Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-03
BY HENRY JAMES.
PART THIRD.
CHAPTER V.


CHAPTER Y.
Mrs. Percival proved very pretty. 1t is
more gracious to begin with this declara-
ton, instead Of saying that, in the first
place, she proved very silly. 1t took a
long day to arrive at the end Of her SILL
ness, and the two ladies at POsilippO, even
after week had passed, suspected that
they had only skirted its edges. Kate
Theory had not spent half an hour in her
company before she gave a little private
sigh Of relief; she felt that a situation
which had promised to be embarrassing
was now quite clear, was even of a
primitive simplicity. She would spend
with her sister-in-Iaw. in the coming
time, one week in the year; that was all
that was mOTtally possible. 1t was a
blessing that one could see exactly
what she was, for in that way The
question settled itself. 1t would have
been much more tiresOme if Agnes had
been a little less obvious; then she would
have had TO hesitate and consider and
weigh one thing against another. She
was pretty and silly, as distinctly as an
orange is yellow and round: and Kate
Theory would as soon have thought of
looking to her to give interest to the fu-
ture as she would have thought of looking
to an orange to impart s0liditv to the
prospect Of dinner. Mrs. PerciYal trav-
eIed In the hope Of meeting her American
acquaintance, or Of making acquaintance
with such Americans as she did meet. and
for the purpose Of buying mementOes for
her relations. She was perpetually adding
to her store Of articles in tortoise shell. in
m0lner-Ol-pearl, IN olive wood, in ivory.
IN nlagree. in tartan lacquer. in mosaic:
and she mad collection Of Roman scarfs
and Venetian beads, which she
looked over extensively every night
before she went to bed. Her conversation
mainly upon the manner in which
pore ed to dispose of these accumu-
she lutehOS was constantly changing
l dq.loIl7 ~ oa,., ther, the persons to
whom they were respecu,~ sbd lSti
At Rome one of the first things go
TO her husband after entering the ColIse.-
had been: Il guess ! viii give the ivory
wOrkDoX to Bessie and the Roman pr arls
to Aunt Harriet.' She was ALWAYS boz
Ing over the ttrE.a.seiers- book at the hotel:
- mad it brought up to her, with a cup
Of chocolate, as soon as she arrived. She
searched its pages for the magical name
of New York, and she INDUCED in in
finite conjecture as to who the people were
the name was sometimes only partial
cue-whO had inscribed it there. What
she most missed in Europe, and what she
most enjoyed, were the New Workers;
when she met them she talked about the
people in their native city who had
"mOved, ? and the streets they had moved
to. sob. YES. the Diapers are going up
town, to Twenty-tOurth street, and the
amderdeckens are going to be in TWENTY
third street. right back of them. My
uncle, Mr.. Henry Plat, thinks of build
ing round there Mrs. PerciVal Theory
was capable Of repeating statements like
fbss.. thirty times oyer-of lingering on
49, o'Irs. She talked largely OF
In toL ny y cles and aunts, Of her
clothes-past, presel.. aisI AM
These articles, in espe~' tboTo
her horizon; she considered
with a cOmplacency which might nave leu
You to suppose that she had invented the
custom Of draping the human form, ,,er
main point Of contact with Naples was
the purchase OF coral, aud all the while
she was there the word "set'-she used it
as if every one would UNDERSTANDABLE
with its little fiat, common sound upon
the ears of her sisters-in-law, who had no
sets Of anything. She cared little for pic
lures and mountains; Alps and Apen-
mines were not productive Of New York
ers, and it was difficult TO take an inter-
est in MadOnnas, who flourished At pc
riods when, apparently, there were no
fashions, or, at any rate, no trimmings.
l speak here not OLly of the impression
she made upon her husbands anxious
sisters, but Of the Judgment passed on her
(he went so far as that, though Il was not
obvious how il mattered to him by Ray
mOud BenyOn. And this brings me at
jump confess it's a very small one to
the fact that he did, after all, 20 back to
P0siiippo. He STAYED away for nine DAYS.
and at the end Of this time Perciyal
Theory called upon him to thank him for
the ciyility he had shown his kinswomen.
he went TO this gentleman's hotel, to re-
turn his visit. and there he found Miss
TT.h ar- lanrsra GfFFietfr no
had come ia by appointment from the villa,
and was going with the others to seek the
TOval palace, which she had not vet had
an opportunity to inspect. 1t was pro-
posed (not by Kate, and presently ar
ranged, that Capt. BenyOu should 20 with
them, and ne accordingly walked over
marble floors for half an hour, eXchaug-
ing conscious commonplace with the
woman he loved. For this truth had
rounded itself during those nine days of
absence: he discovered that there was
nothing particularly sweet in his life when
once Kate Theory had been excluded from
il. He had STAYED away to keep himself
from falling in love with her; but this eX-
pedient was in itself Illuminating, for he
perceived that, according to the vulgar
adage, he was locking the stable door after
the horse had been stolen. As he paced
the deck of his ship and looked toward
PJsiIippO his tenderness crystallized;
the thick, smoky flame Of a SEN
timent that knew itself forbidden
now danced upon the fuel Of his
good resolutions. The latter, it must be
said. resisted, declined to be consumed.
He determined that he would see Kate
Theory again, for a time, just sufficient to
bid her g0odby and to add little eXplana-
ton He thought Of his explanation very
lovingly but il NAV not strike the reader
FTr arfr hnr
dryly, abruptly, without an allusion to
what be might have said if everything had
been dihercnt-that would be wisdom. Of
course. that would be virtue. that would
be the line Of a practical man. of a man
who kept himself well in hand. But il
would be virtue terribly unrewarded-lt
would be virtue TOO austere for person
who sometimes flattered himself that he
had taught himself st0IclSm. The minor
luxury tempted him irresistibly, since
the larger-that ofhappY lOye-was denied
him; the luxury Of letting the girl
know that Ii would not be an accident
Oh. not at all-that they should never
meet again. She might easily think it
was and thinking it was would doubtless
do her no harm. But this wouldn't give
him his pleasure-the Platonic satisfac-
ton Of expressing to her at the same time
his beHef that they might have made each
other happy. and the necessity Of his
remuneration. That, probably, wouldn't
hurt her either, for she had given him no
proof whatever that she cared for him.
The nearest approach to Ii was the way
she walked beside him now, sweet and
silent. without the least reference to his
not having been back to the villa. The
place was cool and dusky, the blinds were
drawn 10 keep out the light and noise, and
the little party wandered through the
nigh saloons, where precious marbles and