Age of Innocence. Edith Wharton

p>Wharton Edith

      The Age of Innocence

      THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

      For the rich and the fashionable, New York society in the 1870s was a world full of rules: rules about when to wear a black tie, or the correct time to pay an afternoon visit; rules about who you could invite to your evening parties or sit next to at the opera; rules about who was an acceptable person, and who was not.

      Countess Ellen Olenska, who has lived for many years in Europe as the wife of a Polish Count, returns alone to her family in New York. She hopes to leave the pain of her unhappy marriage behind her, but she does not understand the rules of New York society. Newland Archer, however, understands them only too well, and the girl he is engaged to marry, young May Welland, lives her life by the rules, because she cannot imagine any other way of living.

      Newland, May, and Ellen are caught in a battle between love, honour, and duty – a battle where strong feelings hide behind polite smiles, where much is left unsaid, and where a single expressive look across a crowded room can carry more meaning than a hundred words.

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ISBN 978 0 19 479216 5

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Illustrated by: Gavin Reece

Word count (main text): 24,820 words

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      PEOPLE IN THIS STORY

       Newland Archer’s family

      Newland Archer

      Janey Archer, Newland’s sister

      Adeline Archer, Newland’s mother

      Louisa van der Luyden, Adeline’s cousin

      Henry van der Luyden, Louisa’s husband

      the Misses du Lac, Newland’s aunts

      the Duke of St Austrey, Louisa’s English cousin

       May Welland’s family

      May Welland

      Mr Welland, May’s father

      Mrs Welland, May’s mother

      Countess Ellen Olenska, May’s cousin

      Count Olenski, Ellen Olenska’s husband

      Mrs Manson Mingott, grandmother to May and Ellen

      Medora Manson, Ellen’s aunt

      Mr Lovell Mingott, uncle to May and Ellen

      Mrs Lovell Mingott, Mr Mingott’s wife

      Regina Beaufort, niece to Mrs Manson Mingott

      Julius Beaufort, Regina’s husband

       Other people in the story

      Lawrence Lefferts} New Yorkers,

      Sillerton Jackson} and friends of Newland Archer

      Sophy Jackson, Sillerton Jackson’s sister

      Mrs Lemuel Struthers, a friend of Julius Beaufort

      Monsieur Rivière, Count Olenski’s French secretary

      Mr Letterblair, a lawyer, and Newland Archer’s employer

      the Carfrys, English friends of Mrs Archer

      the Blenkers, friends of Ellen Olenska

      Fanny Ring, Julius Beaufort’s mistress, later wife

      Dallas, Mary, and Bill Archer, Newland Archer’s children

      Fanny Beaufort, daughter of Julius Beaufort and Fanny Ring

      CHAPTER 1

      A STRANGER IN NEW YORK

      When Newland Archer arrived at the New York Academy of Music, one January evening in the early 1870s, the opera had already begun. There was no reason why the young man should not have come earlier. He had had dinner at seven, alone with his mother and sister, and then sat unhurriedly smoking his cigar in his private library. But fashionable young men did not arrive early at the opera. That was one of the unwritten rules of society, and in Newland Archer’s New York these rules were as important as life and death.

      Another reason for the young man’s delay was that he enjoyed looking forward to pleasures just as much as actually experiencing them, and Gounod’s Faust was one of his favourite operas. As he opened the door at the back of his box, he felt he had chosen just the right moment to arrive. Christine Nilsson, the Swedish singer whom all New York had gathered to hear, was singing, ‘He loves me – he loves me not – he loves me!’

      She sang in Italian, of course, not in English, since an unquestioned law of the musical world demanded that the German words of French operas sung by Swedish singers should be translated into Italian, for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences. This seemed as natural to Newland as all the other laws that governed his life, like never appearing in society without a flower in his buttonhole, and having two silver-backed brushes for his hair.

      He turned his eyes away from the singer and looked at the audience. Directly opposite him was the box of old Mrs Manson Mingott, who was now so fat that she was unable to attend the opera, but whose family often came on fashionable nights. Tonight the front of the box was filled by her daughter-in-law, Mrs Lovell Mingott, and her daughter, Mrs Welland. A little behind these ladies in their heavy silks sat a young girl in white, with her eyes fixed on the singer. As Madame Nilsson’s voice rose above the silent audience (the boxes always stopped talking during this song), a warm pink spread over the girl’s face and shoulders, right down to the top of her evening dress. She dropped her eyes to the enormous bunch of white flowers on her knee, and touched them gently.

      Newland recognized his gift to her, and was pleased. ‘The dear girl!’ he thought. ‘She has no idea what this opera is all about.’ He watched her face, thinking fondly of her simple innocence. It would be his manly duty and pleasure to educate her. ‘We’ll read all the great books together, by the italian Lakes …’

      It was only that afternoon that May Welland had let