登陆注册
15529100000094

第94章

Imbued with the highest ambition of my time,I had set my barque on a great circle,and almost before I realized it the barque was burdened with a wife and family and the steering had insensibly become more difficult;for Maude cared nothing about the destination,and when I took any hand off the wheel our ship showed a tendency to make for a quiet harbour.Thus the social initiative,which I believed should have been the woman's,was thrust back on me.It was almost incredible,yet indisputable,in a day when most American women were credited with a craving for social ambition that I,of all men,should have married a wife in whom the craving was wholly absent!She might have had what other women would have given their souls for.There were many reasons why I wished her to take what I deemed her proper place in the community as my wife--not that I cared for what is called society in the narrow sense;with me,it was a logical part of a broader scheme of life;an auxiliary rather than an essential,but a needful auxiliary;a means of dignifying and adorning the position I was taking.Not only that,but Ifelt the need of intercourse--of intercourse of a lighter and more convivial nature with men and women who saw life as I saw it.In the evenings when we did not go out into that world our city afforded ennui took possession of me:I had never learned to care for books,I had no resources outside of my profession,and when I was not working on some legal problem I dawdled over the newspapers and went to bed.I don't mean to imply that our existence,outside of our continued intimacy with the Peterses and the Blackwoods,was socially isolated.We gave little dinners that Maude carried out with skill and taste;but it was I who suggested them;we went out to other dinners,sometimes to Nancy's--though we saw less and less of her--sometimes to other houses.But Maude had given evidence of domestic tastes and a disinclination for gaiety that those who entertained more were not slow to sense.I should have liked to take a larger house,but I felt the futility of suggesting it;the children were still small,and she was occupied with them.Meanwhile I beheld,and at times with considerable irritation,the social world changing,growing larger and more significant,a more important function of that higher phase of American existence the new century seemed definitely to have initiated.A segregative process was away to which Maude was wholly indifferent.Our city was throwing off its social conservatism;wealth (which implied ability and superiority)was playing a greater part,entertainments were more luxurious,lines more strictly drawn.We had an elaborate country club for those who could afford expensive amusements.Much of this transformation had been due to the initiative and leadership of Nancy Durrett....

Great and sudden wealth,however,if combined with obscure antecedents and questionable qualifications,was still looked upon askance.In spite of the fact that Adolf Scherer had "put us on the map,"the family of the great iron-master still remained outside of the social pale.He himself might have entered had it not been for his wife,who was supposed to be "queer,"who remained at home in her house opposite Gallatin Park and made little German cakes,--a huge house which an unknown architect had taken unusual pains to make pretentious and hideous,for it was Rhenish,Moorish and Victorian by turns.Its geometric grounds matched those of the park,itself a monument to bad taste in landscape.The neighbourhood was highly respectable,and inhabited by families of German extraction.

There were two flaxen-haired daughters who had just graduated from an expensive boarding-school in New York,where they had received the polish needful for future careers.But the careers were not forthcoming.

I was thrown constantly with Adolf Scherer;I had earned his gratitude,Ihad become necessary to him.But after the great coup whereby he had fulfilled Mr.Watling's prophecy and become the chief factor in our business world he began to show signs of discontent,of an irritability that seemed foreign to his character,and that puzzled me.One day,however,I stumbled upon the cause of this fermentation,to wonder that Ihad not discovered it before.In many ways Adolf Scherer was a child.

We were sitting in the Boyne Club.

"Money--yes!"he exclaimed,apropos of some demand made upon him by a charitable society."They come to me for my money--there is always Scherer,they say.He will make up the deficit in the hospitals.But what is it they do for me?Nothing.Do they invite me to their houses,to their parties?"This was what he wanted,then,--social recognition.I said nothing,but I saw my opportunity:I had the clew,now,to a certain attitude he had adopted of late toward me,an attitude of reproach;as though,in return for his many favours to me,there were something I had left undone.And when I went home I asked Maude to call on Mrs.Scherer.

"On Mrs.Scherer!"she repeated.

"Yes,I want you to invite them to dinner."The proposal seemed to take away her breath."I owe her husband a great deal,and I think he feels hurt that the wives of the men he knows down town haven't taken up his family."I felt that it would not be wise,with Maude,to announce my rather amazing discovery of the iron-master's social ambitions.

"But,Hugh,they must be very happy,they have their friends.And after all this time wouldn't it seem like an intrusion?""I don't think so,"I said,"I'm sure it would please him,and them.You know how kind he's been to us,how he sent us East in his private car last year.""Of course I'll go if you wish it,if you're sure they feel that way."She did make the call,that very week,and somewhat to my surprise reported that she liked Mrs.Scherer and the daughters:Maude's likes and dislikes,needless to say,were not governed by matters of policy.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 世界文化博览(第一册)

    世界文化博览(第一册)

    《世界文化博览》精选了大量世界文化与自然遗产,以精炼的文字从多方面加以说明与介绍。揭开历史,一窥背后的故事,将人类历史上的里程碑和转折点,冲突和战争、创造和发现、崛起和衰落等,一一呈现在读者面前。其内容涵盖了原始社会、传媒通讯、人类军事武器的产生、数学宝库、西方文明的产生、人类走向宇航时代等。带你领略世界文化的博大精深,感受文化的力量和魅力,享受精神的盛宴,浓缩世界文化知识精粹。旨在为读者提高文化修养、丰富人生内涵、添加知识储备、准备写作素材、增加聚会谈资……
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 中医养生学

    中医养生学

    中医养生学是研究和阐释人类生命发生发展规律、增强体质、预防疾病、益寿延年的基础理论和方法的一门实用学科。
  • 破碎维度:创世纪

    破碎维度:创世纪

    世界的秩序崩溃了,存在于人类幻想中的生物出现在现实中。一个打架让血,装逼如风,徒手拆高达,单手挡核弹的开挂青年天默,打乱了一场走私商人的交易,近而引出了一个横跨数十年,足以毁灭世界的计划……人们哀怨地感叹:“这个世界已经彻底扭曲绝望了!”天默却含笑反问道:“那我们为什么要把它纠正回来?如果你想改变这个世界,请先学着接受它。”
  • 中日价值哲学新探

    中日价值哲学新探

    本书内容包括:价值哲学基础理论研究,马克思主义价值观与以人为本,科学发展观的价值内涵,现代科学技术与价值选择,人与自然和谐与人类中心主义价值辨析等。
  • 废柴宅男的咸鱼翻身

    废柴宅男的咸鱼翻身

    重度抑郁的大志,想要通过自杀来结束自己自觉活的废物的三十岁生命。可一位老者的出现,彻底改变了他的命运。但,他奇迹反转颓势的路程,才刚刚开始……
  • 灭绝魔帝

    灭绝魔帝

    ????魔,究竟什么样的人才可以称为魔。是杀戮成性还是逆天成道。清心观弟子林立偶然听见了一个关于自己的身世后,面对在宗门的种种逼迫下,果断的抛弃了修仙之道堕落成魔。因天资优秀深得魔道领袖器重,?故修炼上古魔道神诀,执上古之凶器,肩负魔道万年难遇的天才之名。
  • 火澜

    火澜

    当一个现代杀手之王穿越到这个世界。是隐匿,还是崛起。一场血雨腥风的传奇被她改写。一条无上的强者之路被她踏破。修斗气,炼元丹,收兽宠,化神器,大闹皇宫,炸毁学院,打死院长,秒杀狗男女,震惊大陆。无止尽的契约能力,上古神兽,千年魔兽,纷纷前来抱大腿,惊傻世人。她说:在我眼里没有好坏之分,只有强弱之分,只要你能打败我,这世间所有都是你的,打不败我,就从这世间永远消失。她狂,她傲,她的目标只有一个,就是凌驾这世间一切之上。三国皇帝,魔界妖王,冥界之主,仙界至尊。到底谁才是陪着她走到最后的那个?他说:上天入地,我会陪着你,你活着,有我,你死,也一定有我。本文一对一,男强女强,强强联手,不喜勿入。
  • 豪门甜宠:总裁的私有爱人

    豪门甜宠:总裁的私有爱人

    在M过即将有一场盛大的婚礼,是雪家大小姐和劳良的婚礼,在L过学习的雪玫得知后急忙赶回来,她的姻缘也开始了......