The Inner Shrine | Page 7

little about who or what we are, so long as we have money."
Diane raised her hand in a gesture of deprecation, intimating that such
was not her attitude of mind.
"And I've never wanted to bore you with what, after all, wasn't
necessary for you to hear. I shouldn't do so now if it had not become
important. There's a great deal to settle and arrange."
"I can understand that there must be business affairs," Diane murmured,
for the sake of saying something.
"Exactly; and in order to make them clear to you, I must take you a
little further back into our history than you've ever gone before. I want
you to see how much more responsible I am than you for our calamity.
You were born into this life of Paris, while I came into it of my own
accord. You did nothing but yield naturally to the influences around
you, while I accepted them after having been fully warned. If you knew
a little more of our American ideals I should find it easier to explain."
"I should like to hear about them," Diane said, sympathetically. The
new interest was beginning to take her out of herself.
"My husband and I," Mrs. Eveleth went on again, "belong to that New
York element which dates back to the time when the city was New
Amsterdam, and the State, the New Netherlands. To you that means
nothing, but in America it tells much. I was Naomi de Ruyter; my
husband, on his mother's side, was a Van Tromp."

"Really?" Diane murmured, feeling that Mrs. Eveleth's tone of pride
required a response. "I know there's a Mr. van Tromp here--the
American banker."
"He is of the same family as my husband's mother. For nearly three
hundred years they've lived on the island of Manhattan, and seen their
farms and pastures grow into the second city in the world. The world
has poured in on them, literally in millions. It would have submerged
them if there hadn't been something in that old stock that couldn't be
kept down. However high the tide rose, they floated on the top. My
people were thrifty and industrious. They worked hard, saved money,
and lived in simple ways. They cared little for pleasure, for beauty, or
for any of the forms of art; but, on the contrary, they lived for work, for
religion, for learning, and all the other high and serious pursuits. It was
fine; but I hated it."
"Naturally."
"I longed to get away from it, and when I married I persuaded my
husband to give up his profession and his home in order to establish
himself here."
"But surely you can't regret that? You were free."
"Only the selfish and the useless are ever free. Those who are worth
anything in this world are bound by a hundred claims upon them. They
must either stay caught in the meshes of love and duty, or wrench
themselves away--and that's what I did. Perhaps I suffered less than
many people in doing the same thing; but I cannot say that I haven't
suffered at all."
"But you've had a happy life--till now."
"I've had what I wanted--which may be happiness, or may not be."
"I've heard that you were very much admired. Madame de Nohant has
told me that when you appeared at the Tuileries, no one was more
graceful, not even the Empress herself."

"I had what I wanted," Mrs. Eveleth repeated, with a sigh. "I don't deny
that I enjoyed it; and yet I question now if I did right. When my
husband died, and George was a little boy, my friends made one last
effort to induce me to take him back, and bring him up in his own
country. I ignored their opinions, because all their views were so
different from mine. I was young and independent, and enamoured of
the life I had begun to lead. I had scruples of conscience from time to
time; but when George grew up and developed the tastes I had bred in
him, I let other considerations go. I was pleased with his success in the
little world of Paris, just as I had been flattered by my own. When he
fell in love with you I urged him to marry you, not because of anything
in yourself, but because you were Mademoiselle de la Ferronaise, the
last of an illustrious family. I looked upon the match as a useful
alliance for him and for me. I encouraged George in extravagance. I
encouraged him when he began to live in a style far more expensive
than anything to which he had been accustomed. I encouraged him
when he built this house. I wanted to impress you; I wanted you to see
that the American