Chains : $b lesser novels and storiesDreiser, Theodore
General
Chains : $b lesser novels and stories
Dreiser, Theodore
American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, American
And then after Young had come Karel, the son of rich parents and
well-placed socially in Braleigh. He was young, well-informed, a snob
of sorts, although a gentle one. The only world he knew was that in
which his parents had been reared. Their ways had been and always would
be his, conservatism run mad. At thirty the only place to go in summer
was Macomber Beach, and in winter the only place to be was in Braleigh.
There he could meet his equals twenty times a day. They went to the
same homes, the same hotels, the same parties the year round. It was
all the life he wanted, and it was all the life she would have been
expected to want. But by then she was being hopelessly held by this
greater vision and something within had said: “No, no, no!”
“_You were making over my ermine cape. Is it finished?_”
And Loring! He, for a change, was a physician there in Braleigh and
lived with his sister in Lankester Way, near her home, only hers was
in a cheaper street. He was young and good-looking but seemed to think
only of his practice, how it was to make him and achieve her perhaps,
although it had all seemed so commonplace and practical to her. He was
so keen as to his standing with the best people, always so careful of
his ways and appearance, as though his life depended upon it. He might
have married more to his social and financial advantage but he had
wanted her. And she had never been able to endure him—never seriously
tolerate his pursuit.
“_Yes, if you would alter these sleeves I might like it._”
Whenever he saw her he would come hustling up. “My, but it’s nice to
see you again, Ulrica. You are always the same, always charming,
always beautiful—now don’t frown. Have you changed your mind yet,
Ulrica? You don’t want to forget that I’m going to be one of the
successful men here some day. Please do smile a little for me. I’ll be
just as successful as Joyce or any of them.”
“And is it just success you think I want?” she had asked.
“Oh, I know it isn’t just that, but I’ve had a hard time and so have
you. I know it wouldn’t do any good to offer you only success, but what
I mean is that it makes everything so much easier. With you I could do
anything—” and so he would ramble on.
“_To McCafferey’s, the Post Street entrance._”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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