Chapter 4

by William Dean Howells

　　"Well, I can tell you what," said the Colonel, in fond enjoyment oftheir young ladyishness, "your mother wa'n't ashamed to sit with me ona trestle when I called her out to look at the first coat of my paintthat I ever tried on a house.""Yes; we've heard that story," said Penelope, with easy security of herfather's liking what she said. "We were brought up on that story.""Well, it's a good story," said her father.At that moment a young man came suddenly in range, who began to look upat the signs of building as he approached. He dropped his eyes incoming abreast of the bay-window, where Lapham sat with his girls, andthen his face lightened, and he took off his hat and bowed to Irene.She rose mechanically from the trestle, and her face lightened too.She was a very pretty figure of a girl, after our fashion of girls,round and slim and flexible, and her face was admirably regular. Buther great beauty--and it was very great--was in her colouring. Thiswas of an effect for which there is no word but delicious, as we use itof fruit or flowers. She had red hair, like her father in his earlierdays, and the tints of her cheeks and temples were such as suggestedMay-flowers and apple-blossoms and peaches. Instead of the grey thatoften dulls this complexion, her eyes were of a blue at once intenseand tender, and they seemed to burn on what they looked at with a soft,lambent flame. It was well understood by her sister and mother thather eyes always expressed a great deal more than Irene ever thought orfelt; but this is not saying that she was not a very sensible girl andvery honest.The young man faltered perceptibly, and Irene came a little forward,and then there gushed from them both a smiling exchange of greeting, ofwhich the sum was that he supposed she was out of town, and that shehad not known that he had got back. A pause ensued, and flushing againin her uncertainty as to whether she ought or ought not to do it, shesaid, "My father, Mr. Corey; and my sister."The young man took off his hat again, showing his shapely head, with aline of wholesome sunburn ceasing where the recently and closelyclipped hair began. He was dressed in a fine summer check, with a bluewhite-dotted neckerchief, and he had a white hat, in which he lookedvery well when he put it back on his head. His whole dress seemed veryfresh and new, and in fact he had cast aside his Texan habiliments onlythe day before."How do you do, sir?" said the Colonel, stepping to the window, andreaching out of it the hand which the young man advanced to take."Won't you come in? We're at home here. House I'm building.""Oh, indeed?" returned the young man; and he came promptly up thesteps, and through its ribs into the reception-room."Have a trestle?" asked the Colonel, while the girls exchanged littleshocks of terror and amusement at the eyes."Thank you," said the young man simply, and sat down."Mrs. Lapham is upstairs interviewing the carpenter, but she'll be downin a minute.""I hope she's quite well," said Corey. "I supposed--I was afraid shemight be out of town.""Well, we are off to Nantasket next week. The house kept us in townpretty late.""It must be very exciting, building a house," said Corey to the eldersister."Yes, it is," she assented, loyally refusing in Irene's interest theopportunity of saying anything more.Corey turned to the latter. "I suppose you've all helped to plan it?""Oh no; the architect and mamma did that.""But they allowed the rest of us to agree, when we were good," saidPenelope.Corey looked at her, and saw that she was shorter than her sister, andhad a dark complexion."It's very exciting," said Irene."Come up," said the Colonel, rising, "and look round if you'd like to.""I should like to, very much," said the young man. He helped the youngladies over crevasses of carpentry and along narrow paths of planking,on which they had made their way unassisted before. The elder sisterleft the younger to profit solely by these offices as much as possible.She walked between them and her father, who went before, lecturing oneach apartment, and taking the credit of the whole affair more and moreas he talked on."There!" he said, "we're going to throw out a bay-window here, so asget the water all the way up and down. This is my girls' room," headded, looking proudly at them both.It seemed terribly intimate. Irene blushed deeply and turned her headaway.But the young man took it all, apparently, as simply as their father."What a lovely lookout!" he said. The Back Bay spread its glassy sheetbefore them, empty but for a few small boats and a large schooner, withher sails close-furled and dripping like snow from her spars, which atug was rapidly towing toward Cambridge. The carpentry of that city,embanked and embowered in foliage, shared the picturesqueness ofCharlestown in the distance."Yes," said Lapham, "I go in for using the best rooms in your houseyourself. If people come to stay with you, they can put up with thesecond best. Though we don't intend to have any second best. Thereain't going to be an unpleasant room in the whole house, from top tobottom.""Oh, I wish papa wouldn't brag so!" breathed Irene to her sister, wherethey stood, a little apart, looking away together.The Colonel went on. "No, sir," he swelled out, "I have gone in formaking a regular job of it. I've got the best architect in Boston, andI'm building a house to suit myself. And if money can do it, guess I'mgoing to be suited.""It seems very delightful," said Corey, "and very original.""Yes, sir. That fellow hadn't talked five minutes before I saw that heknew what he was about every time.""I wish mamma would come!" breathed Irene again. "I shall certainly gothrough the floor if papa says anything more.""They are making a great many very pretty houses nowadays," said theyoung man. "It's very different from the old-fashioned building.""Well," said the Colonel, with a large toleration of tone and a deepbreath that expanded his ample chest, "we spend more on our housesnowadays. I started out to build a forty-thousand-dollar house. Well,sir! that fellow has got me in for more than sixty thousand already,and I doubt if I get out of it much under a hundred. You can't have anice house for nothing. It's just like ordering a picture of apainter. You pay him enough, and he can afford to paint you afirst-class picture; and if you don't, he can't. That's all there is ofit. Why, they tell me that A. T. Stewart gave one of those Frenchfellows sixty thousand dollars for a little seven-by-nine picture theother day. Yes, sir, give an architect money enough, and he'll giveyou a nice house every time.""I've heard that they're sharp at getting money to realise theirideas," assented the young man, with a laugh."Well, I should say so!" exclaimed the Colonel. "They come to you withan improvement that you can't resist. It has good looks andcommon-sense and everything in its favour, and it's like throwing moneyaway to refuse. And they always manage to get you when your wife isaround, and then you're helpless."The Colonel himself set the example of laughing at this joke, and theyoung man joined him less obstreperously. The girls turned, and hesaid, "I don't think I ever saw this view to better advantage. It'ssurprising how well the Memorial Hall and the Cambridge spires work up,over there. And the sunsets must be magnificent."Lapham did not wait for them to reply."Yes, sir, it's about the sightliest view I know of. I always did likethe water side of Beacon. Long before I owned property here, or everexpected to, m'wife and I used to ride down this way, and stop thebuggy to get this view over the water. When people talk to me aboutthe Hill, I can understand 'em. It's snug, and it's old-fashioned, andit's where they've always lived. But when they talk about CommonwealthAvenue, I don't know what they mean. It don't hold a candle to thewater side of Beacon. You've got just as much wind over there, andyou've got just as much dust, and all the view you've got is the viewacross the street. No, sir! when you come to the Back Bay at all, giveme the water side of Beacon.""Oh, I think you're quite right," said the young man. "The view hereis everything."Irene looked "I wonder what papa is going to say next!" at her sister,when their mother's voice was heard overhead, approaching the openingin the floor where the stairs were to be; and she presently appeared,with one substantial foot a long way ahead. She was followed by thecarpenter, with his rule sticking out of his overalls pocket, and shewas still talking to him about some measurements they had been taking,when they reached the bottom, so that Irene had to say, "Mamma, Mr.Corey," before Mrs. Lapham was aware of him.He came forward with as much grace and speed as the uncertain footingwould allow, and Mrs. Lapham gave him a stout squeeze of hercomfortable hand."Why, Mr. Corey! When did you get back?""Yesterday. It hardly seems as if I HAD got back. I didn't expect tofind you in a new house.""Well, you are our first caller. I presume you won't expect I shouldmake excuses for the state you find it in. Has the Colonel been doingthe honours?""Oh yes. And I've seen more of your house than I ever shall again, Isuppose.""Well, I hope not," said Lapham. "There'll be several chances to seeus in the old one yet, before we leave."He probably thought this a neat, off-hand way of making the invitation,for he looked at his woman-kind as if he might expect their admiration."Oh yes, indeed!" said his wife. "We shall be very glad to see Mr.Corey, any time.""Thank you; I shall be glad to come."He and the Colonel went before, and helped the ladies down thedifficult descent. Irene seemed less sure-footed than the others; sheclung to the young man's hand an imperceptible moment longer than needbe, or else he detained her. He found opportunity of saying, "It's sopleasant seeing you again," adding, "all of you.""Thank you," said the girl. "They must all be glad to have you at homeagain."Corey laughed."Well, I suppose they would be, if they were at home to have me. Butthe fact is, there's nobody in the house but my father and myself, andI'm only on my way to Bar Harbour.""Oh! Are they there?""Yes; it seems to be the only place where my mother can get just thecombination of sea and mountain air that she wants.""We go to Nantasket--it's convenient for papa; and I don't believe weshall go anywhere else this summer, mamma's so taken up with building.We do nothing but talk house; and Pen says we eat and sleep house. Shesays it would be a sort of relief to go and live in tents for a while.""She seems to have a good deal of humour," the young man ventured, uponthe slender evidence.The others had gone to the back of the house a moment, to look at somesuggested change. Irene and Corey were left standing in the doorway.A lovely light of happiness played over her face and etherealised itsdelicious beauty. She had some ado to keep herself from smilingoutright, and the effort deepened the dimples in her cheeks; shetrembled a little, and the pendants shook in the tips of her prettyears.The others came back directly, and they all descended the front stepstogether. The Colonel was about to renew his invitation, but he caughthis wife's eye, and, without being able to interpret its warningexactly, was able to arrest himself, and went about gathering up thehitching-weight, while the young man handed the ladies into thephaeton. Then he lifted his hat, and the ladies all bowed, and theLaphams drove off, Irene's blue ribbons fluttering backward from herhat, as if they were her clinging thoughts."So that's young Corey, is it?" said the Colonel, letting the statelystepping, tall coupe horse make his way homeward at will with thebeach-wagon. "Well, he ain't a bad-looking fellow, and he's got a good,fair and square, honest eye. But I don't see how a fellow like that,that's had every advantage in this world, can hang round home and lethis father support him. Seems to me, if I had his health and hiseducation, I should want to strike out and do something for myself."The girls on the back seat had hold of each other's hands, and theyexchanged electrical pressures at the different points their fathermade."I presume," said Mrs. Lapham, "that he was down in Texas looking aftersomething.""He's come back without finding it, I guess.""Well, if his father has the money to support him, and don't complainof the burden, I don't see why WE should.""Oh, I know it's none of my business, but I don't like the principle.I like to see a man ACT like a man. I don't like to see him taken careof like a young lady. Now, I suppose that fellow belongs to two orthree clubs, and hangs around 'em all day, lookin' out thewindow,--I've seen 'em,--instead of tryin' to hunt up something to dofor an honest livin'.""If I was a young man," Penelope struck in, "I would belong to twentyclubs, if I could find them and I would hang around them all, and lookout the window till I dropped.""Oh, you would, would you?" demanded her father, delighted with herdefiance, and twisting his fat head around over his shoulder to look ather. "Well, you wouldn't do it on my money, if you were a son of MINE,young lady.""Oh, you wait and see," retorted the girl.This made them all laugh. But the Colonel recurred seriously to thesubject that night, as he was winding up his watch preparatory toputting it under his pillow."I could make a man of that fellow, if I had him in the business withme. There's stuff in him. But I spoke up the way I did because Ididn't choose Irene should think I would stand any kind of a loafer'round--I don't care who he is, or how well educated or brought up.And I guess, from the way Pen spoke up, that 'Rene saw what I wasdriving at."The girl, apparently, was less anxious about her father's ideas andprinciples than about the impression which he had made upon the youngman. She had talked it over and over with her sister before they wentto bed, and she asked in despair, as she stood looking at Penelopebrushing out her hair before the glass--"Do you suppose he'll think papa always talks in that bragging way?""He'll be right if he does," answered her sister. "It's the way fatheralways does talk. You never noticed it so much, that's all. And Iguess if he can't make allowance for father's bragging, he'll be alittle too good. I enjoyed hearing the Colonel go on.""I know you did," returned Irene in distress. Then she sighed."Didn't you think he looked very nice?""Who? The Colonel?" Penelope had caught up the habit of calling herfather so from her mother, and she used his title in all her jocose andperverse moods."You know very well I don't mean papa," pouted Irene. "Oh! Mr. Corey!Why didn't you say Mr. Corey if you meant Mr. Corey? If I meant Mr.Corey, I should say Mr. Corey. It isn't swearing! Corey, Corey, Co----"Her sister clapped her hand over her mouth "Will you HUSH, you wretchedthing?" she whimpered. "The whole house can hear you.""Oh yes, they can hear me all over the square. Well, I think he lookedwell enough for a plain youth, who hadn't taken his hair out ofcurl-papers for some time.""It WAS clipped pretty close," Irene admitted; and they both laughed atthe drab effect of Mr. Corey's skull, as they remembered it. "Did youlike his nose?" asked Irene timorously."Ah, now you're COMING to something," said Penelope. "I don't knowwhether, if I had so much of a nose, I should want it all Roman.""I don't see how you can expect to have a nose part one kind and partanother," argued Irene."Oh, I do. Look at mine!" She turned aside her face, so as to get athree-quarters view of her nose in the glass, and crossing her hands,with the brush in one of them, before her, regarded it judicially."Now, my nose started Grecian, but changed its mind before it got overthe bridge, and concluded to be snub the rest of the way.""You've got a very pretty nose, Pen," said Irene, joining in thecontemplation of its reflex in the glass."Don't say that in hopes of getting me to compliment HIS, Mrs."--shestopped, and then added deliberately--"C.!"Irene also had her hair-brush in her hand, and now she sprang at hersister and beat her very softly on the shoulder with the flat of it."You mean thing!" she cried, between her shut teeth, blushing hotly."Well, D., then," said Penelope. "You've nothing to say against D.?Though I think C. is just as nice an initial.""Oh!" cried the younger, for all expression of unspeakable things."I think he has very good eyes," admitted Penelope."Oh, he HAS! And didn't you like the way his sackcoat set? So close tohim, and yet free--kind of peeling away at the lapels?""Yes, I should say he was a young man of great judgment. He knows howto choose his tailor."Irene sat down on the edge of a chair. "It was so nice of you, Pen, tocome in, that way, about clubs.""Oh, I didn't mean anything by it except opposition," said Penelope."I couldn't have father swelling on so, without saying something.""How he did swell!" sighed Irene. "Wasn't it a relief to have mammacome down, even if she did seem to be all stocking at first?"The girls broke into a wild giggle, and hid their faces in each other'snecks. "I thought I SHOULD die," said Irene."'It's just like ordering a painting,'" said Penelope, recalling herfather's talk, with an effect of dreamy absent-mindedness. "'You givethe painter money enough, and he can afford to paint you a first-classpicture. Give an architect money enough, and he'll give you afirst-class house, every time.'""Oh, wasn't it awful!" moaned her sister. "No one would ever havesupposed that he had fought the very idea of an architect for weeks,before he gave in."Penelope went on. "'I always did like the water side of Beacon,--longbefore I owned property there. When you come to the Back Bay at all,give me the water side of Beacon.'""Ow-w-w-w!" shrieked Irene. "DO stop!"The door of their mother's chamber opened below, and the voice of thereal Colonel called, "What are you doing up there, girls? Why don't yougo to bed?"This extorted nervous shrieks from both of them. The Colonel heard asound of scurrying feet, whisking drapery, and slamming doors. Then heheard one of the doors opened again, and Penelope said, "I was onlyrepeating something you said when you talked to Mr. Corey.""Very well, now," answered the Colonel. "You postpone the rest of ittill to-morrow at breakfast, and see that you're up in time to let MEhear it."