A Little Journey in the WorldWarner, Charles Dudley
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A Little Journey in the World
Warner, Charles Dudley
American fiction -- 19th century
“So I was. That was last week. Now I'm in the Faith Cure; I've found out
about both. The difference is, in the Mind Cure you don't require any
faith; in the Faith Cure you don't require any mind. The Faith Cure just
suits me.”
“So you put your faith in an American millionaire?”
“Yes, I think I should, until an American millionaire put faith in me.
That might shake me. It is such a queer world. No, I'm in doubt. If
you loved an earl he would stay an earl. If you loved an American
millionaire, ten to one he would fail.”
Margaret did not escape the responsibility of her success. Who does? My
dear Charmian, who wrote the successful novel of last year, do you not
already repent your rash act? If you do not write a better novel this
year, will not the public flout you and jeer you for a pretender? Did
the public overpraise you at first? Its mistaken partiality becomes
now your presumption. Last year the press said you were the rival of
Hawthorne. This year it is, “that Miss Charmian who set herself up as a
second Hawthorne.” When the new house was opened, it might be said that
socially Mrs. Henderson had “arrived.” Had she? When one enters on the
path of worldliness is there any resting-place? Is not eternal vigilance
the price of position?
Henderson was apparently on good terms with the world. Many envied him,
many paid him the sincerest flattery, that of imitation. He was a king
in the street, great enterprises sought his aid, all the charities
knocked at his door, his word could organize a syndicate or a trust,
his nod could smash a “corner.” There were fabulous stories about his
wealth, about his luck. This also was Margaret's world. Her ambition
expanded in it with his. The things he set his heart on she coveted.
Alas! there is always another round to the ladder.
Seeing the means by which he gained his ends, and the public condonation
of them, would not his cynicism harden into utter unbelief in general
virtue and goodness? I don't know that Henderson changed much, accented
as his grasping selfishness was on occasion; prosperity had not impaired
that indifferent good-fellowship and toleration which had early gained
him popularity. His presence was nowhere a rebuke to whatever was going
on. He was always accessible, often jocular. The younger members in the
club said Henderson was a devilish good fellow, whatever people said.
The President of the United States used to send for him and consult him,
because he wanted no office; he knew men, and it was a relief to talk
with a liberal rich man of so much bonhomie who wanted nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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