The Turmoil Booth Tarkington (best reads .txt) đ
- Author: Booth Tarkington
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âThat isnât for shops,â she informed him. âThatâs a new investment of papaâsâ âthe âSheridan Apartments.âââ
âWell, well,â he murmured. âI supposed âSheridanâ was almost well enough known here already.â
âOh, weâre well enough known about!â she said, impatiently. âI guess there isnât a man, woman, child, or nigger baby in town that doesnât know who we are. But we arenât in with the right people.â
âNo!â he exclaimed. âWhoâs all that?â
âWhoâs all what?â
âThe âright people.âââ
âYou know what I mean: the best people, the old familiesâ âthe people that have the real social position in this town and that know theyâve got it.â
Bibbs indulged in his silent chuckle again; he seemed greatly amused. âI thought that the people who actually had the real what-you-may-call-it didnât know it,â he said. âIâve always understood that it was very unsatisfactory, because if you thought about it you didnât have it, and if you had it you didnât know it.â
âThatâs just bosh,â she retorted. âThey know it in this town, all right! I found out a lot of things, long before we began to think of building out in this direction. The right people in this town arenât always the society-column ones, and they mix around with outsiders, and they donât all belong to any one clubâ âtheyâre taken in all sorts into all their clubsâ âbut theyâre a clan, just the same; and they have the clan feeling and theyâre just as much We, Us and Company as any crowd you read about anywhere in the world. Most of âem were here long before papa came, and the grandfathers of the girls of my age knew each other, andâ ââ
âI see,â Bibbs interrupted, gravely. âTheir ancestors fled together from many a stricken field, and Crusadersâ blood flows in their veins. I always understood the first house was built by an old party of the name of Vertrees who couldnât get along with Danâl Boone, and hurried away to these parts because Danâl wanted him to give back a gun heâd lent him.â
Edith gave a little ejaculation of alarm. âYou mustnât repeat that story, Bibbs, even if itâs true. The Vertreeses are the best family, and of course the very oldest here; they were an old family even before Mary Vertreesâs great-great-grandfather came west and founded this settlement. He came from Lynn, Massachusetts, and they have relatives there yetâ âsome of the best people in Lynn!â
âNo!â exclaimed Bibbs, incredulously.
âAnd there are other old families like the Vertreeses,â she went on, not heeding him; âthe Lamhorns and the Kittersbys and the J. Palmerston Smithsâ ââ
âStrange names to me,â he interrupted. âPoor things! None of them have my acquaintance.â
âNo, thatâs just it!â she cried. âAnd papa had never even heard the name of Vertrees! Mrs. Vertrees went with some anti-smoke committee to see him, and he told her that smoke was what made her husband bring home his wages from the payroll on Saturday night! He told us about it, and I thought I just couldnât live through the night, I was so ashamed! Mr. Vertrees has always lived on his income, and papa didnât know him, of course. Theyâre the stiffist, most elegant people in the whole town. And to crown it all, papa went and bought the next lot to the old Vertrees country mansionâ âitâs in the very heart of the best new residence district now, and thatâs where the New House is, right next door to themâ âand I must say it makes their place look rather shabby! I met Mary Vertrees when I joined the Mission Service Helpers, but she never did any more than just barely bow to me, and since papaâs break I doubt if sheâll do that! They havenât called.â
âAnd you think if I spread this gossip about Vertrees the First stealing Danâl Booneâs gun, the chances that they will callâ ââ
âPapa knows what a break he made with Mrs. Vertrees. I made him understand that,â said Edith, demurely, âand heâs promised to try and meet Mr. Vertrees and be nice to him. Itâs just this way: if we donât know them, itâs practically no use in our having build the New House; and if we do know them and theyâre decent to us, weâre right with the right people. They can do the whole thing for us. Bobby Lamhorn told Sibyl he was going to bring his mother to call on her and on mamma, but it was weeks ago, and I notice he hasnât done it; and if Mrs. Vertrees decides not to know us, Iâm darn sure Mrs. Lamhornâll never come. Thatâs one thing Sibyl didnât manage! She said Bobby offered to bring his motherâ ââ
âYou say he is a friend of Roscoeâs?â Bibbs asked.
âOh, heâs a friend of the whole family,â she returned, with a petulance which she made an effort to disguise. âRoscoe and he got acquainted somewhere, and they take him to the theater about every other night. Sibyl has him to lunch, too, and keepsâ ââ She broke off with an angry little jerk of the head. âWe can see the New House from the second corner ahead. Roscoe has built straight across the street from us, you know. Honestly, Sibyl makes me think of a snake, sometimesâ âthe way she pulls the wool over peopleâs eyes! She honeys up to papa and gets anything in the world she wants out of him, and then makes fun of him behind his backâ âyes, and to his face, but he canât see it! She got him to give her a twelve-thousand-dollar porch for their house after it wasâ ââ
âGood heavens!â said Bibbs, staring ahead as they reached the corner and the car swung to the right, following a bend in the street. âIs that the New House?â
âYes. What do you think of it?â
âWell,â he drawled, âIâm pretty sure the sanitariumâs about half a size bigger; I canât be certain till I measure.â
And a moment later, as they entered the driveway, he added, seriously: âBut
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