-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Эдит Уортон
-
- Эпоха невинности
-
- Стр. 1/39
The Age of Innocence
On
a
January
evening
of
the
early
seventies
,
Christine
Nilsson
was
singing
in
Faust
at
the
Academy
of
Music
in
New
York.Though
there
was
already
talk
of
the
erection
,
in
remote
metropolitan
distances
"
above
the
Forties
,
"
of
a
new
Opera
House
which
should
compete
in
costliness
and
splendour
with
those
of
the
great
European
capitals
,
the
world
of
fashion
was
still
content
to
reassemble
every
winter
in
the
shabby
red
and
gold
boxes
of
the
sociable
old
Academy
.
Conservatives
cherished
it
for
being
small
and
inconvenient
,
and
thus
keeping
out
the
"
new
people
"
whom
New
York
was
beginning
to
dread
and
yet
be
drawn
to
;
and
the
sentimental
clung
to
it
for
its
historic
associations
,
and
the
musical
for
its
excellent
acoustics
,
always
so
problematic
a
quality
in
halls
built
for
the
hearing
of
music.It
was
Madame
Nilsson
's
first
appearance
that
winter
,
and
what
the
daily
press
had
already
learned
to
describe
as
"
an
exceptionally
brilliant
audience
"
had
gathered
to
hear
her
,
transported
through
the
slippery
,
snowy
streets
in
private
broughams
,
in
the
spacious
family
landau
,
or
in
the
humbler
but
more
convenient
"
Brown
coupe
.
"
To
come
to
the
Opera
in
a
Brown
coupe
was
almost
as
honourable
a
way
of
arriving
as
in
one
's
own
carriage
;
and
departure
by
the
same
means
had
the
immense
advantage
of
enabling
one
(
with
a
playful
allusion
to
democratic
principles
)
to
scramble
into
the
first
Brown
conveyance
in
the
line
,
instead
of
waiting
till
the
cold-and-gin
congested
nose
of
one
's
own
coachman
gleamed
under
the
portico
of
the
Academy
.
It
was
one
of
the
great
livery-stableman
's
most
masterly
intuitions
to
have
discovered
that
Americans
want
to
get
away
from
amusement
even
more
quickly
than
they
want
to
get
to
it.When
Newland
Archer
opened
the
door
at
the
back
of
the
club
box
the
curtain
had
just
gone
up
on
the
garden
scene
.
There
was
no
reason
why
the
young
man
should
not
have
come
earlier
,
for
he
had
dined
at
seven
,
alone
with
his
mother
and
sister
,
and
had
lingered
afterward
over
a
cigar
in
the
Gothic
library
with
glazed
black-walnut
bookcases
and
finial-topped
chairs
which
was
the
only
room
in
the
house
where
Mrs.
Archer
allowed
smoking
.
But
,
in
the
first
place
,
New
York
was
a
metropolis
,
and
perfectly
aware
that
in
metropolises
it
was
"
not
the
thing
"
to
arrive
early
at
the
opera
;
and
what
was
or
was
not
"
the
thing
"
played
a
part
as
important
in
Newland
Archer
's
New
York
as
the
inscrutable
totem
terrors
that
had
ruled
the
destinies
of
his
forefathers
thousands
of
years
ago.The
second
reason
for
his
delay
was
a
personal
one
.
He
had
dawdled
over
his
cigar
because
he
was
at
heart
a
dilettante
,
and
thinking
over
a
pleasure
to
come
often
gave
him
a
subtler
satisfaction
than
its
realisation
.
This
was
especially
the
case
when
the
pleasure
was
a
delicate
one
,
as
his
pleasures
mostly
were
;
and
on
this
occasion
the
moment
he
looked
forward
to
was
so
rare
and
exquisite
in
quality
that
--
well
,
if
he
had
timed
his
arrival
in
accord
with
the
prima
donna
's
stage-manager
he
could
not
have
entered
the
Academy
at
a
more
significant
moment
than
just
as
she
was
singing
:
"
He
loves
me
--
he
loves
me
not
--
HE
LOVES
ME
!
--
"
and
sprinkling
the
falling
daisy
petals
with
notes
as
clear
as
dew.She
sang
,
of
course
,
"
M'ama
!
"
and
not
"
he
loves
me
,
"
since
an
unalterable
and
unquestioned
law
of
the
musical
world
required
that
the
German
text
of
French
operas
sung
by
Swedish
artists
should
be
translated
into
Italian
for
the
clearer
understanding
of
English-speaking
audiences
.
This
seemed
as
natural
to
Newland
Archer
as
all
the
other
conventions
on
which
his
life
was
moulded
:
such
as
the
duty
of
using
two
silver-backed
brushes
with
his
monogram
in
blue
enamel
to
part
his
hair
,
and
of
never
appearing
in
society
without
a
flower
(
preferably
a
gardenia
)
in
his
buttonhole
.
"
M'ama
...
non
m
'
ama
...
"
the
prima
donna
sang
,
and
"
M'ama
!
"
,
with
a
final
burst
of
love
triumphant
,
as
she
pressed
the
dishevelled
daisy
to
her
lips
and
lifted
her
large
eyes
to
the
sophisticated
countenance
of
the
little
brown
Faust-Capoul
,
who
was
vainly
trying
,
in
a
tight
purple
velvet
doublet
and
plumed
cap
,
to
look
as
pure
and
true
as
his
artless
victim.Newland
Archer
,
leaning
against
the
wall
at
the
back
of
the
club
box
,
turned
his
eyes
from
the
stage
and
scanned
the
opposite
side
of
the
house
.
Directly
facing
him
was
the
box
of
old
Mrs.
Manson
Mingott
,
whose
monstrous
obesity
had
long
since
made
it
impossible
for
her
to
attend
the
Opera
,
but
who
was
always
represented
on
fashionable
nights
by
some
of
the
younger
members
of
the
family
.
On
this
occasion
,
the
front
of
the
box
was
filled
by
her
daughter-in-law
,
Mrs.
Lovell
Mingott
,
and
her
daughter
,
Mrs.
Welland
;
and
slightly
withdrawn
behind
these
brocaded
matrons
sat
a
young
girl
in
white
with
eyes
ecstatically
fixed
on
the
stagelovers
.
As
Madame
Nilsson
's
"
M'ama
!
"
thrilled
out
above
the
silent
house
(
the
boxes
always
stopped
talking
during
the
Daisy
Song
)
a
warm
pink
mounted
to
the
girl
's
cheek
,
mantled
her
brow
to
the
roots
of
her
fair
braids
,
and
suffused
the
young
slope
of
her
breast
to
the
line
where
it
met
a
modest
tulle
tucker
fastened
with
a
single
gardenia
.
She
dropped
her
eyes
to
the
immense
bouquet
of
lilies-of-the-valley
on
her
knee
,
and
Newland
Archer
saw
her
white-gloved
finger-tips
touch
the
flowers
softly
.
He
drew
a
breath
of
satisfied
vanity
and
his
eyes
returned
to
the
stage.No
expense
had
been
spared
on
the
setting
,
which
was
acknowledged
to
be
very
beautiful
even
by
people
who
shared
his
acquaintance
with
the
Opera
houses
of
Paris
and
Vienna
.
The
foreground
,
to
the
footlights
,
was
covered
with
emerald
green
cloth
.
In
the
middle
distance
symmetrical
mounds
of
woolly
green
moss
bounded
by
croquet
hoops
formed
the
base
of
shrubs
shaped
like
orange-trees
but
studded
with
large
pink
and
red
roses
.
Gigantic
pansies
,
considerably
larger
than
the
roses
,
and
closely
resembling
the
floral
pen-wipers
made
by
female
parishioners
for
fashionable
clergymen
,
sprang
from
the
moss
beneath
the
rose-trees
;
and
here
and
there
a
daisy
grafted
on
a
rose-branch
flowered
with
a
luxuriance
prophetic
of
Mr.
Luther
Burbank
's
far-off
prodigies.In
the
centre
of
this
enchanted
garden
Madame
Nilsson
,
in
white
cashmere
slashed
with
pale
blue
satin
,
a
reticule
dangling
from
a
blue
girdle
,
and
large
yellow
braids
carefully
disposed
on
each
side
of
her
muslin
chemisette
,
listened
with
downcast
eyes
to
M.
Capoul
's
impassioned
wooing
,
and
affected
a
guileless
incomprehension
of
his
designs
whenever
,
by
word
or
glance
,
he
persuasively
indicated
the
ground
floor
window
of
the
neat
brick
villa
projecting
obliquely
from
the
right
wing
.
"
The
darling
!
"
thought
Newland
Archer
,
his
glance
flitting
back
to
the
young
girl
with
the
lilies-of-the-valley
.
"
She
does
n't
even
guess
what
it
's
all
about
.
"
And
he
contemplated
her
absorbed
young
face
with
a
thrill
of
possessorship
in
which
pride
in
his
own
masculine
initiation
was
mingled
with
a
tender
reverence
for
her
abysmal
purity
.
"
We
'll
read
Faust
together
...
by
the
Italian
lakes
...
"
he
thought
,
somewhat
hazily
confusing
the
scene
of
his
projected
honey-moon
with
the
masterpieces
of
literature
which
it
would
be
his
manly
privilege
to
reveal
to
his
bride
.
It
was
only
that
afternoon
that
May
Welland
had
let
him
guess
that
she
"
cared
"
(
New
York
's
consecrated
phrase
of
maiden
avowal
)
,
and
already
his
imagination
,
leaping
ahead
of
the
engagement
ring
,
the
betrothal
kiss
and
the
march
from
Lohengrin
,
pictured
her
at
his
side
in
some
scene
of
old
European
witchery.He
did
not
in
the
least
wish
the
future
Mrs.
Newland
Archer
to
be
a
simpleton
.
He
meant
her
(
thanks
to
his
enlightening
companionship
)
to
develop
a
social
tact
and
readiness
of
wit
enabling
her
to
hold
her
own
with
the
most
popular
married
women
of
the
"
younger
set
,
"
in
which
it
was
the
recognised
custom
to
attract
masculine
homage
while
playfully
discouraging
it
.
If
he
had
probed
to
the
bottom
of
his
vanity
(
as
he
sometimes
nearly
did
)
he
would
have
found
there
the
wish
that
his
wife
should
be
as
worldly-wise
and
as
eager
to
please
as
the
married
lady
whose
charms
had
held
his
fancy
through
two
mildly
agitated
years
;
without
,
of
course
,
any
hint
of
the
frailty
which
had
so
nearly
marred
that
unhappy
being
's
life
,
and
had
disarranged
his
own
plans
for
a
whole
winter.How
this
miracle
of
fire
and
ice
was
to
be
created
,
and
to
sustain
itself
in
a
harsh
world
,
he
had
never
taken
the
time
to
think
out
;
but
he
was
content
to
hold
his
view
without
analysing
it
,
since
he
knew
it
was
that
of
all
the
carefully-brushed
,
white-waistcoated
,
button-hole-flowered
gentlemen
who
succeeded
each
other
in
the
club
box
,
exchanged
friendly
greetings
with
him
,
and
turned
their
opera-glasses
critically
on
the
circle
of
ladies
who
were
the
product
of
the
system
.
In
matters
intellectual
and
artistic
Newland
Archer
felt
himself
distinctly
the
superior
of
these
chosen
specimens
of
old
New
York
gentility
;
he
had
probably
read
more
,
thought
more
,
and
even
seen
a
good
deal
more
of
the
world
,
than
any
other
man
of
the
number
.
Singly
they
betrayed
their
inferiority
;
but
grouped
together
they
represented
"
New
York
,
"
and
the
habit
of
masculine
solidarity
made
him
accept
their
doctrine
on
all
the
issues
called
moral
.
He
instinctively
felt
that
in
this
respect
it
would
be
troublesome
--
and
also
rather
bad
form
--
to
strike
out
for
himself
.
"
Well
--
upon
my
soul
!
"
exclaimed
Lawrence
Lefferts
,
turning
his
opera-glass
abruptly
away
from
the
stage
.
Lawrence
Lefferts
was
,
on
the
whole
,
the
foremost
authority
on
"
form
"
in
New
York
.
He
had
probably
devoted
more
time
than
any
one
else
to
the
study
of
this
intricate
and
fascinating
question
;
but
study
alone
could
not
account
for
his
complete
and
easy
competence
.
One
had
only
to
look
at
him
,
from
the
slant
of
his
bald
forehead
and
the
curve
of
his
beautiful
fair
moustache
to
the
long
patent-leather
feet
at
the
other
end
of
his
lean
and
elegant
person
,
to
feel
that
the
knowledge
of
"
form
"
must
be
congenital
in
any
one
who
knew
how
to
wear
such
good
clothes
so
carelessly
and
carry
such
height
with
so
much
lounging
grace
.
As
a
young
admirer
had
once
said
of
him
:
"
If
anybody
can
tell
a
fellow
just
when
to
wear
a
black
tie
with
evening
clothes
and
when
not
to
,
it
's
Larry
Lefferts
.
"
And
on
the
question
of
pumps
versus
patent-leather
"
Oxfords
"
his
authority
had
never
been
disputed
.
"
My
God
!
"
he
said
;
and
silently
handed
his
glass
to
old
Sillerton
Jackson
.
Newland
Archer
,
following
Lefferts
's
glance
,
saw
with
surprise
that
his
exclamation
had
been
occasioned
by
the
entry
of
a
new
figure
into
old
Mrs.
Mingott
's
box
.
It
was
that
of
a
slim
young
woman
,
a
little
less
tall
than
May
Welland
,
with
brown
hair
growing
in
close
curls
about
her
temples
and
held
in
place
by
a
narrow
band
of
diamonds
.
The
suggestion
of
this
headdress
,
which
gave
her
what
was
then
called
a
"
Josephine
look
,
"
was
carried
out
in
the
cut
of
the
dark
blue
velvet
gown
rather
theatrically
caught
up
under
her
bosom
by
a
girdle
with
a
large
old-fashioned
clasp
.
The
wearer
of
this
unusual
dress
,
who
seemed
quite
unconscious
of
the
attention
it
was
attracting
,
stood
a
moment
in
the
centre
of
the
box
,
discussing
with
Mrs.
Welland
the
propriety
of
taking
the
latter
's
place
in
the
front
right-hand
corner
;
then
she
yielded
with
a
slight
smile
,
and
seated
herself
in
line
with
Mrs.
Welland
's
sister-in-law
,
Mrs.
Lovell
Mingott
,
who
was
installed
in
the
opposite
corner.Mr
.
Sillerton
Jackson
had
returned
the
opera-glass
to
Lawrence
Lefferts
.
The
whole
of
the
club
turned
instinctively
,
waiting
to
hear
what
the
old
man
had
to
say
;
for
old
Mr.
Jackson
was
as
great
an
authority
on
"
family
"
as
Lawrence
Lefferts
was
on
"
form
.
"
He
knew
all
the
ramifications
of
New
York
's
cousinships
;
and
could
not
only
elucidate
such
complicated
questions
as
that
of
the
connection
between
the
Mingotts
(
through
the
Thorleys
)
with
the
Dallases
of
South
Carolina
,
and
that
of
the
relationship
of
the
elder
branch
of
Philadelphia
Thorleys
to
the
Albany
Chiverses
(
on
no
account
to
be
confused
with
the
Manson
Chiverses
of
University
Place
)
,
but
could
also
enumerate
the
leading
characteristics
of
each
family
:
as
,
for
instance
,
the
fabulous
stinginess
of
the
younger
lines
of
Leffertses
(
the
Long
Island
ones
)
;
or
the
fatal
tendency
of
the
Rushworths
to
make
foolish
matches
;
or
the
insanity
recurring
in
every
second
generation
of
the
Albany
Chiverses
,
with
whom
their
New
York
cousins
had
always
refused
to
intermarry
--
with
the
disastrous
exception
of
poor
Medora
Manson
,
who
,
as
everybody
knew
...
but
then
her
mother
was
a
Rushworth.In
addition
to
this
forest
of
family
trees
,
Mr.
Sillerton
Jackson
carried
between
his
narrow
hollow
temples
,
and
under
his
soft
thatch
of
silver
hair
,
a
register
of
most
of
the
scandals
and
mysteries
that
had
smouldered
under
the
unruffled
surface
of
New
York
society
within
the
last
fifty
years
.
So
far
indeed
did
his
information
extend
,
and
so
acutely
retentive
was
his
memory
,
that
he
was
supposed
to
be
the
only
man
who
could
have
told
you
who
Julius
Beaufort
,
the
banker
,
really
was
,
and
what
had
become
of
handsome
Bob
Spicer
,
old
Mrs
Manson
Mingott
's
father
,
who
had
disappeared
so
mysteriously
(
with
a
large
sum
of
trust
money
)
less
than
a
year
after
his
marriage
,
on
the
very
day
that
a
beautiful
Spanish
dancer
who
had
been
delighting
thronged
audiences
in
the
old
Opera-house
on
the
Battery
had
taken
ship
for
Cuba
.
But
these
mysteries
,
and
many
others
,
were
closely
locked
in
Mr.
Jackson
's
breast
;
for
not
only
did
his
keen
sense
of
honour
forbid
his
repeating
anything
privately
imparted
,
but
he
was
fully
aware
that
his
reputation
for
discretion
increased
his
opportunities
of
finding
out
what
he
wanted
to
know.The
club
box
,
therefore
,
waited
in
visible
suspense
while
Mr.
Sillerton
Jackson
handed
back
Lawrence
Lefferts
's
opera-glass
.
For
a
moment
he
silently
scrutinised
the
attentive
group
out
of
his
filmy
blue
eyes
overhung
by
old
veined
lids
;
then
he
gave
his
moustache
a
thoughtful
twist
,
and
said
simply
:
"
I
did
n't
think
the
Mingotts
would
have
tried
it
on
.
"
