" she went on urgently. +"It is not only because of my love for him—not only, I mean, +because of my own happiness in being with him; that I can't, in +imagination, surrender even the remotest hour of his future; it is +because, the moment he passes out of my influence, he passes under +that other—the influence I have been fighting against every hour +since he was born!—I don't mean, you know," she added, as Durham, +with bent head, continued to offer the silent fixity of his +attention, "I don't mean the special personal influence—except +inasmuch as it represents something wider, more general, something +that encloses and circulates through the whole world in which he +belongs. That is what I meant when I said you could never +understand! There is nothing in your experience—in any American +experience—to correspond with that far-reaching family +organization, which is itself a part of the larger system, and which +encloses a young man of my son's position in a network of accepted +prejudices and opinions. Everything is prepared in advance—his +political and religious convictions, his judgments of people, his +sense of honour, his ideas of women, his whole view of life. He is +taught to see vileness and corruption in every one not of his own +way of thinking, and in every idea that does not directly serve the +religious and political purposes of his class. The truth isn't a +fixed thing: it's not used to test actions by, it's tested by them, +and made to fit in with them. And this forming of the mind begins +with the child's first consciousness; it's in his nursery stories, +his baby prayers, his very games with his playmates! Already he is +only half mine, because the Church has the other half, and will be +reaching out for my share as soon as his education begins. But that +other half is still mine, and I mean to make it the strongest and +most living half of the two, so that, when the inevitable conflict +begins, the energy and the truth and the endurance shall be on my +side and not on theirs!" +</P> + +<P> +She paused, flushing with the repressed fervour of her utterance, +though her voice had not been raised beyond its usual discreet +modulations; and Durham felt himself tingling with the transmitted +force of her resolve. Whatever shock her words brought to his +personal hope, he was grateful to her for speaking them so clearly, +for having so sure a grasp of her purpose. +</P> + +<P> +Her decision strengthened his own, and after a pause of deliberation +he said quietly: "There might be a good deal to urge on the other +side—the ineffectualness of your sacrifice, the probability that +when your son marries he will inevitably be absorbed back into the +life of his class and his people; but I can't look at it in that +way, because if I were in your place I believe I should feel just as +you do about it. As long as there was a fighting chance I should +want to keep hold of my half, no matter how much the struggle cost +me. And one reason why I understand your feeling about your boy is +that I have the same feeling about <I>you:</I> as long as there's a +fighting chance of keeping my half of you—the half he is willing to +spare me—I don't see how I can ever give it up." He waited again, +and then brought out firmly: "If you'll marry me, I'll agree to live +out here as long as you want, and we'll be two instead of one to +keep hold of your half of him." +</P> + +<P> +He raised his eyes as he ended, and saw that hers met them through a +quick clouding of tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I am glad to have had this said to me! But I could never accept +such an offer." +</P> + +<P> +He caught instantly at the distinction. "That doesn't mean that you +could never accept <I>me?</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"Under such conditions—" +</P> + +<P> +"But if I am satisfied with the conditions? Don't think I am +speaking rashly, under the influence of the moment. I have expected +something of this sort, and I have thought out my side of the case. +As far as material circumstances go, I have worked long enough and +successfully enough to take my ease and take it where I choose. I +mention that because the life I offer you is offered to your boy as +well." He let this sink into her mind before summing up gravely: +"The offer I make is made deliberately, and at least I have a right +to a direct answer." +</P> + +<P> +She was silent again, and then lifted a cleared gaze to his. "My +direct answer then is: if I were still Fanny Frisbee I would marry +you." +</P> + +<P> +He bent toward her persuasively. "But you will be—when the divorce +is pronounced." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, the divorce—" She flushed deeply, with an instinctive +shrinking back of her whole person which made him straighten himself +in his chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you so dislike the idea?" +</P> + +<P> +"The idea of divorce? No—not in my case. I should like anything +that would do away with the past—obliterate it all—make everything +new in my life!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then what—?" he began again, waiting with the patience of a wooer +on the uneasy circling of her tormented mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't ask me; I don't know; I am frightened." +</P> + +<P> +Durham gave a deep sigh of discouragement. "I thought your coming +here with me today—and above all your going with me just now to see +my mother—was a sign that you were <I>not</I> frightened!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I was not when I was with your mother. She made everything +seem easy and natural. She took me back into that clear American air +where there are no obscurities, no mysteries—" +</P> + +<P> +"What obscurities, what mysteries, are you afraid of?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked about her with a faint shiver. "I am afraid of +everything!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"That's because you are alone; because you've no one to turn to. +I'll clear the air for you fast enough if you'll let me." +</P> + +<P> +He looked forth defiantly, as if flinging his challenge at the great +city which had come to typify the powers contending with him for her +possession. +</P> + +<P> +"You say that so easily! But you don't know; none of you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Know what?" +</P> + +<P> +"The difficulties—" +</P> + +<P> +"I told you I was ready to take my share of the difficulties—and my +share naturally includes yours. You know Americans are great hands +at getting over difficulties." He drew himself up confidently. "Just +leave that to me—only tell me exactly what you're afraid of." +</P> + +<P> +She paused again, and then said: "The divorce, to begin with—they +will never consent to it." +</P> + +<P> +He noticed that she spoke as though the interests of the whole clan, +rather than her husband's individual claim, were to be considered; +and the use of the plural pronoun shocked his free individualism +like a glimpse of some dark feudal survival. +</P> + +<P> +"But you are absolutely certain of your divorce! I've consulted—of +course without mentioning names—" +</P> + +<P> +She interrupted him, with a melancholy smile: "Ah, so have I. The +divorce would be easy enough to get, if they ever let it come into +the courts." +</P> + +<P> +"How on earth can they prevent that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know; my never knowing how they will do things is one of +the secrets of their power." +</P> + +<P> +"Their power? What power?" he broke in with irrepressible contempt. +"Who are these bogeys whose machinations are going to arrest the +course of justice in a—comparatively—civilized country? You've +told me yourself that Monsieur de Malrive is the least likely to +give you trouble; and the others are his uncle the abbé, his mother +and sister. That kind of a syndicate doesn't scare me much. A priest +and two women <I>contra mundum!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. "Not <I>contra mundum</I>, but with it, their whole +world is behind them. It's that mysterious solidarity that you can't +understand. One doesn't know how far they may reach, or in how many +directions. I have never known. They have always cropped up where I +least expected them." +</P> + +<P> +Before this persistency of negation Durham's buoyancy began to flag, +but his determination grew the more fixed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, supposing them to possess these supernatural powers; do +you think it's to people of that kind that I'll ever consent to give +you up?" +</P> + +<P> +She raised a half-smiling glance of protest. "Oh, they're not +wantonly wicked. They'll leave me alone as long as—" +</P> + +<P> +"As I do?" he interrupted. "Do you want me to leave you alone? Was +that what you brought me here to tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +The directness of the challenge seemed to gather up the scattered +strands of her hesitation, and lifting her head she turned on him a +look in which, but for its underlying shadow, he might have +recovered the full free beam of Fanny Frisbee's gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know why I brought you here," she said gently, "except from +the wish to prolong a little the illusion of being once more an +American among Americans. Just now, sitting there with your mother +and Katy and Nannie, the difficulties seemed to vanish; the problems +grew as trivial to me as they are to you. And I wanted them to +remain so a little longer; I wanted to put off going back to them. +But it was of no use—they were waiting for me here. They are over +there now in that house across the river." She indicated the grey +sky-line of the Faubourg, shining in the splintered radiance of the +sunset beyond the long sweep of the quays. "They are a part of me—I +belong to them. I must go back to them!" she sighed. +</P> + +<P> +She rose slowly to her feet, as though her metaphor had expressed an +actual fact and she felt herself bodily drawn from his side by the +influences of which she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +Durham had risen too. "Then I go back with you!" he exclaimed +energetically; and as she paused, wavering a little under the shock +of his resolve: "I don't mean into your house—but into your life!" +he said. +</P> + +<P> +She suffered him, at any rate, to accompany her to the door of the +house, and allowed their debate to prolong itself through the almost +monastic quiet of the quarter which led thither. On the way, he +succeeded in wresting from her the confession that, if it were +possible to ascertain in advance that her husband's family would not +oppose her action, she might decide to apply for a divorce. Short of +a positive assurance on this point, she made it clear that she would +never move in the matter; there must be no scandal, no <I>retentissement</I>, +nothing which her boy, necessarily brought up in the French tradition +of scrupulously preserved appearances, could afterward regard as the +faintest blur on his much-quartered escutcheon. But even this partial +concession again raised fresh obstacles; for there seemed to be no +one to whom she could entrust so delicate an investigation, and to +apply directly to the Marquis de Malrive or his relatives appeared, +in the light of her past experience, the last way of learning their +intentions. +</P> + +<P> +"But," Durham objected, beginning to suspect a morbid fixity of idea +in her perpetual attitude of distrust—"but surely you have told me +that your husband's sister—what is her name? Madame de +Treymes?—was the most powerful member of the group, and that she +has always been on your side." +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated. "Yes, Christiane has been on my side. She dislikes +her brother. But it would not do to ask her." +</P> + +<P> +"But could no one else ask her? Who are her friends?" +</P> + +<P> +"She has a great many; and some, of course, are mine. But in a case +like this they would be all hers; they wouldn't hesitate a moment +between us." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should it be necessary to hesitate between you? Suppose Madame +de Treymes sees the reasonableness of what you ask; suppose, at any +rate, she sees the hopelessness of opposing you? Why should she make +a mystery of your opinion?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's not that; it is that, if I went to her friends, I should never +get her real opinion from them. At least I should never know if it +<I>was</I> her real opinion; and therefore I should be no farther +advanced. Don't you see?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham struggled between the sentimental impulse to soothe her, and +the practical instinct that it was a moment for unmitigated +frankness. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sure that I do; but if you can't find out what Madame de +Treymes thinks, I'll see what I can do myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—<I>you</I>!" broke from her in mingled terror and admiration; and +pausing on her doorstep to lay her hand in his before she touched +the bell, she added with a half-whimsical flash of regret: "Why +didn't this happen to Fanny Frisbee?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<P> +Why had it not happened to Fanny Frisbee? +</P> + +<P> +Durham put the question to himself as he walked back along the +quays, in a state of inner commotion which left him, for once, +insensible to the ordered beauty of his surroundings. Propinquity +had not been lacking: he had known Miss Frisbee since his college +days. In unsophisticated circles, one family is apt to quote +another; and the Durham ladies had always quoted the Frisbees. The +Frisbees were bold, experienced, enterprising: they had what the +novelists of the day called "dash." The beautiful Fanny was +especially dashing; she had the showiest national attributes, +tempered only by a native grace of softness, as the beam of her eyes +was subdued by the length of their lashes. And yet young Durham, +though not unsusceptible to such charms, had remained content to +enjoy them from a safe distance of good fellowship. If he had been +asked why, he could not have told; but the Durham of forty +understood. It was because there were, with minor modifications, +many other Fanny Frisbees; whereas never before, within his ken, had +there been a Fanny de Malrive. +</P> + +<P> +He had felt it in a flash, when, the autumn before, he had run +across her one evening in the dining-room of the Beaurivage at +Ouchy; when, after a furtive exchange of glances, they had +simultaneously arrived at recognition, followed by an eager pressure +of hands, and a long evening of reminiscence on the starlit terrace. +She was the same, but so mysteriously changed! And it was the +mystery, the sense of unprobed depths of initiation, which drew him +to her as her freshness had never drawn him. He had not hitherto +attempted to define the nature of the change: it remained for his +sister Nannie to do that when, on his return to the Rue de Rivoli, +where the family were still sitting in conclave upon their recent +visitor, Miss Durham summed up their groping comments in the phrase: +"I never saw anything so French!" +</P> + +<P> +Durham, understanding what his sister's use of the epithet implied, +recognized it instantly as the explanation of his own feelings. Yes, +it was the finish, the modelling, which Madame de Malrive's +experience had given her that set her apart from the fresh +uncomplicated personalities of which she had once been simply the +most charming type. The influences that had lowered her voice, +regulated her gestures, toned her down to harmony with the warm dim +background of a long social past—these influences had lent to her +natural fineness of perception a command of expression adapted to +complex conditions. She had moved in surroundings through which one +could hardly bounce and bang on the genial American plan without +knocking the angles off a number of sacred institutions; and her +acquired dexterity of movement seemed to Durham a crowning grace. It +was a shock, now that he knew at what cost the dexterity had been +acquired, to acknowledge this even to himself; he hated to think +that she could owe anything to such conditions as she had been +placed in. And it gave him a sense of the tremendous strength of the +organization into which she had been absorbed, that in spite of her +horror, her moral revolt, she had not reacted against its external +forms. She might abhor her husband, her marriage, and the world to +which it had introduced her, but she had become a product of that +world in its outward expression, and no better proof of the fact was +needed than her exotic enjoyment of Americanism. +</P> + +<P> +The sense of the distance to which her American past had been +removed was never more present to him than when, a day or two later, +he went with his mother and sisters to return her visit. The region +beyond the river existed, for the Durham ladies, only as the +unmapped environment of the Bon Marché; and Nannie Durham's +exclamation on the pokiness of the streets and the dulness of the +houses showed Durham, with a start, how far he had already travelled +from the family point of view. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if this is all she got by marrying a Marquis!" the young lady +summed up as they paused before the small sober hotel in its +high-walled court; and Katy, following her mother through the +stone-vaulted and stone-floored vestibule, murmured: "It must be +simply freezing in winter." +</P> + +<P> +In the softly-faded drawing-room, with its old pastels in old +frames, its windows looking on the damp green twilight of a garden +sunk deep in blackened walls, the American ladies might have been +even more conscious of the insufficiency of their friend's +compensations, had not the warmth of her welcome precluded all other +reflections. It was not till she had gathered them about her in the +corner beside the tea-table, that Durham identified the slender dark +lady loitering negligently in the background, and introduced in a +comprehensive murmur to the American group, as the redoubtable +sister-in-law to whom he had declared himself ready to throw down +his challenge. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing very redoubtable about Madame de Treymes, except +perhaps the kindly yet critical observation which she bestowed on +her sister-in-law's visitors: the unblinking attention of a +civilized spectator observing an encampment of aborigines. He had +heard of her as a beauty, and was surprised to find her, as Nannie +afterward put it, a mere stick to hang clothes on (but they <I>did</I> +hang!), with a small brown glancing face, like that of a charming +little inquisitive animal. Yet before she had addressed ten words to +him—nibbling at the hard English consonants like nuts—he owned the +justice of the epithet. She was a beauty, if beauty, instead of +being restricted to the cast of the face, is a pervasive attribute +informing the hands, the voice, the gestures, the very fall of a +flounce and tilt of a feather. In this impalpable <I>aura</I> of grace +Madame de Treymes' dark meagre presence unmistakably moved, like a +thin flame in a wide quiver of light. And as he realized that she +looked much handsomer than she was, so while they talked, he felt +that she understood a great deal more than she betrayed. It was not +through the groping speech which formed their apparent medium of +communication that she imbibed her information: she found it in the +air, she extracted it from Durham's look and manner, she caught it +in the turn of her sister-in-law's defenseless eyes—for in her +presence Madame de Malrive became Fanny Frisbee again!—she put it +together, in short, out of just such unconsidered indescribable +trifles as differentiated the quiet felicity of her dress from +Nannie and Katy's "handsome" haphazard clothes. +</P> + +<P> +Her actual converse with Durham moved, meanwhile, strictly in the +conventional ruts: had he been long in Paris, which of the new plays +did he like best, was it true that American <I>jeunes filles</I> were +sometimes taken to the Boulevard theatres? And she threw an +interrogative glance at the young ladies beside the tea-table. To +Durham's reply that it depended how much French they knew, she +shrugged and smiled, replying that his compatriots all spoke French +like Parisians, enquiring, after a moment's thought, if they learned +it, <I>la bas, des negres</I>, and laughing heartily when Durham's +astonishment revealed her blunder. +</P> + +<P> +When at length she had taken leave—enveloping the Durham ladies in +a last puzzled penetrating look—Madame de Malrive turned to Mrs. +Durham with a faintly embarrassed smile. +</P> + +<P> +"My sister-in-law was much interested; I believe you are the first +Americans she has ever known." +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious!" ejaculated Nannie, as though such social darkness +required immediate missionary action on some one's part. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she knows <I>us</I>," said Durham, catching in Madame de Malrive's +rapid glance, a startled assent to his point. +</P> + +<P> +"After all," reflected the accurate Katy, as though seeking an +excuse for Madame de Treymes' unenlightenment, "<I>we</I> don't know +many French people, either." +</P> + +<P> +To which Nannie promptly if obscurely retorted: "Ah, but we couldn't +and <I>she</I> could!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes' friendly observation of her sister-in-law's +visitors resulted in no expression on her part of a desire to renew +her study of them. To all appearances, she passed out of their lives +when Madame de Malrive's door closed on her; and Durham felt that +the arduous task of making her acquaintance was still to be begun. +</P> + +<P> +He felt also, more than ever, the necessity of attempting it; and in +his determination to lose no time, and his perplexity how to set +most speedily about the business, he bethought himself of applying +to his cousin Mrs. Boykin. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Elmer Boykin was a small plump woman, to whose vague prettiness +the lines of middle-age had given no meaning: as though whatever had +happened to her had merely added to the sum total of her +inexperience. After a Parisian residence of twenty-five years, spent +in a state of feverish servitude to the great artists of the rue de +la Paix, her dress and hair still retained a certain rigidity in +keeping with the directness of her gaze and the unmodulated candour +of her voice. Her very drawing-room had the hard bright atmosphere +of her native skies, and one felt that she was still true at heart +to the national ideals in electric lighting and plumbing. +</P> + +<P> +She and her husband had left America owing to the impossibility of +living there with the finish and decorum which the Boykin standard +demanded; but in the isolation of their exile they had created about +them a kind of phantom America, where the national prejudices +continued to flourish unchecked by the national progressiveness: a +little world sparsely peopled by compatriots in the same attitude of +chronic opposition toward a society chronically unaware of them. In +this uncontaminated air Mr. and Mrs. Boykin had preserved the purity +of simpler conditions, and Elmer Boykin, returning rakishly from a +Sunday's racing at Chantilly, betrayed, under his "knowing" coat and +the racing-glasses slung ostentatiously across his shoulder, the +unmistakeable cut of the American business man coming "up town" +after a long day in the office. +</P> + +<P> +It was a part of the Boykins' uncomfortable but determined +attitude—and perhaps a last expression of their latent +patriotism—to live in active disapproval of the world about them, +fixing in memory with little stabs of reprobation innumerable +instances of what the abominable foreigner was doing; so that they +reminded Durham of persons peacefully following the course of a +horrible war by pricking red pins in a map. To Mrs. Durham, with her +gentle tourist's view of the European continent, as a vast Museum in +which the human multitudes simply furnished the element of costume, +the Boykins seemed abysmally instructed, and darkly expert in +forbidden things; and her son, without sharing her simple faith in +their omniscience, credited them with an ample supply of the kind of +information of which he was in search. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Boykin, from the corner of an intensely modern Gobelin sofa, +studied her cousin as he balanced himself insecurely on one of the +small gilt chairs which always look surprised at being sat in. +</P> + +<P> +"Fanny de Malrive? Oh, of course: I remember you were all very +intimate with the Frisbees when they lived in West Thirty-third +Street. But she has dropped all her American friends since her +marriage. The excuse was that de Malrive didn't like them; but as +she's been separated for five or six years, I can't see—. You say +she's been very nice to your mother and the girls? Well, I daresay +she is beginning to feel the need of friends she can really trust; +for as for her French relations—! That Malrive set is the worst in +the Faubourg. Of course you know what <I>he</I> is; even the family, for +decency's sake, had to back her up, and urge her to get a +separation. And Christiane de Treymes—" +</P> + +<P> +Durham seized his opportunity. "Is she so very reprehensible too?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Boykin pursed up her small colourless mouth. "I can't speak +from personal experience. I know Madame de Treymes slightly—I have +met her at Fanny's—but she never remembers the fact except when she +wants me to go to one of her <I>ventes de charité</I>. They all remember +us then; and some American women are silly enough to ruin themselves +at the smart bazaars, and fancy they will get invitations in return. +They say Mrs. Addison G. Pack followed Madame d'Alglade around for a +whole winter, and spent a hundred thousand francs at her stalls; and +at the end of the season Madame d'Alglade asked her to tea, and when +she got there she found <I>that</I> was for a charity too, and she had to +pay a hundred francs to get in." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Boykin paused with a smile of compassion. "That is not <I>my</I> +way," she continued. "Personally I have no desire to thrust myself +into French society—I can't see how any American woman can do so +without loss of self-respect. But any one can tell you about Madame +de Treymes." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would, then," Durham suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I think Elmer had better," said his wife mysteriously, as Mr. +Boykin, at this point, advanced across the wide expanse of Aubusson +on which his wife and Durham were islanded in a state of propinquity +without privacy. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Bessy? Hah, Durham, how are you? Didn't see you at +Auteuil this afternoon. You don't race? Busy sight-seeing, I +suppose? What was that my wife was telling you? Oh, about Madame de +Treymes." +</P> + +<P> +He stroked his pepper-and-salt moustache with a gesture intended +rather to indicate than conceal the smile of experience beneath it. +"Well, Madame de Treymes has not been like a happy country—she's +had a history: several of 'em. Some one said she constituted the +<I>feuilleton</I> of the Faubourg daily news. <I>La suite au prochain +numéro</I>—you see the point? Not that I speak from personal +knowledge. Bessy and I have never cared to force our way—" He +paused, reflecting that his wife had probably anticipated him in the +expression of this familiar sentiment, and added with a significant +nod: "Of course you know the Prince d'Armillac by sight? No? I'm +surprised at that. Well, he's one of the choicest ornaments of the +Jockey Club: very fascinating to the ladies, I believe, but the +deuce and all at baccara. Ruined his mother and a couple of maiden +aunts already—and now Madame de Treymes has put the family pearls +up the spout, and is wearing imitation for love of him." +</P> + +<P> +"I had that straight from my maid's cousin, who is employed by +Madame d'Armillac's jeweller," said Mrs. Boykin with conscious +pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's straight enough—more than <I>she</I> is!" retorted her +husband, who was slightly jealous of having his facts reinforced by +any information not of his own gleaning. +</P> + +<P> +"Be careful of what you say, Elmer," Mrs. Boykin interposed with +archness. "I suspect John of being seriously smitten by the lady." +</P> + +<P> +Durham let this pass unchallenged, submitting with a good grace to +his host's low whistle of amusement, and the sardonic enquiry: "Ever +do anything with the foils? D'Armillac is what they call over here a +<I>fine lame</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't mean to resort to bloodshed unless it's absolutely +necessary; but I mean to make the lady's acquaintance," said Durham, +falling into his key. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Boykin's lips tightened to the vanishing point. "I am afraid +you must apply for an introduction to more fashionable people than +<I>we</I> are. Elmer and I so thoroughly disapprove of French society +that we have always declined to take any part in it. But why should +not Fanny de Malrive arrange a meeting for you?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham hesitated. "I don't think she is on very intimate terms with +her husband's family—" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that she's not allowed to introduce <I>her</I> friends to +them," Mrs. Boykin interjected sarcastically; while her husband +added, with an air of portentous initiation: "Ah, my dear fellow, +the way they treat the Americans over here—that's another chapter, +you know." +</P> + +<P> +"How some people can <I>stand</I> it!" Mrs. Boykin chimed in; and as the +footman, entering at that moment, tendered her a large coronetted +envelope, she held it up as if in illustration of the indignities to +which her countrymen were subjected. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that, my dear John," she exclaimed—"another card to one of +their everlasting bazaars! Why, it's at Madame d'Armillac's, the +Prince's mother. Madame de Treymes must have sent it, of course. The +brazen way in which they combine religion and immorality! Fifty +francs admission—<I>rien que cela!</I>—to see some of the most +disreputable people in Europe. And if you're an American, you're +expected to leave at least a thousand behind you. Their own people +naturally get off cheaper." She tossed over the card to her cousin. +"There's your opportunity to see Madame de Treymes." +</P> + +<P> +"Make it two thousand, and she'll ask you to tea," Mr. Boykin +scathingly added. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<P> +In the monumental drawing-room of the Hôtel de Malrive—it had been +a surprise to the American to read the name of the house emblazoned +on black marble over its still more monumental gateway—Durham found +himself surrounded by a buzz of feminine tea-sipping oddly out of +keeping with the wigged and cuirassed portraits frowning high on the +walls, the majestic attitude of the furniture, the rigidity of great +gilt consoles drawn up like lords-in-waiting against the tarnished +panels. +</P> + +<P> +It was the old Marquise de Malrive's "day," and Madame de Treymes, +who lived with her mother, had admitted Durham to the heart of the +enemy's country by inviting him, after his prodigal disbursements at +the charity bazaar, to come in to tea on a Thursday. Whether, in +thus fulfilling Mr. Boykin's prediction, she had been aware of +Durham's purpose, and had her own reasons for falling in with it; or +whether she simply wished to reward his lavishness at the fair, and +permit herself another glimpse of an American so picturesquely +embodying the type familiar to French fiction—on these points +Durham was still in doubt. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Madame de Treymes being engaged with a venerable Duchess +in a black shawl—all the older ladies present had the sloping +shoulders of a generation of shawl-wearers—her American visitor, +left in the isolation of his unimportance, was using it as a shelter +for a rapid survey of the scene. +</P> + +<P> +He had begun his study of Fanny de Malrive's situation without any +real understanding of her fears. He knew the repugnance to divorce +existing in the French Catholic world, but since the French laws +sanctioned it, and in a case so flagrant as his injured friend's, +would inevitably accord it with the least possible delay and +exposure, he could not take seriously any risk of opposition on the +part of the husband's family. Madame de Malrive had not become a +Catholic, and since her religious scruples could not be played on, +the only weapon remaining to the enemy—the threat of fighting the +divorce—was one they could not wield without self-injury. +Certainly, if the chief object were to avoid scandal, common sense +must counsel Monsieur de Malrive and his friends not to give the +courts an opportunity of exploring his past; and since the echo of +such explorations, and their ultimate transmission to her son, were +what Madame de Malrive most dreaded, the opposing parties seemed to +have a common ground for agreement, and Durham could not but regard +his friend's fears as the result of over-taxed sensibilities. All +this had seemed evident enough to him as he entered the austere +portals of the Hôtel de Malrive and passed, between the faded +liveries of old family servants, to the presence of the dreaded +dowager above. But he had not been ten minutes in that presence +before he had arrived at a faint intuition of what poor Fanny meant. +It was not in the exquisite mildness of the old Marquise, a little +gray-haired bunch of a woman in dowdy mourning, or in the small neat +presence of the priestly uncle, the Abbé who had so obviously just +stepped down from one of the picture-frames overhead: it was not in +the aspect of these chief protagonists, so outwardly unformidable, +that Durham read an occult danger to his friend. It was rather in +their setting, their surroundings, the little company of elderly and +dowdy persons—so uniformly clad in weeping blacks and purples that +they might have been assembled for some mortuary anniversary—it was +in the remoteness and the solidarity of this little group that +Durham had his first glimpse of the social force of which Fanny de +Malrive had spoken. All these amiably chatting visitors, who mostly +bore the stamp of personal insignificance on their mildly sloping or +aristocratically beaked faces, hung together in a visible closeness +of tradition, dress, attitude and manner, as different as possible +from the loose aggregation of a roomful of his own countrymen. +Durham felt, as he observed them, that he had never before known +what "society" meant; nor understood that, in an organized and +inherited system, it exists full-fledged where two or three of its +members are assembled. +</P> + +<P> +Upon this state of bewilderment, this sense of having entered a room +in which the lights had suddenly been turned out, even Madame de +Treymes' intensely modern presence threw no illumination. He was +conscious, as she smilingly rejoined him, not of her points of +difference from the others, but of the myriad invisible threads by +which she held to them; he even recognized the audacious slant of +her little brown profile in the portrait of a powdered ancestress +beneath which she had paused a moment in advancing. She was simply +one particular facet of the solid, glittering impenetrable body +which he had thought to turn in his hands and look through like a +crystal; and when she said, in her clear staccato English, "Perhaps +you will like to see the other rooms," he felt like crying out in +his blindness: "If I could only be sure of seeing <I>anything</I> here!" +Was she conscious of his blindness, and was he as remote and +unintelligible to her as she was to him? This possibility, as he +followed her through the nobly-unfolding rooms of the great house, +gave him his first hope of recoverable advantage. For, after all, he +had some vague traditional lights on her world and its antecedents; +whereas to her he was a wholly new phenomenon, as unexplained as a +fragment of meteorite dropped at her feet on the smooth gravel of +the garden-path they were pacing. +</P> + +<P> +She had led him down into the garden, in response to his admiring +exclamation, and perhaps also because she was sure that, in the +chill spring afternoon, they would have its embowered privacies to +themselves. The garden was small, but intensely rich and deep—one +of those wells of verdure and fragrance which everywhere sweeten the +air of Paris by wafts blown above old walls on quiet streets; and as +Madame de Treymes paused against the ivy bank masking its farther +boundary, Durham felt more than ever removed from the normal +bearings of life. +</P> + +<P> +His sense of strangeness was increased by the surprise of his +companion's next speech. +</P> + +<P> +"You wish to marry my sister-in-law?" she asked abruptly; and +Durham's start of wonder was followed by an immediate feeling of +relief. He had expected the preliminaries of their interview to be +as complicated as the bargaining in an Eastern bazaar, and had +feared to lose himself at the first turn in a labyrinth of "foreign" +intrigue. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I do," he said with equal directness; and they smiled together +at the sharp report of question and answer. +</P> + +<P> +The smile put Durham more completely at his ease, and after waiting +for her to speak, he added with deliberation: "So far, however, the +wishing is entirely on my side." His scrupulous conscience felt +itself justified in this reserve by the conditional nature of Madame +de Malrive's consent. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand; but you have been given reason to hope—" +</P> + +<P> +"Every man in my position gives himself his own reasons for hoping," +he interposed with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that too," Madame de Treymes assented. "But still—you +spent a great deal of money the other day at our bazaar." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes: I wanted to have a talk with you, and it was the readiest—if +not the most distinguished—means of attracting your attention." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," she once more reiterated, with a gleam of amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"It is because I suspect you of understanding everything that I have +been so anxious for this opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +She bowed her acknowledgement, and said: "Shall we sit a moment?" +adding, as he drew their chairs under a tree: "You permit me, then, +to say that I believe I understand also a little of our good Fanny's +mind?" +</P> + +<P> +"On that point I have no authority to speak. I am here only to +listen." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, then: you have persuaded her that there would be no harm in +divorcing my brother—since I believe your religion does not forbid +divorce?" +</P> + +<P> +"Madame de Malrive's religion sanctions divorce in such a case as—" +</P> + +<P> +"As my brother has furnished? Yes, I have heard that your race is +stricter in judging such <I>écarts</I>. But you must not think," she +added, "that I defend my brother. Fanny must have told you that we +have always given her our sympathy." +</P> + +<P> +"She has let me infer it from her way of speaking of you." +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes arched her dramatic eyebrows. "How cautious you +are! I am so straightforward that I shall have no chance with you." +</P> + +<P> +"You will be quite safe, unless you are so straightforward that you +put me on my guard." +</P> + +<P> +She met this with a low note of amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"At this rate we shall never get any farther; and in two minutes I +must go back to my mother's visitors. Why should we go on fencing? +The situation is really quite simple. Tell me just what you wish to +know. I have always been Fanny's friend, and that disposes me to be +yours." +</P> + +<P> +Durham, during this appeal, had had time to steady his thoughts; and +the result of his deliberation was that he said, with a return to +his former directness: "Well, then, what I wish to know is, what +position your family would take if Madame de Malrive should sue for +a divorce." He added, without giving her time to reply: "I naturally +wish to be clear on this point before urging my cause with your +sister-in-law." +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes seemed in no haste to answer; but after a pause of +reflection she said, not unkindly: "My poor Fanny might have asked +me that herself." +</P> + +<P> +"I beg you to believe that I am not acting as her spokesman," Durham +hastily interposed. "I merely wish to clear up the situation before +speaking to her in my own behalf." +</P> + +<P> +"You are the most delicate of suitors! But I understand your +feeling. Fanny also is extremely delicate: it was a great surprise +to us at first. Still, in this case—" Madame de Treymes +paused—"since she has no religious scruples, and she had no +difficulty in obtaining a separation, why should she fear any in +demanding a divorce?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that she does: but the mere fact of possible +opposition might be enough to alarm the delicacy you have observed +in her." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah—yes: on her boy's account." +</P> + +<P> +"Partly, doubtless, on her boy's account." +</P> + +<P> +"So that, if my brother objects to a divorce, all he has to do is to +announce his objection? But, my dear sir, you are giving your case +into my hands!" She flashed an amused smile on him. +</P> + +<P> +"Since you say you are Madame de Malrive's friend, could there be a +better place for it?" +</P> + +<P> +As she turned her eyes on him he seemed to see, under the flitting +lightness of her glance, the sudden concentrated expression of the +ancestral will. "I am Fanny's friend, certainly. But with us family +considerations are paramount. And our religion forbids divorce." +</P> + +<P> +"So that, inevitably, your brother will oppose it?" +</P> + +<P> +She rose from her seat, and stood fretting with her slender boot-tip +the minute red pebbles of the path. +</P> + +<P> +"I must really go in: my mother will never forgive me for deserting +her." +</P> + +<P> +"But surely you owe me an answer?" Durham protested, rising also. +</P> + +<P> +"In return for your purchases at my stall?" +</P> + +<P> +"No: in return for the trust I have placed in you." +</P> + +<P> +She mused on this, moving slowly a step or two toward the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly I wish to see you again; you interest me," she said +smiling. "But it is so difficult to arrange. If I were to ask you to +come here again, my mother and uncle would be surprised. And at +Fanny's—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not there!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Where then? Is there any other house where we are likely to meet?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham hesitated; but he was goaded by the flight of the precious +minutes. "Not unless you'll come and dine with me," he said boldly. +</P> + +<P> +"Dine with you? <I>Au cabaret?</I> Ah, that would be diverting—but +impossible!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, dine with my cousin, then—I have a cousin, an American lady, +who lives here," said Durham, with suddenly-soaring audacity. +</P> + +<P> +She paused with puzzled brows. "An American lady whom I know?" +</P> + +<P> +"By name, at any rate. You send her cards for all your charity +bazaars." +</P> + +<P> +She received the thrust with a laugh. "We do exploit your +compatriots." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't think she has ever gone to the bazaars." +</P> + +<P> +"But she might if I dined with her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Still less, I imagine." +</P> + +<P> +She reflected on this, and then said with acuteness: "I like that, +and I accept—but what is the lady's name?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<P> +On the way home, in the first drop of his exaltation, Durham had +said to himself: "But why on earth should Bessy invite her?" +</P> + +<P> +He had, naturally, no very cogent reasons to give Mrs. Boykin in +support of his astonishing request, and could only, marvelling at +his own growth in duplicity, suffer her to infer that he was really, +shamelessly "smitten" with the lady he thus proposed to thrust upon +her hospitality. But, to his surprise, Mrs. Boykin hardly gave +herself time to pause upon his reasons. They were swallowed up in +the fact that Madame de Treymes wished to dine with her, as the +lesser luminaries vanish in the blaze of the sun. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not surprised," she declared, with a faint smile intended to +check her husband's unruly wonder. "I wonder <I>you</I> are, Elmer. +Didn't you tell me that Armillac went out of his way to speak to you +the other day at the races? And at Madame d'Alglade's sale—yes, I +went there after all, just for a minute, because I found Katy and +Nannie were so anxious to be taken—well, that day I noticed that +Madame de Treymes was quite <I>empressée</I> when we went up to her +stall. Oh, I didn't buy anything: I merely waited while the girls +chose some lampshades. They thought it would be interesting to take +home something painted by a real Marquise, and of course I didn't +tell them that those women <I>never</I> make the things they sell at +their stalls. But I repeat I'm not surprised: I suspected that +Madame de Treymes had heard of our little dinners. You know they're +really horribly bored in that poky old Faubourg. My poor John, I see +now why she's been making up to you! But on one point I am quite +determined, Elmer; whatever you say, I shall <I>not</I> invite the Prince +d'Armillac." +</P> + +<P> +Elmer, as far as Durham could observe, did not say much; but, like +his wife, he continued in a state of pleasantly agitated activity +till the momentous evening of the dinner. +</P> + +<P> +The festivity in question was restricted in numbers, either owing to +the difficulty of securing suitable guests, or from a desire not to +have it appear that Madame de Treymes' hosts attached any special +importance to her presence; but the smallness of the company was +counterbalanced by the multiplicity of the courses. +</P> + +<P> +The national determination not to be "downed" by the despised +foreigner, to show a wealth of material resource obscurely felt to +compensate for the possible lack of other distinctions—this resolve +had taken, in Mrs. Boykin's case, the shape—or rather the multiple +shapes—of a series of culinary feats, of gastronomic combinations, +which would have commanded her deep respect had she seen them on any +other table, and which she naturally relied on to produce the same +effect on her guest. Whether or not the desired result was achieved, +Madame de Treymes' manner did not specifically declare; but it +showed a general complaisance, a charming willingness to be amused, +which made Mr. Boykin, for months afterward, allude to her among his +compatriots as "an old friend of my wife's—takes potluck with us, +you know. Of course there's not a word of truth in any of those +ridiculous stories." +</P> + +<P> +It was only when, to Durham's intense surprise, Mr. Boykin hazarded +to his neighbour the regret that they had not been so lucky as to +"secure the Prince"—it was then only that the lady showed, not +indeed anything so simple and unprepared as embarrassment, but a +faint play of wonder, an under-flicker of amusement, as though +recognizing that, by some odd law of social compensation, the +crudity of the talk might account for the complexity of the dishes. +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Boykin was tremulously alive to hints, and the conversation +at once slid to safer topics, easy generalizations which left Madame +de Treymes ample time to explore the table, to use her narrowed gaze +like a knife slitting open the unsuspicious personalities about her. +Nannie and Katy Durham, who, after much discussion (to which their +hostess candidly admitted them), had been included in the feast, +were the special objects of Madame de Treymes' observation. During +dinner she ignored in their favour the other carefully-selected +guests—the fashionable art-critic, the old Legitimist general, the +beauty from the English Embassy, the whole impressive marshalling of +Mrs. Boykin's social resources—and when the men returned to the +drawing-room, Durham found her still fanning in his sisters the +flame of an easily kindled enthusiasm. Since she could hardly have +been held by the intrinsic interest of their converse, the sight +gave him another swift intuition of the working of those hidden +forces with which Fanny de Malrive felt herself encompassed. But +when Madame de Treymes, at his approach, let him see that it was for +him she had been reserving herself, he felt that so graceful an +impulse needed no special explanation. She had the art of making it +seem quite natural that they should move away together to the +remotest of Mrs. Boykin's far-drawn salons, and that there, in a +glaring privacy of brocade and ormolu, she should turn to him with a +smile which avowed her intentional quest of seclusion. +</P> + +<P> +"Confess that I have done a great deal for you!" she exclaimed, +making room for him on a sofa judiciously screened from the +observation of the other rooms. +</P> + +<P> +"In coming to dine with my cousin?" he enquired, answering her +smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us say, in giving you this half hour." +</P> + +<P> +"For that I am duly grateful—and shall be still more so when I know +what it contains for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I am not sure. You will not like what I am going to say." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I not?" he rejoined, changing colour. +</P> + +<P> +She raised her eyes from the thoughtful contemplation of her painted +fan. "You appear to have no idea of the difficulties." +</P> + +<P> +"Should I have asked your help if I had not had an idea of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"But you are still confident that with my help you can surmount +them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't believe you have come here to take that confidence from +me?" +</P> + +<P> +She leaned back, smiling at him through her lashes. "And all this I +am to do for your <I>beaux yeux?</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"No—for your own: that you may see with them what happiness you are +conferring." +</P> + +<P> +"You are extremely clever, and I like you." She paused, and then +brought out with lingering emphasis: "But my family will not hear of +a divorce." +</P> + +<P> +She threw into her voice such an accent of finality that Durham, for +the moment, felt himself brought up against an insurmountable +barrier; but, almost at once, his fear was mitigated by the +conviction that she would not have put herself out so much to say so +little. +</P> + +<P> +"When you speak of your family, do you include yourself?" he +suggested. +</P> + +<P> +She threw a surprised glance at him. "I thought you understood that +I am simply their mouthpiece." +</P> + +<P> +At this he rose quietly to his feet with a gesture of acceptance. "I +have only to thank you, then, for not keeping me longer in +suspense." +</P> + +<P> +His air of wishing to put an immediate end to the conversation +seemed to surprise her. "Sit down a moment longer," she commanded +him kindly; and as he leaned against the back of his chair, without +appearing to hear her request, she added in a low voice: "I am very +sorry for you and Fanny—but you are not the only persons to be +pitied." +</P> + +<P> +She had dropped her light manner as she might have tossed aside her +fan, and he was startled at the intimacy of misery to which her look +and movement abruptly admitted him. Perhaps no Anglo-Saxon fully +understands the fluency in self-revelation which centuries of the +confessional have given to the Latin races, and to Durham, at any +rate, Madame de Treymes' sudden avowal gave the shock of a physical +abandonment. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so sorry," he stammered—"is there any way in which I can be +of use to you?" +</P> + +<P> +She sat before him with her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on his in +a terrible intensity of appeal. "If you would—if you would! Oh, +there is nothing I would not do for you. I have still a great deal +of influence with my mother, and what my mother commands we all do. +I could help you—I am sure I could help you; but not if my own +situation were known. And if nothing can be done it must be known in +a few days." +</P> + +<P> +Durham had reseated himself at her side. "Tell me what I can do," he +said in a low tone, forgetting his own preoccupations in his genuine +concern for her distress. +</P> + +<P> +She looked up at him through tears. "How dare I? Your race is so +cautious, so self-controlled—you have so little indulgence for the +extravagances of the heart. And my folly has been incredible—and +unrewarded." She paused, and as Durham waited in a silence which she +guessed to be compassionate, she brought out below her breath: "I +have lent money—my husband's, my brother's—money that was not +mine, and now I have nothing to repay it with." +</P> + +<P> +Durham gazed at her in genuine astonishment. The turn the +conversation had taken led quite beyond his uncomplicated +experiences with the other sex. She saw his surprise, and extended +her hands in deprecation and entreaty. "Alas, what must you think of +me? How can I explain my humiliating myself before a stranger? Only +by telling you the whole truth—the fact that I am not alone in this +disaster, that I could not confess my situation to my family without +ruining myself, and involving in my ruin some one who, however +undeservedly, has been as dear to me as—as you are to—" +</P> + +<P> +Durham pushed his chair back with a sharp exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, even that does not move you!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +The cry restored him to his senses by the long shaft of light it +sent down the dark windings of the situation. He seemed suddenly to +know Madame de Treymes as if he had been brought up with her in the +inscrutable shades of the Hôtel de Malrive. +</P> + +<P> +She, on her side, appeared to have a startled but uncomprehending +sense of the fact that his silence was no longer completely +sympathetic, that her touch called forth no answering vibration; and +she made a desperate clutch at the one chord she could be certain of +sounding. +</P> + +<P> +"You have asked a great deal of me—much more than you can guess. Do +you mean to give me nothing—not even your sympathy—in return? Is +it because you have heard horrors of me? When are they not said of a +woman who is married unhappily? Perhaps not in your fortunate +country, where she may seek liberation without dishonour. But +here—! You who have seen the consequences of our disastrous +marriages—you who may yet be the victim of our cruel and abominable +system; have you no pity for one who has suffered in the same way, +and without the possibility of release?" She paused, laying her hand +on his arm with a smile of deprecating irony. "It is not because you +are not rich. At such times the crudest way is the shortest, and I +don't pretend to deny that I know I am asking you a trifle. You +Americans, when you want a thing, always pay ten times what it is +worth, and I am giving you the wonderful chance to get what you most +want at a bargain." +</P> + +<P> +Durham sat silent, her little gloved hand burning his coat-sleeve as +if it had been a hot iron. His brain was tingling with the shock of +her confession. She wanted money, a great deal of money: that was +clear, but it was not the point. She was ready to sell her +influence, and he fancied she could be counted on to fulfil her side +of the bargain. The fact that he could so trust her seemed only to +make her more terrible to him—more supernaturally dauntless and +baleful. For what was it that she exacted of him? She had said she +must have money to pay her debts; but he knew that was only a +pre-text which she scarcely expected him to believe. She wanted the +money for some one else; that was what her allusion to a +fellow-victim meant. She wanted it to pay the Prince's gambling +debts—it was at that price that Durham was to buy the right to +marry Fanny de Malrive. +</P> + +<P> +Once the situation had worked itself out in his mind, he found +himself unexpectedly relieved of the necessity of weighing the +arguments for and against it. All the traditional forces of his +blood were in revolt, and he could only surrender himself to their +pressure, without thought of compromise or parley. +</P> + +<P> +He stood up in silence, and the abruptness of his movement caused +Madame de Treymes' hand to slip from his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"You refuse?" she exclaimed; and he answered with a bow: "Only +because of the return you propose to make me." +</P> + +<P> +She stood staring at him, in a perplexity so genuine and profound +that he could almost have smiled at it through his disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you are all incredible," she murmured at last, stooping to +repossess herself of her fan; and as she moved past him to rejoin +the group in the farther room, she added in an incisive undertone: +"You are quite at liberty to repeat our conversation to your +friend!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<P> +Durham did not take advantage of the permission thus strangely flung +at him: of his talk with her sister-in-law he gave to Madame de +Malrive only that part which concerned her. +</P> + +<P> +Presenting himself for this purpose, the day after Mrs. Boykin's +dinner, he found his friend alone with her son; and the sight of the +child had the effect of dispelling whatever illusive hopes had +attended him to the threshold. Even after the governess's descent +upon the scene had left Madame de Malrive and her visitor alone, the +little boy's presence seemed to hover admonishingly between them, +reducing to a bare statement of fact Durham's confession of the +total failure of his errand. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Malrive heard the confession calmly; she had been too +prepared for it not to have prepared a countenance to receive it. +Her first comment was: "I have never known them to declare +themselves so plainly—" and Durham's baffled hopes fastened +themselves eagerly on the words. Had she not always warned him that +there was nothing so misleading as their plainness? And might it not +be that, in spite of his advisedness, he had suffered too easy a +rebuff? But second thoughts reminded him that the refusal had not +been as unconditional as his necessary reservations made it seem in +the repetition; and that, furthermore, it was his own act, and not +that of his opponents, which had determined it. The impossibility of +revealing this to Madame de Malrive only made the difficulty shut in +more darkly around him, and in the completeness of his discouragement +he scarcely needed her reminder of his promise to regard the subject +as closed when once the other side had defined its position. +</P> + +<P> +He was secretly confirmed in this acceptance of his fate by the +knowledge that it was really he who had defined the position. Even +now that he was alone with Madame de Malrive, and subtly aware of +the struggle under her composure, he felt no temptation to abate his +stand by a jot. He had not yet formulated a reason for his +resistance: he simply went on feeling, more and more strongly with +every precious sign of her participation in his unhappiness, that he +could neither owe his escape from it to such a transaction, nor +suffer her, innocently, to owe hers. +</P> + +<P> +The only mitigating effect of his determination was in an increase +of helpless tenderness toward her; so that, when she exclaimed, in +answer to his announcement that he meant to leave Paris the next +night: "Oh, give me a day or two longer!" he at once resigned +himself to saying: "If I can be of the least use, I'll give you a +hundred." +</P> + +<P> +She answered sadly that all he could do would be to let her feel +that he was there—just for a day or two, till she had readjusted +herself to the idea of going on in the old way; and on this note of +renunciation they parted. +</P> + +<P> +But Durham, however pledged to the passive part, could not long +sustain it without rebellion. To "hang round" the shut door of his +hopes seemed, after two long days, more than even his passion +required of him; and on the third he despatched a note of goodbye to +his friend. He was going off for a few weeks, he explained—his +mother and sisters wished to be taken to the Italian lakes: but he +would return to Paris, and say his real farewell to her, before +sailing for America in July. +</P> + +<P> +He had not intended his note to act as an ultimatum: he had no wish +to surprise Madame de Malrive into unconsidered surrender. When, +almost immediately, his own messenger returned with a reply from +her, he even felt a pang of disappointment, a momentary fear lest +she should have stooped a little from the high place where his +passion had preferred to leave her; but her first words turned his +fear into rejoicing. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see you before you go: something extraordinary has +happened," she wrote. +</P> + +<P> +What had happened, as he heard from her a few hours later—finding +her in a tremor of frightened gladness, with her door boldly closed +to all the world but himself—was nothing less extraordinary than a +visit from Madame de Treymes, who had come, officially delegated by +the family, to announce that Monsieur de Malrive had decided not to +oppose his wife's suit for divorce. Durham, at the news, was almost +afraid to show himself too amazed; but his small signs of alarm and +wonder were swallowed up in the flush of Madame de Malrive's +incredulous joy. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the long habit, you know, of not believing them—of looking +for the truth always in what they <I>don't</I> say. It took me hours and +hours to convince myself that there's no trick under it, that there +can't be any," she explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you <I>are</I> convinced now?" escaped from Durham; but the shadow +of his question lingered no more than the flit of a wing across her +face. +</P> + +<P> +"I am convinced because the facts are there to reassure me. +Christiane tells me that Monsieur de Malrive has consulted his +lawyers, and that they have advised him to free me. Maitre +Enguerrand has been instructed to see my lawyer whenever I wish it. +They quite understand that I never should have taken the step in +face of any opposition on their part—I am so thankful to you for +making that perfectly clear to them!—and I suppose this is the +return their pride makes to mine. For they <I>can</I> be proud +collectively—" She broke off and added, with happy hands +outstretched: "And I owe it all to you—Christiane said it was your +talk with her that had convinced them." +</P> + +<P> +Durham, at this statement, had to repress a fresh sound of +amazement; but with her hands in his, and, a moment after, her whole +self drawn to him in the first yielding of her lips, doubt perforce +gave way to the lover's happy conviction that such love was after +all too strong for the powers of darkness. +</P> + +<P> +It was only when they sat again in the blissful after-calm of their +understanding, that he felt the pricking of an unappeased distrust. +</P> + +<P> +"Did Madame de Treymes give you any reason for this change of +front?" he risked asking, when he found the distrust was not +otherwise to be quelled. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes: just what I've said. It was really her admiration of +<I>you</I>—of your attitude—your delicacy. She said that at first she +hadn't believed in it: they're always looking for a hidden motive. +And when she found that yours was staring at her in the actual words +you said: that you really respected my scruples, and would never, +never try to coerce or entrap me—something in her—poor +Christiane!—answered to it, she told me, and she wanted to prove to +us that she was capable of understanding us too. If you knew her +history you'd find it wonderful and pathetic that she can!" +</P> + +<P> +Durham thought he knew enough of it to infer that Madame de Treymes +had not been the object of many conscientious scruples on the part +of the opposite sex; but this increased rather his sense of the +strangeness than of the pathos of her action. Yet Madame de Malrive, +whom he had once inwardly taxed with the morbid raising of +obstacles, seemed to see none now; and he could only infer that her +sister-in-law's actual words had carried more conviction than +reached him in the repetition of them. The mere fact that he had so +much to gain by leaving his friend's faith undisturbed was no doubt +stirring his own suspicions to unnatural activity; and this sense +gradually reasoned him back into acceptance of her view, as the most +normal as well as the pleasantest he could take. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<P> +The uneasiness thus temporarily repressed slipped into the final +disguise of hoping he should not again meet Madame de Treymes; and +in this wish he was seconded by the decision, in which Madame de +Malrive concurred, that it would be well for him to leave Paris +while the preliminary negotiations were going on. He committed her +interests to the best professional care, and his mother, resigning +her dream of the lakes, remained to fortify Madame de Malrive by her +mild unimaginative view of the transaction, as an uncomfortable but +commonplace necessity, like house-cleaning or dentistry. Mrs. Durham +would doubtless have preferred that her only son, even with his hair +turning gray, should have chosen a Fanny Frisbee rather than a Fanny +de Malrive; but it was a part of her acceptance of life on a general +basis of innocence and kindliness, that she entered generously into +his dream of rescue and renewal, and devoted herself without +after-thought to keeping up Fanny's courage with so little to spare +for herself. +</P> + +<P> +The process, the lawyers declared, would not be a long one, since +Monsieur de Malrive's acquiescence reduced it to a formality; and +when, at the end of June, Durham returned from Italy with Katy and +Nannie, there seemed no reason why he should not stop in Paris long +enough to learn what progress had been made. +</P> + +<P> +But before he could learn this he was to hear, on entering Madame de +Malrive's presence, news more immediate if less personal. He found +her, in spite of her gladness in his return, so evidently +preoccupied and distressed that his first thought was one of fear +for their own future. But she read and dispelled this by saying, +before he could put his question: "Poor Christiane is here. She is +very unhappy. You have seen in the papers—?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen no papers since we left Turin. What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Prince d'Armillac has come to grief. There has been some +terrible scandal about money and he has been obliged to leave France +to escape arrest." +</P> + +<P> +"And Madame de Treymes has left her husband?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, no, poor creature: they don't leave their husbands—they can't. +But de Treymes has gone down to their place in Brittany, and as my +mother-in-law is with another daughter in Auvergne, Christiane came +here for a few days. With me, you see, she need not pretend—she can +cry her eyes out." +</P> + +<P> +"And that is what she is doing?" +</P> + +<P> +It was so unlike his conception of the way in which, under the most +adverse circumstances, Madame de Treymes would be likely to occupy +her time, that Durham was conscious of a note of scepticism in his +query. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor thing—if you saw her you would feel nothing but pity. She is +suffering so horribly that I reproach myself for being happy under +the same roof." +</P> + +<P> +Durham met this with a tender pressure of her hand; then he said, +after a pause of reflection: "I should like to see her." +</P> + +<P> +He hardly knew what prompted him to utter the wish, unless it were a +sudden stir of compunction at the memory of his own dealings with +Madame de Treymes. Had he not sacrificed the poor creature to a +purely fantastic conception of conduct? She had said that she knew +she was asking a trifle of him; and the fact that, materially, it +would have been a trifle, had seemed at the moment only an added +reason for steeling himself in his moral resistance to it. But now +that he had gained his point—and through her own generosity, as it +still appeared—the largeness of her attitude made his own seem +cramped and petty. Since conduct, in the last resort, must be judged +by its enlarging or diminishing effect on character, might it not be +that the zealous weighing of the moral anise and cummin was less +important than the unconsidered lavishing of the precious ointment? +At any rate, he could enjoy no peace of mind under the burden of +Madame de Treymes' magnanimity, and when he had assured himself that +his own affairs were progressing favourably, he once more, at the +risk of surprising his betrothed, brought up the possibility of +seeing her relative. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Malrive evinced no surprise. "It is natural, knowing what +she has done for us, that you should want to show her your sympathy. +The difficulty is that it is just the one thing you <I>can't</I> show +her. You can thank her, of course, for ourselves, but even that at +the moment—" +</P> + +<P> +"Would seem brutal? Yes, I recognize that I should have to choose my +words," he admitted, guiltily conscious that his capability of dealing +with Madame de Treymes extended far beyond her sister-in-law's +conjecture. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Malrive still hesitated. "I can tell her; and when you +come back tomorrow—" +</P> + +<P> +It had been decided that, in the interests of discretion—the +interests, in other words, of the poor little future Marquis de +Malrive—Durham was to remain but two days in Paris, withdrawing +then with his family till the conclusion of the divorce proceedings +permitted him to return in the acknowledged character of Madame de +Malrive's future husband. Even on this occasion, he had not come to +her alone; Nannie Durham, in the adjoining room, was chatting +conspicuously with the little Marquis, whom she could with +difficulty be restrained from teaching to call her "Aunt Nannie." +Durham thought her voice had risen unduly once or twice during his +visit, and when, on taking leave, he went to summon her from the +inner room, he found the higher note of ecstasy had been evoked by +the appearance of Madame de Treymes, and that the little boy, +himself absorbed in a new toy of Durham's bringing, was being bent +over by an actual as well as a potential aunt. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes raised herself with a slight start at Durham's +approach: she had her hat on, and had evidently paused a moment on +her way out to speak with Nannie, without expecting to be surprised +by her sister-in-law's other visitor. But her surprises never wore +the awkward form of embarrassment, and she smiled beautifully on +Durham as he took her extended hand. +</P> + +<P> +The smile was made the more appealing by the way in which it lit up +the ruin of her small dark face, which looked seared and hollowed as +by a flame that might have spread over it from her fevered eyes. +Durham, accustomed to the pale inward grief of the inexpressive +races, was positively startled by the way in which she seemed to +have been openly stretched on the pyre; he almost felt an indelicacy +in the ravages so tragically confessed. +</P> + +<P> +The sight caused an involuntary readjustment of his whole view of +the situation, and made him, as far as his own share in it went, +more than ever inclined to extremities of self-disgust. With him +such sensations required, for his own relief, some immediate +penitential escape, and as Madame de Treymes turned toward the door +he addressed a glance of entreaty to his betrothed. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Malrive, whose intelligence could be counted on at such +moments, responded by laying a detaining hand on her sister-in-law's +arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Christiane, may I leave Mr. Durham in your charge for two +minutes? I have promised Nannie that she shall see the boy put to +bed." +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes made no audible response to this request, but when +the door had closed on the other ladies she said, looking quietly at +Durham: "I don't think that, in this house, your time will hang so +heavy that you need my help in supporting it." +</P> + +<P> +Durham met her glance frankly. "It was not for that reason that +Madame de Malrive asked you to remain with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, then? Surely not in the interest of preserving appearances, +since she is safely upstairs with your sister?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but simply because I asked her to. I told her I wanted to speak +to you." +</P> + +<P> +"How you arrange things! And what reason can you have for wanting to +speak to me?" +</P> + +<P> +He paused for a moment. "Can't you imagine? The desire to thank you +for what you have done." +</P> + +<P> +She stirred restlessly, turning to adjust her hat before the glass +above the mantelpiece. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, as for what I have done—!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't speak as if you regretted it," he interposed. +</P> + +<P> +She turned back to him with a flash of laughter lighting up the +haggardness of her face. "Regret working for the happiness of two +such excellent persons? Can't you fancy what a charming change it is +for me to do something so innocent and beneficent?" +</P> + +<P> +He moved across the room and went up to her, drawing down the hand +which still flitted experimentally about her hat. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't talk in that way, however much one of the persons of whom you +speak may have deserved it." +</P> + +<P> +"One of the persons? Do you mean me?" +</P> + +<P> +He released her hand, but continued to face her resolutely. "I mean +myself, as you know. You have been generous—extraordinarily +generous." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, but I was doing good in a good cause. You have made me see that +there is a distinction." +</P> + +<P> +He flushed to the forehead. "I am here to let you say whatever you +choose to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever I choose?" She made a slight gesture of deprecation. "Has +it never occurred to you that I may conceivably choose to say +nothing?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham paused, conscious of the increasing difficulty of the +advance. She met him, parried him, at every turn: he had to take his +baffled purpose back to another point of attack. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite conceivably," he said: "so much so that I am aware I must +make the most of this opportunity, because I am not likely to get +another." +</P> + +<P> +"But what remains of your opportunity, if it isn't one to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"It still remains, for me, an occasion to abase myself—" He broke +off, conscious of a grossness of allusion that seemed, on a closer +approach, the real obstacle to full expression. But the moments were +flying, and for his self-esteem's sake he must find some way of +making her share the burden of his repentance. +</P> + +<P> +"There is only one thinkable pretext for detaining you: it is that I +may still show my sense of what you have done for me." +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes, who had moved toward the door, paused at this and +faced him, resting her thin brown hands on a slender sofa-back. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you propose to show that sense?" she enquired. +</P> + +<P> +Durham coloured still more deeply: he saw that she was determined to +save her pride by making what he had to say of the utmost +difficulty. Well! he would let his expiation take that form, +then—it was as if her slender hands held out to him the fool's cap +he was condemned to press down on his own ears. +</P> + +<P> +"By offering in return—in any form, and to the utmost—any service +you are forgiving enough to ask of me." +</P> + +<P> +She received this with a low sound of laughter that scarcely rose to +her lips. "You are princely. But, my dear sir, does it not occur to +you that I may, meanwhile, have taken my own way of repaying myself +for any service I have been fortunate enough to render you?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham, at the question, or still more, perhaps, at the tone in +which it was put, felt, through his compunction, a vague faint chill +of apprehension. Was she threatening him or only mocking him? Or was +this barbed swiftness of retort only the wounded creature's way of +defending the privacy of her own pain? He looked at her again, and +read his answer in the last conjecture. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know how you can have repaid yourself for anything so +disinterested—but I am sure, at least, that you have given me no +chance of recognizing, ever so slightly, what you have done." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head, with the flicker of a smile on her melancholy +lips. "Don't be too sure! You have given me a chance and I have +taken it—taken it to the full. So fully," she continued, keeping +her eyes fixed on his, "that if I were to accept any farther service +you might choose to offer, I should simply be robbing you—robbing +you shamelessly." She paused, and added in an undefinable voice: "I +was entitled, wasn't I, to take something in return for the service +I had the happiness of doing you?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham could not tell whether the irony of her tone was +self-directed or addressed to himself—perhaps it comprehended them +both. At any rate, he chose to overlook his own share in it in +replying earnestly: "So much so, that I can't see how you can have +left me nothing to add to what you say you have taken." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, but you don't know what that is!" She continued to smile, +elusively, ambiguously. "And what's more, you wouldn't believe me if +I told you." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" he rejoined. +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't believe me once before; and this is so much more +incredible." +</P> + +<P> +He took the taunt full in the face. "I shall go away unhappy unless +you tell me—but then perhaps I have deserved to," he confessed. +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head again, advancing toward the door with the evident +intention of bringing their conference to a close; but on the +threshold she paused to launch her reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't send you away unhappy, since it is in the contemplation of +your happiness that I have found my reward." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<P> +The next day Durham left with his family for England, with the +intention of not returning till after the divorce should have been +pronounced in September. +</P> + +<P> +To say that he left with a quiet heart would be to overstate the +case: the fact that he could not communicate to Madame de Malrive +the substance of his talk with her sister-in-law still hung upon him +uneasily. But of definite apprehensions the lapse of time gradually +freed him, and Madame de Malrive's letters, addressed more +frequently to his mother and sisters than to himself, reflected, in +their reassuring serenity, the undisturbed course of events. +</P> + +<P> +There was to Durham something peculiarly touching—as of an +involuntary confession of almost unbearable loneliness—in the way +she had regained, with her re-entry into the clear air of American +associations, her own fresh trustfulness of view. Once she had +accustomed herself to the surprise of finding her divorce unopposed, +she had been, as it now seemed to Durham, in almost too great haste +to renounce the habit of weighing motives and calculating chances. +It was as though her coming liberation had already freed her from +the garb of a mental slavery, as though she could not too soon or +too conspicuously cast off the ugly badge of suspicion. The fact +that Durham's cleverness had achieved so easy a victory over forces +apparently impregnable, merely raised her estimate of that +cleverness to the point of letting her feel that she could rest in +it without farther demur. He had even noticed in her, during his few +hours in Paris, a tendency to reproach herself for her lack of +charity, and a desire, almost as fervent as his own, to expiate it +by exaggerated recognition of the disinterestedness of her +opponents—if opponents they could still be called. This sudden +change in her attitude was peculiarly moving to Durham. He knew she +would hazard herself lightly enough wherever her heart called her; +but that, with the precious freight of her child's future weighing +her down, she should commit herself so blindly to his hand stirred +in him the depths of tenderness. Indeed, had the actual course of +events been less auspiciously regular, Madame de Malrive's +confidence would have gone far toward unsettling his own; but with +the process of law going on unimpeded, and the other side making no +sign of open or covert resistance, the fresh air of good faith +gradually swept through the inmost recesses of his distrust. +</P> + +<P> +It was expected that the decision in the suit would be reached by +mid-September; and it was arranged that Durham and his family should +remain in England till a decent interval after the conclusion of the +proceedings. Early in the month, however, it became necessary for +Durham to go to France to confer with a business associate who was +in Paris for a few days, and on the point of sailing for Cherbourg. +The most zealous observance of appearances could hardly forbid +Durham's return for such a purpose; but it had been agreed between +himself and Madame de Malrive—who had once more been left alone by +Madame de Treymes' return to her family—that, so close to the +fruition of their wishes, they would propitiate fate by a scrupulous +adherence to usage, and communicate only, during his hasty visit, by +a daily interchange of notes. +</P> + +<P> +The ingenuity of Madame de Malrive's tenderness found, however, the +day after his arrival, a means of tempering their privation. +"Christiane," she wrote, "is passing through Paris on her way from +Trouville, and has promised to see you for me if you will call on +her today. She thinks there is no reason why you should not go to +the Hôtel de Malrive, as you will find her there alone, the family +having gone to Auvergne. She is really our friend and understands +us." +</P> + +<P> +In obedience to this request—though perhaps inwardly regretting +that it should have been made—Durham that afternoon presented +himself at the proud old house beyond the Seine. More than ever, in +the semi-abandonment of the <I>morte saison</I>, with reduced service, +and shutters closed to the silence of the high-walled court, did it +strike the American as the incorruptible custodian of old prejudices +and strange social survivals. The thought of what he must represent +to the almost human consciousness which such old houses seem to +possess, made him feel like a barbarian desecrating the silence of a +temple of the earlier faith. Not that there was anything venerable +in the attestations of the Hôtel de Malrive, except in so far as, to +a sensitive imagination, every concrete embodiment of a past order +of things testifies to real convictions once suffered for. Durham, +at any rate, always alive in practical issues to the view of the +other side, had enough sympathy left over to spend it sometimes, +whimsically, on such perceptions of difference. Today, especially, +the assurance of success—the sense of entering like a victorious +beleaguerer receiving the keys of the stronghold—disposed him to a +sentimental perception of what the other side might have to say for +itself, in the language of old portraits, old relics, old usages +dumbly outraged by his mere presence. +</P> + +<P> +On the appearance of Madame de Treymes, however, such considerations +gave way to the immediate act of wondering how she meant to carry +off her share of the adventure. Durham had not forgotten the note on +which their last conversation had closed: the lapse of time serving +only to give more precision and perspective to the impression he had +then received. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes' first words implied a recognition of what was in +his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"It is extraordinary, my receiving you here; but <I>que voulez vous?</I> +There was no other place, and I would do more than this for our dear +Fanny." +</P> + +<P> +Durham bowed. "It seems to me that you are also doing a great deal +for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you will see later that I have my reasons," she returned +smiling. "But before speaking for myself I must speak for Fanny." +</P> + +<P> +She signed to him to take a chair near the sofa-corner in which she +had installed herself, and he listened in silence while she +delivered Madame de Malrive's message, and her own report of the +progress of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"You have put me still more deeply in your debt," he said, as she +concluded; "I wish you would make the expression of this feeling a +large part of the message I send back to Madame de Malrive." +</P> + +<P> +She brushed this aside with one of her light gestures of +deprecation. "Oh, I told you I had my reasons. And since you are +here—and the mere sight of you assures me that you are as well as +Fanny charged me to find you—with all these preliminaries disposed +of, I am going to relieve you, in a small measure, of the weight of +your obligation." +</P> + +<P> +Durham raised his head quickly. "By letting me do something in +return?" +</P> + +<P> +She made an assenting motion. "By asking you to answer a question." +</P> + +<P> +"That seems very little to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be so sure! It is never very little to your race." She leaned +back, studying him through half-dropped lids. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, try me," he protested. +</P> + +<P> +She did not immediately respond; and when she spoke, her first words +were explanatory rather than interrogative. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to begin by saying that I believe I once did you an +injustice, to the extent of misunderstanding your motive for a +certain action." +</P> + +<P> +Durham's uneasy flush confessed his recognition of her meaning. "Ah, +if we must go back to <I>that</I>—" +</P> + +<P> +"You withdraw your assent to my request?" +</P> + +<P> +"By no means; but nothing consolatory you can find to say on that +point can really make any difference." +</P> + +<P> +"Will not the difference in my view of you perhaps make a difference +in your own?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him earnestly, without a trace of irony in her eyes or +on her lips. "It is really I who have an <I>amende</I> to make, as I now +understand the situation. I once turned to you for help in a painful +extremity, and I have only now learned to understand your reasons +for refusing to help me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my reasons—" groaned Durham. +</P> + +<P> +"I have learned to understand them," she persisted, "by being so +much, lately, with Fanny." +</P> + +<P> +"But I never told her!" he broke in. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. That was what told <I>me</I>. I understood you through her, and +through your dealings with her. There she was—the woman you adored +and longed to save; and you would not lift a finger to make her +yours by means which would have seemed—I see it now—a desecration +of your feeling for each other." She paused, as if to find the exact +words for meanings she had never before had occasion to formulate. +"It came to me first—a light on your attitude—when I found you had +never breathed to her a word of our talk together. She had +confidently commissioned you to find a way for her, as the mediaeval +lady sent a prayer to her knight to deliver her from captivity, and +you came back, confessing you had failed, but never justifying +yourself by so much as a hint of the reason why. And when I had +lived a little in Fanny's intimacy—at a moment when circumstances +helped to bring us extraordinarily close—I understood why you had +done this; why you had let her take what view she pleased of your +failure, your passive acceptance of defeat, rather than let her +suspect the alternative offered you. You couldn't, even with my +permission, betray to any one a hint of my miserable secret, and you +couldn't, for your life's happiness, pay the particular price that I +asked." She leaned toward him in the intense, almost childlike, +effort at full expression. "Oh, we are of different races, with a +different point of honour; but I understand, I see, that you are +good people—just simply, courageously <I>good!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +She paused, and then said slowly: "Have I understood you? Have I put +my hand on your motive?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham sat speechless, subdued by the rush of emotion which her +words set free. +</P> + +<P> +"That, you understand, is my question," she concluded with a faint +smile; and he answered hesitatingly: "What can it matter, when the +upshot is something I infinitely regret?" +</P> + +<P> +"Having refused me? Don't!" She spoke with deep seriousness, bending +her eyes full on his: "Ah, I have suffered—suffered! But I have +learned also—my life has been enlarged. You see how I have +understood you both. And that is something I should have been +incapable of a few months ago." +</P> + +<P> +Durham returned her look. "I can't think that you can ever have been +incapable of any generous interpretation." +</P> + +<P> +She uttered a slight exclamation, which resolved itself into a laugh +of self-directed irony. +</P> + +<P> +"If you knew into what language I have always translated life! But +that," she broke off, "is not what you are here to learn." +</P> + +<P> +"I think," he returned gravely, "that I am here to learn the measure +of Christian charity." +</P> + +<P> +She threw him a new, odd look. "Ah, no—but to show it!" she +exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"To show it? And to whom?" +</P> + +<P> +She paused for a moment, and then rejoined, instead of answering: +"Do you remember that day I talked with you at Fanny's? The day +after you came back from Italy?" +</P> + +<P> +He made a motion of assent, and she went on: "You asked me then what +return I expected for my service to you, as you called it; and I +answered, the contemplation of your happiness. Well, do you know +what that meant in my old language—the language I was still +speaking then? It meant that I knew there was horrible misery in +store for you, and that I was waiting to feast my eyes on it: that's +all!" +</P> + +<P> +She had flung out the words with one of her quick bursts of +self-abandonment, like a fevered sufferer stripping the bandage from +a wound. Durham received them with a face blanching to the pallour +of her own. +</P> + +<P> +"What misery do you mean?" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +She leaned forward, laying her hand on his with just such a gesture +as she had used to enforce her appeal in Mrs. Boykin's boudoir. The +remembrance made him shrink slightly from her touch, and she drew +back with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you never asked yourself," she enquired, "why our family +consented so readily to a divorce?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, often," he replied, all his unformed fears gathering in a dark +throng about him. "But Fanny was so reassured, so convinced that we +owed it to your good offices—" +</P> + +<P> +She broke into a laugh. "My good offices! Will you never, you +Americans, learn that we do not act individually in such cases? That +we are all obedient to a common principle of authority?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then it was not you—?" +</P> + +<P> +She made an impatient shrugging motion. "Oh, you are too +confiding—it is the other side of your beautiful good faith!" +</P> + +<P> +"The side you have taken advantage of, it appears?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—we—all of us. I especially!" she confessed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<P> +There was another pause, during which Durham tried to steady himself +against the shock of the impending revelation. It was an odd +circumstance of the case that, though Madame de Treymes' avowal of +duplicity was fresh in his ears, he did not for a moment believe +that she would deceive him again. Whatever passed between them now +would go to the root of the matter. +</P> + +<P> +The first thing that passed was the long look they exchanged: +searching on his part, tender, sad, undefinable on hers. As the +result of it he said: "Why, then, did you consent to the divorce?" +</P> + +<P> +"To get the boy back," she answered instantly; and while he sat +stunned by the unexpectedness of the retort, she went on: "Is it +possible you never suspected? It has been our whole thought from the +first. Everything was planned with that object." +</P> + +<P> +He drew a sharp breath of alarm. "But the divorce—how could that +give him back to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was the only thing that could. We trembled lest the idea should +occur to you. But we were reasonably safe, for there has only been +one other case of the same kind before the courts." She leaned back, +the sight of his perplexity checking her quick rush of words. "You +didn't know," she began again, "that in that case, on the remarriage +of the mother, the courts instantly restored the child to the +father, though he had—well, given as much cause for divorce as my +unfortunate brother?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham gave an ironic laugh. "Your French justice takes a grammar +and dictionary to understand." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled. "<I>We</I> understand it—and it isn't necessary that you +should." +</P> + +<P> +"So it would appear!" he exclaimed bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't judge us too harshly—or not, at least, till you have taken +the trouble to learn our point of view. You consider the +individual—we think only of the family." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you take care to preserve it, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, that's what we do; in spite of every aberration of the +individual. And so, when we saw it was impossible that my brother +and his wife should live together, we simply transferred our +allegiance to the child—we constituted <I>him</I> the family." +</P> + +<P> +"A precious kindness you did him! If the result is to give him back +to his father." +</P> + +<P> +"That, I admit, is to be deplored; but his father is only a fraction +of the whole. What we really do is to give him back to his race, his +religion, his true place in the order of things." +</P> + +<P> +"His mother never tried to deprive him of any of those inestimable +advantages!" +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes unclasped her hands with a slight gesture of +deprecation. +</P> + +<P> +"Not consciously, perhaps; but silences and reserves can teach so +much. His mother has another point of view—" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven!" Durham interjected. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven for <I>her</I>—yes—perhaps; but it would not have done +for the boy." +</P> + +<P> +Durham squared his shoulders with the sudden resolve of a man +breaking through a throng of ugly phantoms. +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't yet convinced me that it won't have to do for him. At +the time of Madame de Malrive's separation, the court made no +difficulty about giving her the custody of her son; and you must +pardon me for reminding you that the father's unfitness was the +reason alleged." +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes shrugged her shoulders. "And my poor brother, you +would add, has not changed; but the circumstances have, and that +proves precisely what I have been trying to show you: that, in such +cases, the general course of events is considered, rather than the +action of any one person." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why is Madame de Malrive's action to be considered?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because it breaks up the unity of the family." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Unity—!</I>" broke from Durham; and Madame de Treymes gently +suffered his smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Of the family tradition, I mean: it introduces new elements. You +are a new element." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven!" said Durham again. +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him singularly. "Yes—you may thank heaven. Why isn't +it enough to satisfy Fanny?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why isn't what enough?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your being, as I say, a new element; taking her so completely into +a better air. Why shouldn't she be content to begin a new life with +you, without wanting to keep the boy too?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham stared at her dumbly. "I don't know what you mean," he said +at length. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that in her place—" she broke off, dropping her eyes. "She +may have another son—the son of the man she adores." +</P> + +<P> +Durham rose from his seat and took a quick turn through the room. +She sat motionless, following his steps through her lowered lashes, +which she raised again slowly as he stood before her. +</P> + +<P> +"Your idea, then, is that I should tell her nothing?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell her <I>now?</I> But, my poor friend, you would be ruined!" +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly." He paused. "Then why have you told <I>me?</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Under her dark skin he saw the faint colour stealing. "We see things +so differently—but can't you conceive that, after all that has +passed, I felt it a kind of loyalty not to leave you in ignorance?" +</P> + +<P> +"And you feel no such loyalty to her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I leave her to you," she murmured, looking down again. +</P> + +<P> +Durham continued to stand before her, grappling slowly with his +perplexity, which loomed larger and darker as it closed in on him. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't leave her to me; you take her from me at a stroke! I +suppose," he added painfully, "I ought to thank you for doing it +before it's too late." +</P> + +<P> +She stared. "I take her from you? I simply prevent your going to her +unprepared. Knowing Fanny as I do, it seemed to me necessary that +you should find a way in advance—a way of tiding over the first +moment. That, of course, is what we had planned that you shouldn't +have. We meant to let you marry, and then—. Oh, there is no +question about the result: we are certain of our case—our measures +have been taken <I>de loin</I>." She broke off, as if oppressed by his +stricken silence. "You will think me stupid, but my warning you of +this is the only return I know how to make for your generosity. I +could not bear to have you say afterward that I had deceived you +twice." +</P> + +<P> +"Twice?" He looked at her perplexedly, and her colour rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I deceived you once—that night at your cousin's, when I tried to +get you to bribe me. Even then we meant to consent to the +divorce—it was decided the first day that I saw you." He was +silent, and she added, with one of her mocking gestures: "You see +from what a <I>milieu</I> you are taking her!" +</P> + +<P> +Durham groaned. "She will never give up her son!" +</P> + +<P> +"How can she help it? After you are married there will be no +choice." +</P> + +<P> +"No—but there is one now." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Now?</I>" She sprang to her feet, clasping her hands in dismay. +"Haven't I made it clear to you? Haven't I shown you your course?" +She paused, and then brought out with emphasis: "I love Fanny, and I +am ready to trust her happiness to you." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall have nothing to do with her happiness," he repeated +doggedly. +</P> + +<P> +She stood close to him, with a look intently fixed on his face. "Are +you afraid?" she asked with one of her mocking flashes. +</P> + +<P> +"Afraid?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of not being able to make it up to her—?" +</P> + +<P> +Their eyes met, and he returned her look steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"No; if I had the chance, I believe I could." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you could!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the worst of it," he said with a cheerless laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"The worst—?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see that I can't deceive her? Can't trick her into +marrying me now?" +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Treymes continued to hold his eyes for a puzzled moment +after he had spoken; then she broke out despairingly: "Is happiness +never more to you, then, than this abstract standard of truth?" +</P> + +<P> +Durham reflected. "I don't know—it's an instinct. There doesn't +seem to be any choice." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I am a miserable wretch for not holding my tongue!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head sadly. "That would not have helped me; and it +would have been a thousand times worse for her." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing can be as bad for her as losing you! Aren't you moved by +seeing her need?" +</P> + +<P> +"Horribly—are not <I>you?</I>" he said, lifting his eyes to hers +suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +She started under his look. "You mean, why don't I help you? Why +don't I use my influence? Ah, if you knew how I have tried!" +</P> + +<P> +"And you are sure that nothing can be done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, nothing: what arguments can I use? We abhor divorce—we go +against our religion in consenting to it—and nothing short of +recovering the boy could possibly justify us." +</P> + +<P> +Durham turned slowly away. "Then there is nothing to be done," he +said, speaking more to himself than to her. +</P> + +<P> +He felt her light touch on his arm. "Wait! There is one thing +more—" She stood close to him, with entreaty written on her small +passionate face. "There is one thing more," she repeated. "And that +is, to believe that I am deceiving you again." +</P> + +<P> +He stopped short with a bewildered stare. "That you are deceiving +me—about the boy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—yes; why shouldn't I? You're so credulous—the temptation is +irresistible." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, it would be too easy to find out—" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try, then! Go on as if nothing had happened. I have been +lying to you," she declared with vehemence. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you give me your word of honour?" he rejoined. +</P> + +<P> +"A liar's? I haven't any! Take the logic of the facts instead. What +reason have you to believe any good of me? And what reason have I to +do any to you? Why on earth should I betray my family for your +benefit? Ah, don't let yourself be deceived to the end!" She +sparkled up at him, her eyes suffused with mockery; but on the +lashes he saw a tear. +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head sadly. "I should first have to find a reason for +your deceiving me." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I gave it to you long ago. I wanted to punish you—and now +I've punished you enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you've punished me enough," he conceded. +</P> + +<P> +The tear gathered and fell down her thin cheek. "It's you who are +punishing me now. I tell you I'm false to the core. Look back and +see what I've done to you!" +</P> + +<P> +He stood silent, with his eyes fixed on the ground. Then he took one +of her hands and raised it to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"You poor, good woman!" he said gravely. +</P> + +<P> +Her hand trembled as she drew it away. "You're going to +her—straight from here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—straight from here." +</P> + +<P> +"To tell her everything—to renounce your hope?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is what it amounts to, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +She watched him cross the room and lay his hand on the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you poor, good man!" she said with a sob. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Madame de Treymes, by Edith Wharton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME DE TREYMES *** + +***** This file should be named 4518-h.htm or 4518-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/1/4518/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + + diff --git a/4518.txt b/4518.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8604b84 --- /dev/null +++ b/4518.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2766 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Madame de Treymes, by Edith Wharton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Madame de Treymes + +Author: Edith Wharton + +Posting Date: August 8, 2009 [EBook #4518] +Release Date: October, 2003 +First Posted: January 29, 2002 +[Last updated: September 7, 2017] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME DE TREYMES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +MADAME DE TREYMES + + +BY + +EDITH WHARTON + + + + +MADAME DE TREYMES + + + + +I + + +John Durham, while he waited for Madame de Malrive to draw on her +gloves, stood in the hotel doorway looking out across the Rue de +Rivoli at the afternoon brightness of the Tuileries gardens. + +His European visits were infrequent enough to have kept unimpaired +the freshness of his eye, and he was always struck anew by the vast +and consummately ordered spectacle of Paris: by its look of having +been boldly and deliberately planned as a background for the +enjoyment of life, instead of being forced into grudging concessions +to the festive instincts, or barricading itself against them in +unenlightened ugliness, like his own lamentable New York. + +But to-day, if the scene had never presented itself more alluringly, +in that moist spring bloom between showers, when the horse-chestnuts +dome themselves in unreal green against a gauzy sky, and the very +dust of the pavement seems the fragrance of lilac made visible--to-day +for the first time the sense of a personal stake in it all, of having +to reckon individually with its effects and influences, kept Durham +from an unrestrained yielding to the spell. Paris might still be--to +the unimplicated it doubtless still was--the most beautiful city in +the world; but whether it were the most lovable or the most detestable +depended for him, in the last analysis, on the buttoning of the white +glove over which Fanny de Malrive still lingered. + +The mere fact of her having forgotten to draw on her gloves as they +were descending in the hotel lift from his mother's drawing-room +was, in this connection, charged with significance to Durham. She +was the kind of woman who always presents herself to the mind's eye +as completely equipped, as made up of exquisitely cared for and +finely-related details; and that the heat of her parting with his +family should have left her unconscious that she was emerging +gloveless into Paris, seemed, on the whole, to speak hopefully for +Durham's future opinion of the city. + +Even now, he could detect a certain confusion, a desire to draw +breath and catch up with life, in the way she dawdled over the last +buttons in the dimness of the porte-cochere, while her footman, +outside, hung on her retarded signal. + +When at length they emerged, it was to learn from that functionary +that Madame la Marquise's carriage had been obliged to yield its +place at the door, but was at the moment in the act of regaining it. +Madame de Malrive cut the explanation short. "I shall walk home. The +carriage this evening at eight." + +As the footman turned away, she raised her eyes for the first time +to Durham's. + +"Will you walk with me? Let us cross the Tuileries. I should like to +sit a moment on the terrace." + +She spoke quite easily and naturally, as if it were the most +commonplace thing in the world for them to be straying afoot +together over Paris; but even his vague knowledge of the world she +lived in--a knowledge mainly acquired through the perusal of +yellow-backed fiction--gave a thrilling significance to her +naturalness. Durham, indeed, was beginning to find that one of the +charms of a sophisticated society is that it lends point and +perspective to the slightest contact between the sexes. If, in the +old unrestricted New York days, Fanny Frisbee, from a brown stone +door-step, had proposed that they should take a walk in the Park, +the idea would have presented itself to her companion as agreeable +but unimportant; whereas Fanny de Malrive's suggestion that they +should stroll across the Tuileries was obviously fraught with +unspecified possibilities. + +He was so throbbing with the sense of these possibilities that he +walked beside her without speaking down the length of the wide alley +which follows the line of the Rue de Rivoli, suffering her even, +when they reached its farthest end, to direct him in silence up the +steps to the terrace of the Feuillants. For, after all, the +possibilities were double-faced, and her bold departure from custom +might simply mean that what she had to say was so dreadful that it +needed all the tenderest mitigation of circumstance. + +There was apparently nothing embarrassing to her in his silence: it +was a part of her long European discipline that she had learned to +manage pauses with ease. In her Frisbee days she might have packed +this one with a random fluency; now she was content to let it widen +slowly before them like the spacious prospect opening at their feet. +The complicated beauty of this prospect, as they moved toward it +between the symmetrically clipped limes of the lateral terrace, +touched him anew through her nearness, as with the hint of some vast +impersonal power, controlling and regulating her life in ways he +could not guess, putting between himself and her the whole width of +the civilization into which her marriage had absorbed her. And there +was such fear in the thought--he read such derision of what he had +to offer in the splendour of the great avenues tapering upward to +the sunset glories of the Arch--that all he had meant to say when he +finally spoke compressed itself at last into an abrupt unmitigated: +"Well?" + +She answered at once--as though she had only awaited the call of the +national interrogation--"I don't know when I have been so happy." + +"So happy?" The suddenness of his joy flushed up through his fair +skin. + +"As I was just now--taking tea with your mother and sisters." + +Durham's "Oh!" of surprise betrayed also a note of disillusionment, +which she met only by the reconciling murmur: "Shall we sit down?" + +He found two of the springy yellow chairs indigenous to the spot, +and placed them under the tree near which they had paused, saying +reluctantly, as he did so: "Of course it was an immense pleasure to +_them_ to see you again." + +"Oh, not in the same way. I mean--" she paused, sinking into the +chair, and betraying, for the first time, a momentary inability to +deal becomingly with the situation. "I mean," she resumed smiling, +"that it was not an event for them, as it was for me." + +"An event?" he caught her up again, eagerly; for what, in the +language of any civilization, could that word mean but just the one +thing he most wished it to? + +"To be with dear, good, sweet, simple, real Americans again!" she +burst out, heaping up her epithets with reckless prodigality. + +Durham's smile once more faded to impersonality, as he rejoined, +just a shade on the defensive: "If it's merely our Americanism you +enjoyed--I've no doubt we can give you all you want in that line." + +"Yes, it's just that! But if you knew what the word means to me! It +means--it means--" she paused as if to assure herself that they were +sufficiently isolated from the desultory groups beneath the other +trees--"it means that I'm _safe_ with them: as safe as in a bank!" + +Durham felt a sudden warmth behind his eyes and in his throat. "I +think I do know--" + +"No, you don't, really; you can't know how dear and strange and +familiar it all sounded: the old New York names that kept coming up +in your mother's talk, and her charming quaint ideas about +Europe--their all regarding it as a great big innocent pleasure +ground and shop for Americans; and your mother's missing the +home-made bread and preferring the American asparagus--I'm so tired +of Americans who despise even their own asparagus! And then your +married sister's spending her summers at--where is it?--the +Kittawittany House on Lake Pohunk--" + +A vision of earnest women in Shetland shawls, with spectacles and +thin knobs of hair, eating blueberry pie at unwholesome hours in a +shingled dining-room on a bare New England hill-top, rose pallidly +between Durham and the verdant brightness of the Champs Elysees, and +he protested with a slight smile: "Oh, but my married sister is the +black sheep of the family--the rest of us never sank as low as +that." + +"Low? I think it's beautiful--fresh and innocent and simple. I +remember going to such a place once. They have early dinner--rather +late--and go off in buckboards over terrible roads, and bring back +golden rod and autumn leaves, and read nature books aloud on the +piazza; and there is always one shy young man in flannels--only +one--who has come to see the prettiest girl (though how he can +choose among so many!) and who takes her off in a buggy for hours +and hours--" She paused and summed up with a long sigh: "It is +fifteen years since I was in America." + +"And you're still so good an American." + +"Oh, a better and better one every day!" + +He hesitated. "Then why did you never come back?" + +Her face altered instantly, exchanging its retrospective light for +the look of slightly shadowed watchfulness which he had known as +most habitual to it. + +"It was impossible--it has always been so. My husband would not go; +and since--since our separation--there have been family reasons." + +Durham sighed impatiently. "Why do you talk of reasons? The truth +is, you have made your life here. You could never give all this up!" +He made a discouraged gesture in the direction of the Place de la +Concorde. + +"Give it up! I would go tomorrow! But it could never, now, be for +more than a visit. I must live in France on account of my boy." + +Durham's heart gave a quick beat. At last the talk had neared the +point toward which his whole mind was straining, and he began to +feel a personal application in her words. But that made him all the +more cautious about choosing his own. + +"It is an agreement--about the boy?" he ventured. + +"I gave my word. They knew that was enough," she said proudly; +adding, as if to put him in full possession of her reasons: "It +would have been much more difficult for me to obtain complete +control of my son if it had not been understood that I was to live +in France." + +"That seems fair," Durham assented after a moment's reflection: it +was his instinct, even in the heat of personal endeavour, to pause a +moment on the question of "fairness." The personal claim reasserted +itself as he added tentatively: "But when he _is_ brought up--when +he's grown up: then you would feel freer?" + +She received this with a start, as a possibility too remote to have +entered into her view of the future. "He is only eight years old!" +she objected. + +"Ah, of course it would be a long way off?" + +"A long way off, thank heaven! French mothers part late with their +sons, and in that one respect I mean to be a French mother." + +"Of course--naturally--since he has only you," Durham again +assented. + +He was eager to show how fully he took her point of view, if only to +dispose her to the reciprocal fairness of taking his when the time +came to present it. And he began to think that the time had now +come; that their walk would not have thus resolved itself, without +excuse or pretext, into a tranquil session beneath the trees, for +any purpose less important than that of giving him his opportunity. + +He took it, characteristically, without seeking a transition. "When +I spoke to you, the other day, about myself--about what I felt for +you--I said nothing of the future, because, for the moment, my mind +refused to travel beyond its immediate hope of happiness. But I +felt, of course, even then, that the hope involved various +difficulties--that we can't, as we might once have done, come +together without any thought but for ourselves; and whatever your +answer is to be, I want to tell you now that I am ready to accept my +share of the difficulties." He paused, and then added explicitly: +"If there's the least chance of your listening to me, I'm willing to +live over here as long as you can keep your boy with you." + + + + +II + + +Whatever Madame de Malrive's answer was to be, there could be no +doubt as to her readiness to listen. She received Durham's words +without sign of resistance, and took time to ponder them gently +before she answered in a voice touched by emotion: "You are very +generous--very unselfish; but when you fix a limit--no matter how +remote--to my remaining here, I see how wrong it is to let myself +consider for a moment such possibilities as we have been talking +of." + +"Wrong? Why should it be wrong?" + +"Because I shall want to keep my boy always! Not, of course, in the +sense of living with him, or even forming an important part of his +life; I am not deluded enough to think that possible. But I do +believe it possible never to pass wholly out of his life; and while +there is a hope of that, how can I leave him?" She paused, and +turned on him a new face, a face in which the past of which he was +still so ignorant showed itself like a shadow suddenly darkening a +clear pane. "How can I make you understand?" she went on urgently. +"It is not only because of my love for him--not only, I mean, +because of my own happiness in being with him; that I can't, in +imagination, surrender even the remotest hour of his future; it is +because, the moment he passes out of my influence, he passes under +that other--the influence I have been fighting against every hour +since he was born!--I don't mean, you know," she added, as Durham, +with bent head, continued to offer the silent fixity of his +attention, "I don't mean the special personal influence--except +inasmuch as it represents something wider, more general, something +that encloses and circulates through the whole world in which he +belongs. That is what I meant when I said you could never +understand! There is nothing in your experience--in any American +experience--to correspond with that far-reaching family +organization, which is itself a part of the larger system, and which +encloses a young man of my son's position in a network of accepted +prejudices and opinions. Everything is prepared in advance--his +political and religious convictions, his judgments of people, his +sense of honour, his ideas of women, his whole view of life. He is +taught to see vileness and corruption in every one not of his own +way of thinking, and in every idea that does not directly serve the +religious and political purposes of his class. The truth isn't a +fixed thing: it's not used to test actions by, it's tested by them, +and made to fit in with them. And this forming of the mind begins +with the child's first consciousness; it's in his nursery stories, +his baby prayers, his very games with his playmates! Already he is +only half mine, because the Church has the other half, and will be +reaching out for my share as soon as his education begins. But that +other half is still mine, and I mean to make it the strongest and +most living half of the two, so that, when the inevitable conflict +begins, the energy and the truth and the endurance shall be on my +side and not on theirs!" + +She paused, flushing with the repressed fervour of her utterance, +though her voice had not been raised beyond its usual discreet +modulations; and Durham felt himself tingling with the transmitted +force of her resolve. Whatever shock her words brought to his +personal hope, he was grateful to her for speaking them so clearly, +for having so sure a grasp of her purpose. + +Her decision strengthened his own, and after a pause of deliberation +he said quietly: "There might be a good deal to urge on the other +side--the ineffectualness of your sacrifice, the probability that +when your son marries he will inevitably be absorbed back into the +life of his class and his people; but I can't look at it in that +way, because if I were in your place I believe I should feel just as +you do about it. As long as there was a fighting chance I should +want to keep hold of my half, no matter how much the struggle cost +me. And one reason why I understand your feeling about your boy is +that I have the same feeling about _you:_ as long as there's a +fighting chance of keeping my half of you--the half he is willing to +spare me--I don't see how I can ever give it up." He waited again, +and then brought out firmly: "If you'll marry me, I'll agree to live +out here as long as you want, and we'll be two instead of one to +keep hold of your half of him." + +He raised his eyes as he ended, and saw that hers met them through a +quick clouding of tears. + +"Ah, I am glad to have had this said to me! But I could never accept +such an offer." + +He caught instantly at the distinction. "That doesn't mean that you +could never accept _me?_" + +"Under such conditions--" + +"But if I am satisfied with the conditions? Don't think I am +speaking rashly, under the influence of the moment. I have expected +something of this sort, and I have thought out my side of the case. +As far as material circumstances go, I have worked long enough and +successfully enough to take my ease and take it where I choose. I +mention that because the life I offer you is offered to your boy as +well." He let this sink into her mind before summing up gravely: +"The offer I make is made deliberately, and at least I have a right +to a direct answer." + +She was silent again, and then lifted a cleared gaze to his. "My +direct answer then is: if I were still Fanny Frisbee I would marry +you." + +He bent toward her persuasively. "But you will be--when the divorce +is pronounced." + +"Ah, the divorce--" She flushed deeply, with an instinctive +shrinking back of her whole person which made him straighten himself +in his chair. + +"Do you so dislike the idea?" + +"The idea of divorce? No--not in my case. I should like anything +that would do away with the past--obliterate it all--make everything +new in my life!" + +"Then what--?" he began again, waiting with the patience of a wooer +on the uneasy circling of her tormented mind. + +"Oh, don't ask me; I don't know; I am frightened." + +Durham gave a deep sigh of discouragement. "I thought your coming +here with me today--and above all your going with me just now to see +my mother--was a sign that you were _not_ frightened!" + +"Well, I was not when I was with your mother. She made everything +seem easy and natural. She took me back into that clear American air +where there are no obscurities, no mysteries--" + +"What obscurities, what mysteries, are you afraid of?" + +She looked about her with a faint shiver. "I am afraid of +everything!" she said. + +"That's because you are alone; because you've no one to turn to. +I'll clear the air for you fast enough if you'll let me." + +He looked forth defiantly, as if flinging his challenge at the great +city which had come to typify the powers contending with him for her +possession. + +"You say that so easily! But you don't know; none of you know." + +"Know what?" + +"The difficulties--" + +"I told you I was ready to take my share of the difficulties--and my +share naturally includes yours. You know Americans are great hands +at getting over difficulties." He drew himself up confidently. "Just +leave that to me--only tell me exactly what you're afraid of." + +She paused again, and then said: "The divorce, to begin with--they +will never consent to it." + +He noticed that she spoke as though the interests of the whole clan, +rather than her husband's individual claim, were to be considered; +and the use of the plural pronoun shocked his free individualism +like a glimpse of some dark feudal survival. + +"But you are absolutely certain of your divorce! I've consulted--of +course without mentioning names--" + +She interrupted him, with a melancholy smile: "Ah, so have I. The +divorce would be easy enough to get, if they ever let it come into +the courts." + +"How on earth can they prevent that?" + +"I don't know; my never knowing how they will do things is one of +the secrets of their power." + +"Their power? What power?" he broke in with irrepressible contempt. +"Who are these bogeys whose machinations are going to arrest the +course of justice in a--comparatively--civilized country? You've +told me yourself that Monsieur de Malrive is the least likely to +give you trouble; and the others are his uncle the abbe, his mother +and sister. That kind of a syndicate doesn't scare me much. A priest +and two women _contra mundum!_" + +She shook her head. "Not _contra mundum_, but with it, their whole +world is behind them. It's that mysterious solidarity that you can't +understand. One doesn't know how far they may reach, or in how many +directions. I have never known. They have always cropped up where I +least expected them." + +Before this persistency of negation Durham's buoyancy began to flag, +but his determination grew the more fixed. + +"Well, then, supposing them to possess these supernatural powers; do +you think it's to people of that kind that I'll ever consent to give +you up?" + +She raised a half-smiling glance of protest. "Oh, they're not +wantonly wicked. They'll leave me alone as long as--" + +"As I do?" he interrupted. "Do you want me to leave you alone? Was +that what you brought me here to tell me?" + +The directness of the challenge seemed to gather up the scattered +strands of her hesitation, and lifting her head she turned on him a +look in which, but for its underlying shadow, he might have +recovered the full free beam of Fanny Frisbee's gaze. + +"I don't know why I brought you here," she said gently, "except from +the wish to prolong a little the illusion of being once more an +American among Americans. Just now, sitting there with your mother +and Katy and Nannie, the difficulties seemed to vanish; the problems +grew as trivial to me as they are to you. And I wanted them to +remain so a little longer; I wanted to put off going back to them. +But it was of no use--they were waiting for me here. They are over +there now in that house across the river." She indicated the grey +sky-line of the Faubourg, shining in the splintered radiance of the +sunset beyond the long sweep of the quays. "They are a part of me--I +belong to them. I must go back to them!" she sighed. + +She rose slowly to her feet, as though her metaphor had expressed an +actual fact and she felt herself bodily drawn from his side by the +influences of which she spoke. + +Durham had risen too. "Then I go back with you!" he exclaimed +energetically; and as she paused, wavering a little under the shock +of his resolve: "I don't mean into your house--but into your life!" +he said. + +She suffered him, at any rate, to accompany her to the door of the +house, and allowed their debate to prolong itself through the almost +monastic quiet of the quarter which led thither. On the way, he +succeeded in wresting from her the confession that, if it were +possible to ascertain in advance that her husband's family would not +oppose her action, she might decide to apply for a divorce. Short of +a positive assurance on this point, she made it clear that she would +never move in the matter; there must be no scandal, no _retentissement_, +nothing which her boy, necessarily brought up in the French tradition +of scrupulously preserved appearances, could afterward regard as the +faintest blur on his much-quartered escutcheon. But even this partial +concession again raised fresh obstacles; for there seemed to be no +one to whom she could entrust so delicate an investigation, and to +apply directly to the Marquis de Malrive or his relatives appeared, +in the light of her past experience, the last way of learning their +intentions. + +"But," Durham objected, beginning to suspect a morbid fixity of idea +in her perpetual attitude of distrust--"but surely you have told me +that your husband's sister--what is her name? Madame de +Treymes?--was the most powerful member of the group, and that she +has always been on your side." + +She hesitated. "Yes, Christiane has been on my side. She dislikes +her brother. But it would not do to ask her." + +"But could no one else ask her? Who are her friends?" + +"She has a great many; and some, of course, are mine. But in a case +like this they would be all hers; they wouldn't hesitate a moment +between us." + +"Why should it be necessary to hesitate between you? Suppose Madame +de Treymes sees the reasonableness of what you ask; suppose, at any +rate, she sees the hopelessness of opposing you? Why should she make +a mystery of your opinion?" + +"It's not that; it is that, if I went to her friends, I should never +get her real opinion from them. At least I should never know if it +_was_ her real opinion; and therefore I should be no farther +advanced. Don't you see?" + +Durham struggled between the sentimental impulse to soothe her, and +the practical instinct that it was a moment for unmitigated +frankness. + +"I'm not sure that I do; but if you can't find out what Madame de +Treymes thinks, I'll see what I can do myself." + +"Oh--_you_!" broke from her in mingled terror and admiration; and +pausing on her doorstep to lay her hand in his before she touched +the bell, she added with a half-whimsical flash of regret: "Why +didn't this happen to Fanny Frisbee?" + + + + +III + + +Why had it not happened to Fanny Frisbee? + +Durham put the question to himself as he walked back along the +quays, in a state of inner commotion which left him, for once, +insensible to the ordered beauty of his surroundings. Propinquity +had not been lacking: he had known Miss Frisbee since his college +days. In unsophisticated circles, one family is apt to quote +another; and the Durham ladies had always quoted the Frisbees. The +Frisbees were bold, experienced, enterprising: they had what the +novelists of the day called "dash." The beautiful Fanny was +especially dashing; she had the showiest national attributes, +tempered only by a native grace of softness, as the beam of her eyes +was subdued by the length of their lashes. And yet young Durham, +though not unsusceptible to such charms, had remained content to +enjoy them from a safe distance of good fellowship. If he had been +asked why, he could not have told; but the Durham of forty +understood. It was because there were, with minor modifications, +many other Fanny Frisbees; whereas never before, within his ken, had +there been a Fanny de Malrive. + +He had felt it in a flash, when, the autumn before, he had run +across her one evening in the dining-room of the Beaurivage at +Ouchy; when, after a furtive exchange of glances, they had +simultaneously arrived at recognition, followed by an eager pressure +of hands, and a long evening of reminiscence on the starlit terrace. +She was the same, but so mysteriously changed! And it was the +mystery, the sense of unprobed depths of initiation, which drew him +to her as her freshness had never drawn him. He had not hitherto +attempted to define the nature of the change: it remained for his +sister Nannie to do that when, on his return to the Rue de Rivoli, +where the family were still sitting in conclave upon their recent +visitor, Miss Durham summed up their groping comments in the phrase: +"I never saw anything so French!" + +Durham, understanding what his sister's use of the epithet implied, +recognized it instantly as the explanation of his own feelings. Yes, +it was the finish, the modelling, which Madame de Malrive's +experience had given her that set her apart from the fresh +uncomplicated personalities of which she had once been simply the +most charming type. The influences that had lowered her voice, +regulated her gestures, toned her down to harmony with the warm dim +background of a long social past--these influences had lent to her +natural fineness of perception a command of expression adapted to +complex conditions. She had moved in surroundings through which one +could hardly bounce and bang on the genial American plan without +knocking the angles off a number of sacred institutions; and her +acquired dexterity of movement seemed to Durham a crowning grace. It +was a shock, now that he knew at what cost the dexterity had been +acquired, to acknowledge this even to himself; he hated to think +that she could owe anything to such conditions as she had been +placed in. And it gave him a sense of the tremendous strength of the +organization into which she had been absorbed, that in spite of her +horror, her moral revolt, she had not reacted against its external +forms. She might abhor her husband, her marriage, and the world to +which it had introduced her, but she had become a product of that +world in its outward expression, and no better proof of the fact was +needed than her exotic enjoyment of Americanism. + +The sense of the distance to which her American past had been +removed was never more present to him than when, a day or two later, +he went with his mother and sisters to return her visit. The region +beyond the river existed, for the Durham ladies, only as the +unmapped environment of the Bon Marche; and Nannie Durham's +exclamation on the pokiness of the streets and the dulness of the +houses showed Durham, with a start, how far he had already travelled +from the family point of view. + +"Well, if this is all she got by marrying a Marquis!" the young lady +summed up as they paused before the small sober hotel in its +high-walled court; and Katy, following her mother through the +stone-vaulted and stone-floored vestibule, murmured: "It must be +simply freezing in winter." + +In the softly-faded drawing-room, with its old pastels in old +frames, its windows looking on the damp green twilight of a garden +sunk deep in blackened walls, the American ladies might have been +even more conscious of the insufficiency of their friend's +compensations, had not the warmth of her welcome precluded all other +reflections. It was not till she had gathered them about her in the +corner beside the tea-table, that Durham identified the slender dark +lady loitering negligently in the background, and introduced in a +comprehensive murmur to the American group, as the redoubtable +sister-in-law to whom he had declared himself ready to throw down +his challenge. + +There was nothing very redoubtable about Madame de Treymes, except +perhaps the kindly yet critical observation which she bestowed on +her sister-in-law's visitors: the unblinking attention of a +civilized spectator observing an encampment of aborigines. He had +heard of her as a beauty, and was surprised to find her, as Nannie +afterward put it, a mere stick to hang clothes on (but they _did_ +hang!), with a small brown glancing face, like that of a charming +little inquisitive animal. Yet before she had addressed ten words to +him--nibbling at the hard English consonants like nuts--he owned the +justice of the epithet. She was a beauty, if beauty, instead of +being restricted to the cast of the face, is a pervasive attribute +informing the hands, the voice, the gestures, the very fall of a +flounce and tilt of a feather. In this impalpable _aura_ of grace +Madame de Treymes' dark meagre presence unmistakably moved, like a +thin flame in a wide quiver of light. And as he realized that she +looked much handsomer than she was, so while they talked, he felt +that she understood a great deal more than she betrayed. It was not +through the groping speech which formed their apparent medium of +communication that she imbibed her information: she found it in the +air, she extracted it from Durham's look and manner, she caught it +in the turn of her sister-in-law's defenseless eyes--for in her +presence Madame de Malrive became Fanny Frisbee again!--she put it +together, in short, out of just such unconsidered indescribable +trifles as differentiated the quiet felicity of her dress from +Nannie and Katy's "handsome" haphazard clothes. + +Her actual converse with Durham moved, meanwhile, strictly in the +conventional ruts: had he been long in Paris, which of the new plays +did he like best, was it true that American _jeunes filles_ were +sometimes taken to the Boulevard theatres? And she threw an +interrogative glance at the young ladies beside the tea-table. To +Durham's reply that it depended how much French they knew, she +shrugged and smiled, replying that his compatriots all spoke French +like Parisians, enquiring, after a moment's thought, if they learned +it, _la bas, des negres_, and laughing heartily when Durham's +astonishment revealed her blunder. + +When at length she had taken leave--enveloping the Durham ladies in +a last puzzled penetrating look--Madame de Malrive turned to Mrs. +Durham with a faintly embarrassed smile. + +"My sister-in-law was much interested; I believe you are the first +Americans she has ever known." + +"Good gracious!" ejaculated Nannie, as though such social darkness +required immediate missionary action on some one's part. + +"Well, she knows _us_," said Durham, catching in Madame de Malrive's +rapid glance, a startled assent to his point. + +"After all," reflected the accurate Katy, as though seeking an +excuse for Madame de Treymes' unenlightenment, "_we_ don't know +many French people, either." + +To which Nannie promptly if obscurely retorted: "Ah, but we couldn't +and _she_ could!" + + + + +IV + + +Madame de Treymes' friendly observation of her sister-in-law's +visitors resulted in no expression on her part of a desire to renew +her study of them. To all appearances, she passed out of their lives +when Madame de Malrive's door closed on her; and Durham felt that +the arduous task of making her acquaintance was still to be begun. + +He felt also, more than ever, the necessity of attempting it; and in +his determination to lose no time, and his perplexity how to set +most speedily about the business, he bethought himself of applying +to his cousin Mrs. Boykin. + +Mrs. Elmer Boykin was a small plump woman, to whose vague prettiness +the lines of middle-age had given no meaning: as though whatever had +happened to her had merely added to the sum total of her +inexperience. After a Parisian residence of twenty-five years, spent +in a state of feverish servitude to the great artists of the rue de +la Paix, her dress and hair still retained a certain rigidity in +keeping with the directness of her gaze and the unmodulated candour +of her voice. Her very drawing-room had the hard bright atmosphere +of her native skies, and one felt that she was still true at heart +to the national ideals in electric lighting and plumbing. + +She and her husband had left America owing to the impossibility of +living there with the finish and decorum which the Boykin standard +demanded; but in the isolation of their exile they had created about +them a kind of phantom America, where the national prejudices +continued to flourish unchecked by the national progressiveness: a +little world sparsely peopled by compatriots in the same attitude of +chronic opposition toward a society chronically unaware of them. In +this uncontaminated air Mr. and Mrs. Boykin had preserved the purity +of simpler conditions, and Elmer Boykin, returning rakishly from a +Sunday's racing at Chantilly, betrayed, under his "knowing" coat and +the racing-glasses slung ostentatiously across his shoulder, the +unmistakeable cut of the American business man coming "up town" +after a long day in the office. + +It was a part of the Boykins' uncomfortable but determined +attitude--and perhaps a last expression of their latent +patriotism--to live in active disapproval of the world about them, +fixing in memory with little stabs of reprobation innumerable +instances of what the abominable foreigner was doing; so that they +reminded Durham of persons peacefully following the course of a +horrible war by pricking red pins in a map. To Mrs. Durham, with her +gentle tourist's view of the European continent, as a vast Museum in +which the human multitudes simply furnished the element of costume, +the Boykins seemed abysmally instructed, and darkly expert in +forbidden things; and her son, without sharing her simple faith in +their omniscience, credited them with an ample supply of the kind of +information of which he was in search. + +Mrs. Boykin, from the corner of an intensely modern Gobelin sofa, +studied her cousin as he balanced himself insecurely on one of the +small gilt chairs which always look surprised at being sat in. + +"Fanny de Malrive? Oh, of course: I remember you were all very +intimate with the Frisbees when they lived in West Thirty-third +Street. But she has dropped all her American friends since her +marriage. The excuse was that de Malrive didn't like them; but as +she's been separated for five or six years, I can't see--. You say +she's been very nice to your mother and the girls? Well, I daresay +she is beginning to feel the need of friends she can really trust; +for as for her French relations--! That Malrive set is the worst in +the Faubourg. Of course you know what _he_ is; even the family, for +decency's sake, had to back her up, and urge her to get a +separation. And Christiane de Treymes--" + +Durham seized his opportunity. "Is she so very reprehensible too?" + +Mrs. Boykin pursed up her small colourless mouth. "I can't speak +from personal experience. I know Madame de Treymes slightly--I have +met her at Fanny's--but she never remembers the fact except when she +wants me to go to one of her _ventes de charite_. They all remember +us then; and some American women are silly enough to ruin themselves +at the smart bazaars, and fancy they will get invitations in return. +They say Mrs. Addison G. Pack followed Madame d'Alglade around for a +whole winter, and spent a hundred thousand francs at her stalls; and +at the end of the season Madame d'Alglade asked her to tea, and when +she got there she found _that_ was for a charity too, and she had to +pay a hundred francs to get in." + +Mrs. Boykin paused with a smile of compassion. "That is not _my_ +way," she continued. "Personally I have no desire to thrust myself +into French society--I can't see how any American woman can do so +without loss of self-respect. But any one can tell you about Madame +de Treymes." + +"I wish you would, then," Durham suggested. + +"Well, I think Elmer had better," said his wife mysteriously, as Mr. +Boykin, at this point, advanced across the wide expanse of Aubusson +on which his wife and Durham were islanded in a state of propinquity +without privacy. + +"What's that, Bessy? Hah, Durham, how are you? Didn't see you at +Auteuil this afternoon. You don't race? Busy sight-seeing, I +suppose? What was that my wife was telling you? Oh, about Madame de +Treymes." + +He stroked his pepper-and-salt moustache with a gesture intended +rather to indicate than conceal the smile of experience beneath it. +"Well, Madame de Treymes has not been like a happy country--she's +had a history: several of 'em. Some one said she constituted the +_feuilleton_ of the Faubourg daily news. _La suite au prochain +numero_--you see the point? Not that I speak from personal +knowledge. Bessy and I have never cared to force our way--" He +paused, reflecting that his wife had probably anticipated him in the +expression of this familiar sentiment, and added with a significant +nod: "Of course you know the Prince d'Armillac by sight? No? I'm +surprised at that. Well, he's one of the choicest ornaments of the +Jockey Club: very fascinating to the ladies, I believe, but the +deuce and all at baccara. Ruined his mother and a couple of maiden +aunts already--and now Madame de Treymes has put the family pearls +up the spout, and is wearing imitation for love of him." + +"I had that straight from my maid's cousin, who is employed by +Madame d'Armillac's jeweller," said Mrs. Boykin with conscious +pride. + +"Oh, it's straight enough--more than _she_ is!" retorted her +husband, who was slightly jealous of having his facts reinforced by +any information not of his own gleaning. + +"Be careful of what you say, Elmer," Mrs. Boykin interposed with +archness. "I suspect John of being seriously smitten by the lady." + +Durham let this pass unchallenged, submitting with a good grace to +his host's low whistle of amusement, and the sardonic enquiry: "Ever +do anything with the foils? D'Armillac is what they call over here a +_fine lame_." + +"Oh, I don't mean to resort to bloodshed unless it's absolutely +necessary; but I mean to make the lady's acquaintance," said Durham, +falling into his key. + +Mrs. Boykin's lips tightened to the vanishing point. "I am afraid +you must apply for an introduction to more fashionable people than +_we_ are. Elmer and I so thoroughly disapprove of French society +that we have always declined to take any part in it. But why should +not Fanny de Malrive arrange a meeting for you?" + +Durham hesitated. "I don't think she is on very intimate terms with +her husband's family--" + +"You mean that she's not allowed to introduce _her_ friends to +them," Mrs. Boykin interjected sarcastically; while her husband +added, with an air of portentous initiation: "Ah, my dear fellow, +the way they treat the Americans over here--that's another chapter, +you know." + +"How some people can _stand_ it!" Mrs. Boykin chimed in; and as the +footman, entering at that moment, tendered her a large coronetted +envelope, she held it up as if in illustration of the indignities to +which her countrymen were subjected. + +"Look at that, my dear John," she exclaimed--"another card to one of +their everlasting bazaars! Why, it's at Madame d'Armillac's, the +Prince's mother. Madame de Treymes must have sent it, of course. The +brazen way in which they combine religion and immorality! Fifty +francs admission--_rien que cela!_--to see some of the most +disreputable people in Europe. And if you're an American, you're +expected to leave at least a thousand behind you. Their own people +naturally get off cheaper." She tossed over the card to her cousin. +"There's your opportunity to see Madame de Treymes." + +"Make it two thousand, and she'll ask you to tea," Mr. Boykin +scathingly added. + + + + +V + + +In the monumental drawing-room of the Hotel de Malrive--it had been +a surprise to the American to read the name of the house emblazoned +on black marble over its still more monumental gateway--Durham found +himself surrounded by a buzz of feminine tea-sipping oddly out of +keeping with the wigged and cuirassed portraits frowning high on the +walls, the majestic attitude of the furniture, the rigidity of great +gilt consoles drawn up like lords-in-waiting against the tarnished +panels. + +It was the old Marquise de Malrive's "day," and Madame de Treymes, +who lived with her mother, had admitted Durham to the heart of the +enemy's country by inviting him, after his prodigal disbursements at +the charity bazaar, to come in to tea on a Thursday. Whether, in +thus fulfilling Mr. Boykin's prediction, she had been aware of +Durham's purpose, and had her own reasons for falling in with it; or +whether she simply wished to reward his lavishness at the fair, and +permit herself another glimpse of an American so picturesquely +embodying the type familiar to French fiction--on these points +Durham was still in doubt. + +Meanwhile, Madame de Treymes being engaged with a venerable Duchess +in a black shawl--all the older ladies present had the sloping +shoulders of a generation of shawl-wearers--her American visitor, +left in the isolation of his unimportance, was using it as a shelter +for a rapid survey of the scene. + +He had begun his study of Fanny de Malrive's situation without any +real understanding of her fears. He knew the repugnance to divorce +existing in the French Catholic world, but since the French laws +sanctioned it, and in a case so flagrant as his injured friend's, +would inevitably accord it with the least possible delay and +exposure, he could not take seriously any risk of opposition on the +part of the husband's family. Madame de Malrive had not become a +Catholic, and since her religious scruples could not be played on, +the only weapon remaining to the enemy--the threat of fighting the +divorce--was one they could not wield without self-injury. +Certainly, if the chief object were to avoid scandal, common sense +must counsel Monsieur de Malrive and his friends not to give the +courts an opportunity of exploring his past; and since the echo of +such explorations, and their ultimate transmission to her son, were +what Madame de Malrive most dreaded, the opposing parties seemed to +have a common ground for agreement, and Durham could not but regard +his friend's fears as the result of over-taxed sensibilities. All +this had seemed evident enough to him as he entered the austere +portals of the Hotel de Malrive and passed, between the faded +liveries of old family servants, to the presence of the dreaded +dowager above. But he had not been ten minutes in that presence +before he had arrived at a faint intuition of what poor Fanny meant. +It was not in the exquisite mildness of the old Marquise, a little +gray-haired bunch of a woman in dowdy mourning, or in the small neat +presence of the priestly uncle, the Abbe who had so obviously just +stepped down from one of the picture-frames overhead: it was not in +the aspect of these chief protagonists, so outwardly unformidable, +that Durham read an occult danger to his friend. It was rather in +their setting, their surroundings, the little company of elderly and +dowdy persons--so uniformly clad in weeping blacks and purples that +they might have been assembled for some mortuary anniversary--it was +in the remoteness and the solidarity of this little group that +Durham had his first glimpse of the social force of which Fanny de +Malrive had spoken. All these amiably chatting visitors, who mostly +bore the stamp of personal insignificance on their mildly sloping or +aristocratically beaked faces, hung together in a visible closeness +of tradition, dress, attitude and manner, as different as possible +from the loose aggregation of a roomful of his own countrymen. +Durham felt, as he observed them, that he had never before known +what "society" meant; nor understood that, in an organized and +inherited system, it exists full-fledged where two or three of its +members are assembled. + +Upon this state of bewilderment, this sense of having entered a room +in which the lights had suddenly been turned out, even Madame de +Treymes' intensely modern presence threw no illumination. He was +conscious, as she smilingly rejoined him, not of her points of +difference from the others, but of the myriad invisible threads by +which she held to them; he even recognized the audacious slant of +her little brown profile in the portrait of a powdered ancestress +beneath which she had paused a moment in advancing. She was simply +one particular facet of the solid, glittering impenetrable body +which he had thought to turn in his hands and look through like a +crystal; and when she said, in her clear staccato English, "Perhaps +you will like to see the other rooms," he felt like crying out in +his blindness: "If I could only be sure of seeing _anything_ here!" +Was she conscious of his blindness, and was he as remote and +unintelligible to her as she was to him? This possibility, as he +followed her through the nobly-unfolding rooms of the great house, +gave him his first hope of recoverable advantage. For, after all, he +had some vague traditional lights on her world and its antecedents; +whereas to her he was a wholly new phenomenon, as unexplained as a +fragment of meteorite dropped at her feet on the smooth gravel of +the garden-path they were pacing. + +She had led him down into the garden, in response to his admiring +exclamation, and perhaps also because she was sure that, in the +chill spring afternoon, they would have its embowered privacies to +themselves. The garden was small, but intensely rich and deep--one +of those wells of verdure and fragrance which everywhere sweeten the +air of Paris by wafts blown above old walls on quiet streets; and as +Madame de Treymes paused against the ivy bank masking its farther +boundary, Durham felt more than ever removed from the normal +bearings of life. + +His sense of strangeness was increased by the surprise of his +companion's next speech. + +"You wish to marry my sister-in-law?" she asked abruptly; and +Durham's start of wonder was followed by an immediate feeling of +relief. He had expected the preliminaries of their interview to be +as complicated as the bargaining in an Eastern bazaar, and had +feared to lose himself at the first turn in a labyrinth of "foreign" +intrigue. + +"Yes, I do," he said with equal directness; and they smiled together +at the sharp report of question and answer. + +The smile put Durham more completely at his ease, and after waiting +for her to speak, he added with deliberation: "So far, however, the +wishing is entirely on my side." His scrupulous conscience felt +itself justified in this reserve by the conditional nature of Madame +de Malrive's consent. + +"I understand; but you have been given reason to hope--" + +"Every man in my position gives himself his own reasons for hoping," +he interposed with a smile. + +"I understand that too," Madame de Treymes assented. "But still--you +spent a great deal of money the other day at our bazaar." + +"Yes: I wanted to have a talk with you, and it was the readiest--if +not the most distinguished--means of attracting your attention." + +"I understand," she once more reiterated, with a gleam of amusement. + +"It is because I suspect you of understanding everything that I have +been so anxious for this opportunity." + +She bowed her acknowledgement, and said: "Shall we sit a moment?" +adding, as he drew their chairs under a tree: "You permit me, then, +to say that I believe I understand also a little of our good Fanny's +mind?" + +"On that point I have no authority to speak. I am here only to +listen." + +"Listen, then: you have persuaded her that there would be no harm in +divorcing my brother--since I believe your religion does not forbid +divorce?" + +"Madame de Malrive's religion sanctions divorce in such a case as--" + +"As my brother has furnished? Yes, I have heard that your race is +stricter in judging such _ecarts_. But you must not think," she +added, "that I defend my brother. Fanny must have told you that we +have always given her our sympathy." + +"She has let me infer it from her way of speaking of you." + +Madame de Treymes arched her dramatic eyebrows. "How cautious you +are! I am so straightforward that I shall have no chance with you." + +"You will be quite safe, unless you are so straightforward that you +put me on my guard." + +She met this with a low note of amusement. + +"At this rate we shall never get any farther; and in two minutes I +must go back to my mother's visitors. Why should we go on fencing? +The situation is really quite simple. Tell me just what you wish to +know. I have always been Fanny's friend, and that disposes me to be +yours." + +Durham, during this appeal, had had time to steady his thoughts; and +the result of his deliberation was that he said, with a return to +his former directness: "Well, then, what I wish to know is, what +position your family would take if Madame de Malrive should sue for +a divorce." He added, without giving her time to reply: "I naturally +wish to be clear on this point before urging my cause with your +sister-in-law." + +Madame de Treymes seemed in no haste to answer; but after a pause of +reflection she said, not unkindly: "My poor Fanny might have asked +me that herself." + +"I beg you to believe that I am not acting as her spokesman," Durham +hastily interposed. "I merely wish to clear up the situation before +speaking to her in my own behalf." + +"You are the most delicate of suitors! But I understand your +feeling. Fanny also is extremely delicate: it was a great surprise +to us at first. Still, in this case--" Madame de Treymes +paused--"since she has no religious scruples, and she had no +difficulty in obtaining a separation, why should she fear any in +demanding a divorce?" + +"I don't know that she does: but the mere fact of possible +opposition might be enough to alarm the delicacy you have observed +in her." + +"Ah--yes: on her boy's account." + +"Partly, doubtless, on her boy's account." + +"So that, if my brother objects to a divorce, all he has to do is to +announce his objection? But, my dear sir, you are giving your case +into my hands!" She flashed an amused smile on him. + +"Since you say you are Madame de Malrive's friend, could there be a +better place for it?" + +As she turned her eyes on him he seemed to see, under the flitting +lightness of her glance, the sudden concentrated expression of the +ancestral will. "I am Fanny's friend, certainly. But with us family +considerations are paramount. And our religion forbids divorce." + +"So that, inevitably, your brother will oppose it?" + +She rose from her seat, and stood fretting with her slender boot-tip +the minute red pebbles of the path. + +"I must really go in: my mother will never forgive me for deserting +her." + +"But surely you owe me an answer?" Durham protested, rising also. + +"In return for your purchases at my stall?" + +"No: in return for the trust I have placed in you." + +She mused on this, moving slowly a step or two toward the house. + +"Certainly I wish to see you again; you interest me," she said +smiling. "But it is so difficult to arrange. If I were to ask you to +come here again, my mother and uncle would be surprised. And at +Fanny's--" + +"Oh, not there!" he exclaimed. + +"Where then? Is there any other house where we are likely to meet?" + +Durham hesitated; but he was goaded by the flight of the precious +minutes. "Not unless you'll come and dine with me," he said boldly. + +"Dine with you? _Au cabaret?_ Ah, that would be diverting--but +impossible!" + +"Well, dine with my cousin, then--I have a cousin, an American lady, +who lives here," said Durham, with suddenly-soaring audacity. + +She paused with puzzled brows. "An American lady whom I know?" + +"By name, at any rate. You send her cards for all your charity +bazaars." + +She received the thrust with a laugh. "We do exploit your +compatriots." + +"Oh, I don't think she has ever gone to the bazaars." + +"But she might if I dined with her?" + +"Still less, I imagine." + +She reflected on this, and then said with acuteness: "I like that, +and I accept--but what is the lady's name?" + + + + +VI + + +On the way home, in the first drop of his exaltation, Durham had +said to himself: "But why on earth should Bessy invite her?" + +He had, naturally, no very cogent reasons to give Mrs. Boykin in +support of his astonishing request, and could only, marvelling at +his own growth in duplicity, suffer her to infer that he was really, +shamelessly "smitten" with the lady he thus proposed to thrust upon +her hospitality. But, to his surprise, Mrs. Boykin hardly gave +herself time to pause upon his reasons. They were swallowed up in +the fact that Madame de Treymes wished to dine with her, as the +lesser luminaries vanish in the blaze of the sun. + +"I am not surprised," she declared, with a faint smile intended to +check her husband's unruly wonder. "I wonder _you_ are, Elmer. +Didn't you tell me that Armillac went out of his way to speak to you +the other day at the races? And at Madame d'Alglade's sale--yes, I +went there after all, just for a minute, because I found Katy and +Nannie were so anxious to be taken--well, that day I noticed that +Madame de Treymes was quite _empressee_ when we went up to her +stall. Oh, I didn't buy anything: I merely waited while the girls +chose some lampshades. They thought it would be interesting to take +home something painted by a real Marquise, and of course I didn't +tell them that those women _never_ make the things they sell at +their stalls. But I repeat I'm not surprised: I suspected that +Madame de Treymes had heard of our little dinners. You know they're +really horribly bored in that poky old Faubourg. My poor John, I see +now why she's been making up to you! But on one point I am quite +determined, Elmer; whatever you say, I shall _not_ invite the Prince +d'Armillac." + +Elmer, as far as Durham could observe, did not say much; but, like +his wife, he continued in a state of pleasantly agitated activity +till the momentous evening of the dinner. + +The festivity in question was restricted in numbers, either owing to +the difficulty of securing suitable guests, or from a desire not to +have it appear that Madame de Treymes' hosts attached any special +importance to her presence; but the smallness of the company was +counterbalanced by the multiplicity of the courses. + +The national determination not to be "downed" by the despised +foreigner, to show a wealth of material resource obscurely felt to +compensate for the possible lack of other distinctions--this resolve +had taken, in Mrs. Boykin's case, the shape--or rather the multiple +shapes--of a series of culinary feats, of gastronomic combinations, +which would have commanded her deep respect had she seen them on any +other table, and which she naturally relied on to produce the same +effect on her guest. Whether or not the desired result was achieved, +Madame de Treymes' manner did not specifically declare; but it +showed a general complaisance, a charming willingness to be amused, +which made Mr. Boykin, for months afterward, allude to her among his +compatriots as "an old friend of my wife's--takes potluck with us, +you know. Of course there's not a word of truth in any of those +ridiculous stories." + +It was only when, to Durham's intense surprise, Mr. Boykin hazarded +to his neighbour the regret that they had not been so lucky as to +"secure the Prince"--it was then only that the lady showed, not +indeed anything so simple and unprepared as embarrassment, but a +faint play of wonder, an under-flicker of amusement, as though +recognizing that, by some odd law of social compensation, the +crudity of the talk might account for the complexity of the dishes. + +But Mr. Boykin was tremulously alive to hints, and the conversation +at once slid to safer topics, easy generalizations which left Madame +de Treymes ample time to explore the table, to use her narrowed gaze +like a knife slitting open the unsuspicious personalities about her. +Nannie and Katy Durham, who, after much discussion (to which their +hostess candidly admitted them), had been included in the feast, +were the special objects of Madame de Treymes' observation. During +dinner she ignored in their favour the other carefully-selected +guests--the fashionable art-critic, the old Legitimist general, the +beauty from the English Embassy, the whole impressive marshalling of +Mrs. Boykin's social resources--and when the men returned to the +drawing-room, Durham found her still fanning in his sisters the +flame of an easily kindled enthusiasm. Since she could hardly have +been held by the intrinsic interest of their converse, the sight +gave him another swift intuition of the working of those hidden +forces with which Fanny de Malrive felt herself encompassed. But +when Madame de Treymes, at his approach, let him see that it was for +him she had been reserving herself, he felt that so graceful an +impulse needed no special explanation. She had the art of making it +seem quite natural that they should move away together to the +remotest of Mrs. Boykin's far-drawn salons, and that there, in a +glaring privacy of brocade and ormolu, she should turn to him with a +smile which avowed her intentional quest of seclusion. + +"Confess that I have done a great deal for you!" she exclaimed, +making room for him on a sofa judiciously screened from the +observation of the other rooms. + +"In coming to dine with my cousin?" he enquired, answering her +smile. + +"Let us say, in giving you this half hour." + +"For that I am duly grateful--and shall be still more so when I know +what it contains for me." + +"Ah, I am not sure. You will not like what I am going to say." + +"Shall I not?" he rejoined, changing colour. + +She raised her eyes from the thoughtful contemplation of her painted +fan. "You appear to have no idea of the difficulties." + +"Should I have asked your help if I had not had an idea of them?" + +"But you are still confident that with my help you can surmount +them?" + +"I can't believe you have come here to take that confidence from +me?" + +She leaned back, smiling at him through her lashes. "And all this I +am to do for your _beaux yeux?_" + +"No--for your own: that you may see with them what happiness you are +conferring." + +"You are extremely clever, and I like you." She paused, and then +brought out with lingering emphasis: "But my family will not hear of +a divorce." + +She threw into her voice such an accent of finality that Durham, for +the moment, felt himself brought up against an insurmountable +barrier; but, almost at once, his fear was mitigated by the +conviction that she would not have put herself out so much to say so +little. + +"When you speak of your family, do you include yourself?" he +suggested. + +She threw a surprised glance at him. "I thought you understood that +I am simply their mouthpiece." + +At this he rose quietly to his feet with a gesture of acceptance. "I +have only to thank you, then, for not keeping me longer in +suspense." + +His air of wishing to put an immediate end to the conversation +seemed to surprise her. "Sit down a moment longer," she commanded +him kindly; and as he leaned against the back of his chair, without +appearing to hear her request, she added in a low voice: "I am very +sorry for you and Fanny--but you are not the only persons to be +pitied." + +She had dropped her light manner as she might have tossed aside her +fan, and he was startled at the intimacy of misery to which her look +and movement abruptly admitted him. Perhaps no Anglo-Saxon fully +understands the fluency in self-revelation which centuries of the +confessional have given to the Latin races, and to Durham, at any +rate, Madame de Treymes' sudden avowal gave the shock of a physical +abandonment. + +"I am so sorry," he stammered--"is there any way in which I can be +of use to you?" + +She sat before him with her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on his in +a terrible intensity of appeal. "If you would--if you would! Oh, +there is nothing I would not do for you. I have still a great deal +of influence with my mother, and what my mother commands we all do. +I could help you--I am sure I could help you; but not if my own +situation were known. And if nothing can be done it must be known in +a few days." + +Durham had reseated himself at her side. "Tell me what I can do," he +said in a low tone, forgetting his own preoccupations in his genuine +concern for her distress. + +She looked up at him through tears. "How dare I? Your race is so +cautious, so self-controlled--you have so little indulgence for the +extravagances of the heart. And my folly has been incredible--and +unrewarded." She paused, and as Durham waited in a silence which she +guessed to be compassionate, she brought out below her breath: "I +have lent money--my husband's, my brother's--money that was not +mine, and now I have nothing to repay it with." + +Durham gazed at her in genuine astonishment. The turn the +conversation had taken led quite beyond his uncomplicated +experiences with the other sex. She saw his surprise, and extended +her hands in deprecation and entreaty. "Alas, what must you think of +me? How can I explain my humiliating myself before a stranger? Only +by telling you the whole truth--the fact that I am not alone in this +disaster, that I could not confess my situation to my family without +ruining myself, and involving in my ruin some one who, however +undeservedly, has been as dear to me as--as you are to--" + +Durham pushed his chair back with a sharp exclamation. + +"Ah, even that does not move you!" she said. + +The cry restored him to his senses by the long shaft of light it +sent down the dark windings of the situation. He seemed suddenly to +know Madame de Treymes as if he had been brought up with her in the +inscrutable shades of the Hotel de Malrive. + +She, on her side, appeared to have a startled but uncomprehending +sense of the fact that his silence was no longer completely +sympathetic, that her touch called forth no answering vibration; and +she made a desperate clutch at the one chord she could be certain of +sounding. + +"You have asked a great deal of me--much more than you can guess. Do +you mean to give me nothing--not even your sympathy--in return? Is +it because you have heard horrors of me? When are they not said of a +woman who is married unhappily? Perhaps not in your fortunate +country, where she may seek liberation without dishonour. But +here--! You who have seen the consequences of our disastrous +marriages--you who may yet be the victim of our cruel and abominable +system; have you no pity for one who has suffered in the same way, +and without the possibility of release?" She paused, laying her hand +on his arm with a smile of deprecating irony. "It is not because you +are not rich. At such times the crudest way is the shortest, and I +don't pretend to deny that I know I am asking you a trifle. You +Americans, when you want a thing, always pay ten times what it is +worth, and I am giving you the wonderful chance to get what you most +want at a bargain." + +Durham sat silent, her little gloved hand burning his coat-sleeve as +if it had been a hot iron. His brain was tingling with the shock of +her confession. She wanted money, a great deal of money: that was +clear, but it was not the point. She was ready to sell her +influence, and he fancied she could be counted on to fulfil her side +of the bargain. The fact that he could so trust her seemed only to +make her more terrible to him--more supernaturally dauntless and +baleful. For what was it that she exacted of him? She had said she +must have money to pay her debts; but he knew that was only a +pre-text which she scarcely expected him to believe. She wanted the +money for some one else; that was what her allusion to a +fellow-victim meant. She wanted it to pay the Prince's gambling +debts--it was at that price that Durham was to buy the right to +marry Fanny de Malrive. + +Once the situation had worked itself out in his mind, he found +himself unexpectedly relieved of the necessity of weighing the +arguments for and against it. All the traditional forces of his +blood were in revolt, and he could only surrender himself to their +pressure, without thought of compromise or parley. + +He stood up in silence, and the abruptness of his movement caused +Madame de Treymes' hand to slip from his arm. + +"You refuse?" she exclaimed; and he answered with a bow: "Only +because of the return you propose to make me." + +She stood staring at him, in a perplexity so genuine and profound +that he could almost have smiled at it through his disgust. + +"Ah, you are all incredible," she murmured at last, stooping to +repossess herself of her fan; and as she moved past him to rejoin +the group in the farther room, she added in an incisive undertone: +"You are quite at liberty to repeat our conversation to your +friend!" + + + + +VII + + +Durham did not take advantage of the permission thus strangely flung +at him: of his talk with her sister-in-law he gave to Madame de +Malrive only that part which concerned her. + +Presenting himself for this purpose, the day after Mrs. Boykin's +dinner, he found his friend alone with her son; and the sight of the +child had the effect of dispelling whatever illusive hopes had +attended him to the threshold. Even after the governess's descent +upon the scene had left Madame de Malrive and her visitor alone, the +little boy's presence seemed to hover admonishingly between them, +reducing to a bare statement of fact Durham's confession of the +total failure of his errand. + +Madame de Malrive heard the confession calmly; she had been too +prepared for it not to have prepared a countenance to receive it. +Her first comment was: "I have never known them to declare +themselves so plainly--" and Durham's baffled hopes fastened +themselves eagerly on the words. Had she not always warned him that +there was nothing so misleading as their plainness? And might it not +be that, in spite of his advisedness, he had suffered too easy a +rebuff? But second thoughts reminded him that the refusal had not +been as unconditional as his necessary reservations made it seem in +the repetition; and that, furthermore, it was his own act, and not +that of his opponents, which had determined it. The impossibility of +revealing this to Madame de Malrive only made the difficulty shut in +more darkly around him, and in the completeness of his discouragement +he scarcely needed her reminder of his promise to regard the subject +as closed when once the other side had defined its position. + +He was secretly confirmed in this acceptance of his fate by the +knowledge that it was really he who had defined the position. Even +now that he was alone with Madame de Malrive, and subtly aware of +the struggle under her composure, he felt no temptation to abate his +stand by a jot. He had not yet formulated a reason for his +resistance: he simply went on feeling, more and more strongly with +every precious sign of her participation in his unhappiness, that he +could neither owe his escape from it to such a transaction, nor +suffer her, innocently, to owe hers. + +The only mitigating effect of his determination was in an increase +of helpless tenderness toward her; so that, when she exclaimed, in +answer to his announcement that he meant to leave Paris the next +night: "Oh, give me a day or two longer!" he at once resigned +himself to saying: "If I can be of the least use, I'll give you a +hundred." + +She answered sadly that all he could do would be to let her feel +that he was there--just for a day or two, till she had readjusted +herself to the idea of going on in the old way; and on this note of +renunciation they parted. + +But Durham, however pledged to the passive part, could not long +sustain it without rebellion. To "hang round" the shut door of his +hopes seemed, after two long days, more than even his passion +required of him; and on the third he despatched a note of goodbye to +his friend. He was going off for a few weeks, he explained--his +mother and sisters wished to be taken to the Italian lakes: but he +would return to Paris, and say his real farewell to her, before +sailing for America in July. + +He had not intended his note to act as an ultimatum: he had no wish +to surprise Madame de Malrive into unconsidered surrender. When, +almost immediately, his own messenger returned with a reply from +her, he even felt a pang of disappointment, a momentary fear lest +she should have stooped a little from the high place where his +passion had preferred to leave her; but her first words turned his +fear into rejoicing. + +"Let me see you before you go: something extraordinary has +happened," she wrote. + +What had happened, as he heard from her a few hours later--finding +her in a tremor of frightened gladness, with her door boldly closed +to all the world but himself--was nothing less extraordinary than a +visit from Madame de Treymes, who had come, officially delegated by +the family, to announce that Monsieur de Malrive had decided not to +oppose his wife's suit for divorce. Durham, at the news, was almost +afraid to show himself too amazed; but his small signs of alarm and +wonder were swallowed up in the flush of Madame de Malrive's +incredulous joy. + +"It's the long habit, you know, of not believing them--of looking +for the truth always in what they _don't_ say. It took me hours and +hours to convince myself that there's no trick under it, that there +can't be any," she explained. + +"Then you _are_ convinced now?" escaped from Durham; but the shadow +of his question lingered no more than the flit of a wing across her +face. + +"I am convinced because the facts are there to reassure me. +Christiane tells me that Monsieur de Malrive has consulted his +lawyers, and that they have advised him to free me. Maitre +Enguerrand has been instructed to see my lawyer whenever I wish it. +They quite understand that I never should have taken the step in +face of any opposition on their part--I am so thankful to you for +making that perfectly clear to them!--and I suppose this is the +return their pride makes to mine. For they _can_ be proud +collectively--" She broke off and added, with happy hands +outstretched: "And I owe it all to you--Christiane said it was your +talk with her that had convinced them." + +Durham, at this statement, had to repress a fresh sound of +amazement; but with her hands in his, and, a moment after, her whole +self drawn to him in the first yielding of her lips, doubt perforce +gave way to the lover's happy conviction that such love was after +all too strong for the powers of darkness. + +It was only when they sat again in the blissful after-calm of their +understanding, that he felt the pricking of an unappeased distrust. + +"Did Madame de Treymes give you any reason for this change of +front?" he risked asking, when he found the distrust was not +otherwise to be quelled. + +"Oh, yes: just what I've said. It was really her admiration of +_you_--of your attitude--your delicacy. She said that at first she +hadn't believed in it: they're always looking for a hidden motive. +And when she found that yours was staring at her in the actual words +you said: that you really respected my scruples, and would never, +never try to coerce or entrap me--something in her--poor +Christiane!--answered to it, she told me, and she wanted to prove to +us that she was capable of understanding us too. If you knew her +history you'd find it wonderful and pathetic that she can!" + +Durham thought he knew enough of it to infer that Madame de Treymes +had not been the object of many conscientious scruples on the part +of the opposite sex; but this increased rather his sense of the +strangeness than of the pathos of her action. Yet Madame de Malrive, +whom he had once inwardly taxed with the morbid raising of +obstacles, seemed to see none now; and he could only infer that her +sister-in-law's actual words had carried more conviction than +reached him in the repetition of them. The mere fact that he had so +much to gain by leaving his friend's faith undisturbed was no doubt +stirring his own suspicions to unnatural activity; and this sense +gradually reasoned him back into acceptance of her view, as the most +normal as well as the pleasantest he could take. + + + + +VIII + + +The uneasiness thus temporarily repressed slipped into the final +disguise of hoping he should not again meet Madame de Treymes; and +in this wish he was seconded by the decision, in which Madame de +Malrive concurred, that it would be well for him to leave Paris +while the preliminary negotiations were going on. He committed her +interests to the best professional care, and his mother, resigning +her dream of the lakes, remained to fortify Madame de Malrive by her +mild unimaginative view of the transaction, as an uncomfortable but +commonplace necessity, like house-cleaning or dentistry. Mrs. Durham +would doubtless have preferred that her only son, even with his hair +turning gray, should have chosen a Fanny Frisbee rather than a Fanny +de Malrive; but it was a part of her acceptance of life on a general +basis of innocence and kindliness, that she entered generously into +his dream of rescue and renewal, and devoted herself without +after-thought to keeping up Fanny's courage with so little to spare +for herself. + +The process, the lawyers declared, would not be a long one, since +Monsieur de Malrive's acquiescence reduced it to a formality; and +when, at the end of June, Durham returned from Italy with Katy and +Nannie, there seemed no reason why he should not stop in Paris long +enough to learn what progress had been made. + +But before he could learn this he was to hear, on entering Madame de +Malrive's presence, news more immediate if less personal. He found +her, in spite of her gladness in his return, so evidently +preoccupied and distressed that his first thought was one of fear +for their own future. But she read and dispelled this by saying, +before he could put his question: "Poor Christiane is here. She is +very unhappy. You have seen in the papers--?" + +"I have seen no papers since we left Turin. What has happened?" + +"The Prince d'Armillac has come to grief. There has been some +terrible scandal about money and he has been obliged to leave France +to escape arrest." + +"And Madame de Treymes has left her husband?" + +"Ah, no, poor creature: they don't leave their husbands--they can't. +But de Treymes has gone down to their place in Brittany, and as my +mother-in-law is with another daughter in Auvergne, Christiane came +here for a few days. With me, you see, she need not pretend--she can +cry her eyes out." + +"And that is what she is doing?" + +It was so unlike his conception of the way in which, under the most +adverse circumstances, Madame de Treymes would be likely to occupy +her time, that Durham was conscious of a note of scepticism in his +query. + +"Poor thing--if you saw her you would feel nothing but pity. She is +suffering so horribly that I reproach myself for being happy under +the same roof." + +Durham met this with a tender pressure of her hand; then he said, +after a pause of reflection: "I should like to see her." + +He hardly knew what prompted him to utter the wish, unless it were a +sudden stir of compunction at the memory of his own dealings with +Madame de Treymes. Had he not sacrificed the poor creature to a +purely fantastic conception of conduct? She had said that she knew +she was asking a trifle of him; and the fact that, materially, it +would have been a trifle, had seemed at the moment only an added +reason for steeling himself in his moral resistance to it. But now +that he had gained his point--and through her own generosity, as it +still appeared--the largeness of her attitude made his own seem +cramped and petty. Since conduct, in the last resort, must be judged +by its enlarging or diminishing effect on character, might it not be +that the zealous weighing of the moral anise and cummin was less +important than the unconsidered lavishing of the precious ointment? +At any rate, he could enjoy no peace of mind under the burden of +Madame de Treymes' magnanimity, and when he had assured himself that +his own affairs were progressing favourably, he once more, at the +risk of surprising his betrothed, brought up the possibility of +seeing her relative. + +Madame de Malrive evinced no surprise. "It is natural, knowing what +she has done for us, that you should want to show her your sympathy. +The difficulty is that it is just the one thing you _can't_ show +her. You can thank her, of course, for ourselves, but even that at +the moment--" + +"Would seem brutal? Yes, I recognize that I should have to choose my +words," he admitted, guiltily conscious that his capability of dealing +with Madame de Treymes extended far beyond her sister-in-law's +conjecture. + +Madame de Malrive still hesitated. "I can tell her; and when you +come back tomorrow--" + +It had been decided that, in the interests of discretion--the +interests, in other words, of the poor little future Marquis de +Malrive--Durham was to remain but two days in Paris, withdrawing +then with his family till the conclusion of the divorce proceedings +permitted him to return in the acknowledged character of Madame de +Malrive's future husband. Even on this occasion, he had not come to +her alone; Nannie Durham, in the adjoining room, was chatting +conspicuously with the little Marquis, whom she could with +difficulty be restrained from teaching to call her "Aunt Nannie." +Durham thought her voice had risen unduly once or twice during his +visit, and when, on taking leave, he went to summon her from the +inner room, he found the higher note of ecstasy had been evoked by +the appearance of Madame de Treymes, and that the little boy, +himself absorbed in a new toy of Durham's bringing, was being bent +over by an actual as well as a potential aunt. + +Madame de Treymes raised herself with a slight start at Durham's +approach: she had her hat on, and had evidently paused a moment on +her way out to speak with Nannie, without expecting to be surprised +by her sister-in-law's other visitor. But her surprises never wore +the awkward form of embarrassment, and she smiled beautifully on +Durham as he took her extended hand. + +The smile was made the more appealing by the way in which it lit up +the ruin of her small dark face, which looked seared and hollowed as +by a flame that might have spread over it from her fevered eyes. +Durham, accustomed to the pale inward grief of the inexpressive +races, was positively startled by the way in which she seemed to +have been openly stretched on the pyre; he almost felt an indelicacy +in the ravages so tragically confessed. + +The sight caused an involuntary readjustment of his whole view of +the situation, and made him, as far as his own share in it went, +more than ever inclined to extremities of self-disgust. With him +such sensations required, for his own relief, some immediate +penitential escape, and as Madame de Treymes turned toward the door +he addressed a glance of entreaty to his betrothed. + +Madame de Malrive, whose intelligence could be counted on at such +moments, responded by laying a detaining hand on her sister-in-law's +arm. + +"Dear Christiane, may I leave Mr. Durham in your charge for two +minutes? I have promised Nannie that she shall see the boy put to +bed." + +Madame de Treymes made no audible response to this request, but when +the door had closed on the other ladies she said, looking quietly at +Durham: "I don't think that, in this house, your time will hang so +heavy that you need my help in supporting it." + +Durham met her glance frankly. "It was not for that reason that +Madame de Malrive asked you to remain with me." + +"Why, then? Surely not in the interest of preserving appearances, +since she is safely upstairs with your sister?" + +"No; but simply because I asked her to. I told her I wanted to speak +to you." + +"How you arrange things! And what reason can you have for wanting to +speak to me?" + +He paused for a moment. "Can't you imagine? The desire to thank you +for what you have done." + +She stirred restlessly, turning to adjust her hat before the glass +above the mantelpiece. + +"Oh, as for what I have done--!" + +"Don't speak as if you regretted it," he interposed. + +She turned back to him with a flash of laughter lighting up the +haggardness of her face. "Regret working for the happiness of two +such excellent persons? Can't you fancy what a charming change it is +for me to do something so innocent and beneficent?" + +He moved across the room and went up to her, drawing down the hand +which still flitted experimentally about her hat. + +"Don't talk in that way, however much one of the persons of whom you +speak may have deserved it." + +"One of the persons? Do you mean me?" + +He released her hand, but continued to face her resolutely. "I mean +myself, as you know. You have been generous--extraordinarily +generous." + +"Ah, but I was doing good in a good cause. You have made me see that +there is a distinction." + +He flushed to the forehead. "I am here to let you say whatever you +choose to me." + +"Whatever I choose?" She made a slight gesture of deprecation. "Has +it never occurred to you that I may conceivably choose to say +nothing?" + +Durham paused, conscious of the increasing difficulty of the +advance. She met him, parried him, at every turn: he had to take his +baffled purpose back to another point of attack. + +"Quite conceivably," he said: "so much so that I am aware I must +make the most of this opportunity, because I am not likely to get +another." + +"But what remains of your opportunity, if it isn't one to me?" + +"It still remains, for me, an occasion to abase myself--" He broke +off, conscious of a grossness of allusion that seemed, on a closer +approach, the real obstacle to full expression. But the moments were +flying, and for his self-esteem's sake he must find some way of +making her share the burden of his repentance. + +"There is only one thinkable pretext for detaining you: it is that I +may still show my sense of what you have done for me." + +Madame de Treymes, who had moved toward the door, paused at this and +faced him, resting her thin brown hands on a slender sofa-back. + +"How do you propose to show that sense?" she enquired. + +Durham coloured still more deeply: he saw that she was determined to +save her pride by making what he had to say of the utmost +difficulty. Well! he would let his expiation take that form, +then--it was as if her slender hands held out to him the fool's cap +he was condemned to press down on his own ears. + +"By offering in return--in any form, and to the utmost--any service +you are forgiving enough to ask of me." + +She received this with a low sound of laughter that scarcely rose to +her lips. "You are princely. But, my dear sir, does it not occur to +you that I may, meanwhile, have taken my own way of repaying myself +for any service I have been fortunate enough to render you?" + +Durham, at the question, or still more, perhaps, at the tone in +which it was put, felt, through his compunction, a vague faint chill +of apprehension. Was she threatening him or only mocking him? Or was +this barbed swiftness of retort only the wounded creature's way of +defending the privacy of her own pain? He looked at her again, and +read his answer in the last conjecture. + +"I don't know how you can have repaid yourself for anything so +disinterested--but I am sure, at least, that you have given me no +chance of recognizing, ever so slightly, what you have done." + +She shook her head, with the flicker of a smile on her melancholy +lips. "Don't be too sure! You have given me a chance and I have +taken it--taken it to the full. So fully," she continued, keeping +her eyes fixed on his, "that if I were to accept any farther service +you might choose to offer, I should simply be robbing you--robbing +you shamelessly." She paused, and added in an undefinable voice: "I +was entitled, wasn't I, to take something in return for the service +I had the happiness of doing you?" + +Durham could not tell whether the irony of her tone was +self-directed or addressed to himself--perhaps it comprehended them +both. At any rate, he chose to overlook his own share in it in +replying earnestly: "So much so, that I can't see how you can have +left me nothing to add to what you say you have taken." + +"Ah, but you don't know what that is!" She continued to smile, +elusively, ambiguously. "And what's more, you wouldn't believe me if +I told you." + +"How do you know?" he rejoined. + +"You didn't believe me once before; and this is so much more +incredible." + +He took the taunt full in the face. "I shall go away unhappy unless +you tell me--but then perhaps I have deserved to," he confessed. + +She shook her head again, advancing toward the door with the evident +intention of bringing their conference to a close; but on the +threshold she paused to launch her reply. + +"I can't send you away unhappy, since it is in the contemplation of +your happiness that I have found my reward." + + + + +IX + + +The next day Durham left with his family for England, with the +intention of not returning till after the divorce should have been +pronounced in September. + +To say that he left with a quiet heart would be to overstate the +case: the fact that he could not communicate to Madame de Malrive +the substance of his talk with her sister-in-law still hung upon him +uneasily. But of definite apprehensions the lapse of time gradually +freed him, and Madame de Malrive's letters, addressed more +frequently to his mother and sisters than to himself, reflected, in +their reassuring serenity, the undisturbed course of events. + +There was to Durham something peculiarly touching--as of an +involuntary confession of almost unbearable loneliness--in the way +she had regained, with her re-entry into the clear air of American +associations, her own fresh trustfulness of view. Once she had +accustomed herself to the surprise of finding her divorce unopposed, +she had been, as it now seemed to Durham, in almost too great haste +to renounce the habit of weighing motives and calculating chances. +It was as though her coming liberation had already freed her from +the garb of a mental slavery, as though she could not too soon or +too conspicuously cast off the ugly badge of suspicion. The fact +that Durham's cleverness had achieved so easy a victory over forces +apparently impregnable, merely raised her estimate of that +cleverness to the point of letting her feel that she could rest in +it without farther demur. He had even noticed in her, during his few +hours in Paris, a tendency to reproach herself for her lack of +charity, and a desire, almost as fervent as his own, to expiate it +by exaggerated recognition of the disinterestedness of her +opponents--if opponents they could still be called. This sudden +change in her attitude was peculiarly moving to Durham. He knew she +would hazard herself lightly enough wherever her heart called her; +but that, with the precious freight of her child's future weighing +her down, she should commit herself so blindly to his hand stirred +in him the depths of tenderness. Indeed, had the actual course of +events been less auspiciously regular, Madame de Malrive's +confidence would have gone far toward unsettling his own; but with +the process of law going on unimpeded, and the other side making no +sign of open or covert resistance, the fresh air of good faith +gradually swept through the inmost recesses of his distrust. + +It was expected that the decision in the suit would be reached by +mid-September; and it was arranged that Durham and his family should +remain in England till a decent interval after the conclusion of the +proceedings. Early in the month, however, it became necessary for +Durham to go to France to confer with a business associate who was +in Paris for a few days, and on the point of sailing for Cherbourg. +The most zealous observance of appearances could hardly forbid +Durham's return for such a purpose; but it had been agreed between +himself and Madame de Malrive--who had once more been left alone by +Madame de Treymes' return to her family--that, so close to the +fruition of their wishes, they would propitiate fate by a scrupulous +adherence to usage, and communicate only, during his hasty visit, by +a daily interchange of notes. + +The ingenuity of Madame de Malrive's tenderness found, however, the +day after his arrival, a means of tempering their privation. +"Christiane," she wrote, "is passing through Paris on her way from +Trouville, and has promised to see you for me if you will call on +her today. She thinks there is no reason why you should not go to +the Hotel de Malrive, as you will find her there alone, the family +having gone to Auvergne. She is really our friend and understands +us." + +In obedience to this request--though perhaps inwardly regretting +that it should have been made--Durham that afternoon presented +himself at the proud old house beyond the Seine. More than ever, in +the semi-abandonment of the _morte saison_, with reduced service, +and shutters closed to the silence of the high-walled court, did it +strike the American as the incorruptible custodian of old prejudices +and strange social survivals. The thought of what he must represent +to the almost human consciousness which such old houses seem to +possess, made him feel like a barbarian desecrating the silence of a +temple of the earlier faith. Not that there was anything venerable +in the attestations of the Hotel de Malrive, except in so far as, to +a sensitive imagination, every concrete embodiment of a past order +of things testifies to real convictions once suffered for. Durham, +at any rate, always alive in practical issues to the view of the +other side, had enough sympathy left over to spend it sometimes, +whimsically, on such perceptions of difference. Today, especially, +the assurance of success--the sense of entering like a victorious +beleaguerer receiving the keys of the stronghold--disposed him to a +sentimental perception of what the other side might have to say for +itself, in the language of old portraits, old relics, old usages +dumbly outraged by his mere presence. + +On the appearance of Madame de Treymes, however, such considerations +gave way to the immediate act of wondering how she meant to carry +off her share of the adventure. Durham had not forgotten the note on +which their last conversation had closed: the lapse of time serving +only to give more precision and perspective to the impression he had +then received. + +Madame de Treymes' first words implied a recognition of what was in +his thoughts. + +"It is extraordinary, my receiving you here; but _que voulez vous?_ +There was no other place, and I would do more than this for our dear +Fanny." + +Durham bowed. "It seems to me that you are also doing a great deal +for me." + +"Perhaps you will see later that I have my reasons," she returned +smiling. "But before speaking for myself I must speak for Fanny." + +She signed to him to take a chair near the sofa-corner in which she +had installed herself, and he listened in silence while she +delivered Madame de Malrive's message, and her own report of the +progress of affairs. + +"You have put me still more deeply in your debt," he said, as she +concluded; "I wish you would make the expression of this feeling a +large part of the message I send back to Madame de Malrive." + +She brushed this aside with one of her light gestures of +deprecation. "Oh, I told you I had my reasons. And since you are +here--and the mere sight of you assures me that you are as well as +Fanny charged me to find you--with all these preliminaries disposed +of, I am going to relieve you, in a small measure, of the weight of +your obligation." + +Durham raised his head quickly. "By letting me do something in +return?" + +She made an assenting motion. "By asking you to answer a question." + +"That seems very little to do." + +"Don't be so sure! It is never very little to your race." She leaned +back, studying him through half-dropped lids. + +"Well, try me," he protested. + +She did not immediately respond; and when she spoke, her first words +were explanatory rather than interrogative. + +"I want to begin by saying that I believe I once did you an +injustice, to the extent of misunderstanding your motive for a +certain action." + +Durham's uneasy flush confessed his recognition of her meaning. "Ah, +if we must go back to _that_--" + +"You withdraw your assent to my request?" + +"By no means; but nothing consolatory you can find to say on that +point can really make any difference." + +"Will not the difference in my view of you perhaps make a difference +in your own?" + +She looked at him earnestly, without a trace of irony in her eyes or +on her lips. "It is really I who have an _amende_ to make, as I now +understand the situation. I once turned to you for help in a painful +extremity, and I have only now learned to understand your reasons +for refusing to help me." + +"Oh, my reasons--" groaned Durham. + +"I have learned to understand them," she persisted, "by being so +much, lately, with Fanny." + +"But I never told her!" he broke in. + +"Exactly. That was what told _me_. I understood you through her, and +through your dealings with her. There she was--the woman you adored +and longed to save; and you would not lift a finger to make her +yours by means which would have seemed--I see it now--a desecration +of your feeling for each other." She paused, as if to find the exact +words for meanings she had never before had occasion to formulate. +"It came to me first--a light on your attitude--when I found you had +never breathed to her a word of our talk together. She had +confidently commissioned you to find a way for her, as the mediaeval +lady sent a prayer to her knight to deliver her from captivity, and +you came back, confessing you had failed, but never justifying +yourself by so much as a hint of the reason why. And when I had +lived a little in Fanny's intimacy--at a moment when circumstances +helped to bring us extraordinarily close--I understood why you had +done this; why you had let her take what view she pleased of your +failure, your passive acceptance of defeat, rather than let her +suspect the alternative offered you. You couldn't, even with my +permission, betray to any one a hint of my miserable secret, and you +couldn't, for your life's happiness, pay the particular price that I +asked." She leaned toward him in the intense, almost childlike, +effort at full expression. "Oh, we are of different races, with a +different point of honour; but I understand, I see, that you are +good people--just simply, courageously _good!_" + +She paused, and then said slowly: "Have I understood you? Have I put +my hand on your motive?" + +Durham sat speechless, subdued by the rush of emotion which her +words set free. + +"That, you understand, is my question," she concluded with a faint +smile; and he answered hesitatingly: "What can it matter, when the +upshot is something I infinitely regret?" + +"Having refused me? Don't!" She spoke with deep seriousness, bending +her eyes full on his: "Ah, I have suffered--suffered! But I have +learned also--my life has been enlarged. You see how I have +understood you both. And that is something I should have been +incapable of a few months ago." + +Durham returned her look. "I can't think that you can ever have been +incapable of any generous interpretation." + +She uttered a slight exclamation, which resolved itself into a laugh +of self-directed irony. + +"If you knew into what language I have always translated life! But +that," she broke off, "is not what you are here to learn." + +"I think," he returned gravely, "that I am here to learn the measure +of Christian charity." + +She threw him a new, odd look. "Ah, no--but to show it!" she +exclaimed. + +"To show it? And to whom?" + +She paused for a moment, and then rejoined, instead of answering: +"Do you remember that day I talked with you at Fanny's? The day +after you came back from Italy?" + +He made a motion of assent, and she went on: "You asked me then what +return I expected for my service to you, as you called it; and I +answered, the contemplation of your happiness. Well, do you know +what that meant in my old language--the language I was still +speaking then? It meant that I knew there was horrible misery in +store for you, and that I was waiting to feast my eyes on it: that's +all!" + +She had flung out the words with one of her quick bursts of +self-abandonment, like a fevered sufferer stripping the bandage from +a wound. Durham received them with a face blanching to the pallour +of her own. + +"What misery do you mean?" he exclaimed. + +She leaned forward, laying her hand on his with just such a gesture +as she had used to enforce her appeal in Mrs. Boykin's boudoir. The +remembrance made him shrink slightly from her touch, and she drew +back with a smile. + +"Have you never asked yourself," she enquired, "why our family +consented so readily to a divorce?" + +"Yes, often," he replied, all his unformed fears gathering in a dark +throng about him. "But Fanny was so reassured, so convinced that we +owed it to your good offices--" + +She broke into a laugh. "My good offices! Will you never, you +Americans, learn that we do not act individually in such cases? That +we are all obedient to a common principle of authority?" + +"Then it was not you--?" + +She made an impatient shrugging motion. "Oh, you are too +confiding--it is the other side of your beautiful good faith!" + +"The side you have taken advantage of, it appears?" + +"I--we--all of us. I especially!" she confessed. + + + + +X + + +There was another pause, during which Durham tried to steady himself +against the shock of the impending revelation. It was an odd +circumstance of the case that, though Madame de Treymes' avowal of +duplicity was fresh in his ears, he did not for a moment believe +that she would deceive him again. Whatever passed between them now +would go to the root of the matter. + +The first thing that passed was the long look they exchanged: +searching on his part, tender, sad, undefinable on hers. As the +result of it he said: "Why, then, did you consent to the divorce?" + +"To get the boy back," she answered instantly; and while he sat +stunned by the unexpectedness of the retort, she went on: "Is it +possible you never suspected? It has been our whole thought from the +first. Everything was planned with that object." + +He drew a sharp breath of alarm. "But the divorce--how could that +give him back to you?" + +"It was the only thing that could. We trembled lest the idea should +occur to you. But we were reasonably safe, for there has only been +one other case of the same kind before the courts." She leaned back, +the sight of his perplexity checking her quick rush of words. "You +didn't know," she began again, "that in that case, on the remarriage +of the mother, the courts instantly restored the child to the +father, though he had--well, given as much cause for divorce as my +unfortunate brother?" + +Durham gave an ironic laugh. "Your French justice takes a grammar +and dictionary to understand." + +She smiled. "_We_ understand it--and it isn't necessary that you +should." + +"So it would appear!" he exclaimed bitterly. + +"Don't judge us too harshly--or not, at least, till you have taken +the trouble to learn our point of view. You consider the +individual--we think only of the family." + +"Why don't you take care to preserve it, then?" + +"Ah, that's what we do; in spite of every aberration of the +individual. And so, when we saw it was impossible that my brother +and his wife should live together, we simply transferred our +allegiance to the child--we constituted _him_ the family." + +"A precious kindness you did him! If the result is to give him back +to his father." + +"That, I admit, is to be deplored; but his father is only a fraction +of the whole. What we really do is to give him back to his race, his +religion, his true place in the order of things." + +"His mother never tried to deprive him of any of those inestimable +advantages!" + +Madame de Treymes unclasped her hands with a slight gesture of +deprecation. + +"Not consciously, perhaps; but silences and reserves can teach so +much. His mother has another point of view--" + +"Thank heaven!" Durham interjected. + +"Thank heaven for _her_--yes--perhaps; but it would not have done +for the boy." + +Durham squared his shoulders with the sudden resolve of a man +breaking through a throng of ugly phantoms. + +"You haven't yet convinced me that it won't have to do for him. At +the time of Madame de Malrive's separation, the court made no +difficulty about giving her the custody of her son; and you must +pardon me for reminding you that the father's unfitness was the +reason alleged." + +Madame de Treymes shrugged her shoulders. "And my poor brother, you +would add, has not changed; but the circumstances have, and that +proves precisely what I have been trying to show you: that, in such +cases, the general course of events is considered, rather than the +action of any one person." + +"Then why is Madame de Malrive's action to be considered?" + +"Because it breaks up the unity of the family." + +"_Unity--!_" broke from Durham; and Madame de Treymes gently +suffered his smile. + +"Of the family tradition, I mean: it introduces new elements. You +are a new element." + +"Thank heaven!" said Durham again. + +She looked at him singularly. "Yes--you may thank heaven. Why isn't +it enough to satisfy Fanny?" + +"Why isn't what enough?" + +"Your being, as I say, a new element; taking her so completely into +a better air. Why shouldn't she be content to begin a new life with +you, without wanting to keep the boy too?" + +Durham stared at her dumbly. "I don't know what you mean," he said +at length. + +"I mean that in her place--" she broke off, dropping her eyes. "She +may have another son--the son of the man she adores." + +Durham rose from his seat and took a quick turn through the room. +She sat motionless, following his steps through her lowered lashes, +which she raised again slowly as he stood before her. + +"Your idea, then, is that I should tell her nothing?" he said. + +"Tell her _now?_ But, my poor friend, you would be ruined!" + +"Exactly." He paused. "Then why have you told _me?_" + +Under her dark skin he saw the faint colour stealing. "We see things +so differently--but can't you conceive that, after all that has +passed, I felt it a kind of loyalty not to leave you in ignorance?" + +"And you feel no such loyalty to her?" + +"Ah, I leave her to you," she murmured, looking down again. + +Durham continued to stand before her, grappling slowly with his +perplexity, which loomed larger and darker as it closed in on him. + +"You don't leave her to me; you take her from me at a stroke! I +suppose," he added painfully, "I ought to thank you for doing it +before it's too late." + +She stared. "I take her from you? I simply prevent your going to her +unprepared. Knowing Fanny as I do, it seemed to me necessary that +you should find a way in advance--a way of tiding over the first +moment. That, of course, is what we had planned that you shouldn't +have. We meant to let you marry, and then--. Oh, there is no +question about the result: we are certain of our case--our measures +have been taken _de loin_." She broke off, as if oppressed by his +stricken silence. "You will think me stupid, but my warning you of +this is the only return I know how to make for your generosity. I +could not bear to have you say afterward that I had deceived you +twice." + +"Twice?" He looked at her perplexedly, and her colour rose. + +"I deceived you once--that night at your cousin's, when I tried to +get you to bribe me. Even then we meant to consent to the +divorce--it was decided the first day that I saw you." He was +silent, and she added, with one of her mocking gestures: "You see +from what a _milieu_ you are taking her!" + +Durham groaned. "She will never give up her son!" + +"How can she help it? After you are married there will be no +choice." + +"No--but there is one now." + +"_Now?_" She sprang to her feet, clasping her hands in dismay. +"Haven't I made it clear to you? Haven't I shown you your course?" +She paused, and then brought out with emphasis: "I love Fanny, and I +am ready to trust her happiness to you." + +"I shall have nothing to do with her happiness," he repeated +doggedly. + +She stood close to him, with a look intently fixed on his face. "Are +you afraid?" she asked with one of her mocking flashes. + +"Afraid?" + +"Of not being able to make it up to her--?" + +Their eyes met, and he returned her look steadily. + +"No; if I had the chance, I believe I could." + +"I know you could!" she exclaimed. + +"That's the worst of it," he said with a cheerless laugh. + +"The worst--?" + +"Don't you see that I can't deceive her? Can't trick her into +marrying me now?" + +Madame de Treymes continued to hold his eyes for a puzzled moment +after he had spoken; then she broke out despairingly: "Is happiness +never more to you, then, than this abstract standard of truth?" + +Durham reflected. "I don't know--it's an instinct. There doesn't +seem to be any choice." + +"Then I am a miserable wretch for not holding my tongue!" + +He shook his head sadly. "That would not have helped me; and it +would have been a thousand times worse for her." + +"Nothing can be as bad for her as losing you! Aren't you moved by +seeing her need?" + +"Horribly--are not _you?_" he said, lifting his eyes to hers +suddenly. + +She started under his look. "You mean, why don't I help you? Why +don't I use my influence? Ah, if you knew how I have tried!" + +"And you are sure that nothing can be done?" + +"Nothing, nothing: what arguments can I use? We abhor divorce--we go +against our religion in consenting to it--and nothing short of +recovering the boy could possibly justify us." + +Durham turned slowly away. "Then there is nothing to be done," he +said, speaking more to himself than to her. + +He felt her light touch on his arm. "Wait! There is one thing +more--" She stood close to him, with entreaty written on her small +passionate face. "There is one thing more," she repeated. "And that +is, to believe that I am deceiving you again." + +He stopped short with a bewildered stare. "That you are deceiving +me--about the boy?" + +"Yes--yes; why shouldn't I? You're so credulous--the temptation is +irresistible." + +"Ah, it would be too easy to find out--" + +"Don't try, then! Go on as if nothing had happened. I have been +lying to you," she declared with vehemence. + +"Do you give me your word of honour?" he rejoined. + +"A liar's? I haven't any! Take the logic of the facts instead. What +reason have you to believe any good of me? And what reason have I to +do any to you? Why on earth should I betray my family for your +benefit? Ah, don't let yourself be deceived to the end!" She +sparkled up at him, her eyes suffused with mockery; but on the +lashes he saw a tear. + +He shook his head sadly. "I should first have to find a reason for +your deceiving me." + +"Why, I gave it to you long ago. I wanted to punish you--and now +I've punished you enough." + +"Yes, you've punished me enough," he conceded. + +The tear gathered and fell down her thin cheek. "It's you who are +punishing me now. I tell you I'm false to the core. Look back and +see what I've done to you!" + +He stood silent, with his eyes fixed on the ground. Then he took one +of her hands and raised it to his lips. + +"You poor, good woman!" he said gravely. + +Her hand trembled as she drew it away. "You're going to +her--straight from here?" + +"Yes--straight from here." + +"To tell her everything--to renounce your hope?" + +"That is what it amounts to, I suppose." + +She watched him cross the room and lay his hand on the door. + +"Ah, you poor, good man!" she said with a sob. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Madame de Treymes, by Edith Wharton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME DE TREYMES *** + +***** This file should be named 4518.txt or 4518.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/1/4518/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/4518.zip b/4518.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1ccee4 --- /dev/null +++ b/4518.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2111414 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #4518 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4518) diff --git a/old/mdmdt10.txt b/old/mdmdt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64e0610 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mdmdt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2775 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame de Treymes +by Edith Wharton +(#12 in our series by Edith Wharton) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the +information they need to understand what they may and may not +do with the etext. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: Madame de Treymes + +Author: Edith Wharton + +Release Date: October, 2003 [Etext #4518] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 29, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame de Treymes +by Edith Wharton +******This file should be named mdmdt10.txt or mdmdt10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, mdmdt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mdmdt10a.txt + +This etext was produced by Charles Aldarondo (Aldarondo@yahoo.com). + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our etexts one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +etexts, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2001 as we release over 50 new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 4000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts. We need +funding, as well as continued efforts by volunteers, to maintain +or increase our production and reach our goals. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of November, 2001, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, +Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, +Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, +Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, +Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, +and Wyoming. + +*In Progress + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fundraising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fundraising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +This etext was produced by Charles Aldarondo (Aldarondo@yahoo.com). + +MADAME DE TREYMES + +BY EDITH WHARTON + + + + + + +MADAME DE TREYMES + + + + + +I + + + + + +John Durham, while he waited for Madame de Malrive to draw on her +gloves, stood in the hotel doorway looking out across the Rue de +Rivoli at the afternoon brightness of the Tuileries gardens. + +His European visits were infrequent enough to have kept unimpaired +the freshness of his eye, and he was always struck anew by the vast +and consummately ordered spectacle of Paris: by its look of having +been boldly and deliberately planned as a background for the +enjoyment of life, instead of being forced into grudging concessions +to the festive instincts, or barricading itself against them in +unenlightened ugliness, like his own lamentable New York. + +But to-day, if the scene had never presented itself more alluringly, +in that moist spring bloom between showers, when the horse-chestnuts +dome themselves in unreal green against a gauzy sky, and the very +dust of the pavement seems the fragrance of lilac made +visible--to-day for the first time the sense of a personal stake in +it all, of having to reckon individually with its effects and +influences, kept Durham from an unrestrained yielding to the spell. +Paris might still be--to the unimplicated it doubtless still +was--the most beautiful city in the world; but whether it were the +most lovable or the most detestable depended for him, in the last +analysis, on the buttoning of the white glove over which Fanny de +Malrive still lingered. + +The mere fact of her having forgotten to draw on her gloves as they +were descending in the hotel lift from his mother's drawing-room +was, in this connection, charged with significance to Durham. She +was the kind of woman who always presents herself to the mind's eye +as completely equipped, as made up of exquisitely cared for and +finely-related details; and that the heat of her parting with his +family should have left her unconscious that she was emerging +gloveless into Paris, seemed, on the whole, to speak hopefully for +Durham's future opinion of the city. + +Even now, he could detect a certain confusion, a desire to draw +breath and catch up with life, in the way she dawdled over the last +buttons in the dimness of the porte-cochere, while her footman, +outside, hung on her retarded signal. + +When at length they emerged, it was to learn from that functionary +that Madame la Marquise's carriage had been obliged to yield its +place at the door, but was at the moment in the act of regaining it. +Madame de Malrive cut the explanation short. "I shall walk home. The +carriage this evening at eight." + +As the footman turned away, she raised her eyes for the first time +to Durham's. + +"Will you walk with me? Let us cross the Tuileries. I should like to +sit a moment on the terrace." + +She spoke quite easily and naturally, as if it were the most +commonplace thing in the world for them to be straying afoot +together over Paris; but even his vague knowledge of the world she +lived in--a knowledge mainly acquired through the perusal of +yellow-backed fiction--gave a thrilling significance to her +naturalness. Durham, indeed, was beginning to find that one of the +charms of a sophisticated society is that it lends point and +perspective to the slightest contact between the sexes. If, in the +old unrestricted New York days, Fanny Frisbee, from a brown stone +door-step, had proposed that they should take a walk in the Park, +the idea would have presented itself to her companion as agreeable +but unimportant; whereas Fanny de Malrive's suggestion that they +should stroll across the Tuileries was obviously fraught with +unspecified possibilities. + +He was so throbbing with the sense of these possibilities that he +walked beside her without speaking down the length of the wide alley +which follows the line of the Rue de Rivoli, suffering her even, +when they reached its farthest end, to direct him in silence up the +steps to the terrace of the Feuillants. For, after all, the +possibilities were double-faced, and her bold departure from custom +might simply mean that what she had to say was so dreadful that it +needed all the tenderest mitigation of circumstance. + +There was apparently nothing embarrassing to her in his silence: it +was a part of her long European discipline that she had learned to +manage pauses with ease. In her Frisbee days she might have packed +this one with a random fluency; now she was content to let it widen +slowly before them like the spacious prospect opening at their feet. +The complicated beauty of this prospect, as they moved toward it +between the symmetrically clipped limes of the lateral terrace, +touched him anew through her nearness, as with the hint of some vast +impersonal power, controlling and regulating her life in ways he +could not guess, putting between himself and her the whole width of +the civilization into which her marriage had absorbed her. And there +was such fear in the thought--he read such derision of what he had +to offer in the splendour of the great avenues tapering upward to +the sunset glories of the Arch--that all he had meant to say when he +finally spoke compressed itself at last into an abrupt unmitigated: +"Well?" + +She answered at once--as though she had only awaited the call of the +national interrogation--"I don't know when I have been so happy." + +"So happy?" The suddenness of his joy flushed up through his fair +skin. + +"As I was just now--taking tea with your mother and sisters." + +Durham's "Oh!" of surprise betrayed also a note of disillusionment, +which she met only by the reconciling murmur: "Shall we sit down?" + +He found two of the springy yellow chairs indigenous to the spot, +and placed them under the tree near which they had paused, saying +reluctantly, as he did so: "Of course it was an immense pleasure to +_them_ to see you again." + +"Oh, not in the same way. I mean--" she paused, sinking into the +chair, and betraying, for the first time, a momentary inability to +deal becomingly with the situation. "I mean," she resumed smiling, +"that it was not an event for them, as it was for me." + +"An event?" he caught her up again, eagerly; for what, in the +language of any civilization, could that word mean but just the one +thing he most wished it to? + +"To be with dear, good, sweet, simple, real Americans again!" she +burst out, heaping up her epithets with reckless prodigality. + +Durham's smile once more faded to impersonality, as he rejoined, +just a shade on the defensive: "If it's merely our Americanism you +enjoyed--I've no doubt we can give you all you want in that line." + +"Yes, it's just that! But if you knew what the word means to me! It +means--it means--" she paused as if to assure herself that they were +sufficiently isolated from the desultory groups beneath the other +trees--"it means that I'm _safe_ with them: as safe as in a bank!" + +Durham felt a sudden warmth behind his eyes and in his throat. "I +think I do know--" + +"No, you don't, really; you can't know how dear and strange and +familiar it all sounded: the old New York names that kept coming up +in your mother's talk, and her charming quaint ideas about +Europe--their all regarding it as a great big innocent pleasure +ground and shop for Americans; and your mother's missing the +home-made bread and preferring the American asparagus--I'm so tired +of Americans who despise even their own asparagus! And then your +married sister's spending her summers at--where is it?--the +Kittawittany House on Lake Pohunk--" + +A vision of earnest women in Shetland shawls, with spectacles and +thin knobs of hair, eating blueberry pie at unwholesome hours in a +shingled dining-room on a bare New England hill-top, rose pallidly +between Durham and the verdant brightness of the Champs Elysees, and +he protested with a slight smile: "Oh, but my married sister is the +black sheep of the family--the rest of us never sank as low as +that." + +"Low? I think it's beautiful--fresh and innocent and simple. I +remember going to such a place once. They have early dinner--rather +late--and go off in buckboards over terrible roads, and bring back +golden rod and autumn leaves, and read nature books aloud on the +piazza; and there is always one shy young man in flannels--only +one--who has come to see the prettiest girl (though how he can +choose among so many!) and who takes her off in a buggy for hours +and hours--" She paused and summed up with a long sigh: "It is +fifteen years since I was in America." + +"And you're still so good an American." + +"Oh, a better and better one every day!" + +He hesitated. "Then why did you never come back?" + +Her face altered instantly, exchanging its retrospective light for +the look of slightly shadowed watchfulness which he had known as +most habitual to it. + +"It was impossible--it has always been so. My husband would not go; +and since--since our separation--there have been family reasons." + +Durham sighed impatiently. "Why do you talk of reasons? The truth +is, you have made your life here. You could never give all this up!" +He made a discouraged gesture in the direction of the Place de la +Concorde. + +"Give it up! I would go tomorrow! But it could never, now, be for +more than a visit. I must live in France on account of my boy." + +Durham's heart gave a quick beat. At last the talk had neared the +point toward which his whole mind was straining, and he began to +feel a personal application in her words. But that made him all the +more cautious about choosing his own. + +"It is an agreement--about the boy?" he ventured. + +"I gave my word. They knew that was enough," she said proudly; +adding, as if to put him in full possession of her reasons: "It +would have been much more difficult for me to obtain complete +control of my son if it had not been understood that I was to live +in France." + +"That seems fair," Durham assented after a moment's reflection: it +was his instinct, even in the heat of personal endeavour, to pause a +moment on the question of "fairness." The personal claim reasserted +itself as he added tentatively: "But when he _is_ brought up--when +he's grown up: then you would feel freer?" + +She received this with a start, as a possibility too remote to have +entered into her view of the future. "He is only eight years old!" +she objected. + +"Ah, of course it would be a long way off?" + +"A long way off, thank heaven! French mothers part late with their +sons, and in that one respect I mean to be a French mother." + +"Of course--naturally--since he has only you," Durham again +assented. + +He was eager to show how fully he took her point of view, if only to +dispose her to the reciprocal fairness of taking his when the time +came to present it. And he began to think that the time had now +come; that their walk would not have thus resolved itself, without +excuse or pretext, into a tranquil session beneath the trees, for +any purpose less important than that of giving him his opportunity. + +He took it, characteristically, without seeking a transition. "When +I spoke to you, the other day, about myself--about what I felt for +you--I said nothing of the future, because, for the moment, my mind +refused to travel beyond its immediate hope of happiness. But I +felt, of course, even then, that the hope involved various +difficulties--that we can't, as we might once have done, come +together without any thought but for ourselves; and whatever your +answer is to be, I want to tell you now that I am ready to accept my +share of the difficulties." He paused, and then added explicitly: +"If there's the least chance of your listening to me, I'm willing to +live over here as long as you can keep your boy with you." + + + + + + +II + + + + + +Whatever Madame de Malrive's answer was to be, there could be no +doubt as to her readiness to listen. She received Durham's words +without sign of resistance, and took time to ponder them gently +before she answered in a voice touched by emotion: "You are very +generous--very unselfish; but when you fix a limit--no matter how +remote--to my remaining here, I see how wrong it is to let myself +consider for a moment such possibilities as we have been talking +of." + +"Wrong? Why should it be wrong?" + +"Because I shall want to keep my boy always! Not, of course, in the +sense of living with him, or even forming an important part of his +life; I am not deluded enough to think that possible. But I do +believe it possible never to pass wholly out of his life; and while +there is a hope of that, how can I leave him?" She paused, and +turned on him a new face, a face in which the past of which he was +still so ignorant showed itself like a shadow suddenly darkening a +clear pane. "How can I make you understand?" she went on urgently. +"It is not only because of my love for him--not only, I mean, +because of my own happiness in being with him; that I can't, in +imagination, surrender even the remotest hour of his future; it is +because, the moment he passes out of my influence, he passes under +that other--the influence I have been fighting against every hour +since he was born!--I don't mean, you know," she added, as Durham, +with bent head, continued to offer the silent fixity of his +attention, "I don't mean the special personal influence--except +inasmuch as it represents something wider, more general, something +that encloses and circulates through the whole world in which he +belongs. That is what I meant when I said you could never +understand! There is nothing in your experience--in any American +experience--to correspond with that far-reaching family +organization, which is itself a part of the larger system, and which +encloses a young man of my son's position in a network of accepted +prejudices and opinions. Everything is prepared in advance--his +political and religious convictions, his judgments of people, his +sense of honour, his ideas of women, his whole view of life. He is +taught to see vileness and corruption in every one not of his own +way of thinking, and in every idea that does not directly serve the +religious and political purposes of his class. The truth isn't a +fixed thing: it's not used to test actions by, it's tested by them, +and made to fit in with them. And this forming of the mind begins +with the child's first consciousness; it's in his nursery stories, +his baby prayers, his very games with his playmates! Already he is +only half mine, because the Church has the other half, and will be +reaching out for my share as soon as his education begins. But that +other half is still mine, and I mean to make it the strongest and +most living half of the two, so that, when the inevitable conflict +begins, the energy and the truth and the endurance shall be on my +side and not on theirs!" + +She paused, flushing with the repressed fervour of her utterance, +though her voice had not been raised beyond its usual discreet +modulations; and Durham felt himself tingling with the transmitted +force of her resolve. Whatever shock her words brought to his +personal hope, he was grateful to her for speaking them so clearly, +for having so sure a grasp of her purpose. + +Her decision strengthened his own, and after a pause of deliberation +he said quietly: "There might be a good deal to urge on the other +side--the ineffectualness of your sacrifice, the probability that +when your son marries he will inevitably be absorbed back into the +life of his class and his people; but I can't look at it in that +way, because if I were in your place I believe I should feel just as +you do about it. As long as there was a fighting chance I should +want to keep hold of my half, no matter how much the struggle cost +me. And one reason why I understand your feeling about your boy is +that I have the same feeling about _you:_ as long as there's a +fighting chance of keeping my half of you--the half he is willing to +spare me--I don't see how I can ever give it up." He waited again, +and then brought out firmly: "If you'll marry me, I'll agree to live +out here as long as you want, and we'll be two instead of one to +keep hold of your half of him." + +He raised his eyes as he ended, and saw that hers met them through a +quick clouding of tears. + +"Ah, I am glad to have had this said to me! But I could never accept +such an offer." + +He caught instantly at the distinction. "That doesn't mean that you +could never accept _me?_" + +"Under such conditions--" + +"But if I am satisfied with the conditions? Don't think I am +speaking rashly, under the influence of the moment. I have expected +something of this sort, and I have thought out my side of the case. +As far as material circumstances go, I have worked long enough and +successfully enough to take my ease and take it where I choose. I +mention that because the life I offer you is offered to your boy as +well." He let this sink into her mind before summing up gravely: +"The offer I make is made deliberately, and at least I have a right +to a direct answer." + +She was silent again, and then lifted a cleared gaze to his. "My +direct answer then is: if I were still Fanny Frisbee I would marry +you." + +He bent toward her persuasively. "But you will be--when the divorce +is pronounced." + +"Ah, the divorce--" She flushed deeply, with an instinctive +shrinking back of her whole person which made him straighten himself +in his chair. + +"Do you so dislike the idea?" + +"The idea of divorce? No--not in my case. I should like anything +that would do away with the past--obliterate it all--make everything +new in my life!" + +"Then what--?" he began again, waiting with the patience of a wooer +on the uneasy circling of her tormented mind. + +"Oh, don't ask me; I don't know; I am frightened." + +Durham gave a deep sigh of discouragement. "I thought your coming +here with me today--and above all your going with me just now to see +my mother--was a sign that you were _not_ frightened!" + +"Well, I was not when I was with your mother. She made everything +seem easy and natural. She took me back into that clear American air +where there are no obscurities, no mysteries--" + +"What obscurities, what mysteries, are you afraid of?" + +She looked about her with a faint shiver. "I am afraid of +everything!" she said. + +"That's because you are alone; because you've no one to turn to. +I'll clear the air for you fast enough if you'll let me." + +He looked forth defiantly, as if flinging his challenge at the great +city which had come to typify the powers contending with him for her +possession. + +"You say that so easily! But you don't know; none of you know." + +"Know what?" + +"The difficulties--" + +"I told you I was ready to take my share of the difficulties--and my +share naturally includes yours. You know Americans are great hands +at getting over difficulties." He drew himself up confidently. "Just +leave that to me--only tell me exactly what you're afraid of." + +She paused again, and then said: "The divorce, to begin with--they +will never consent to it." + +He noticed that she spoke as though the interests of the whole clan, +rather than her husband's individual claim, were to be considered; +and the use of the plural pronoun shocked his free individualism +like a glimpse of some dark feudal survival. + +"But you are absolutely certain of your divorce! I've consulted--of +course without mentioning names--" + +She interrupted him, with a melancholy smile: "Ah, so have I. The +divorce would be easy enough to get, if they ever let it come into +the courts." + +"How on earth can they prevent that?" + +"I don't know; my never knowing how they will do things is one of +the secrets of their power." + +"Their power? What power?" he broke in with irrepressible contempt. +"Who are these bogeys whose machinations are going to arrest the +course of justice in a--comparatively--civilized country? You've +told me yourself that Monsieur de Malrive is the least likely to +give you trouble; and the others are his uncle the abbe, his mother +and sister. That kind of a syndicate doesn't scare me much. A priest +and two women _contra mundum!_" + +She shook her head. "Not _contra mundum_, but with it, their whole +world is behind them. It's that mysterious solidarity that you can't +understand. One doesn't know how far they may reach, or in how many +directions. I have never known. They have always cropped up where I +least expected them." + +Before this persistency of negation Durham's buoyancy began to flag, +but his determination grew the more fixed. + +"Well, then, supposing them to possess these supernatural powers; do +you think it's to people of that kind that I'll ever consent to give +you up?" + +She raised a half-smiling glance of protest. "Oh, they're not +wantonly wicked. They'll leave me alone as long as--" + +"As I do?" he interrupted. "Do you want me to leave you alone? Was +that what you brought me here to tell me?" + +The directness of the challenge seemed to gather up the scattered +strands of her hesitation, and lifting her head she turned on him a +look in which, but for its underlying shadow, he might have +recovered the full free beam of Fanny Frisbee's gaze. + +"I don't know why I brought you here," she said gently, "except from +the wish to prolong a little the illusion of being once more an +American among Americans. Just now, sitting there with your mother +and Katy and Nannie, the difficulties seemed to vanish; the problems +grew as trivial to me as they are to you. And I wanted them to +remain so a little longer; I wanted to put off going back to them. +But it was of no use--they were waiting for me here. They are over +there now in that house across the river." She indicated the grey +sky-line of the Faubourg, shining in the splintered radiance of the +sunset beyond the long sweep of the quays. "They are a part of me--I +belong to them. I must go back to them!" she sighed. + +She rose slowly to her feet, as though her metaphor had expressed an +actual fact and she felt herself bodily drawn from his side by the +influences of which she spoke. + +Durham had risen too. "Then I go back with you!" he exclaimed +energetically; and as she paused, wavering a little under the shock +of his resolve: "I don't mean into your house--but into your life!" +he said. + +She suffered him, at any rate, to accompany her to the door of the +house, and allowed their debate to prolong itself through the almost +monastic quiet of the quarter which led thither. On the way, he +succeeded in wresting from her the confession that, if it were +possible to ascertain in advance that her husband's family would not +oppose her action, she might decide to apply for a divorce. Short of +a positive assurance on this point, she made it clear that she would +never move in the matter; there must be no scandal, no +_retentissement_, nothing which her boy, necessarily brought up in +the French tradition of scrupulously preserved appearances, could +afterward regard as the faintest blur on his much-quartered +escutcheon. But even this partial concession again raised fresh +obstacles; for there seemed to be no one to whom she could entrust +so delicate an investigation, and to apply directly to the Marquis +de Malrive or his relatives appeared, in the light of her past +experience, the last way of learning their intentions. + +"But," Durham objected, beginning to suspect a morbid fixity of idea +in her perpetual attitude of distrust--"but surely you have told me +that your husband's sister--what is her name? Madame de +Treymes?--was the most powerful member of the group, and that she +has always been on your side." + +She hesitated. "Yes, Christiane has been on my side. She dislikes +her brother. But it would not do to ask her." + +"But could no one else ask her? Who are her friends?" + +"She has a great many; and some, of course, are mine. But in a case +like this they would be all hers; they wouldn't hesitate a moment +between us." + +"Why should it be necessary to hesitate between you? Suppose Madame +de Treymes sees the reasonableness of what you ask; suppose, at any +rate, she sees the hopelessness of opposing you? Why should she make +a mystery of your opinion?" + +"It's not that; it is that, if I went to her friends, I should never +get her real opinion from them. At least I should never know if it +is _was_ her real opinion; and therefore I should be no farther +advanced. Don't you see?" + +Durham struggled between the sentimental impulse to soothe her, and +the practical instinct that it was a moment for unmitigated +frankness. + +"I'm not sure that I do; but if you can't find out what Madame de +Treymes thinks, I'll see what I can do myself." + +"Oh--_you_!" broke from her in mingled terror and admiration; and +pausing on her doorstep to lay her hand in his before she touched +the bell, she added with a half-whimsical flash of regret: "Why +didn't this happen to Fanny Frisbee?" + + + + + + +III + + + + + +Why had it not happened to Fanny Frisbee? + +Durham put the question to himself as he walked back along the +quays, in a state of inner commotion which left him, for once, +insensible to the ordered beauty of his surroundings. Propinquity +had not been lacking: he had known Miss Frisbee since his college +days. In unsophisticated circles, one family is apt to quote +another; and the Durham ladies had always quoted the Frisbees. The +Frisbees were bold, experienced, enterprising: they had what the +novelists of the day called "dash." The beautiful Fanny was +especially dashing; she had the showiest national attributes, +tempered only by a native grace of softness, as the beam of her eyes +was subdued by the length of their lashes. And yet young Durham, +though not unsusceptible to such charms, had remained content to +enjoy them from a safe distance of good fellowship. If he had been +asked why, he could not have told; but the Durham of forty +understood. It was because there were, with minor modifications, +many other Fanny Frisbees; whereas never before, within his ken, had +there been a Fanny de Malrive. + +He had felt it in a flash, when, the autumn before, he had run +across her one evening in the dining-room of the Beaurivage at +Ouchy; when, after a furtive exchange of glances, they had +simultaneously arrived at recognition, followed by an eager pressure +of hands, and a long evening of reminiscence on the starlit terrace. +She was the same, but so mysteriously changed! And it was the +mystery, the sense of unprobed depths of initiation, which drew him +to her as her freshness had never drawn him. He had not hitherto +attempted to define the nature of the change: it remained for his +sister Nannie to do that when, on his return to the Rue de Rivoli, +where the family were still sitting in conclave upon their recent +visitor, Miss Durham summed up their groping comments in the phrase: +"I never saw anything so French!" + +Durham, understanding what his sister's use of the epithet implied, +recognized it instantly as the explanation of his own feelings. Yes, +it was the finish, the modelling, which Madame de Malrive's +experience had given her that set her apart from the fresh +uncomplicated personalities of which she had once been simply the +most charming type. The influences that had lowered her voice, +regulated her gestures, toned her down to harmony with the warm dim +background of a long social past--these influences had lent to her +natural fineness of perception a command of expression adapted to +complex conditions. She had moved in surroundings through which one +could hardly bounce and bang on the genial American plan without +knocking the angles off a number of sacred institutions; and her +acquired dexterity of movement seemed to Durham a crowning grace. It +was a shock, now that he knew at what cost the dexterity had been +acquired, to acknowledge this even to himself; he hated to think +that she could owe anything to such conditions as she had been +placed in. And it gave him a sense of the tremendous strength of the +organization into which she had been absorbed, that in spite of her +horror, her moral revolt, she had not reacted against its external +forms. She might abhor her husband, her marriage, and the world to +which it had introduced her, but she had become a product of that +world in its outward expression, and no better proof of the fact was +needed than her exotic enjoyment of Americanism. + +The sense of the distance to which her American past had been +removed was never more present to him than when, a day or two later, +he went with his mother and sisters to return her visit. The region +beyond the river existed, for the Durham ladies, only as the +unmapped environment of the Bon Marche; and Nannie Durham's +exclamation on the pokiness of the streets and the dulness of the +houses showed Durham, with a start, how far he had already travelled +from the family point of view. + +"Well, if this is all she got by marrying a Marquis!" the young lady +summed up as they paused before the small sober hotel in its +high-walled court; and Katy, following her mother through the +stone-vaulted and stone-floored vestibule, murmured: "It must be +simply freezing in winter." + +In the softly-faded drawing-room, with its old pastels in old +frames, its windows looking on the damp green twilight of a garden +sunk deep in blackened walls, the American ladies might have been +even more conscious of the insufficiency of their friend's +compensations, had not the warmth of her welcome precluded all other +reflections. It was not till she had gathered them about her in the +corner beside the tea-table, that Durham identified the slender dark +lady loitering negligently in the background, and introduced in a +comprehensive murmur to the American group, as the redoubtable +sister-in-law to whom he had declared himself ready to throw down +his challenge. + +There was nothing very redoubtable about Madame de Treymes, except +perhaps the kindly yet critical observation which she bestowed on +her sister-in-law's visitors: the unblinking attention of a +civilized spectator observing an encampment of aborigines. He had +heard of her as a beauty, and was surprised to find her, as Nannie +afterward put it, a mere stick to hang clothes on (but they _did_ +hang!), with a small brown glancing face, like that of a charming +little inquisitive animal. Yet before she had addressed ten words to +him--nibbling at the hard English consonants like nuts--he owned the +justice of the epithet. She was a beauty, if beauty, instead of +being restricted to the cast of the face, is a pervasive attribute +informing the hands, the voice, the gestures, the very fall of a +flounce and tilt of a feather. In this impalpable _aura_ of grace +Madame de Treymes' dark meagre presence unmistakably moved, like a +thin flame in a wide quiver of light. And as he realized that she +looked much handsomer than she was, so while they talked, he felt +that she understood a great deal more than she betrayed. It was not +through the groping speech which formed their apparent medium of +communication that she imbibed her information: she found it in the +air, she extracted it from Durham's look and manner, she caught it +in the turn of her sister-in-law's defenseless eyes--for in her +presence Madame de Malrive became Fanny Frisbee again!--she put it +together, in short, out of just such unconsidered indescribable +trifles as differentiated the quiet felicity of her dress from +Nannie and Katy's "handsome" haphazard clothes. + +Her actual converse with Durham moved, meanwhile, strictly in the +conventional ruts: had he been long in Paris, which of the new plays +did he like best, was it true that American _jeunes filles_ were +sometimes taken to the Boulevard theatres? And she threw an +interrogative glance at the young ladies beside the tea-table. To +Durham's reply that it depended how much French they knew, she +shrugged and smiled, replying that his compatriots all spoke French +like Parisians, enquiring, after a moment's thought, if they learned +it, _la bas, des negres_, and laughing heartily when Durham's +astonishment revealed her blunder. + +When at length she had taken leave--enveloping the Durham ladies in +a last puzzled penetrating look--Madame de Malrive turned to Mrs. +Durham with a faintly embarrassed smile. + +"My sister-in-law was much interested; I believe you are the first +Americans she has ever known." + +"Good gracious!" ejaculated Nannie, as though such social darkness +required immediate missionary action on some one's part. + +"Well, she knows _us_," said Durham, catching in Madame de Malrive's +rapid glance, a startled assent to his point. + +"After all," reflected the accurate Katy, as though seeking an +excuse for Madame de Treymes' unenlightenment, "_we_ don't know +many French people, either." + +To which Nannie promptly if obscurely retorted: "Ah, but we couldn't +and _she_ could!" + + + + + + +IV + + + + + +Madame de Treymes' friendly observation of her sister-in-law's +visitors resulted in no expression on her part of a desire to renew +her study of them. To all appearances, she passed out of their lives +when Madame de Malrive's door closed on her; and Durham felt that +the arduous task of making her acquaintance was still to be begun. + +He felt also, more than ever, the necessity of attempting it; and in +his determination to lose no time, and his perplexity how to set +most speedily about the business, he bethought himself of applying +to his cousin Mrs. Boykin. + +Mrs. Elmer Boykin was a small plump woman, to whose vague prettiness +the lines of middle-age had given no meaning: as though whatever had +happened to her had merely added to the sum total of her +inexperience. After a Parisian residence of twenty-five years, spent +in a state of feverish servitude to the great artists of the rue de +la Paix, her dress and hair still retained a certain rigidity in +keeping with the directness of her gaze and the unmodulated candour +of her voice. Her very drawing-room had the hard bright atmosphere +of her native skies, and one felt that she was still true at heart +to the national ideals in electric lighting and plumbing. + +She and her husband had left America owing to the impossibility of +living there with the finish and decorum which the Boykin standard +demanded; but in the isolation of their exile they had created about +them a kind of phantom America, where the national prejudices +continued to flourish unchecked by the national progressiveness: a +little world sparsely peopled by compatriots in the same attitude of +chronic opposition toward a society chronically unaware of them. In +this uncontaminated air Mr. and Mrs. Boykin had preserved the purity +of simpler conditions, and Elmer Boykin, returning rakishly from a +Sunday's racing at Chantilly, betrayed, under his "knowing" coat and +the racing-glasses slung ostentatiously across his shoulder, the +unmistakeable cut of the American business man coming "up town" +after a long day in the office. + +It was a part of the Boykins' uncomfortable but determined +attitude--and perhaps a last expression of their latent +patriotism--to live in active disapproval of the world about them, +fixing in memory with little stabs of reprobation innumerable +instances of what the abominable foreigner was doing; so that they +reminded Durham of persons peacefully following the course of a +horrible war by pricking red pins in a map. To Mrs. Durham, with her +gentle tourist's view of the European continent, as a vast Museum in +which the human multitudes simply furnished the element of costume, +the Boykins seemed abysmally instructed, and darkly expert in +forbidden things; and her son, without sharing her simple faith in +their omniscience, credited them with an ample supply of the kind of +information of which he was in search. + +Mrs. Boykin, from the corner of an intensely modern Gobelin sofa, +studied her cousin as he balanced himself insecurely on one of the +small gilt chairs which always look surprised at being sat in. + +"Fanny de Malrive? Oh, of course: I remember you were all very +intimate with the Frisbees when they lived in West Thirty-third +Street. But she has dropped all her American friends since her +marriage. The excuse was that de Malrive didn't like them; but as +she's been separated for five or six years, I can't see--. You say +she's been very nice to your mother and the girls? Well, I daresay +she is beginning to feel the need of friends she can really trust; +for as for her French relations--! That Malrive set is the worst in +the Faubourg. Of course you know what _he_ is; even the family, for +decency's sake, had to back her up, and urge her to get a +separation. And Christiane de Treymes--" + +Durham seized his opportunity. "Is she so very reprehensible too?" + +Mrs. Boykin pursed up her small colourless mouth. "I can't speak +from personal experience. I know Madame de Treymes slightly--I have +met her at Fanny's--but she never remembers the fact except when she +wants me to go to one of her _ventes de charite_. They all remember +us then; and some American women are silly enough to ruin themselves +at the smart bazaars, and fancy they will get invitations in return. +They say Mrs. Addison G. Pack followed Madame d'Alglade around for a +whole winter, and spent a hundred thousand francs at her stalls; and +at the end of the season Madame d'Alglade asked her to tea, and when +she got there she found _that_ was for a charity too, and she had to +pay a hundred francs to get in." + +Mrs. Boykin paused with a smile of compassion. "That is not _my_ +way," she continued. "Personally I have no desire to thrust myself +into French society--I can't see how any American woman can do so +without loss of self-respect. But any one can tell you about Madame +de Treymes." + +"I wish you would, then," Durham suggested. + +"Well, I think Elmer had better," said his wife mysteriously, as Mr. +Boykin, at this point, advanced across the wide expanse of Aubusson +on which his wife and Durham were islanded in a state of propinquity +without privacy. + +"What's that, Bessy? Hah, Durham, how are you? Didn't see you at +Auteuil this afternoon. You don't race? Busy sight-seeing, I +suppose? What was that my wife was telling you? Oh, about Madame de +Treymes." + +He stroked his pepper-and-salt moustache with a gesture intended +rather to indicate than conceal the smile of experience beneath it. +"Well, Madame de Treymes has not been like a happy country--she's +had a history: several of 'em. Some one said she constituted the +_feuilleton_ of the Faubourg daily news. _La suite au prochain +numero_--you see the point? Not that I speak from personal +knowledge. Bessy and I have never cared to force our way--" He +paused, reflecting that his wife had probably anticipated him in the +expression of this familiar sentiment, and added with a significant +nod: "Of course you know the Prince d'Armillac by sight? No? I'm +surprised at that. Well, he's one of the choicest ornaments of the +Jockey Club: very fascinating to the ladies, I believe, but the +deuce and all at baccara. Ruined his mother and a couple of maiden +aunts already--and now Madame de Treymes has put the family pearls +up the spout, and is wearing imitation for love of him." + +"I had that straight from my maid's cousin, who is employed by +Madame d'Armillac's jeweller," said Mrs. Boykin with conscious +pride. + +"Oh, it's straight enough--more than _she_ is!" retorted her +husband, who was slightly jealous of having his facts reinforced by +any information not of his own gleaning. + +"Be careful of what you say, Elmer," Mrs. Boykin interposed with +archness. "I suspect John of being seriously smitten by the lady." + +Durham let this pass unchallenged, submitting with a good grace to +his host's low whistle of amusement, and the sardonic enquiry: "Ever +do anything with the foils? D'Armillac is what they call over here a +_fine lame_." + +"Oh, I don't mean to resort to bloodshed unless it's absolutely +necessary; but I mean to make the lady's acquaintance," said Durham, +falling into his key. + +Mrs. Boykin's lips tightened to the vanishing point. "I am afraid +you must apply for an introduction to more fashionable people than +_we_ are. Elmer and I so thoroughly disapprove of French society +that we have always declined to take any part in it. But why should +not Fanny de Malrive arrange a meeting for you?" + +Durham hesitated. "I don't think she is on very intimate terms with +her husband's family--" + +"You mean that she's not allowed to introduce _her_ friends to +them," Mrs. Boykin interjected sarcastically; while her husband +added, with an air of portentous initiation: "Ah, my dear fellow, +the way they treat the Americans over here--that's another chapter, +you know." + +"How some people can _stand_ it!" Mrs. Boykin chimed in; and as the +footman, entering at that moment, tendered her a large coronetted +envelope, she held it up as if in illustration of the indignities to +which her countrymen were subjected. + +"Look at that, my dear John," she exclaimed--"another card to one of +their everlasting bazaars! Why, it's at Madame d'Armillac's, the +Prince's mother. Madame de Treymes must have sent it, of course. The +brazen way in which they combine religion and immorality! Fifty +francs admission--_rien que cela!_--to see some of the most +disreputable people in Europe. And if you're an American, you're +expected to leave at least a thousand behind you. Their own people +naturally get off cheaper." She tossed over the card to her cousin. +"There's your opportunity to see Madame de Treymes." + +"Make it two thousand, and she'll ask you to tea," Mr. Boykin +scathingly added. + + + + + + +V + + + + + +In the monumental drawing-room of the Hotel de Malrive--it had been +a surprise to the American to read the name of the house emblazoned +on black marble over its still more monumental gateway--Durham found +himself surrounded by a buzz of feminine tea-sipping oddly out of +keeping with the wigged and cuirassed portraits frowning high on the +walls, the majestic attitude of the furniture, the rigidity of great +gilt consoles drawn up like lords-in-waiting against the tarnished +panels. + +It was the old Marquise de Malrive's "day," and Madame de Treymes, +who lived with her mother, had admitted Durham to the heart of the +enemy's country by inviting him, after his prodigal disbursements at +the charity bazaar, to come in to tea on a Thursday. Whether, in +thus fulfilling Mr. Boykin's prediction, she had been aware of +Durham's purpose, and had her own reasons for falling in with it; or +whether she simply wished to reward his lavishness at the fair, and +permit herself another glimpse of an American so picturesquely +embodying the type familiar to French fiction--on these points +Durham was still in doubt. + +Meanwhile, Madame de Treymes being engaged with a venerable Duchess +in a black shawl--all the older ladies present had the sloping +shoulders of a generation of shawl-wearers--her American visitor, +left in the isolation of his unimportance, was using it as a shelter +for a rapid survey of the scene. + +He had begun his study of Fanny de Malrive's situation without any +real understanding of her fears. He knew the repugnance to divorce +existing in the French Catholic world, but since the French laws +sanctioned it, and in a case so flagrant as his injured friend's, +would inevitably accord it with the least possible delay and +exposure, he could not take seriously any risk of opposition on the +part of the husband's family. Madame de Malrive had not become a +Catholic, and since her religious scruples could not be played on, +the only weapon remaining to the enemy--the threat of fighting the +divorce--was one they could not wield without self-injury. +Certainly, if the chief object were to avoid scandal, common sense +must counsel Monsieur de Malrive and his friends not to give the +courts an opportunity of exploring his past; and since the echo of +such explorations, and their ultimate transmission to her son, were +what Madame de Malrive most dreaded, the opposing parties seemed to +have a common ground for agreement, and Durham could not but regard +his friend's fears as the result of over-taxed sensibilities. All +this had seemed evident enough to him as he entered the austere +portals of the Hotel de Malrive and passed, between the faded +liveries of old family servants, to the presence of the dreaded +dowager above. But he had not been ten minutes in that presence +before he had arrived at a faint intuition of what poor Fanny meant. +It was not in the exquisite mildness of the old Marquise, a little +gray-haired bunch of a woman in dowdy mourning, or in the small neat +presence of the priestly uncle, the Abbe who had so obviously just +stepped down from one of the picture-frames overhead: it was not in +the aspect of these chief protagonists, so outwardly unformidable, +that Durham read an occult danger to his friend. It was rather in +their setting, their surroundings, the little company of elderly and +dowdy persons--so uniformly clad in weeping blacks and purples that +they might have been assembled for some mortuary anniversary--it was +in the remoteness and the solidarity of this little group that +Durham had his first glimpse of the social force of which Fanny de +Malrive had spoken. All these amiably chatting visitors, who mostly +bore the stamp of personal insignificance on their mildly sloping or +aristocratically beaked faces, hung together in a visible closeness +of tradition, dress, attitude and manner, as different as possible +from the loose aggregation of a roomful of his own countrymen. +Durham felt, as he observed them, that he had never before known +what "society" meant; nor understood that, in an organized and +inherited system, it exists full-fledged where two or three of its +members are assembled. + +Upon this state of bewilderment, this sense of having entered a room +in which the lights had suddenly been turned out, even Madame de +Treymes' intensely modern presence threw no illumination. He was +conscious, as she smilingly rejoined him, not of her points of +difference from the others, but of the myriad invisible threads by +which she held to them; he even recognized the audacious slant of +her little brown profile in the portrait of a powdered ancestress +beneath which she had paused a moment in advancing. She was simply +one particular facet of the solid, glittering impenetrable body +which he had thought to turn in his hands and look through like a +crystal; and when she said, in her clear staccato English, "Perhaps +you will like to see the other rooms," he felt like crying out in +his blindness: "If I could only be sure of seeing _anything_ here!" +Was she conscious of his blindness, and was he as remote and +unintelligible to her as she was to him? This possibility, as he +followed her through the nobly-unfolding rooms of the great house, +gave him his first hope of recoverable advantage. For, after all, he +had some vague traditional lights on her world and its antecedents; +whereas to her he was a wholly new phenomenon, as unexplained as a +fragment of meteorite dropped at her feet on the smooth gravel of +the garden-path they were pacing. + +She had led him down into the garden, in response to his admiring +exclamation, and perhaps also because she was sure that, in the +chill spring afternoon, they would have its embowered privacies to +themselves. The garden was small, but intensely rich and deep--one +of those wells of verdure and fragrance which everywhere sweeten the +air of Paris by wafts blown above old walls on quiet streets; and as +Madame de Treymes paused against the ivy bank masking its farther +boundary, Durham felt more than ever removed from the normal +bearings of life. + +His sense of strangeness was increased by the surprise of his +companion's next speech. + +"You wish to marry my sister-in-law?" she asked abruptly; and +Durham's start of wonder was followed by an immediate feeling of +relief. He had expected the preliminaries of their interview to be +as complicated as the bargaining in an Eastern bazaar, and had +feared to lose himself at the first turn in a labyrinth of "foreign" +intrigue. + +"Yes, I do," he said with equal directness; and they smiled together +at the sharp report of question and answer. + +The smile put Durham more completely at his ease, and after waiting +for her to speak, he added with deliberation: "So far, however, the +wishing is entirely on my side." His scrupulous conscience felt +itself justified in this reserve by the conditional nature of Madame +de Malrive's consent. + +"I understand; but you have been given reason to hope--" + +"Every man in my position gives himself his own reasons for hoping," +he interposed with a smile. + +"I understand that too," Madame de Treymes assented. "But still--you +spent a great deal of money the other day at our bazaar." + +"Yes: I wanted to have a talk with you, and it was the readiest--if +not the most distinguished--means of attracting your attention." + +"I understand," she once more reiterated, with a gleam of amusement. + +"It is because I suspect you of understanding everything that I have +been so anxious for this opportunity." + +She bowed her acknowledgement, and said: "Shall we sit a moment?" +adding, as he drew their chairs under a tree: "You permit me, then, +to say that I believe I understand also a little of our good Fanny's +mind?" + +"On that point I have no authority to speak. I am here only to +listen." + +"Listen, then: you have persuaded her that there would be no harm in +divorcing my brother--since I believe your religion does not forbid +divorce?" + +"Madame de Malrive's religion sanctions divorce in such a case as--" + +"As my brother has furnished? Yes, I have heard that your race is +stricter in judging such _ecarts_. But you must not think," she +added, "that I defend my brother. Fanny must have told you that we +have always given her our sympathy." + +"She has let me infer it from her way of speaking of you." + +Madame de Treymes arched her dramatic eyebrows. "How cautious you +are! I am so straightforward that I shall have no chance with you." + +"You will be quite safe, unless you are so straightforward that you +put me on my guard." + +She met this with a low note of amusement. + +"At this rate we shall never get any farther; and in two minutes I +must go back to my mother's visitors. Why should we go on fencing? +The situation is really quite simple. Tell me just what you wish to +know. I have always been Fanny's friend, and that disposes me to be +yours." + +Durham, during this appeal, had had time to steady his thoughts; and +the result of his deliberation was that he said, with a return to +his former directness: "Well, then, what I wish to know is, what +position your family would take if Madame de Malrive should sue for +a divorce." He added, without giving her time to reply: "I naturally +wish to be clear on this point before urging my cause with your +sister-in-law." + +Madame de Treymes seemed in no haste to answer; but after a pause of +reflection she said, not unkindly: "My poor Fanny might have asked +me that herself." + +"I beg you to believe that I am not acting as her spokesman," Durham +hastily interposed. "I merely wish to clear up the situation before +speaking to her in my own behalf." + +"You are the most delicate of suitors! But I understand your +feeling. Fanny also is extremely delicate: it was a great surprise +to us at first. Still, in this case--" Madame de Treymes +paused--"since she has no religious scruples, and she had no +difficulty in obtaining a separation, why should she fear any in +demanding a divorce?" + +"I don't know that she does: but the mere fact of possible +opposition might be enough to alarm the delicacy you have observed +in her." + +"Ah--yes: on her boy's account." + +"Partly, doubtless, on her boy's account." + +"So that, if my brother objects to a divorce, all he has to do is to +announce his objection? But, my dear sir, you are giving your case +into my hands!" She flashed an amused smile on him. + +"Since you say you are Madame de Malrive's friend, could there be a +better place for it?" + +As she turned her eyes on him he seemed to see, under the flitting +lightness of her glance, the sudden concentrated expression of the +ancestral will. "I am Fanny's friend, certainly. But with us family +considerations are paramount. And our religion forbids divorce." + +"So that, inevitably, your brother will oppose it?" + +She rose from her seat, and stood fretting with her slender boot-tip +the minute red pebbles of the path. + +"I must really go in: my mother will never forgive me for deserting +her." + +"But surely you owe me an answer?" Durham protested, rising also. + +"In return for your purchases at my stall?" + +"No: in return for the trust I have placed in you." + +She mused on this, moving slowly a step or two toward the house. + +"Certainly I wish to see you again; you interest me," she said +smiling. "But it is so difficult to arrange. If I were to ask you to +come here again, my mother and uncle would be surprised. And at +Fanny's--" + +"Oh, not there!" he exclaimed. + +"Where then? Is there any other house where we are likely to meet?" + +Durham hesitated; but he was goaded by the flight of the precious +minutes. "Not unless you'll come and dine with me," he said boldly. + +"Dine with you? _Au cabaret?_ Ah, that would be diverting--but +impossible!" + +"Well, dine with my cousin, then--I have a cousin, an American lady, +who lives here," said Durham, with suddenly-soaring audacity. + +She paused with puzzled brows. "An American lady whom I know?" + +"By name, at any rate. You send her cards for all your charity +bazaars." + +She received the thrust with a laugh. "We do exploit your +compatriots." + +"Oh, I don't think she has ever gone to the bazaars." + +"But she might if I dined with her?" + +"Still less, I imagine." + +She reflected on this, and then said with acuteness: "I like that, +and I accept--but what is the lady's name?" + + + + + + +VI + + + + + +On the way home, in the first drop of his exaltation, Durham had +said to himself: "But why on earth should Bessy invite her?" + +He had, naturally, no very cogent reasons to give Mrs. Boykin in +support of his astonishing request, and could only, marvelling at +his own growth in duplicity, suffer her to infer that he was really, +shamelessly "smitten" with the lady he thus proposed to thrust upon +her hospitality. But, to his surprise, Mrs. Boykin hardly gave +herself time to pause upon his reasons. They were swallowed up in +the fact that Madame de Treymes wished to dine with her, as the +lesser luminaries vanish in the blaze of the sun. + +"I am not surprised," she declared, with a faint smile intended to +check her husband's unruly wonder. "I wonder _you_ are, Elmer. +Didn't you tell me that Armillac went out of his way to speak to you +the other day at the races? And at Madame d'Alglade's sale--yes, I +went there after all, just for a minute, because I found Katy and +Nannie were so anxious to be taken--well, that day I noticed that +Madame de Treymes was quite _empressee_ when we went up to her +stall. Oh, I didn't buy anything: I merely waited while the girls +chose some lampshades. They thought it would be interesting to take +home something painted by a real Marquise, and of course I didn't +tell them that those women _never_ make the things they sell at +their stalls. But I repeat I'm not surprised: I suspected that +Madame de Treymes had heard of our little dinners. You know they're +really horribly bored in that poky old Faubourg. My poor John, I see +now why she's been making up to you! But on one point I am quite +determined, Elmer; whatever you say, I shall _not_ invite the Prince +d'Armillac." + +Elmer, as far as Durham could observe, did not say much; but, like +his wife, he continued in a state of pleasantly agitated activity +till the momentous evening of the dinner. + +The festivity in question was restricted in numbers, either owing to +the difficulty of securing suitable guests, or from a desire not to +have it appear that Madame de Treymes' hosts attached any special +importance to her presence; but the smallness of the company was +counterbalanced by the multiplicity of the courses. + +The national determination not to be "downed" by the despised +foreigner, to show a wealth of material resource obscurely felt to +compensate for the possible lack of other distinctions--this resolve +had taken, in Mrs. Boykin's case, the shape--or rather the multiple +shapes--of a series of culinary feats, of gastronomic combinations, +which would have commanded her deep respect had she seen them on any +other table, and which she naturally relied on to produce the same +effect on her guest. Whether or not the desired result was achieved, +Madame de Treymes' manner did not specifically declare; but it +showed a general complaisance, a charming willingness to be amused, +which made Mr. Boykin, for months afterward, allude to her among his +compatriots as "an old friend of my wife's--takes potluck with us, +you know. Of course there's not a word of truth in any of those +ridiculous stories." + +It was only when, to Durham's intense surprise, Mr. Boykin hazarded +to his neighbour the regret that they had not been so lucky as to +"secure the Prince"--it was then only that the lady showed, not +indeed anything so simple and unprepared as embarrassment, but a +faint play of wonder, an under-flicker of amusement, as though +recognizing that, by some odd law of social compensation, the +crudity of the talk might account for the complexity of the dishes. + +But Mr. Boykin was tremulously alive to hints, and the conversation +at once slid to safer topics, easy generalizations which left Madame +de Treymes ample time to explore the table, to use her narrowed gaze +like a knife slitting open the unsuspicious personalities about her. +Nannie and Katy Durham, who, after much discussion (to which their +hostess candidly admitted them), had been included in the feast, +were the special objects of Madame de Treymes' observation. During +dinner she ignored in their favour the other carefully-selected +guests--the fashionable art-critic, the old Legitimist general, the +beauty from the English Embassy, the whole impressive marshalling of +Mrs. Boykin's social resources--and when the men returned to the +drawing-room, Durham found her still fanning in his sisters the +flame of an easily kindled enthusiasm. Since she could hardly have +been held by the intrinsic interest of their converse, the sight +gave him another swift intuition of the working of those hidden +forces with which Fanny de Malrive felt herself encompassed. But +when Madame de Treymes, at his approach, let him see that it was for +him she had been reserving herself, he felt that so graceful an +impulse needed no special explanation. She had the art of making it +seem quite natural that they should move away together to the +remotest of Mrs. Boykin's far-drawn salons, and that there, in a +glaring privacy of brocade and ormolu, she should turn to him with a +smile which avowed her intentional quest of seclusion. + +"Confess that I have done a great deal for you!" she exclaimed, +making room for him on a sofa judiciously screened from the +observation of the other rooms. + +"In coming to dine with my cousin?" he enquired, answering her +smile. + +"Let us say, in giving you this half hour." + +"For that I am duly grateful--and shall be still more so when I know +what it contains for me." + +"Ah, I am not sure. You will not like what I am going to say." + +"Shall I not?" he rejoined, changing colour. + +She raised her eyes from the thoughtful contemplation of her painted +fan. "You appear to have no idea of the difficulties." + +"Should I have asked your help if I had not had an idea of them?" + +"But you are still confident that with my help you can surmount +them?" + +"I can't believe you have come here to take that confidence from +me?" + +She leaned back, smiling at him through her lashes. "And all this I +am to do for your _beaux yeux?_" + +"No--for your own: that you may see with them what happiness you are +conferring." + +"You are extremely clever, and I like you." She paused, and then +brought out with lingering emphasis: "But my family will not hear of +a divorce." + +She threw into her voice such an accent of finality that Durham, for +the moment, felt himself brought up against an insurmountable +barrier; but, almost at once, his fear was mitigated by the +conviction that she would not have put herself out so much to say so +little. + +"When you speak of your family, do you include yourself?" he +suggested. + +She threw a surprised glance at him. "I thought you understood that +I am simply their mouthpiece." + +At this he rose quietly to his feet with a gesture of acceptance. "I +have only to thank you, then, for not keeping me longer in +suspense." + +His air of wishing to put an immediate end to the conversation +seemed to surprise her. "Sit down a moment longer," she commanded +him kindly; and as he leaned against the back of his chair, without +appearing to hear her request, she added in a low voice: "I am very +sorry for you and Fanny--but you are not the only persons to be +pitied." + +She had dropped her light manner as she might have tossed aside her +fan, and he was startled at the intimacy of misery to which her look +and movement abruptly admitted him. Perhaps no Anglo-Saxon fully +understands the fluency in self-revelation which centuries of the +confessional have given to the Latin races, and to Durham, at any +rate, Madame de Treymes' sudden avowal gave the shock of a physical +abandonment. + +"I am so sorry," he stammered--"is there any way in which I can be +of use to you?" + +She sat before him with her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on his in +a terrible intensity of appeal. "If you would--if you would! Oh, +there is nothing I would not do for you. I have still a great deal +of influence with my mother, and what my mother commands we all do. +I could help you--I am sure I could help you; but not if my own +situation were known. And if nothing can be done it must be known in +a few days." + +Durham had reseated himself at her side. "Tell me what I can do," he +said in a low tone, forgetting his own preoccupations in his genuine +concern for her distress. + +She looked up at him through tears. "How dare I? Your race is so +cautious, so self-controlled--you have so little indulgence for the +extravagances of the heart. And my folly has been incredible--and +unrewarded." She paused, and as Durham waited in a silence which she +guessed to be compassionate, she brought out below her breath: "I +have lent money--my husband's, my brother's--money that was not +mine, and now I have nothing to repay it with." + +Durham gazed at her in genuine astonishment. The turn the +conversation had taken led quite beyond his uncomplicated +experiences with the other sex. She saw his surprise, and extended +her hands in deprecation and entreaty. "Alas, what must you think of +me? How can I explain my humiliating myself before a stranger? Only +by telling you the whole truth--the fact that I am not alone in this +disaster, that I could not confess my situation to my family without +ruining myself, and involving in my ruin some one who, however +undeservedly, has been as dear to me as--as you are to--" + +Durham pushed his chair back with a sharp exclamation. + +"Ah, even that does not move you!" she said. + +The cry restored him to his senses by the long shaft of light it +sent down the dark windings of the situation. He seemed suddenly to +know Madame de Treymes as if he had been brought up with her in the +inscrutable shades of the Hotel de Malrive. + +She, on her side, appeared to have a startled but uncomprehending +sense of the fact that his silence was no longer completely +sympathetic, that her touch called forth no answering vibration; and +she made a desperate clutch at the one chord she could be certain of +sounding. + +"You have asked a great deal of me--much more than you can guess. Do +you mean to give me nothing--not even your sympathy--in return? Is +it because you have heard horrors of me? When are they not said of a +woman who is married unhappily? Perhaps not in your fortunate +country, where she may seek liberation without dishonour. But +here--! You who have seen the consequences of our disastrous +marriages--you who may yet be the victim of our cruel and abominable +system; have you no pity for one who has suffered in the same way, +and without the possibility of release?" She paused, laying her hand +on his arm with a smile of deprecating irony. "It is not because you +are not rich. At such times the crudest way is the shortest, and I +don't pretend to deny that I know I am asking you a trifle. You +Americans, when you want a thing, always pay ten times what it is +worth, and I am giving you the wonderful chance to get what you most +want at a bargain." + +Durham sat silent, her little gloved hand burning his coat-sleeve as +if it had been a hot iron. His brain was tingling with the shock of +her confession. She wanted money, a great deal of money: that was +clear, but it was not the point. She was ready to sell her +influence, and he fancied she could be counted on to fulfil her side +of the bargain. The fact that he could so trust her seemed only to +make her more terrible to him--more supernaturally dauntless and +baleful. For what was it that she exacted of him? She had said she +must have money to pay her debts; but he knew that was only a pre- +text which she scarcely expected him to believe. She wanted the +money for some one else; that was what her allusion to a +fellow-victim meant. She wanted it to pay the Prince's gambling +debts--it was at that price that Durham was to buy the right to +marry Fanny de Malrive. + +Once the situation had worked itself out in his mind, he found +himself unexpectedly relieved of the necessity of weighing the +arguments for and against it. All the traditional forces of his +blood were in revolt, and he could only surrender himself to their +pressure, without thought of compromise or parley. + +He stood up in silence, and the abruptness of his movement caused +Madame de Treymes' hand to slip from his arm. + +"You refuse?" she exclaimed; and he answered with a bow: "Only +because of the return you propose to make me." + +She stood staring at him, in a perplexity so genuine and profound +that he could almost have smiled at it through his disgust. + +"Ah, you are all incredible," she murmured at last, stooping to +repossess herself of her fan; and as she moved past him to rejoin +the group in the farther room, she added in an incisive undertone: +"You are quite at liberty to repeat our conversation to your +friend!" + + + + + + +VII + + + + + +Durham did not take advantage of the permission thus strangely flung +at him: of his talk with her sister-in-law he gave to Madame de +Malrive only that part which concerned her. + +Presenting himself for this purpose, the day after Mrs. Boykin's +dinner, he found his friend alone with her son; and the sight of the +child had the effect of dispelling whatever illusive hopes had +attended him to the threshold. Even after the governess's descent +upon the scene had left Madame de Malrive and her visitor alone, the +little boy's presence seemed to hover admonishingly between them, +reducing to a bare statement of fact Durham's confession of the +total failure of his errand. + +Madame de Malrive heard the confession calmly; she had been too +prepared for it not to have prepared a countenance to receive it. +Her first comment was: "I have never known them to declare +themselves so plainly--" and Durham's baffled hopes fastened +themselves eagerly on the words. Had she not always warned him that +there was nothing so misleading as their plainness? And might it not +be that, in spite of his advisedness, he had suffered too easy a +rebuff? But second thoughts reminded him that the refusal had not +been as unconditional as his necessary reservations made it seem in +the repetition; and that, furthermore, it was his own act, and not +that of his opponents, which had determined it. The impossibility of +revealing this to Madame de Malrive only made the difficulty shut in +more darkly around him, and in the completeness of his +discouragement he scarcely needed her reminder of his promise to +regard the subject as closed when once the other side had defined +its position. + +He was secretly confirmed in this acceptance of his fate by the +knowledge that it was really he who had defined the position. Even +now that he was alone with Madame de Malrive, and subtly aware of +the struggle under her composure, he felt no temptation to abate his +stand by a jot. He had not yet formulated a reason for his +resistance: he simply went on feeling, more and more strongly with +every precious sign of her participation in his unhappiness, that he +could neither owe his escape from it to such a transaction, nor +suffer her, innocently, to owe hers. + +The only mitigating effect of his determination was in an increase +of helpless tenderness toward her; so that, when she exclaimed, in +answer to his announcement that he meant to leave Paris the next +night: "Oh, give me a day or two longer!" he at once resigned +himself to saying: "If I can be of the least use, I'll give you a +hundred." + +She answered sadly that all he could do would be to let her feel +that he was there--just for a day or two, till she had readjusted +herself to the idea of going on in the old way; and on this note of +renunciation they parted. + +But Durham, however pledged to the passive part, could not long +sustain it without rebellion. To "hang round" the shut door of his +hopes seemed, after two long days, more than even his passion +required of him; and on the third he despatched a note of goodbye to +his friend. He was going off for a few weeks, he explained--his +mother and sisters wished to be taken to the Italian lakes: but he +would return to Paris, and say his real farewell to her, before +sailing for America in July. + +He had not intended his note to act as an ultimatum: he had no wish +to surprise Madame de Malrive into unconsidered surrender. When, +almost immediately, his own messenger returned with a reply from +her, he even felt a pang of disappointment, a momentary fear lest +she should have stooped a little from the high place where his +passion had preferred to leave her; but her first words turned his +fear into rejoicing. + +"Let me see you before you go: something extraordinary has +happened," she wrote. + +What had happened, as he heard from her a few hours later--finding +her in a tremor of frightened gladness, with her door boldly closed +to all the world but himself--was nothing less extraordinary than a +visit from Madame de Treymes, who had come, officially delegated by +the family, to announce that Monsieur de Malrive had decided not to +oppose his wife's suit for divorce. Durham, at the news, was almost +afraid to show himself too amazed; but his small signs of alarm and +wonder were swallowed up in the flush of Madame de Malrive's +incredulous joy. + +"It's the long habit, you know, of not believing them--of looking +for the truth always in what they _don't_ say. It took me hours and +hours to convince myself that there's no trick under it, that there +can't be any," she explained. + +"Then you _are_ convinced now?" escaped from Durham; but the shadow +of his question lingered no more than the flit of a wing across her +face. + +"I am convinced because the facts are there to reassure me. +Christiane tells me that Monsieur de Malrive has consulted his +lawyers, and that they have advised him to free me. Maitre +Enguerrand has been instructed to see my lawyer whenever I wish it. +They quite understand that I never should have taken the step in +face of any opposition on their part--I am so thankful to you for +making that perfectly clear to them!--and I suppose this is the +return their pride makes to mine. For they _can_ be proud +collectively--" She broke off and added, with happy hands +outstretched: "And I owe it all to you--Christiane said it was your +talk with her that had convinced them." + +Durham, at this statement, had to repress a fresh sound of +amazement; but with her hands in his, and, a moment after, her whole +self drawn to him in the first yielding of her lips, doubt perforce +gave way to the lover's happy conviction that such love was after +all too strong for the powers of darkness. + +It was only when they sat again in the blissful after-calm of their +understanding, that he felt the pricking of an unappeased distrust. + +"Did Madame de Treymes give you any reason for this change of +front?" he risked asking, when he found the distrust was not +otherwise to be quelled. + +"Oh, yes: just what I've said. It was really her admiration of +_you_--of your attitude--your delicacy. She said that at first she +hadn't believed in it: they're always looking for a hidden motive. +And when she found that yours was staring at her in the actual words +you said: that you really respected my scruples, and would never, +never try to coerce or entrap me--something in her--poor +Christiane!--answered to it, she told me, and she wanted to prove to +us that she was capable of understanding us too. If you knew her +history you'd find it wonderful and pathetic that she can!" + +Durham thought he knew enough of it to infer that Madame de Treymes +had not been the object of many conscientious scruples on the part +of the opposite sex; but this increased rather his sense of the +strangeness than of the pathos of her action. Yet Madame de Malrive, +whom he had once inwardly taxed with the morbid raising of +obstacles, seemed to see none now; and he could only infer that her +sister-in-law's actual words had carried more conviction than +reached him in the repetition of them. The mere fact that he had so +much to gain by leaving his friend's faith undisturbed was no doubt +stirring his own suspicions to unnatural activity; and this sense +gradually reasoned him back into acceptance of her view, as the most +normal as well as the pleasantest he could take. + + + + + + +VIII + + + + + +The uneasiness thus temporarily repressed slipped into the final +disguise of hoping he should not again meet Madame de Treymes; and +in this wish he was seconded by the decision, in which Madame de +Malrive concurred, that it would be well for him to leave Paris +while the preliminary negotiations were going on. He committed her +interests to the best professional care, and his mother, resigning +her dream of the lakes, remained to fortify Madame de Malrive by her +mild unimaginative view of the transaction, as an uncomfortable but +commonplace necessity, like house-cleaning or dentistry. Mrs. Durham +would doubtless have preferred that her only son, even with his hair +turning gray, should have chosen a Fanny Frisbee rather than a Fanny +de Malrive; but it was a part of her acceptance of life on a general +basis of innocence and kindliness, that she entered generously into +his dream of rescue and renewal, and devoted herself without +after-thought to keeping up Fanny's courage with so little to spare +for herself. + +The process, the lawyers declared, would not be a long one, since +Monsieur de Malrive's acquiescence reduced it to a formality; and +when, at the end of June, Durham returned from Italy with Katy and +Nannie, there seemed no reason why he should not stop in Paris long +enough to learn what progress had been made. + +But before he could learn this he was to hear, on entering Madame de +Malrive's presence, news more immediate if less personal. He found +her, in spite of her gladness in his return, so evidently +preoccupied and distressed that his first thought was one of fear +for their own future. But she read and dispelled this by saying, +before he could put his question: "Poor Christiane is here. She is +very unhappy. You have seen in the papers--?" + +"I have seen no papers since we left Turin. What has happened?" + +"The Prince d'Armillac has come to grief. There has been some +terrible scandal about money and he has been obliged to leave France +to escape arrest." + +"And Madame de Treymes has left her husband?" + +"Ah, no, poor creature: they don't leave their husbands--they can't. +But de Treymes has gone down to their place in Brittany, and as my +mother-in-law is with another daughter in Auvergne, Christiane came +here for a few days. With me, you see, she need not pretend--she can +cry her eyes out." + +"And that is what she is doing?" + +It was so unlike his conception of the way in which, under the most +adverse circumstances, Madame de Treymes would be likely to occupy +her time, that Durham was conscious of a note of scepticism in his +query. + +"Poor thing--if you saw her you would feel nothing but pity. She is +suffering so horribly that I reproach myself for being happy under +the same roof." + +Durham met this with a tender pressure of her hand; then he said, +after a pause of reflection: "I should like to see her." + +He hardly knew what prompted him to utter the wish, unless it were a +sudden stir of compunction at the memory of his own dealings with +Madame de Treymes. Had he not sacrificed the poor creature to a +purely fantastic conception of conduct? She had said that she knew +she was asking a trifle of him; and the fact that, materially, it +would have been a trifle, had seemed at the moment only an added +reason for steeling himself in his moral resistance to it. But now +that he had gained his point--and through her own generosity, as it +still appeared--the largeness of her attitude made his own seem +cramped and petty. Since conduct, in the last resort, must be judged +by its enlarging or diminishing effect on character, might it not be +that the zealous weighing of the moral anise and cummin was less +important than the unconsidered lavishing of the precious ointment? +At any rate, he could enjoy no peace of mind under the burden of +Madame de Treymes' magnanimity, and when he had assured himself that +his own affairs were progressing favourably, he once more, at the +risk of surprising his betrothed, brought up the possibility of +seeing her relative. + +Madame de Malrive evinced no surprise. "It is natural, knowing what +she has done for us, that you should want to show her your sympathy. +The difficulty is that it is just the one thing you _can't_ show +her. You can thank her, of course, for ourselves, but even that at +the moment--" + +"Would seem brutal? Yes, I recognize that I should have to choose my +words," he admitted, guiltily conscious that his capability of +dealing with Madame de Treymes extended far beyond her +sister-in-law's conjecture. + +Madame de Malrive still hesitated. "I can tell her; and when you +come back tomorrow--" + +It had been decided that, in the interests of discretion--the +interests, in other words, of the poor little future Marquis de +Malrive--Durham was to remain but two days in Paris, withdrawing +then with his family till the conclusion of the divorce proceedings +permitted him to return in the acknowledged character of Madame de +Malrive's future husband. Even on this occasion, he had not come to +her alone; Nannie Durham, in the adjoining room, was chatting +conspicuously with the little Marquis, whom she could with +difficulty be restrained from teaching to call her "Aunt Nannie." +Durham thought her voice had risen unduly once or twice during his +visit, and when, on taking leave, he went to summon her from the +inner room, he found the higher note of ecstasy had been evoked by +the appearance of Madame de Treymes, and that the little boy, +himself absorbed in a new toy of Durham's bringing, was being bent +over by an actual as well as a potential aunt. + +Madame de Treymes raised herself with a slight start at Durham's +approach: she had her hat on, and had evidently paused a moment on +her way out to speak with Nannie, without expecting to be surprised +by her sister-in-law's other visitor. But her surprises never wore +the awkward form of embarrassment, and she smiled beautifully on +Durham as he took her extended hand. + +The smile was made the more appealing by the way in which it lit up +the ruin of her small dark face, which looked seared and hollowed as +by a flame that might have spread over it from her fevered eyes. +Durham, accustomed to the pale inward grief of the inexpressive +races, was positively startled by the way in which she seemed to +have been openly stretched on the pyre; he almost felt an indelicacy +in the ravages so tragically confessed. + +The sight caused an involuntary readjustment of his whole view of +the situation, and made him, as far as his own share in it went, +more than ever inclined to extremities of self-disgust. With him +such sensations required, for his own relief, some immediate +penitential escape, and as Madame de Treymes turned toward the door +he addressed a glance of entreaty to his betrothed. + +Madame de Malrive, whose intelligence could be counted on at such +moments, responded by laying a detaining hand on her sister-in-law's +arm. + +"Dear Christiane, may I leave Mr. Durham in your charge for two +minutes? I have promised Nannie that she shall see the boy put to +bed." + +Madame de Treymes made no audible response to this request, but when +the door had closed on the other ladies she said, looking quietly at +Durham: "I don't think that, in this house, your time will hang so +heavy that you need my help in supporting it." + +Durham met her glance frankly. "It was not for that reason that +Madame de Malrive asked you to remain with me." + +"Why, then? Surely not in the interest of preserving appearances, +since she is safely upstairs with your sister?" + +"No; but simply because I asked her to. I told her I wanted to speak +to you." + +"How you arrange things! And what reason can you have for wanting to +speak to me?" + +He paused for a moment. "Can't you imagine? The desire to thank you +for what you have done." + +She stirred restlessly, turning to adjust her hat before the glass +above the mantelpiece. + +"Oh, as for what I have done--!" + +"Don't speak as if you regretted it," he interposed. + +She turned back to him with a flash of laughter lighting up the +haggardness of her face. "Regret working for the happiness of two +such excellent persons? Can't you fancy what a charming change it is +for me to do something so innocent and beneficent?" + +He moved across the room and went up to her, drawing down the hand +which still flitted experimentally about her hat. + +"Don't talk in that way, however much one of the persons of whom you +speak may have deserved it." + +"One of the persons? Do you mean me?" + +He released her hand, but continued to face her resolutely. "I mean +myself, as you know. You have been generous--extraordinarily +generous." + +"Ah, but I was doing good in a good cause. You have made me see that +there is a distinction." + +He flushed to the forehead. "I am here to let you say whatever you +choose to me." + +"Whatever I choose?" She made a slight gesture of deprecation. "Has +it never occurred to you that I may conceivably choose to say +nothing?" + +Durham paused, conscious of the increasing difficulty of the +advance. She met him, parried him, at every turn: he had to take his +baffled purpose back to another point of attack. + +"Quite conceivably," he said: "so much so that I am aware I must +make the most of this opportunity, because I am not likely to get +another." + +"But what remains of your opportunity, if it isn't one to me?" + +"It still remains, for me, an occasion to abase myself--" He broke +off, conscious of a grossness of allusion that seemed, on a closer +approach, the real obstacle to full expression. But the moments were +flying, and for his self-esteem's sake he must find some way of +making her share the burden of his repentance. + +"There is only one thinkable pretext for detaining you: it is that I +may still show my sense of what you have done for me." + +Madame de Treymes, who had moved toward the door, paused at this and +faced him, resting her thin brown hands on a slender sofa-back. + +"How do you propose to show that sense?" she enquired. + +Durham coloured still more deeply: he saw that she was determined to +save her pride by making what he had to say of the utmost +difficulty. Well! he would let his expiation take that form, +then--it was as if her slender hands held out to him the fool's cap +he was condemned to press down on his own ears. + +"By offering in return--in any form, and to the utmost--any service +you are forgiving enough to ask of me." + +She received this with a low sound of laughter that scarcely rose to +her lips. "You are princely. But, my dear sir, does it not occur to +you that I may, meanwhile, have taken my own way of repaying myself +for any service I have been fortunate enough to render you?" + +Durham, at the question, or still more, perhaps, at the tone in +which it was put, felt, through his compunction, a vague faint chill +of apprehension. Was she threatening him or only mocking him? Or was +this barbed swiftness of retort only the wounded creature's way of +defending the privacy of her own pain? He looked at her again, and +read his answer in the last conjecture. + +"I don't know how you can have repaid yourself for anything so +disinterested--but I am sure, at least, that you have given me no +chance of recognizing, ever so slightly, what you have done." + +She shook her head, with the flicker of a smile on her melancholy +lips. "Don't be too sure! You have given me a chance and I have +taken it--taken it to the full. So fully," she continued, keeping +her eyes fixed on his, "that if I were to accept any farther service +you might choose to offer, I should simply be robbing you--robbing +you shamelessly." She paused, and added in an undefinable voice: "I +was entitled, wasn't I, to take something in return for the service +I had the happiness of doing you?" + +Durham could not tell whether the irony of her tone was +self-directed or addressed to himself--perhaps it comprehended them +both. At any rate, he chose to overlook his own share in it in +replying earnestly: "So much so, that I can't see how you can have +left me nothing to add to what you say you have taken." + +"Ah, but you don't know what that is!" She continued to smile, +elusively, ambiguously. "And what's more, you wouldn't believe me if +I told you." + +"How do you know?" he rejoined. + +"You didn't believe me once before; and this is so much more +incredible." + +He took the taunt full in the face. "I shall go away unhappy unless +you tell me--but then perhaps I have deserved to," he confessed. + +She shook her head again, advancing toward the door with the evident +intention of bringing their conference to a close; but on the +threshold she paused to launch her reply. + +"I can't send you away unhappy, since it is in the contemplation of +your happiness that I have found my reward." + + + + + + +IX + + + + + +The next day Durham left with his family for England, with the +intention of not returning till after the divorce should have been +pronounced in September. + +To say that he left with a quiet heart would be to overstate the +case: the fact that he could not communicate to Madame de Malrive +the substance of his talk with her sister-in-law still hung upon him +uneasily. But of definite apprehensions the lapse of time gradually +freed him, and Madame de Malrive's letters, addressed more +frequently to his mother and sisters than to himself, reflected, in +their reassuring serenity, the undisturbed course of events. + +There was to Durham something peculiarly touching--as of an +involuntary confession of almost unbearable loneliness--in the way +she had regained, with her re-entry into the clear air of American +associations, her own fresh trustfulness of view. Once she had +accustomed herself to the surprise of finding her divorce unopposed, +she had been, as it now seemed to Durham, in almost too great haste +to renounce the habit of weighing motives and calculating chances. +It was as though her coming liberation had already freed her from +the garb of a mental slavery, as though she could not too soon or +too conspicuously cast off the ugly badge of suspicion. The fact +that Durham's cleverness had achieved so easy a victory over forces +apparently impregnable, merely raised her estimate of that +cleverness to the point of letting her feel that she could rest in +it without farther demur. He had even noticed in her, during his few +hours in Paris, a tendency to reproach herself for her lack of +charity, and a desire, almost as fervent as his own, to expiate it +by exaggerated recognition of the disinterestedness of her +opponents--if opponents they could still be called. This sudden +change in her attitude was peculiarly moving to Durham. He knew she +would hazard herself lightly enough wherever her heart called her; +but that, with the precious freight of her child's future weighing +her down, she should commit herself so blindly to his hand stirred +in him the depths of tenderness. Indeed, had the actual course of +events been less auspiciously regular, Madame de Malrive's +confidence would have gone far toward unsettling his own; but with +the process of law going on unimpeded, and the other side making no +sign of open or covert resistance, the fresh air of good faith +gradually swept through the inmost recesses of his distrust. + +It was expected that the decision in the suit would be reached by +mid-September; and it was arranged that Durham and his family should +remain in England till a decent interval after the conclusion of the +proceedings. Early in the month, however, it became necessary for +Durham to go to France to confer with a business associate who was +in Paris for a few days, and on the point of sailing for Cherbourg. +The most zealous observance of appearances could hardly forbid +Durham's return for such a purpose; but it had been agreed between +himself and Madame de Malrive--who had once more been left alone by +Madame de Treymes' return to her family--that, so close to the +fruition of their wishes, they would propitiate fate by a scrupulous +adherence to usage, and communicate only, during his hasty visit, by +a daily interchange of notes. + +The ingenuity of Madame de Malrive's tenderness found, however, the +day after his arrival, a means of tempering their privation. +"Christiane," she wrote, "is passing through Paris on her way from +Trouville, and has promised to see you for me if you will call on +her today. She thinks there is no reason why you should not go to +the Hotel de Malrive, as you will find her there alone, the family +having gone to Auvergne. She is really our friend and understands +us." + +In obedience to this request--though perhaps inwardly regretting +that it should have been made--Durham that afternoon presented +himself at the proud old house beyond the Seine. More than ever, in +the semi-abandonment of the _morte saison_, with reduced service, +and shutters closed to the silence of the high-walled court, did it +strike the American as the incorruptible custodian of old prejudices +and strange social survivals. The thought of what he must represent +to the almost human consciousness which such old houses seem to +possess, made him feel like a barbarian desecrating the silence of a +temple of the earlier faith. Not that there was anything venerable +in the attestations of the Hotel de Malrive, except in so far as, to +a sensitive imagination, every concrete embodiment of a past order +of things testifies to real convictions once suffered for. Durham, +at any rate, always alive in practical issues to the view of the +other side, had enough sympathy left over to spend it sometimes, +whimsically, on such perceptions of difference. Today, especially, +the assurance of success--the sense of entering like a victorious +beleaguerer receiving the keys of the stronghold--disposed him to a +sentimental perception of what the other side might have to say for +itself, in the language of old portraits, old relics, old usages +dumbly outraged by his mere presence. + +On the appearance of Madame de Treymes, however, such considerations +gave way to the immediate act of wondering how she meant to carry +off her share of the adventure. Durham had not forgotten the note on +which their last conversation had closed: the lapse of time serving +only to give more precision and perspective to the impression he had +then received. + +Madame de Treymes' first words implied a recognition of what was in +his thoughts. + +"It is extraordinary, my receiving you here; but _que voulez vous?_ +There was no other place, and I would do more than this for our dear +Fanny." + +Durham bowed. "It seems to me that you are also doing a great deal +for me." + +"Perhaps you will see later that I have my reasons," she returned +smiling. "But before speaking for myself I must speak for Fanny." + +She signed to him to take a chair near the sofa-corner in which she +had installed herself, and he listened in silence while she +delivered Madame de Malrive's message, and her own report of the +progress of affairs. + +"You have put me still more deeply in your debt," he said, as she +concluded; "I wish you would make the expression of this feeling a +large part of the message I send back to Madame de Malrive." + +She brushed this aside with one of her light gestures of +deprecation. "Oh, I told you I had my reasons. And since you are +here--and the mere sight of you assures me that you are as well as +Fanny charged me to find you--with all these preliminaries disposed +of, I am going to relieve you, in a small measure, of the weight of +your obligation." + +Durham raised his head quickly. "By letting me do something in +return?" + +She made an assenting motion. "By asking you to answer a question." + +"That seems very little to do." + +"Don't be so sure! It is never very little to your race." She leaned +back, studying him through half-dropped lids. + +"Well, try me," he protested. + +She did not immediately respond; and when she spoke, her first words +were explanatory rather than interrogative. + +"I want to begin by saying that I believe I once did you an +injustice, to the extent of misunderstanding your motive for a +certain action." + +Durham's uneasy flush confessed his recognition of her meaning. "Ah, +if we must go back to _that_--" + +"You withdraw your assent to my request?" + +"By no means; but nothing consolatory you can find to say on that +point can really make any difference." + +"Will not the difference in my view of you perhaps make a difference +in your own?" + +She looked at him earnestly, without a trace of irony in her eyes or +on her lips. "It is really I who have an _amende_ to make, as I now +understand the situation. I once turned to you for help in a painful +extremity, and I have only now learned to understand your reasons +for refusing to help me." + +"Oh, my reasons--" groaned Durham. + +"I have learned to understand them," she persisted, "by being so +much, lately, with Fanny." + +"But I never told her!" he broke in. + +"Exactly. That was what told _me_. I understood you through her, and +through your dealings with her. There she was--the woman you adored +and longed to save; and you would not lift a finger to make her +yours by means which would have seemed--I see it now--a desecration +of your feeling for each other." She paused, as if to find the exact +words for meanings she had never before had occasion to formulate. +"It came to me first--a light on your attitude--when I found you had +never breathed to her a word of our talk together. She had +confidently commissioned you to find a way for her, as the mediaeval +lady sent a prayer to her knight to deliver her from captivity, and +you came back, confessing you had failed, but never justifying +yourself by so much as a hint of the reason why. And when I had +lived a little in Fanny's intimacy--at a moment when circumstances +helped to bring us extraordinarily close--I understood why you had +done this; why you had let her take what view she pleased of your +failure, your passive acceptance of defeat, rather than let her +suspect the alternative offered you. You couldn't, even with my +permission, betray to any one a hint of my miserable secret, and you +couldn't, for your life's happiness, pay the particular price that I +asked." She leaned toward him in the intense, almost childlike, +effort at full expression. "Oh, we are of different races, with a +different point of honour; but I understand, I see, that you are +good people--just simply, courageously _good!_" + +She paused, and then said slowly: "Have I understood you? Have I put +my hand on your motive?" + +Durham sat speechless, subdued by the rush of emotion which her +words set free. + +"That, you understand, is my question," she concluded with a faint +smile; and he answered hesitatingly: "What can it matter, when the +upshot is something I infinitely regret?" + +"Having refused me? Don't!" She spoke with deep seriousness, bending +her eyes full on his: "Ah, I have suffered--suffered! But I have +learned also--my life has been enlarged. You see how I have +understood you both. And that is something I should have been +incapable of a few months ago." + +Durham returned her look. "I can't think that you can ever have been +incapable of any generous interpretation." + +She uttered a slight exclamation, which resolved itself into a laugh +of self-directed irony. + +"If you knew into what language I have always translated life! But +that," she broke off, "is not what you are here to learn." + +"I think," he returned gravely, "that I am here to learn the measure +of Christian charity." + +She threw him a new, odd look. "Ah, no--but to show it!" she +exclaimed. + +"To show it? And to whom?" + +She paused for a moment, and then rejoined, instead of answering: +"Do you remember that day I talked with you at Fanny's? The day +after you came back from Italy?" + +He made a motion of assent, and she went on: "You asked me then what +return I expected for my service to you, as you called it; and I +answered, the contemplation of your happiness. Well, do you know +what that meant in my old language--the language I was still +speaking then? It meant that I knew there was horrible misery in +store for you, and that I was waiting to feast my eyes on it: that's +all!" + +She had flung out the words with one of her quick bursts of +self-abandonment, like a fevered sufferer stripping the bandage from +a wound. Durham received them with a face blanching to the pallour +of her own. + +"What misery do you mean?" he exclaimed. + +She leaned forward, laying her hand on his with just such a gesture +as she had used to enforce her appeal in Mrs. Boykin's boudoir. The +remembrance made him shrink slightly from her touch, and she drew +back with a smile. + +"Have you never asked yourself," she enquired, "why our family +consented so readily to a divorce?" + +"Yes, often," he replied, all his unformed fears gathering in a dark +throng about him. "But Fanny was so reassured, so convinced that we +owed it to your good offices--" + +She broke into a laugh. "My good offices! Will you never, you +Americans, learn that we do not act individually in such cases? That +we are all obedient to a common principle of authority?" + +"Then it was not you--?" + +She made an impatient shrugging motion. "Oh, you are too +confiding--it is the other side of your beautiful good faith!" + +"The side you have taken advantage of, it appears?" + +"I--we--all of us. I especially!" she confessed. + + + + + + +X + + + + + +There was another pause, during which Durham tried to steady himself +against the shock of the impending revelation. It was an odd +circumstance of the case that, though Madame de Treymes' avowal of +duplicity was fresh in his ears, he did not for a moment believe +that she would deceive him again. Whatever passed between them now +would go to the root of the matter. + +The first thing that passed was the long look they exchanged: +searching on his part, tender, sad, undefinable on hers. As the +result of it he said: "Why, then, did you consent to the divorce?" + +"To get the boy back," she answered instantly; and while he sat +stunned by the unexpectedness of the retort, she went on: "Is it +possible you never suspected? It has been our whole thought from the +first. Everything was planned with that object." + +He drew a sharp breath of alarm. "But the divorce--how could that +give him back to you?" + +"It was the only thing that could. We trembled lest the idea should +occur to you. But we were reasonably safe, for there has only been +one other case of the same kind before the courts." She leaned back, +the sight of his perplexity checking her quick rush of words. "You +didn't know," she began again, "that in that case, on the remarriage +of the mother, the courts instantly restored the child to the +father, though he had--well, given as much cause for divorce as my +unfortunate brother?" + +Durham gave an ironic laugh. "Your French justice takes a grammar +and dictionary to understand." + +She smiled. "_ We_ understand it--and it isn't necessary that you +should." + +"So it would appear!" he exclaimed bitterly. + +"Don't judge us too harshly--or not, at least, till you have taken +the trouble to learn our point of view. You consider the +individual--we think only of the family." + +"Why don't you take care to preserve it, then?" + +"Ah, that's what we do; in spite of every aberration of the +individual. And so, when we saw it was impossible that my brother +and his wife should live together, we simply transferred our +allegiance to the child--we constituted _him_ the family." + +"A precious kindness you did him! If the result is to give him back +to his father." + +"That, I admit, is to be deplored; but his father is only a fraction +of the whole. What we really do is to give him back to his race, his +religion, his true place in the order of things." + +"His mother never tried to deprive him of any of those inestimable +advantages!" + +Madame de Treymes unclasped her hands with a slight gesture of +deprecation. + +"Not consciously, perhaps; but silences and reserves can teach so +much. His mother has another point of view--" + +"Thank heaven!" Durham interjected. + +"Thank heaven for _her_--yes--perhaps; but it would not have done +for the boy." + +Durham squared his shoulders with the sudden resolve of a man +breaking through a throng of ugly phantoms. + +"You haven't yet convinced me that it won't have to do for him. At +the time of Madame de Malrive's separation, the court made no +difficulty about giving her the custody of her son; and you must +pardon me for reminding you that the father's unfitness was the +reason alleged." + +Madame de Treymes shrugged her shoulders. "And my poor brother, you +would add, has not changed; but the circumstances have, and that +proves precisely what I have been trying to show you: that, in such +cases, the general course of events is considered, rather than the +action of any one person." + +"Then why is Madame de Malrive's action to be considered?" + +"Because it breaks up the unity of the family." + +"_ Unity--!_" broke from Durham; and Madame de Treymes gently +suffered his smile. + +"Of the family tradition, I mean: it introduces new elements. You +are a new element." + +"Thank heaven!" said Durham again. + +She looked at him singularly. "Yes--you may thank heaven. Why isn't +it enough to satisfy Fanny?" + +"Why isn't what enough?" + +"Your being, as I say, a new element; taking her so completely into +a better air. Why shouldn't she be content to begin a new life with +you, without wanting to keep the boy too?" + +Durham stared at her dumbly. "I don't know what you mean," he said +at length. + +"I mean that in her place--" she broke off, dropping her eyes. "She +may have another son--the son of the man she adores." + +Durham rose from his seat and took a quick turn through the room. +She sat motionless, following his steps through her lowered lashes, +which she raised again slowly as he stood before her. + +"Your idea, then, is that I should tell her nothing?" he said. + +"Tell her _now?_ But, my poor friend, you would be ruined!" + +"Exactly." He paused. "Then why have you told _me?_" + +Under her dark skin he saw the faint colour stealing. "We see things +so differently--but can't you conceive that, after all that has +passed, I felt it a kind of loyalty not to leave you in ignorance?" + +"And you feel no such loyalty to her?" + +"Ah, I leave her to you," she murmured, looking down again. + +Durham continued to stand before her, grappling slowly with his +perplexity, which loomed larger and darker as it closed in on him. + +"You don't leave her to me; you take her from me at a stroke! I +suppose," he added painfully, "I ought to thank you for doing it +before it's too late." + +She stared. "I take her from you? I simply prevent your going to her +unprepared. Knowing Fanny as I do, it seemed to me necessary that +you should find a way in advance--a way of tiding over the first +moment. That, of course, is what we had planned that you shouldn't +have. We meant to let you marry, and then--. Oh, there is no +question about the result: we are certain of our case--our measures +have been taken _de loin_." She broke off, as if oppressed by his +stricken silence. "You will think me stupid, but my warning you of +this is the only return I know how to make for your generosity. I +could not bear to have you say afterward that I had deceived you +twice." + +"Twice?" He looked at her perplexedly, and her colour rose. + +"I deceived you once--that night at your cousin's, when I tried to +get you to bribe me. Even then we meant to consent to the +divorce--it was decided the first day that I saw you." He was +silent, and she added, with one of her mocking gestures: "You see +from what a _milieu_ you are taking her!" + +Durham groaned. "She will never give up her son!" + +"How can she help it? After you are married there will be no +choice." + +"No--but there is one now." + +"_ Now?_" She sprang to her feet, clasping her hands in dismay. +"Haven't I made it clear to you? Haven't I shown you your course?" +She paused, and then brought out with emphasis: "I love Fanny, and I +am ready to trust her happiness to you." + +"I shall have nothing to do with her happiness," he repeated +doggedly. + +She stood close to him, with a look intently fixed on his face. "Are +you afraid?" she asked with one of her mocking flashes. + +"Afraid?" + +"Of not being able to make it up to her--?" + +Their eyes met, and he returned her look steadily. + +"No; if I had the chance, I believe I could." + +"I know you could!" she exclaimed. + +"That's the worst of it," he said with a cheerless laugh. + +"The worst--?" + +"Don't you see that I can't deceive her? Can't trick her into +marrying me now?" + +Madame de Treymes continued to hold his eyes for a puzzled moment +after he had spoken; then she broke out despairingly: "Is happiness +never more to you, then, than this abstract standard of truth?" + +Durham reflected. "I don't know--it's an instinct. There doesn't +seem to be any choice." + +"Then I am a miserable wretch for not holding my tongue!" + +He shook his head sadly. "That would not have helped me; and it +would have been a thousand times worse for her." + +"Nothing can be as bad for her as losing you! Aren't you moved by +seeing her need?" + +"Horribly--are not _you?_" he said, lifting his eyes to hers +suddenly. + +She started under his look. "You mean, why don't I help you? Why +don't I use my influence? Ah, if you knew how I have tried!" + +"And you are sure that nothing can be done?" + +"Nothing, nothing: what arguments can I use? We abhor divorce--we go +against our religion in consenting to it--and nothing short of +recovering the boy could possibly justify us." + +Durham turned slowly away. "Then there is nothing to be done," he +said, speaking more to himself than to her. + +He felt her light touch on his arm. "Wait! There is one thing +more--" She stood close to him, with entreaty written on her small +passionate face. "There is one thing more," she repeated. "And that +is, to believe that I am deceiving you again." + +He stopped short with a bewildered stare. "That you are deceiving +me--about the boy?" + +"Yes--yes; why shouldn't I? You're so credulous--the temptation is +irresistible." + +"Ah, it would be too easy to find out--" + +"Don't try, then! Go on as if nothing had happened. I have been +lying to you," she declared with vehemence. + +"Do you give me your word of honour?" he rejoined. + +"A liar's? I haven't any! Take the logic of the facts instead. What +reason have you to believe any good of me? And what reason have I to +do any to you? Why on earth should I betray my family for your +benefit? Ah, don't let yourself be deceived to the end!" She +sparkled up at him, her eyes suffused with mockery; but on the +lashes he saw a tear. + +He shook his head sadly. "I should first have to find a reason for +your deceiving me." + +"Why, I gave it to you long ago. I wanted to punish you--and now +I've punished you enough." + +"Yes, you've punished me enough," he conceded. + +The tear gathered and fell down her thin cheek. "It's you who are +punishing me now. I tell you I'm false to the core. Look back and +see what I've done to you!" + +He stood silent, with his eyes fixed on the ground. Then he took one +of her hands and raised it to his lips. + +"You poor, good woman!" he said gravely. + +Her hand trembled as she drew it away. "You're going to +her--straight from here?" + +"Yes--straight from here." + +"To tell her everything--to renounce your hope?" + +"That is what it amounts to, I suppose." + +She watched him cross the room and lay his hand on the door. + +"Ah, you poor, good man!" she said with a sob. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame de Treymes +by Edith Wharton + diff --git a/old/mdmdt10.zip b/old/mdmdt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6c6062 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mdmdt10.zip |