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nearly thirty. But there was about her the mysterious authority of beauty, a sureness in the carriage of the
head, the movement of the eyes, which, without being in the least theatrical, struck his as highly trained and
full of a conscious power. At the same time she was simpler in manner than most of the ladies present, and
many people (as he heard afterward from Janey) were disappointed that her appearance was not more "stylish"
--for stylishness was what New York most valued. It was, perhaps, Archer reflected, because her early
vivacity had disappeared; because she was so quiet--quiet in her movements, her voice, and the tones of her
low- pitched voice. New York had expected something a good deal more reasonant in a young woman with
such a history.
Information about Project Gutenberg 29
The dinner was a somewhat formidable business. Dining with the van der Luydens was at best no light matter,
and dining there with a Duke who was their cousin was almost a religious solemnity. It pleased Archer to
think that only an old New Yorker could perceive the shade of difference (to New York) between being
merely a Duke and being the van der Luydens' Duke. New York took stray noblemen calmly, and even
(except in the Struthers set) with a certain distrustful hauteur; but when they presented such credentials as
these they were received with an old-fashioned cordiality that they would have been greatly mistaken in
ascribing solely to their standing in Debrett. It was for just such distinctions that the young man cherished his
old New York even while he smiled at it.
The van der Luydens had done their best to emphasise the importance of the occasion. The du Lac Sevres and
the Trevenna George II plate were out; so was the van der Luyden "Lowestoft" (East India Company) and the
Dagonet Crown Derby. Mrs. van der Luyden looked more than ever like a Cabanel, and Mrs. Archer, in her
grandmother's seed-pearls and emeralds, reminded her son of an Isabey miniature. All the ladies had on their
handsomest jewels, but it was characteristic of the house and the occasion that these were mostly in rather
heavy old-fashioned settings; and old Miss Lanning, who had been persuaded to come, actually wore her
mother's cameos and a Spanish blonde shawl.
The Countess Olenska was the only young woman at the dinner; yet, as Archer scanned the smooth plump
elderly faces between their diamond necklaces and towering ostrich feathers, they struck him as curiously
immature compared with hers. It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes.
The Duke of St. Austrey, who sat at his hostess's right, was naturally the chief figure of the evening. But if the
Countess Olenska was less conspicuous than had been hoped, the Duke was almost invisible. Being a
well-bred man he had not (like another recent ducal visitor) come to the dinner in a shooting-jacket; but his
evening clothes were so shabby and baggy, and he wore them with such an air of their being homespun, that
(with his stooping way of sitting, and the vast beard spreading over his shirt-front) he hardly gave the
appearance of being in dinner attire. He was short, round-shouldered, sunburnt, with a thick nose, small eyes
and a sociable smile; but he seldom spoke, and when he did it was in such low tones that, despite the frequent
silences of expectation about the table, his remarks were lost to all but his neighbours.
When the men joined the ladies after dinner the Duke went straight up to the Countess Olenska, and they sat
down in a corner and plunged into animated talk. Neither seemed aware that the Duke should first have paid
his respects to Mrs. Lovell Mingott and Mrs. Headly Chivers, and the Countess have conversed with that
amiable hypochondriac, Mr. Urban Dagonet of Washington Square, who, in order to have the pleasure of
meeting her, had broken through his fixed rule of not dining out between January and April. The two chatted
together for nearly twenty minutes; then the Countess rose and, walking alone across the wide drawing-room, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]