Speaker 1: This is section thirty one of the Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one. She the gracious lady, Yet no pains
Speaker 1: did spare to do him ease or do him remedy
Speaker 1: many restoratives of Virtue's rare and costly cordials. She did
Speaker 1: apply to mitigate his stubborn malady. Spencer's fairy Queen's Mister
Speaker 1: Henry Brierly was exceedingly busy in New York, so he
Speaker 1: wrote Colonel Sellers, but he would drop everything and go
Speaker 1: to Washington. The Colonel believed that Harry was the prince
Speaker 1: of lobbyists, a little too sanguine maybe, and given to speculation,
Speaker 1: but then he knew everybody. The Columbus River navigation scheme
Speaker 1: was got through almost entirely by his aid. He was
Speaker 1: needed now to help through another scheme, a benevolent scheme
Speaker 1: in which Colonel Sellars, through the Hawkinses, had a deep interest.
Speaker 1: I don't care, you know, he wrote to Harry so
Speaker 1: much about the Negroes. But if the government will buy
Speaker 1: this land, it will set up the Hawkins family make
Speaker 1: Laura an heiress, and I shouldn't wonder if pariahs Sellars
Speaker 1: would set up his carriage again. Dilworthy looks at it different,
Speaker 1: of course, He's all for philanthropy, for benefiting the colored race.
Speaker 1: This old Balsam was in the interior, used to be
Speaker 1: the Reverend Orson Balsam of Iowa. He's made the riffle
Speaker 1: on the engine, great engine pacificator and land dealer. Ballum's
Speaker 1: got the engine to himself. And I suppose that Senator
Speaker 1: Doolworthy feels that there is nothing left him but the
Speaker 1: colored man. I do reckon. He is the best friend
Speaker 1: the colored man has got in Washington. Though Harry was
Speaker 1: in a hurry to reach Washington, he stopped in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and prolonged his visit day after day, greatly to the
Speaker 1: detriment of his business, both in New York and Washington.
Speaker 1: The society at the Boltons might have been a valid
Speaker 1: excuse for neglecting business much more important than his. Philip
Speaker 1: was there. He was a partner with mister Bolton now
Speaker 1: in the new coal venture, concerning which there was much
Speaker 1: to be arranged in preparation for the spring work, and
Speaker 1: Philip lingered week after week in the hospitable house Alice
Speaker 1: was making a winter visit. Ruth only went to town
Speaker 1: twice a week to attend lectures, and the household was
Speaker 1: quite to mister Bolton's taste, for he liked the cheer
Speaker 1: of company and something going on evenings. Harry was cordially
Speaker 1: asked to bring his traveling bag there, and he did
Speaker 1: not need urging to do so. Not even the thought
Speaker 1: of seeing Laura at the capital made him restless. In
Speaker 1: the society of the two young ladies, two birds in
Speaker 1: hand are worth one in the bush. Certainly Philip was
Speaker 1: at home. He sometimes wished he were not so much
Speaker 1: so he felt that too much or not enough was
Speaker 1: taken for great. Ruth had met him when he first
Speaker 1: came with a cordial frankness, and her manner continued entirely unrestrained.
Speaker 1: She neither sought his company nor avoided it, and this
Speaker 1: perfectly level treatment irritated him more than any other could
Speaker 1: have done. It was impossible to advance much in love
Speaker 1: making with one who offered no obstacles, had no concealments
Speaker 1: and no embarrassments, and whom any approach to sentimentality would
Speaker 1: be quite likely to set into a fit of laughter.
Speaker 1: Why phil she would say, what puts you in the dumps?
Speaker 1: To day? You are as solemn as the upper bench
Speaker 1: and meeting. I shall have to call Alice to raise
Speaker 1: your spirits. My presence seems to depress you. It's not
Speaker 1: your presence, but your absence when you are present, began
Speaker 1: Philip dolefully, with the idea that he was saying a
Speaker 1: rather deep thing. But you don't understand me. No, I
Speaker 1: confess I cannot. If you really are so low as
Speaker 1: to think I am absent when I am present, it's
Speaker 1: a frightful case of aberration. I shall ask Father to
Speaker 1: bring out doctor Jackson. Does Alice appear to be present
Speaker 1: when she is absent? Alice has some human feeling anyway.
Speaker 1: She cares for something besides musty books and dry bones.
Speaker 1: I think, Ruth, when I die, said Philip, intending to
Speaker 1: be very grim and sarcastic. I'll leave you my skeleton.
Speaker 1: You might like that. It might be more cheerful than
Speaker 1: you are at times. Ruth replied with a laugh. But
Speaker 1: you mustn't do it without consulting Alice. She might not
Speaker 1: like it. I don't know why you should bring Alice
Speaker 1: up on every occasion. Do you think I am in
Speaker 1: love with her? Bless you? No, it never entered my head,
Speaker 1: are you The thought of Philip's sterling in love is
Speaker 1: too comical. I thought you were only in love with
Speaker 1: the ilium coal mine, which you and father talk about
Speaker 1: half the time. This is a specimen of Philip's wooing.
Speaker 1: Confound the girl, He would say to himself, why does
Speaker 1: she never tease Harry and that young Shepley who comes here?
Speaker 1: How differently Alice treated him? She at least never mocked him,
Speaker 1: and it was a relief to talk with one who
Speaker 1: had some sympathy with him. And he did talk to
Speaker 1: her by the hour about Ruth. The blundering fellow poured
Speaker 1: all his doubts and anxieties into her ear, as if
Speaker 1: she had been the impassive occupant of one of those
Speaker 1: little wooden confessionals in the cathedral on Logan Square has
Speaker 1: a confessor if she is young and pretty, any feeling,
Speaker 1: does it mend the matter by calling her your sister?
Speaker 1: Philip called Alice his good sister and talked to her
Speaker 1: about love and marriage, meaning Ruth, as if sisters could,
Speaker 1: by no possibility have any personal concern in such things.
Speaker 1: Did Ruth ever speak of him? Did she think Ruth
Speaker 1: cared for him? Did Ruth care for anybody at fall Kill?
Speaker 1: Did she care for anything except her profession? And so on?
Speaker 1: Alice was loyal to Ruth, and if she knew anything,
Speaker 1: she did not betray her friend. She did not at
Speaker 1: any rate give Philip too much encouragement. What woman, under
Speaker 1: the circumstances would I can tell you one thing, Philip,
Speaker 1: She said, if ever Ruth Bolton loves, it will be
Speaker 1: with her whole soul, in a depth of passion that
Speaker 1: will sweep everything before it and surprise even herself, a
Speaker 1: remark that did not much console Philip, who imagined that
Speaker 1: only some grand heroism could unlock the sweetness of such
Speaker 1: a heart. And Philip feared that he wasn't a hero.
Speaker 1: He did not know out of what materials a woman
Speaker 1: can construct a hero when she is in the creative mood.
Speaker 1: Harry skipped into this society with his usual lightness and gaiety.
Speaker 1: His good nature was inexhaustible, and though he liked to
Speaker 1: relate his own exploits, he had little tact in adapting
Speaker 1: himself to the tastes of his hearers. He was not
Speaker 1: long in finding out that Alice liked to hear about Philip,
Speaker 1: and Harry launched out into the career of his friend
Speaker 1: the West with a prodigality of invention that would have
Speaker 1: astonished the chief actor. He was the most generous fellow
Speaker 1: in the world, and picturesque conversation was the one thing
Speaker 1: in which he never was bankrupt. With mister Bolton, he
Speaker 1: was the serious man of business, enjoying the confidence of
Speaker 1: many of the moneyed men in New York whom mister
Speaker 1: Bolton knew, and engaged with them in railway schemes and
Speaker 1: government contracts. Philip, who had so long known Harry, never
Speaker 1: could make up his mind that Harry did not himself
Speaker 1: believe that he was a chief actor in all these
Speaker 1: large operations of which he talked so much. Harry did
Speaker 1: not neglect to endeavor to make himself agreeable to Missus
Speaker 1: Bolton by paying great attention to the children, and by
Speaker 1: professing the warmest interest in the friend's faith. It always
Speaker 1: seemed to him the most peaceful religion. He thought it
Speaker 1: must be much easier to live by an internal light
Speaker 1: than by a lot of outward rules. He had a
Speaker 1: Quaker aunt in Providence, of whom Missus Bolton constantly reminded him.
Speaker 1: He insisted upon going with Missus Bolton and the children
Speaker 1: to the friend's meeting on first day when Ruth and
Speaker 1: Alice and Philip World's people went to a church in town,
Speaker 1: and he sat through the hour of silence with his
Speaker 1: hat on in most exemplary patience. In short, this amazing
Speaker 1: actor succeeded so well with Missus Bolton that she said
Speaker 1: to Philip one day, thy friend Henry Brierly appears to
Speaker 1: be a very worldly minded young man. Does he believe
Speaker 1: in anything? Oh? Yes, said Philip, laughing. He believes in
Speaker 1: more things than any other person I ever saw. To Ruth,
Speaker 1: Harry seemed to be very congenial. He was never moody
Speaker 1: for one thing, but lent himself with alacrity to whatever
Speaker 1: his fancy was. He was gay or grave, as the
Speaker 1: need might be. No one apparently could enter more fully
Speaker 1: into her plans for an independent career. My father said
Speaker 1: Harry was bred a physician and practiced a little before
Speaker 1: he went into Wall Street. I always had a leaning
Speaker 1: to the study. There was a skeleton hanging in the
Speaker 1: closet of my father's study when I was a boy
Speaker 1: that I used to dress up in old clothes. Oh,
Speaker 1: I got quite familiar with the human frame, you must have, said, Philip.
Speaker 1: Was that where you learned to play the bones? He
Speaker 1: is a master of those musical instruments, Ruth. He plays
Speaker 1: well enough to go on the stage. Philip hates science
Speaker 1: of any kind and steady application, retorted Harry. He didn't
Speaker 1: fancy Philip's banter. And when the latter had gone out,
Speaker 1: and Ruth asked, why don't you take up medicine, mister Brierly,
Speaker 1: Harry said, I have it in mind. I believe I
Speaker 1: would begin attending lectures this winter if it weren't for
Speaker 1: being wanted in Washington. But medicine is particularly women's province,
Speaker 1: Why so, asked Ruth, rather amused, Well, the treatment of
Speaker 1: disease is a good deal in matter or sympathy. A
Speaker 1: woman's intuition is better than a man's. Nobody knows anything, really,
Speaker 1: you know, and a woman can guess a good deal
Speaker 1: nearer than a man. You are very complimentary to my sex,
Speaker 1: but said Harry, frankly, I should want to choose my doctor.
Speaker 1: An ugly woman would ruin me. The disease would be
Speaker 1: sure to strike in and kill me at sight of her.
Speaker 1: I think a pretty physician with engaging manners would coax
Speaker 1: a fellow to live through almost anything. I am afraid
Speaker 1: you are a scoffer, mister Brierly. On the contrary, I
Speaker 1: am quite sincere. Wasn't it old what's his name? That
Speaker 1: said only the beautiful is useful? Whether Ruth was anything
Speaker 1: more than diverted with Harry's company, Philip could not determine.
Speaker 1: He scorned at any rate to advance his own interest
Speaker 1: by any disparaging communications about Harry, both because he could
Speaker 1: not help liking the fellow himself, and because he may
Speaker 1: have known that he could not more surely create a
Speaker 1: sympathy for him in Ruth's mind. That Ruth was in
Speaker 1: no danger of any serious impression, he felt pretty sure,
Speaker 1: felt certain of it when he reflected upon her severe
Speaker 1: occupation with her profession. Hang it, he would say to himself.
Speaker 1: She is nothing but pure intellect anyway, And he only
Speaker 1: felt uncertain of it when she was in one of
Speaker 1: her moods of raillery, with mocking mischief in her eyes.
Speaker 1: At such times she seemed to prefer Harry's society to his.
Speaker 1: When Philip was miserable about this. He always took refuge
Speaker 1: with Alice, who was never moody and who generally laughed
Speaker 1: him out of his sentimental nonsense. He felt at his
Speaker 1: ease with Alice and was never in want of something
Speaker 1: to talk about, and he could not account for the
Speaker 1: fact that he was so often dull with Ruth, with whom,
Speaker 1: of all persons in the world, he wanted to appear
Speaker 1: at his best. Harry was entirely satisfied with his own situation,
Speaker 1: a bird of passage as all was at its ease,
Speaker 1: having no house to build, no responsibility. He talked freely
Speaker 1: with Philip about Ruth. An all mighty fine girl, he said,
Speaker 1: But what the deuce she wanted to study medicine for
Speaker 1: he couldn't see. There was a concert one night at
Speaker 1: the Musical Fund Hall, and the four had arranged to
Speaker 1: go in and return by the Germantown cars. It was
Speaker 1: Philip's plan, who had engaged the seats and promised himself
Speaker 1: an evening with Ruth, walking with her, sitting by her
Speaker 1: in the hall, and enjoying the feeling of protecting that
Speaker 1: a man always has of a woman in a public place.
Speaker 1: He was fond of music too, in a sympathetic way.
Speaker 1: At least he knew that Ruth's delight in it would
Speaker 1: be enough for him. Perhaps he meant to take advantage
Speaker 1: of the occasion to say some very serious things. His
Speaker 1: love for Ruth was no secret to Missus Bolton, and
Speaker 1: he felt almost sure that he should have no opposition
Speaker 1: in the family. Missus Bolton had been cautious in what
Speaker 1: she said, but Philip inferred everything from her reply to
Speaker 1: his his own questions. One day, has thee ever spoken
Speaker 1: thy mind to Ruth? Why shouldn't he speak his mind
Speaker 1: and end his doubts? Ruth had been more tricky than
Speaker 1: usual that day, and in a flow of spirits quite inconsistent,
Speaker 1: it would seem in a young lady devoted to grave studies.
Speaker 1: Had Ruth the premonition of Philip's intention in his manner?
Speaker 1: It may be, for when the girls came downstairs ready
Speaker 1: to walk to the cars, and met Philip and Harry
Speaker 1: in the hall, Ruth said, laughing, the two tallest must
Speaker 1: walk together, And before Philip knew how it happened, Ruth
Speaker 1: had taken Harry's arm, and his evening was spoiled. He
Speaker 1: had too much politeness and good sense and kindness to
Speaker 1: show in his manner that he was hit. So he
Speaker 1: said to Harry, that's your disadvantage in being short. And
Speaker 1: he gave Alice no reason to feel during the evening
Speaker 1: that she would not have been his first choice for
Speaker 1: the excursion. But he was none the less chagrined and
Speaker 1: not a little angry at the turn the affair. The
Speaker 1: hall was crowded with the fashion of the town. The
Speaker 1: concert was one of those fragmentary drearinesses that people endure
Speaker 1: because they are fashionable tours de force on the piano
Speaker 1: and fragments from operas which have no meaning without the setting,
Speaker 1: with weary pauses of waiting. In between, there is the
Speaker 1: comic basso, who is so amusing and on such familiar
Speaker 1: terms with the audience and always sings. The barber, the
Speaker 1: attitudinizing tenor with his languishing Oh Summer Night. The soprano
Speaker 1: with her Batti batti, who warbles and trills and runs
Speaker 1: and fetches her breath and ends with a noble scream
Speaker 1: that brings down the tempest of applause, in the midst
Speaker 1: of which she backs off the stage, smiling and bowing.
Speaker 1: It was this sort of concert, and Philip was thinking
Speaker 1: that it was the most stupid one he had ever
Speaker 1: sat through, when just as the soprano was in the
Speaker 1: midst of that touching ballot coming through the rye. The
Speaker 1: soprano always sings coming through the rye on an encore,
Speaker 1: the black Swan used to make it irresistible, Philip remembered
Speaker 1: with her arch if a body kiss a body, there
Speaker 1: was a cry of fire. The hall is long and narrow,
Speaker 1: and there is only one place of egress. Instantly the
Speaker 1: audience was on its feet, and a rush began for
Speaker 1: the door. Men shouted, women screamed, and panic seized the
Speaker 1: swaying mass. A second's thought would have convinced everyone that
Speaker 1: getting out was impossible, and that the only effect of
Speaker 1: a rush would be to crash people to death. But
Speaker 1: a second's thought was not given. A few cried, Sit down,
Speaker 1: sit down, but the mass was turned towards the door.
Speaker 1: Women were down and trampled on in the aisles, and
Speaker 1: stout men utterly lost to self control, were mounting the
Speaker 1: benches as if to run a race over the mass
Speaker 1: to the entrance. Philip, who had forced the girls to
Speaker 1: keep their seats, saw in a flash the new danger,
Speaker 1: and sprang to avert it. In a second more those
Speaker 1: infuriated men would be over the benches and crushing rooms
Speaker 1: and alice under their boots. He leaped upon the bench
Speaker 1: in front of them and struck out before him with
Speaker 1: all his might, felling one man who was rushing on him,
Speaker 1: and checking for an instant the movement, or rather parting
Speaker 1: it and causing it to flow on either side of him.
Speaker 1: But it was only for an instant. The pressure behind
Speaker 1: was too great, and the next Philip was dashed backwards
Speaker 1: over the seat. And yet that instant of arrest had
Speaker 1: probably saved the girls. For as Philip fell, the orchestra
Speaker 1: struck up Yankee Doodle in the liveliest manner. The familiar
Speaker 1: tune caught the ear of the mass, which paused in wonder,
Speaker 1: and gave the conductor's voice a chance to be heard.
Speaker 1: It's a false alarm. The tumult was over in a minute,
Speaker 1: and the next laughter was heard, and not a few said,
Speaker 1: I knew it wasn't anything. What fools people are at
Speaker 1: such a time. The concert was over, However, a good
Speaker 1: many people were hurt, some of them seriously, and among
Speaker 1: them Philip's sterling was found bent across the seat, insensible,
Speaker 1: with his left arm hanging limp, and a bleeding wound
Speaker 1: on his head. When he was carried into the air,
Speaker 1: he revived and said it was nothing. A surgeon was called,
Speaker 1: and it was thought best to drive at once to
Speaker 1: the Bolton's, a surgeon supporting Philip, who did not speak
Speaker 1: the whole way. His arm was set and his head dressed,
Speaker 1: and the surgeon said he would come round all right
Speaker 1: in his mind. By morning. He was very weak. Alice,
Speaker 1: who was not much frightened while the panic lasted in
Speaker 1: the hall, was very much unnerved by seeing Philip so
Speaker 1: pale and bloody. Ruth assisted the surgeon with the utmost coolness,
Speaker 1: and with skillful hands, helped to dress Philip's wounds. And
Speaker 1: there was a certain intentness and fierce energy in what
Speaker 1: she did that might have revealed something to Philip if
Speaker 1: he had been in his senses. But he was not,
Speaker 1: or he would not have murmured. Let Alice do it.
Speaker 1: She is not too tall. It was Ruth's first case.
Speaker 1: End of chapter three thirty one