And there's Ira. But it was an impossible position;
it couldn't go on, Peyton was absolutely wretched, we both were; and so
I ended it. I laid out all his best silk pajamas so that he'd look
smart--"
"How can you?" Fanny cried; "oh, how can you? It is too wicked, all too
horrible, for words. I don't think you are advanced or superior,
Claire, you failed him and yourself both. It's perfectly amazing to me,
after the men you have met, that you don't know them. You must keep
them going in the right direction; you can't let them stop, or look
around, once; I only learned that lately, but it is so. They haven't an
idea of what they want, and they try everything. Then if you let a man
go he is the first to blame you; it's like winking at murder."
"How could I keep him when he didn't want to stay?" Claire asked
wearily; "I am not too moral, but I couldn't quite manage that. Then
what you say might do for some men, but not Peyton. You see, he has
always been very pure; all his friends at Princeton were like that;
they were proud of it and very severe on the other. And afterwards,
when he went into the city, it was the same; Peyton would get drunk any
number of times with any number of men, but, as he said, he was off
women. The stage door, it seems, is very old-fashioned now.
"When we were engaged, and he told me that he was really pure, I was
simply mad with happiness.
Pages:
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103