The Ambassadors Henry James (novel24 txt) đ
- Author: Henry James
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Chad kept for a time his attitude, but at last he looked up, and then abruptly, âJim is a damned dose!â he declared.
âOh I donât ask you to abuse or describe or in any way pronounce on your relatives; I simply put it to you once more whether youâre now ready. You say youâve âseen.â Is what youâve seen that you canât resist?â
Chad gave him a strange smileâ âthe nearest approach he had ever shown to a troubled one. âCanât you make me not resist?â
âWhat it comes to,â Strether went on very gravely now and as if he hadnât heard him, âwhat it comes to is that more has been done for you, I think, than Iâve ever seen doneâ âattempted perhaps, but never so successfully doneâ âby one human being for another.â
âOh an immense deal certainlyââ âChad did it full justice. âAnd you yourself are adding to it.â
It was without heeding this either that his visitor continued. âAnd our friends there wonât have it.â
âNo, they simply wonât.â
âThey demand you on the basis, as it were, of repudiation and ingratitude; and what has been the matter with me,â Strether went on, âis that I havenât seen my way to working with you for repudiation.â
Chad appreciated this. âThen as you havenât seen yours you naturally havenât seen mine. There it is.â After which he proceeded, with a certain abruptness, to a sharp interrogation. âNow do you say she doesnât hate me?â
Strether hesitated. âââSheââ â?â
âYesâ âMother. We called it Sarah, but it comes to the same thing.â
âAh,â Strether objected, ânot to the same thing as her hating you.â
On whichâ âthough as if for an instant it had hung fireâ âChad remarkably replied: âWell, if they hate my good friend, that comes to the same thing.â It had a note of inevitable truth that made Strether take it as enough, feel he wanted nothing more. The young man spoke in it for his âgood friendâ more than he had ever yet directly spoken, confessed to such deep identities between them as he might play with the idea of working free from, but which at a given moment could still draw him down like a whirlpool. And meanwhile he had gone on. âTheir hating you too moreoverâ âthat also comes to a good deal.â
âAh,â said Strether, âyour mother doesnât.â
Chad, however, loyally stuck to itâ âloyally, that is, to Strether. âShe will if you donât look out.â
âWell, I do look out. I am, after all, looking out. Thatâs just why,â our friend explained, âI want to see her again.â
It drew from Chad again the same question. âTo see Mother?â
âTo seeâ âfor the presentâ âSarah.â
âAh then there you are! And what I donât for the life of me make out,â Chad pursued with resigned perplexity, âis what you gain by it.â
Oh it would have taken his companion too long to say! âThatâs because you have, I verily believe, no imagination. Youâve other qualities. But no imagination, donât you see? at all.â
âI dare say. I do see.â It was an idea in which Chad showed interest. âBut havenât you yourself rather too much?â
âOh ratherâ â!â So that after an instant, under this reproach and as if it were at last a fact really to escape from, Strether made his move for departure.
IIOne of the features of the restless afternoon passed by him after Mrs. Pocockâs visit was an hour spent, shortly before dinner, with Maria Gostrey, whom of late, in spite of so sustained a call on his attention from other quarters, he had by no means neglected. And that he was still not neglecting her will appear from the fact that he was with her again at the same hour on the very morrowâ âwith no less fine a consciousness moreover of being able to hold her ear. It continued inveterately to occur, for that matter, that whenever he had taken one of his greater turns he came back to where she so faithfully awaited him. None of these excursions had on the whole been livelier than the pair of incidentsâ âthe fruit of the short interval since his previous visitâ âon which he had now to report to her. He had seen Chad Newsome late the night before, and he had had that morning, as a sequel to this conversation, a second interview with Sarah. âBut theyâre all off,â he said, âat last.â
It puzzled her a moment. âAll?â âMr. Newsome with them?â
âAh not yet! Sarah and Jim and Mamie. But Waymarsh with themâ âfor Sarah. Itâs too beautiful,â Strether continued; âI find I donât get over thatâ âitâs always a fresh joy. But itâs a fresh joy too,â he added, âthatâ âwell, what do you think? Little Bilham also goes. But he of course goes for Mamie.â
Miss Gostrey wondered. âââForâ her? Do you mean theyâre already engaged?â
âWell,â said Strether, âsay then for me. Heâll do anything for me; just as I will, for that matterâ âanything I canâ âfor him. Or for Mamie either. Sheâll do anything for me.â
Miss Gostrey gave a comprehensive sigh. âThe way you reduce people to subjection!â
âItâs certainly, on one side, wonderful. But itâs quite equalled, on another, by the way I donât. I havenât reduced Sarah, since yesterday; though Iâve succeeded in seeing her again, as Iâll presently tell you. The others however are really all right. Mamie, by that blessed law of ours, absolutely must have a young man.â
âBut what must poor Mr. Bilham have? Do you mean theyâll marry for you?â
âI mean that, by the same blessed law, it wonât matter a grain if they donâtâ âI shanât have in the least to worry.â
She saw as usual what he meant. âAnd Mr. Jim?â âwho goes for him?â
âOh,â Strether had to admit, âI couldnât manage that. Heâs thrown, as usual, on the world; the world which, after all, by his accountâ âfor he has prodigious adventuresâ âseems very good to him. He fortunatelyâ ââover
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