Sister Carrie
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SISTER CARRIE
been set singing in her heart by the finery, the merriment, the beauty she had seen. Oh, these women who had passed her by, hundreds and hundreds strong, who were they? Whence came the rich, elegant dresses, the astonishingly coloured buttons, the knick-knacks of silver and gold? Where were these lovely creatures housed? Amid what elegancies of carved furniture, decorated walls, elaborate tapestries did they move? Where were their rich apartments, loaded with all that money could provide? In what stables champed these sleek, nervous horses and rested the gorgeous carriages? Where lounged the richly groomed footmen? Oh, the mansions, the lights, the perfume, the loaded boudoirs and tables! New York must be filled with such bowers, or the beautiful, insolent, supercilious creatures could not be. Some hothouses held them. It ached her to know that she was not one of them – that, alas, she had dreamed a dream and it had not come true. She wondered at her own solitude these two years past – her indifference to the fact that she had never achieved what she had expected.
The play was one of those drawing-room concoctions in which charmingly overdressed ladies and gentlemen suffer the pangs of love and jealousy amid gilded surroundings. Such bon-mots are ever enticing to those who have all their days longed for such material surroundings and have never had them gratified. They have the charm of showing suffering under ideal conditions. Who would not grieve upon a gilded chair? Who would not suffer amid perfumed tapestries, cushioned furniture, and liveried servants? Grief under such circumstances becomes an enticing thing. Carrie longed to be of it. She wanted to take her sufferings, whatever they were, in such a world, or failing that, at least to simulate them under
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such charming conditions upon the stage. So affected was her mind by what she had seen, that the play now seemed an extraordinarily beautiful thing. She was soon lost in the world it represented, and wished that she might never return. Between the acts she studied the galaxy of matinee attendants in front rows and boxes, and conceived a new idea of the possibilities of New York. She was sure she had not seen it all – that the city was one whirl of pleasure and delight.
Going out, the same Broadway taught her a sharper lesson. The scene she had witnessed coming down was now augmented and at its height. Such a crush of finery and folly she had never seen. It clinched her convictions concerning her state. She had not lived, could not lay claim to having lived, until something of this had come into her own life. Women were spending money like water; she could see that in every elegant shop she passed. Flowers, candy, jewelry, seemed the principal things in which the elegant dames were interested. And she – she had scarcely enough pin money to indulge in such outings as this a few times a month.
That night the pretty little flat seemed a commonplace thing. It was not what the rest of the world was enjoying. She saw the servant working at dinner with an indifferent eye. In her mind were running scenes of the play. Particularly she remembered one beautiful actress – the sweetheart who had been wooed and won. The grace of this woman had won Carrie's heart. Her dresses had been all that art could suggest, her sufferings had been so real. The anguish which she had portrayed Carrie could feel. It was done as she was sure she could do it. There were places in which she could even do better. Hence she repeated the lines to herself. Oh, if she could only
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have such a part, how broad would be her life! She, too, could act appealingly.
When Hurstwood came, Carrie was moody. She was sitting, rocking and thinking, and did not care to have her enticing imaginations broken in upon; so she said little or nothing.
«What's the matter, Carrie?» said Hurstwood after a time, noticing her quiet, almost moody state.
«Nothing,» said Carrie. «I don't feel very well tonight.» «Not sick, are you?» he asked, approaching very close. «Oh, no,» she said, almost pettishly, «I just don't feel very
good.»
«That's too bad,» he said, stepping away and adjusting his vest after his slight bending over. «I was thinking we might go to a show to-night.»
«I don't want to go,» said Carrie, annoyed that her fine visions should have thus been broken into and driven out of her mind. «I've been to the matinee this afternoon.»
«Oh, you have?» said Hurstwood. «What was it?» «A Gold Mine.»
«How was it?»
«Pretty good,» said Carrie.
«And you don't want to go again to night?» «I don't think I do,» she said.
Nevertheless, wakened out of her melancholia and called to the dinner table, she changed her mind. A little food in the stomach does wonders. She went again, and in so doing temporarily recovered her equanimity. The great awakening blow had, however, been delivered. As often as she might recover from these discontented thoughts now, they would occur
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again. Time and repetition – ah, the wonder of it! The dropping water and the solid stone – how utterly it yields at last!
Not long after this matinee experience – perhaps a month
– Mrs. Vance invited Carrie to an evening at the theatre with them. She heard Carrie say that Hurstwood was not coming home to dinner.
«Why don't you come with us? Don't get dinner for yourself. We're going down to Sherry's for dinner and then over to the Lyceum. Come along with us.»
«I think I will,» answered Carrie.
She began to dress at three o'clock for her departure at halfpast five for the noted dining-room which was then crowding Delmonico's for position in society. In this dressing Carrie showed the influence of her association with the dashing Mrs. Vance. She had constantly had her attention called by the latter to novelties in everything which pertains to a woman's apparel.
«Are you going to get such and such a hat?» or, «Have you seen the new gloves with the oval pearl buttons?» were but sample phrases out of a large selection.
«The next time you get a pair of shoes, dearie,» said Mrs. Vance, «get button, with thick soles and patent-leather tips. They're all the rage this fall.»
«I will,» said Carrie.
«Oh, dear, have you seen the new shirtwaists at Altman's? They have some of the loveliest patterns. I saw one there that I know would look stunning on you. I said so when I saw it.»
Carrie listened to these things with considerable interest, for they were suggested with more of friendliness than is usually common between pretty women. Mrs. Vance liked Carrie's
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stable good-nature so well that she really took pleasure in suggesting to her the latest things.
«Why don't you get yourself one of those nice serge skirts they're selling at Lord & Taylor's?» she said one day. «They're the circular style, and they're going to be worn from now on. A dark blue one would look so nice on you.»
Carrie listened with eager ears. These things never came up between her and Hurstwood. Nevertheless, she began to suggest one thing and another, which Hurstwood agreed to without any expression of opinion. He noticed the new tendency on Carrie's part, and finally, hearing much of Mrs. Vance and her delightful ways, suspected whence the change came. He was not inclined to offer the slightest objection so soon, but he felt that Carrie's wants were expanding. This did not appeal to him exactly, but he cared for her in his own way, and so the thing stood. Still, there was something in the details of the transactions which caused Carrie to feel that her requests were not a delight to him. He did not enthuse over the purchases. This led her to believe that neglect was creeping in, and so another small wedge was entered.
Nevertheless, one of the results of Mrs. Vance's suggestions was the fact that on this occasion Carrie was dressed somewhat to her own satisfaction. She had on her best, but there was comfort in the thought that if she must confine herself to a best, it was neat and fitting. She looked the well-groomed woman of twentyone, and Mrs. Vance praised her, which brought colour to her plump cheeks and a noticeable brightness into her large eyes. It was threatening rain, and Mr. Vance, at his wife's request, had called a coach. «Your husband isn't coming?» suggested Mr. Vance, as he met Carrie in his little parlour.
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«No; he said he wouldn't be home for dinner.»
«Better leave a little note for him, telling him where we are. He might turn up.»
«I will,» said Carrie, who had not thought of it before. «Tell him we'll be at Sherry's until eight o'clock. He knows,
though I guess.»
Carrie crossed the hall with rustling skirts, and scrawled the note, gloves on. When she returned a newcomer was in the Vance flat.
«Mrs. Wheeler, let me introduce Mr. Ames, a cousin of mine,» said Mrs. Vance. «He's going along with us, aren't you, Bob?»
«I'm very glad to meet you,» said Ames, bowing politely to Carrie.
The latter caught in a glance the dimensions of a very stalwart figure. She also noticed that he was smooth-shaven, good looking, and young, but nothing more.
«Mr. Ames is just down in New York for a few days,» put in Vance, «and we're trying to show him around a little.»
«Oh, are you?» said Carrie, taking another glance at the newcomer.
«Yes; I am just on here from Indianapolis for a week or so,» said young Ames, seating himself on the edge of a chair to wait while Mrs. Vance completed the last touches of her toilet.
«I guess you find New York quite a thing to see, don't you?» said Carrie, venturing something to avoid a possible deadly silence.
«It is rather large to get around in a week,» answered Ames, pleasantly.
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He was an exceedingly genial soul, this young man, and wholly free of affectation. It seemed to Carrie he was as yet only overcoming the last traces of the bashfulness of youth. He did not seem apt at conversation, but he had the merit of being well dressed and wholly courageous. Carrie felt as if it were not going to be hard to talk to him.
«Well, I guess we're ready now. The coach is outside.» «Come on, people,» said Mrs. Vance, coming in smiling.
«Bob, you'll have to look after Mrs. Wheeler.»
«I'll try to,» said Bob smiling, and edging closer to Carrie. «You won't need much watching, will you?» he volunteered, in a sort of ingratiating and help-me-out kind of way.
«Not very, I hope,» said Carrie.
They descended the stairs, Mrs. Vance offering suggestions, and climbed into the open coach.
«All right,» said Vance, slamming the coach door, and the conveyance rolled away.
«What is it we're going to see?» asked Ames. «Sothern,» said Vance, «in 'Lord Chumley.'»
«Oh, he is so good!» said Mrs. Vance. «He's just the funniest man.»
«I notice the papers praise it,» said Ames.
«I haven't any doubt,» put in Vance, «but we'll all enjoy it very much.»
Ames had taken a seat beside Carrie, and accordingly he felt it his bounden duty to pay her some attention. He was interested to find her so young a wife, and so pretty, though it was only a respectful interest. There was nothing of the dashing lady's man about him. He had respect for the married state,
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and thought only of some pretty marriageable girls in Indianapolis.
«Are you a born New Yorker?» asked Ames of Carrie. «Oh, no; I've only been here for two years.»
«Oh, well, you've had time to see a great deal of it, anyhow.»
«I don't seem to have,» answered Carrie. «It's about as strange to me as when I first came here.»
«You're not from the West, are you?» «Yes. I'm from Wisconsin,» she answered.
«Well, it does seem as if most people in this town haven't been here so very long. I hear of lots of Indiana people in my line who are here.»
«What is your line?» asked Carrie.
«I'm connected with an electrical company,» said the youth.
Carrie followed up this desultory conversation with occasional interruptions from the Vances. Several times it became general and partially humorous, and in that manner the restaurant was reached.
Carrie had noticed the appearance of gayety and pleasureseeking in the streets which they were following. Coaches were numerous, pedestrians many, and in Fifty-ninth Street the street cars were crowded. At Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue a blaze of lights from several new hotels which bordered the Plaza Square gave a suggestion of sumptuous hotel life. Fifth Avenue, the home of the wealthy, was noticeably crowded with carriages, and gentlemen in evening dress. At Sherry's an imposing doorman opened the coach door and helped them out. Young Ames held Carrie's elbow as he helped her up the
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steps. They entered the lobby already swarming with patrons, and then, after divesting themselves of their wraps, went into a sumptuous dining-room.
In all Carrie's experience she had never seen anything like this. In the whole time she had been in New York Hurstwood's modified state had not permitted his bringing her to such a place. There was an almost indescribable atmosphere about it which convinced the newcomer that this was the proper thing. Here was the place where the matter of expense limited the patrons to the moneyed or pleasure-loving class. Carrie had read of it often in the «Morning» and «Evening World.» She had seen notices of dances, parties, balls, and suppers at Sherry's. The Misses So-and-so would give a party on Wednesday evening at Sherry's. Young Mr. So-and-So would entertain a party of friends at a private luncheon on the sixteenth, at Sherry's. The common run of conventional, perfunctory notices of the doings of society, which she could scarcely refrain from scanning each day, had given her a distinct idea of the gorgeousness and luxury of this wonderful temple of gastronomy. Now, at last, she was really in it. She had come up the imposing steps, guarded by the large and portly doorman. She had seen the lobby, guarded by another large and portly gentleman, and been waited upon by uniformed youths who took care of canes, overcoats, and the like. Here was the splendid dining-chamber, all decorated and aglow, where the wealthy ate. Ah, how fortunate was Mrs. Vance; young, beautiful, and well off – at least, sufficiently so to come here in a coach. What a wonderful thing it was to be rich.
Vance led the way through lanes of shining tables, at which were seated parties of two, three, four, five, or six. The air of as-
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surance and dignity about it all was exceedingly noticeable to the novitiate. Incandescent lights, the reflection of their glow in polished glasses, and the shine of gilt upon the walls, combined into one tone of light which it requires minutes of complacent observation to separate and take particular note of. The white shirt fronts of the gentlemen, the bright costumes of the ladies, diamonds, jewels, fine feathers – all were exceedingly noticeable.
Carrie walked with an air equal to that of Mrs. Vance, and accepted the seat which the head waiter provided for her. She was keenly aware of all the little things that were done – the little genuflections and attentions of the waiters and head waiter which Americans pay for. The air with which the latter pulled out each chair, and the wave of the hand with which he motioned them to be seated, were worth several dollars in themselves.
Once seated, there began that exhibition of showy, wasteful, and unwholesome gastronomy as practised by wealthy Americans, which is the wonder and astonishment of true culture and dignity the world over. The large bill of fare held an array of dishes sufficient to feed an army, sidelined with prices which made reasonable expenditure a ridiculous impossibility – an order of soup at fifty cents or a dollar, with a dozen kinds to choose from; oysters in forty styles and at sixty cents the half-dozen; entrees, fish, and meats at prices which would house one over night in an average hotel. One dollar fifty and two dollars seemed to be the most common figures upon this most tastefully printed bill of fare.
Carrie noticed this, and in scanning it the price of spring chicken carried her back to that other bill of fare and far dif-
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