american tragedy

Chapter 29

Chapter 21
Lycurgus, New York, between Utiga and Albany, has a population of about [-].It was supper time at Samuel Griffiths' house, and the family gathered to prepare the meal.As Samuel Griffiths had just returned from a four-day absence, the supper was a little more substantial.He went to Chicago to attend a conference on shirt and collar work.He had just returned to Lycurgos.In the afternoon, he called to tell his family members that he had returned and was going to the meeting room, and he would go home after dinner.

Mrs. Griffiths had long since known her temper towards her husband.This person is very confident and always feels that her decision is completely correct and cannot be changed, so she doesn't pay much attention to it.She knew that he would come back to see her soon.

Knowing that her husband likes leg of lamb best, she asks Mrs. Trusdale, the plain but very competent housekeeper, to prepare this dish.After preparing various recipes, she thought of her eldest daughter Myra.She graduated from Smith College a few years ago and is still unmarried.The reason was that Myra was not pretty enough, as Mrs. Griffiths knew perfectly well.Myra's nose was too long, her eyes too small, her chin too pointed for a likable look.She likes to study, think, and doesn't like the social activities in the city very much.She wasn't like some girls who, though not pretty, were scheming, not to mention attractive to the opposite sex.In the eyes of her mother, she was too high-sighted and too picky.But there is nothing extraordinary.

She grew up in a rich family and didn't have to worry about making a living.However, it is indeed not easy for her to make a little progress socially and in love.In both respects, without beauty and charm, it's like being a beggar and becoming a millionaire--impossible.From the age of 14, I began to see - it's been 12 years now - around her, girls and boys are having a good time, but she reads, plays music and dresses all day Qi, went to visit friends, hoping to meet someone close, but the result? Even if it is not very bitter, at least it is quite desolate, even though she grew up in a honey pot, it can't soothe the trauma of her heart.

She was now passing her mother's room, on her way to her own.She looked bored.Her mother was trying to find a way to cheer her up.At this moment, the youngest daughter, Bella, ran towards her.She had just returned from Snatke School and stopped by her neighbor, Finch Ray's, to play for a while.

Myra was quite tall, with dark and sallow skin.Bella, though shorter, was much more handsome and fit than Bella.His hair was dark brown to almost black, his skin was tan and ruddy, and his kind brown eyes shone eagerly.Not only is she physically fit, but she is also full of vigor and agility.Her limbs are graceful and flexible.She likes everything she sees, and she is very good at enjoying the fun of life. Therefore, she is favored by many men and boys. Everyone likes her, and her parents know this.At the right age, no one will propose to her.What's more, there are already a lot of men around her now.So now the problem is to choose a suitable husband for her.She tends to make friends widely, not only with the children of noble and conservative aristocratic families in the city, but also with the children of families with low social status who moved later in the district, which my mother disagrees with.Some people have various kinds of houses, such as those who sell bacon, those who make bottles, those who make stoves, those who make wooden utensils, those who make rattan utensils, and those who make typewriters... .Although rich, these people are known in the society of the city as "the pleasure-seekers."

Mrs. Griffiths thought that the fashion of the day, dancing, eating out, driving, and the like, was excessive and unwatched.But Bella was always a little less worrying than her sister, Myra.Mrs. Griffiths' apprehension, and even objection, to her present intercourse was only for the proper guardianship of her for a future marriage according to the customary order of the religion.She wants to protect her.

"Where is it?" asked the daughter, running into the room, throwing the book aside, and going to the fireplace.

Bella didn't care at all, and she answered irrelevant questions: "Mom, the Finchley family will give up their house in Greenwood Lake this summer and move to No. 12 Lake near Pine Bay, where they will build a new house. Sandra also Said, this time it will be built by the lake, not as far away from the lake as it is now. They will build a large hardwood balcony, and a dock that can hold a thirty-foot electric motorboat. Mr. Finchley intends to buy such a boat for Stuart Boat, that's great. And she said, if you'll let me live there for a summer, as long as I like. Jill will go if she likes. It's just across the lake from Emory Villa and East Gate Hotel, you know .It's over at the Finters' house, the Fints' house in Utgar, right next to Sharon's house. It's just wonderful. You and Pa should make up your mind to live there too, Ma, I see Now almost everyone with money has moved there!"

She kept shaking her body and talking non-stop.She looked at the fire in the fireplace and looked out the window, where she could see the front lawn and the whole of Wickie Street.At dusk in winter, the streets are brightly lit, which is really beautiful.Mother couldn't get a word in until she had finished her sentence.Finally she said, "What? The Anthonys, the Nicholsons, and the Taylors? I didn't hear they were moving out."

"Well, as far as I know, these three families don't move. How could they move? They are too old-fashioned! Anyway, No. 12 Lake is different from Greenwood Lake, and you know that. The rich people on both banks They'll all be moving there. Sandra says the Cranstons will be moving next year. And I dare say the Harriets will be too soon!"

"The Cranstons, the Harriets, the Finchleys, and the Sandras," said her mother, with a mixture of amusement and boredom: "The Cranstons, you, Bettina That's all I've been hearing these days, Sandra." The Cranstons and Finchleys, though relatively well-off among these new, well-to-do families, had a very bad reputation. it is good.They moved the Cranston Tungsten Wire Company here from Albany, the Finn Ray Vacuum Cleaner Company from Buffalo, built a factory on the south bank of the Mohawk River, and built a luxury building on Wickie Avenue. house, built a summer house at Greenwood Lake, twenty miles to the northwest, and took these as commonplace.Their comparison with the rich men here is disgusting.They wear the latest clothes, drive the latest cars, and engage in the latest entertainment.People with poor economic conditions originally thought that their status and furnishings could be fixed, but that is no longer the case.The Clintons and the Finchleys were too showy and imposing, making the rest of Lycurgus's respectable families uncomfortable.

"I told you not to hang out with Bettina, or Leta Harriet, or her brother, and you never listened. Those people are so pompous, and supercilious, and run around and blow their shit. Your father too. I think so. And that Sandra Finchley, if she is with Bettina all day, you don't want to go to her. Besides, I don't know if your father agrees with you, even a companion You're still young. Also, you're going to No. 12 Finchley's house on the lake, and you can't go unless we all go." Mrs. Griffiths likes to press those The big family acted according to etiquette and glared at their daughter angrily.

But Bella showed no signs of shyness or disgust.She knew exactly what kind of person her mother was, knew that her mother loved her very much, and knew that her parents were very happy because she was beautiful and sociable.Her father especially liked her, and often asked for the stars in the sky to be picked off for one of her smiles.

"I'm too young, I'm too young," Bella muttered unhappily, "and I'll be full after July. When can I go out and about without you? Where are you two going, I You must follow; wherever I want to go, you two must follow."

"Bella," said the mother, and the daughter stood there impatiently.She went on to say: "Of course. Otherwise, what do you want us to do? If you are 21 or [-] and not married, then you might as well move around. But at this age, it is impossible." Bella's beautiful little head Twist aside.At this time, the downstairs door opened.The family's only son, Gilbert Griffiths, entered and went upstairs.His face and figure are very similar to his cousin Clyde who lives in the West, but he does not look like him, and he is not as indecisive as Clyde.

He was athletic, self-centered, and vain.He was twenty-three years old, more serious and practical than his two sisters, and business-like, which neither Myra nor Bella was interested in.His actions are dynamic, but impatient.He thinks that his status is absolutely stable, he only values ​​business achievements, but he also pays attention to the dynamics in the local social field, and believes that he and his family are the most important in the local area.He always speaks and does things according to very high standards. In the eyes of outsiders, he is quick-witted and domineering.He doesn't like to play very much, which doesn't match his age.But he was young, handsome, and striking.Although he can't be called eloquent, his tongue is very powerful, most of it is due to talent, and he often speaks out the truth.Because of his and his family's special status, he became one of Lycurgus' most popular young bachelors.But he takes himself so seriously that he leaves little room for caring about others.

Bella heard him go upstairs to his own room, and went up to her and asked, "Hello, Jill, may I come in?"

"Of course." He whistled excitedly.He was getting ready for evening clothes because he had something fun to do.

"Where are you going?"

"Nothing, go to dinner. After dinner, go to the Venant's."

"Then Constance will go too?"

"No, Constance isn't going. How do you think of her?"

"You think I don't know?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Is that what you came to say?"

"Of course not. The Finchleys plan to build a house on Lake No. 12 in the summer, right by the lake, next to the Fontes' house. Mr. Finchley also plans to buy a thirty-foot motorboat for Stuart, and Build a boat dock on the lake, and build a solarium, so strong enough, huh?"

"Don't say 'enough', don't say 'ah.' Please don't speak the vernacular. You look like a working man when you say it. Did you learn that in school?"

"But what about yourself? I heard you talking in vernacular just now."

"Oh, I'm five years older than you, and I'm a man. When did you hear Myra say those things?"

"Don't talk about Myra. Think of the new house they're building, and how fun it will be in the summer. Do you want us to move in too? If we want to, we can. If Mom and Dad don't agree."

"I don't think it's a big deal." His brother replied, in fact, he was also concerned about this matter, "There are other places besides No.12 lake."

"There are other places, but our old friends are there, where else can the rich people of Albuquerque and Utiga go," Sandra said, and it's going to be a buzzing hub of activity along the West Bank. A row of beautiful houses. In any case, the Cranstons, Remberts, and Harriets will be moving soon." Bella's tone became more and more certain, "In this way, Greenwood Lake will not stay. How many upper-class people have been dismissed, although the Anthony family and the Nicholson family have not moved out yet."

"The Cranston family is moving too? Who told you?" Gilbert also noticed.

"Sandra said it."

"Who did she listen to?"

"Bettina."

"Hmph, they're getting more and more proud." Her brother said grimly, "Lycurgus, we won't be able to accommodate them soon." He pulled the bow tie in the middle and made a face.

Gilbert, who had joined his father's company as production director and likely headed the entire enterprise, was very jealous of the young Grant Cranston.Because Cranston was as young as he was, and handsome, and likable.In the eyes of girls, it is also attractive.Cranston thinks that he can enjoy social fun on the one hand and do things for his father on the other hand, which is not wrong with Gilbert.Griffiths was always tempted to reproach Cranston for his licentiousness, but so far Cranston had done nothing out of the ordinary.Moreover, Cranston's Tungsten Wire Company was thriving and became a major industry in Lycurgus.

"If I were running their business," he went on, "I'd never spread out that big. As if they were the richest people in the world." But he didn't think the Cranstons were any different from them anyway. The same, less obsessed with social status, but acted so assertively that he was even a little jealous of them.

"Also," Bella went on, "the Finchleys want to build a dance hall on the dock. Sandra said Stuart wants you to go play for a while this summer."

"Oh? Really? He wants you to play for a while. I have to work this summer." Gilbert said sarcastically.

"That's not what he said, you're always being smart. And what if we really go? What's there to be ashamed of? With all due respect, Greenwood Lake can't do any new tricks anymore."

"Really? Mom is glad to hear that."

"Are you going to tell her that?"

"I'm too lazy. I don't think we need to follow them and move to Lake No. 12. You go, go by yourself, as long as Dad agrees."

At this moment, the door rang again.Bella stopped arguing with her brother and ran down to fetch her father.

(End of this chapter)