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The Elevator By: William Dean Howells (1837-1920) |
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THE ELEVATOR by William D. Howells
I. SCENE: Through the curtained doorway of MRS. EDWARD ROBERTS'S pretty
drawing room, in Hotel Bellingham, shows the snowy and gleaming array
of a table set for dinner, under the dim light of gas burners turned
low. An air of expectancy pervades the place, and the uneasiness of
MR. ROBERTS, in evening dress, expresses something more as he turns
from a glance into the dining room, and still holding the portiere
with one hand, takes out his watch with the other. MR. ROBERTS to MRS. ROBERTS entering the drawing room from regions
beyond: "My dear, it's six o'clock. What can have become of your
aunt?" MRS. ROBERTS, with a little anxiety: "That was just what I was going
to ask. She's never late; and the children are quite heart broken.
They had counted upon seeing her, and talking Christmas a little
before they were put to bed." ROBERTS: "Very singular her not coming! Is she going to begin
standing upon ceremony with us, and not come till the hour?" MRS. ROBERTS: "Nonsense, Edward! She's been detained. Of course
she'll be here in a moment. How impatient you are!" ROBERTS: "You must profit by me as an awful example." MRS. ROBERTS, going about the room, and bestowing little touches here
and there on its ornaments: "If you'd had that new cook to battle
with over this dinner, you'd have learned patience by this time
without any awful example." ROBERTS, dropping nervously into the nearest chair: "I hope she
isn't behind time." MRS. ROBERTS, drifting upon the sofa, and disposing her train
effectively on the carpet around her: "She's before time. The
dinner is in the last moment of ripe perfection now, when we must
still give people fifteen minutes' grace." She studies the
convolutions of her train absent mindedly. ROBERTS, joining in its perusal: "Is that the way you've arranged to
be sitting when people come in?" MRS. ROBERTS: "Of course not. I shall get up to receive them." ROBERTS: "That's rather a pity. To destroy such a lovely pose." MRS. ROBERTS: "Do you like it?" ROBERTS: "It's divine." MRS. ROBERTS: "You might throw me a kiss." ROBERTS: "No; if it happened to strike on that train anywhere, it
might spoil one of the folds. I can't risk it." A ring is heard at
the apartment door. They spring to their feet simultaneously. MRS. ROBERTS: "There's Aunt Mary now!" She calls into the
vestibule, "Aunt Mary!" DR. LAWTON, putting aside the vestibule portiere, with affected
timidity: "Very sorry. Merely a father." MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh! Dr. Lawton? I am so glad to see you!" She
gives him her hand: "I thought it was my aunt. We can't understand
why she hasn't come. Why! where's Miss Lawton?" LAWTON: "That is precisely what I was going to ask you." MRS. ROBERTS: "Why, she isn't here." LAWTON: "So it seems. I left her with the carriage at the door when
I started to walk here. She called after me down the stairs that she
would be ready in three seconds, and begged me to hurry, so that we
could come in together, and not let people know I'd saved half a
dollar by walking." MRS. ROBERTS: "SHE'S been detained too!" ROBERTS, coming forward: "Now you know what it is to have a
delinquent Aunt Mary in law." LAWTON, shaking hands with him: "O Roberts! Is that you? It's
astonishing how little one makes of the husband of a lady who gives a
dinner. In my time a long time ago he used to carve. But
nowadays, when everything is served a la Russe, he might as well be
abolished. Don't you think, on the whole, Roberts, you'd better not
have come ROBERTS: "Well, you see, I had no excuse. I hated to say an
engagement when I hadn't any." LAWTON: "Oh, I understand. You WANTED to come. We all do, when
Mrs. Roberts will let us." He goes and sits down by MRS. ROBERTS,
who has taken a more provisional pose on the sofa. "Mrs. Roberts,
you're the only woman in Boston who could hope to get people, with a
fireside of their own or a register out to a Christmas dinner... Continue reading book >>
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