The Relentless CityBenson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
General
The Relentless City
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
British -- United States -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Upper class -- Fiction
The Revels ended on Saturday, on which day the wonder-stricken guests
for the most part dispersed, their faces probably shining like Moses'
at this social revelation, and went back to their humble homes. The
success of them had been gigantic. Nobody (except Newport) talked about
anything else for days, and to find news of international importance in
the papers was almost impossible, for everything else except the Revels
was tucked away into odd corners. Newport alone maintained an icy
silence, but disaffection was already at work there, and those who were
only struggling on the fringe of Newport society said openly that they
would go to Long Island next year, since there really seemed to be some
gaiety there, whereas Newport was like a wet Sunday afternoon. Mrs.
Palmer's two English guests, however, stopped on. So also did Bilton;
and Mrs. Emsworth, having decided not to go to Mass on Sunday morning,
was coming down with the larger part of her company on Saturday night
after her performance in New York. Sunday, however, was going to be a
quiet day, with the exception that there was a large dinner-party in
the evening and a play in the theatre afterwards. Ping-pong Armstrong
also remained, for he was the recognised tame cat without claws
about the house. Mrs. Palmer sometimes secretly wished, in her full
consciousness of innocence, that people would 'talk' just a little
about him and her, but nobody ever did. Even the _Gutter Snipe_ never
alluded to his constant presence in the house, but this was probably
due to the fact that the editor--who knew a good deal about the meaner
side of human nature--guessed that it would have pleased Mrs. Palmer.
For it is a most extraordinary, though common, phenomenon to find that
perfectly virtuous and upright people often like to be thought just a
little wicked, whereas bad people are totally indifferent for the most
part as to whether anyone thinks them good or not.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account