"I've seen bad things in my time; but nothing as...
"I've seen bad things in my time; but nothing as bad as thisEverybody we know will be hit, one way or anotherAnd what will be done about MrsBeaufort? What CAN be done about her? I pity MrsManson Mingott as much as anybody: coming at her age, there's no knowing what effect this affair may have on herShe always believed in Beaufort?she made a friend of him! And there's the whole Dallas connection: poor MrsBeaufort is related to every one of youHer only chance would be to leave her husband?yet how can any one tell her so? Her duty is at his side; and luckily she seems always to have been blind to his private weaknesses There was a knock, and MrLetterblair turned his head sharply"What is it? I can't be disturbed A clerk brought in a letter for Archer and withdrewRecognising his wife's hand, the young man opened the envelope and read: "Won't you please come up town as early as you can? Granny had a slight stroke last nightIn some mysterious way she found out before any one else this awful news about the bankUncle Lovell is away shooting, and the idea of the disgrace has made poor Papa so nervous that he has a temperature and can't leave his roomMamma needs you vintage gucci handbags dreadfully, and I do hope you can get away at once and go straight to Granny's Archer handed the note to his senior partner, and a few minutes later was crawling northward in a crowded horse-car, which he exchanged at Fourteenth Street for one of the high staggering omnibuses of the Fifth Avenue lineIt was after twelve o'clock when this laborious vehicle dropped him at old Catherine'sThe sitting-room window on the ground floor, where she usually throned, was tenanted by the inadequate figure of her daughter, MrsWelland, who signed a haggard welcome as she caught sight of Archer; and at the door he was met by MayThe hall wore the unnatural appearance peculiar to well-kept houses suddenly invaded by illness: wraps and furs lay in heaps on the chairs, a doctor's bag and overcoat were on the table, and beside them letters and cards had already piled up unheeded May looked pale but smiling: DrBencomb, who had just come for the second time, took a more hopeful view, and MrsMingott's dauntless determination to live and get well was already having an effect on her familyMay led Archer into the old lady's sitting-room, where the sliding doors opening into the bedroom had been miu miu coffer drawn shut, and the heavy yellow damask portieres dropped over them; and here MrsWelland communicated to him in horrified undertones the details of the catastropheIt appeared that the evening before something dreadful and mysterious had happenedAt about eight o'clock, just after MrsMingott had finished the game of solitaire that she always played after dinner, the door-bell had rung, and a lady so thickly veiled that the servants did not immediately recognise her had asked to be received The butler, hearing a familiar voice, had thrown open the sitting-room door, announcing: "MrsJulius Beaufort"?and had then closed it again on the two ladiesThey must have been together, he thought, about an hourMingott's bell rang MrsBeaufort had already slipped away unseen, and the old lady, white and vast and terrible, sat alone in her great chair, and signed to the butler to help her into her roomShe seemed, at that time, though obviously distressed, in complete control of her body and brainThe mulatto maid put her to bed, brought her a cup of tea as usual, laid everything straight in the room, and went away; but at three in the morning the bell rang again, and the two servants, rolex submariner 50th anniversary hastening in at this unwonted summons (for old Catherine usually slept like a baby), had found their mistress sitting up against her pillows with a crooked smile on her face and one little hand hanging limp from its huge arm The stroke had clearly been a slight one, for she was able to articulate and to make her wishes known; and soon after the doctor's first visit she had begun to regain control of her facial musclesBut the alarm had been great; and proportionately great was the indignation when it was gathered from MrsMingott's fragmentary phrases that Regina Beaufort had come to ask her?incredible effrontery!?to back up her husband, see them through?not to "desert" them, as she called it?in fact to induce the whole family to cover and condone their monstrous dishonour "I said to her: 'Honour's always been honour, and honesty honesty, in Manson Mingott's house, and will be till I'm carried out of it feet first,'" the old woman had stammered into her daughter's ear, in the thick voice of the partly paralysed"And when she said: 'But my name, Auntie?my name's Regina Dallas,' I said: 'It was Beaufort when he covered you with jewels, and it's got to stay Beaufort now wholesale tiffany that he's covered you with shame'" So much, with tears and gasps of horror, MrsWelland imparted, blanched and demolished by the unwonted obligation of having at last to fix her eyes on the unpleasant and the discreditable"If only I could keep it from your father-in-law: he always says: 'Augusta, for pity's sake, don't destroy my last illusions'?and how am I to prevent his knowing these horrors?" the poor lady wailed "After all, Mamma, he won't have SEEN them," her daughter suggested; and MrsWelland sighed: "Ah, no; thank heaven he's safe in bedBencomb has promised to keep him there till poor Mamma is better, and Regina has been got away somewhere Archer had seated himself near the window and was gazing out blankly at the deserted thoroughfareIt was evident that he had been summoned rather for the moral support of the stricken ladies than because of any specific aid that he could renderLovell Mingott had been telegraphed for, and messages were being despatched by hand to the members of the family living in New York; and meanwhile there was nothing to do but to discuss in hushed tones the consequences of Beaufort's dishonour and of his wife's unjustifiable black chanel handbag actioNo comments:
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