WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.879 This is section forty four of The Gilded Age. This 2 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:07.599 LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age, 3 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.839 A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner, 4 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:15.759 Chapter forty four. It's easy enough for another fellow to talk, 5 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.879 said Harry despondingly, after he had put Philip in possession 6 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.879 of his view of the case. It's easy enough to say, 7 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.120 give her up if you don't care for her. What 8 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:29.320 am I going to do to give her up? It 9 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.359 seemed to Harry that it was a situation requiring some 10 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.679 active measures. He couldn't realize that he had fallen hopelessly 11 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:39.880 in love without some rights accruing to him for the 12 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:44.079 possession of the object of his passion. Quiet resignation under 13 00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:48.039 relinquishment of anything he wanted was not in his line. 14 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.159 And when it appeared to him that his surrender of 15 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:54.320 Laura would be the withdrawal of the one barrier that 16 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:58.039 kept her from ruin, it was unreasonable to expect that 17 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:01.479 he could see how to give her up. Harry had 18 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:05.439 the most buoyant confidence in his own project. Always he 19 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.879 saw everything connected with himself in a large way, and 20 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:13.799 in rosy lines. This predominance of the imagination over the 21 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.239 judgment gave that appearance of exaggeration to his conversation and 22 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:22.599 to his communications with regard to himself, which sometimes conveyed 23 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.519 the impression that he was not speaking the truth. His 24 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:30.560 acquaintances had been known to say that they invariably allowed 25 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.640 a half for shrinkage in his statements and held the 26 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.040 other half under advisement for confirmation. Philip, in this case 27 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:41.719 could not tell from Harry's story exactly how much encouragement 28 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:45.120 Laura had given him, nor what hopes he might justly 29 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:49.280 have of winning her. He had never seen him desponding before. 30 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.319 The bragg appeared to be all taken out of him, 31 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:56.680 and his airy manner only asserted itself now and then 32 00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.959 in a comical imitation of its old self. Philip wanted 33 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.719 time to look about him before he decided what to do. 34 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:07.519 He was not familiar with Washington, and it was difficult 35 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.479 to adjust his feelings and perceptions to its peculiarities. Coming 36 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.919 out of the sweet sanity of the Bolton household, this was, 37 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:20.199 by contrast, the maddest vanity fair one could conceive. It 38 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:24.800 seemed to him a feverish, unhealthy atmosphere in which lunacy 39 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:29.039 would be easily developed. He fancied that everybody attached to 40 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.919 himself an exaggerated importance from the fact of being at 41 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.960 the national capital, the center of political influence, the fountain 42 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.319 of patronage, preferment, jobs, and opportunities. People were introduced to 43 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:45.240 each other as from this or that state, not from 44 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:48.759 cities or towns, and this gave a largeness to their 45 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:53.280 representative feeling. All the women talked politics as naturally and 46 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:57.560 glibly as they talked fashion or literature elsewhere. There was 47 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:01.319 always some exciting topic at the capital, or some huge 48 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:06.039 slander was rising up like a miasmic exhalation from the Potomac, 49 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:10.520 threatening to settle. No one knew exactly where. Every other 50 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.759 person was an aspirant for a place, or if he 51 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.759 had one, for a better place or more pay. Almost 52 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:21.319 every other one had some claim or interest or remedy 53 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:24.599 to urge. Even the women were all advocates for the 54 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:28.800 advancement of some person, and they violently espoused or denounced 55 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.280 this or that measure as it would effect some relative 56 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:37.719 acquaintance or friend. Love, travel, even death itself waited on 57 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.960 the chances of the dies daily thrown in the two 58 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:45.039 houses and the committee rooms there. If the measure went through, 59 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:48.919 love could afford to ripen into marriage, and longing for 60 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:52.319 foreign travel would have fruition. And it must have been 61 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:55.840 only eternal hopes springing in the breast that kept alive 62 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.680 numerous old claimants who for years and years had besieged 63 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:02.439 the doors of Congress, and who looked as if they 64 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.759 needed not so much an appropriation of money as six 65 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:11.280 feet of ground. And those who stood so long waiting 66 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:14.479 for success to bring them death were usually those who 67 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.879 had a just claim. Representing states and talking of national 68 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:24.000 and even international affairs as familiarly as neighbors at home. 69 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:28.439 Talk of poor crops and the extravagance of their ministers 70 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:31.759 was likely at first to impose upon Philip as to 71 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:35.319 the importance of the people gathered here. There was a 72 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:39.279 little newspaper editor from Phil's native town, the assistant on 73 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.399 a Pendletonian weekly, who made his little annual joke about 74 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:47.600 the first egg laid on our table, and who was 75 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:50.759 the menial of every tradesman in the village and under 76 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:55.399 bonds to him for frequent puffs, except the undertaker, about 77 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:59.519 whose employment he was recklessly facetious. In Washington, he was 78 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:03.680 an important man, correspondent and clerk of two House committees, 79 00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:08.279 a worker in politics, and a confident critic of every 80 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:11.879 woman and every man. In Washington. He would be a consul, 81 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:14.839 no doubt, by and by at some foreign port, of 82 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.800 the language of which he was ignorant, though if ignorance 83 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:20.759 of language were a qualification, he might have been a 84 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:25.079 consul at home. His easy familiarity with great men was 85 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:28.720 beautiful to see. And when Philip learned what a tremendous 86 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:33.199 underground influence this little ignoramus had, he no longer wondered 87 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:38.279 at the queer appointments and the queerer legislation. Philip was 88 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:41.120 not long in discovering that people in Washington did not 89 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:45.800 differ much from other people. They had the same meanness, generosities, 90 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.519 and tastes. A Washington boarding house had the odor of 91 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:53.360 a boarding house the world over. Colonel Sellers was as 92 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:57.639 unchanged as any one Philip saw whom he had known elsewhere. 93 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:01.199 Washington appeared to be the native element of this man. 94 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.360 His pretensions were equal to any he encountered there. He 95 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.600 saw nothing in its society that equaled that of Hawkeye. 96 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:11.600 He sat down to no table that could not be 97 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:15.879 unfavorably contrasted with his own at home. The most airy 98 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:18.879 scheme inflated in the hot air of the Capitol only 99 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:23.040 reached in magnitude some of his lesser fancies the byplay 100 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:28.160 of his constructive imagination. The country is getting along very well, 101 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:32.319 he said to Philip, but our public men are too timid. 102 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:35.839 What we want is more money. I've told boutwell, so 103 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.800 talk about basing the currency on gold. You might as 104 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.240 well base it on pork. Gold is only one product. 105 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:46.639 Base it on everything. You've got to do something for 106 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:49.759 the West ah Am I to move my crops. We 107 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.639 must have improvements. Grant's got the idea. We want a 108 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:57.519 canal from the James River to the Mississippi. Government ought 109 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.439 to build it. It was difficult to get the Colonel 110 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.399 off from these large themes when he was once started. 111 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.680 But Philip brought the conversation round to Laura and her 112 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:11.319 reputation in the city. No, he said, I haven't noticed much. 113 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.800 We've been so busy about this university. It will make 114 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:17.199 Laura rich with the rest of us, and she has 115 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:19.399 done nearly as much as if she were a man. 116 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.399 She has great talent and will make a big match. 117 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:27.759 I see the foreign ministers and that sort after her. Yes, 118 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:30.600 there is talk, always will be about a pretty woman 119 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.560 so much in public as she is. Tough. Stories come 120 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:36.759 to me, but I put em away. Tain't likely one 121 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.120 of cy Hawkins's children would do that, for she is 122 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:43.040 the same as a child of his. I told her, though, 123 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.560 to go slow, added the colonel, as if that mysterious 124 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:50.240 admonition from him would set everything right. Do you know 125 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:54.639 anything about a Colonel Selby? Know all about him, fine fellow, 126 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.279 But he's got a wife, and I told him as 127 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:00.319 a friend he'd better sheer off from Laura Seckon. He 128 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:03.199 thought better of it and did. But Philip was not 129 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.920 long in learning the truth. Courted as Laura was by 130 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:11.000 a certain class, and still admitted into society that nevertheless 131 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:15.360 buzzed with disreputable stories about her, she had lost character 132 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:19.680 with the best people. Her intimacy with Selby was open gossip, 133 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:22.439 and there were winks and thrustings of the tongue in 134 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:25.480 any group of men. When she passed by. It was 135 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:29.279 clear enough that Harry's delusion must be broken up, and 136 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:32.639 that no such feeble obstacle as his passion could interpose 137 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:36.879 would turn Laura from her fate. Philip determined to see 138 00:08:36.919 --> 00:08:39.440 her and put himself in possession of the truth as 139 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.840 he suspected it, in order to show Harry his folly. Laura, 140 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:47.320 after her last conversation with Harry, had a new sense 141 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.759 of her position. She had noticed before the signs of 142 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:54.320 a change in manner towards her, a little less respect 143 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:58.120 perhaps from men, and an avoidance by women. She had 144 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.639 attributed this latter partly to jealousy of her, for no 145 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:04.480 one is willing to acknowledge a fault in himself when 146 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:07.840 a more agreeable motive can be found for the estrangement 147 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.879 of his acquaintances. But now if society had turned on her, 148 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.879 she would defy it. It was not in her nature 149 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:17.879 to shrink. She knew she had been wronged, and she 150 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:21.519 knew that she had no remedy. What she heard of 151 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:25.120 Colonel Selby's proposed departure alarmed her more than anything else, 152 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:28.440 and she calmly determined that if he was deceiving her 153 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:32.320 the second time, it should be the last. Let society 154 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.240 finish the tragedy if it liked. She was indifferent what 155 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.039 came after. At the first opportunity she charged Selby with 156 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.360 his intention to abandon her. He unblushingly denied it. He 157 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.240 had not thought of going to Europe. He had only 158 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:49.879 been amusing himself with Sellar's schemes. He swore that as 159 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.440 soon as she succeeded with her bill, he would fly 160 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:55.159 with her to any part of the world. She did 161 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:58.080 not quite believe him, for she saw that he feared her, 162 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:01.639 and she began to suspect that were the protestations of 163 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:05.320 a coward to gain time. But she showed him no doubts. 164 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.279 She only watched his movements day by day, and always 165 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:13.039 held herself ready to act promptly. When Philip came into 166 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:16.399 the presence of this attractive woman, he could not realize 167 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:18.600 that she was the subject of all the scandal he 168 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:22.320 had heard. She received him with quite the old hawkeye 169 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.120 openness and cordiality, and fell to talking at once of 170 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:29.639 their little acquaintance there, And it seemed impossible that he 171 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:32.399 could ever say to her what he had come determined 172 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:35.440 to say. Such a man as Philip has only one 173 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:39.879 standard by which to judge women. Laura recognized that fact 174 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:43.039 no doubt. The better part of her woman's nature saw it. 175 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:47.200 Such a man might years ago not now have changed 176 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.240 her nature and made the issue of her life so different. 177 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:54.240 Even after her cruel abandonment, she had a dim feeling 178 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:57.399 of this, and she would like now to stand well 179 00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:00.840 with him. The spark of truth and honor that was 180 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:04.279 left in her was elicited by his presence. It was 181 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:08.360 this influence that governed her conduct in this interview. I 182 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:11.960 have come, said Philip, in his direct manner, from my friend, 183 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.320 mister Brierly. You are not ignorant of his feelings towards you. 184 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:19.480 Perhaps not, But perhaps you do not know you who 185 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:23.799 have so much admiration, how sincere and overmastering his love 186 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.080 is for you. Philip would not have spoken so plainly 187 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:29.440 if he had in mind anything except to draw from 188 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:34.399 Laura something that would end Harry's passion. And is sincere 189 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:38.279 love so rare, mister Sterling, asked Laura, moving her foot 190 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:42.000 a little and speaking with a shade of sarcasm. Perhaps 191 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.879 not in Washington, replied Philip, tempted into a similar tone. 192 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:49.759 Excuse my bluntness, he continued, But would the knowledge of 193 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:53.159 his love? Would his devotion make any difference to you 194 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:57.039 in your Washington life? In respect to what asked Laura, quickly, 195 00:11:57.559 --> 00:12:02.080 well to others, I won't acquiv kate to Colonel Selby. 196 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:06.519 Laura's face flushed with anger or shame. She looked steadily 197 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:10.279 at Philip and began, but what rights, sir by, the 198 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:14.159 right of friendship? Interrupted Philip stoutly. It may matter little 199 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:17.159 to you, it is everything to him. He has a 200 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.159 quixotic notion that you would turn back from what is 201 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:23.440 before you for his sake. You cannot be ignorant of 202 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:26.919 what all the city is talking of. Philip said this determinedly, 203 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.200 and with some bitterness. It was a full minute before 204 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:33.759 Laura spoke. Both had risen Philip as if to go, 205 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:38.080 and Laura in suppressed excitement. When she spoke, her voice 206 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:41.360 was very unsteady, and she looked down. Yes, I know, 207 00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:45.960 I perfectly understand what you mean. Mister Brierly is nothing, 208 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:50.039 simply nothing. He is a moth singed, that is all. 209 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:54.399 The trifler with women thought he was a wasp. I 210 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:56.720 have no pity for him, not the least. You may 211 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:59.240 tell him not to make a fool of himself and 212 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:02.320 to keep away. I say this on your account, not his. 213 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.399 You are not like him. It is enough for me 214 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.159 that you wanted so, mister Sterling. She continued looking up, 215 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:11.799 and there were tears in her eyes that contradicted the 216 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.720 hardness of her language. You might not pity him. If 217 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:18.240 you knew my history, perhaps you would not wonder at 218 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.879 some things you hear. No, it is useless to ask 219 00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:24.840 me why it must be so. You can't make a 220 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.120 life over. Society wouldn't let you if you would, and 221 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.759 mine must be lived as it is there, sir, I 222 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.440 am not offended, but it is useless for you to 223 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:38.320 say anything more. Philip went away with his heart lightened 224 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:41.679 about Harry, but profoundly saddened by the glimpse of what 225 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:44.960 this woman might have been. He told Harry all that 226 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:48.519 was necessary of the conversation. She was bent on going 227 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.480 her own way. He had not the ghost of a chance. 228 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:54.679 He was a fool, she had said for thinking he had, 229 00:13:55.399 --> 00:13:58.360 and Harry accepted it meekly and made up his own 230 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:02.759 mind that Philip didn't know much about women. End of 231 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:03.879 Chapter forty four.