Skinny Island by Louis Auchincloss Read Free Book Online Page B

not. My position in society would forbid it. You men of the Patroons Club may not take New York society seriously, but thousands of others do. Society is not just a question of dressing up and giving parties. It is a question of setting a moral example for the whole community. If a woman like Mrs. Norrie came to this house at my invitation and was introduced under my aegis to my friends, the inference would be clear that I approve of her moral character. That I approve of unchastity and free love! And that I cannot allow!" Elsa seemed carried away by the force of her own rhetoric. She actually stamped her foot. "No, Griswold Norrie, that you cannot ask of me. Never, never, never!"
    He caught the flash of alarm in Ione's eyes as she stepped over to place a warning hand on his arm. "Please, darling," she murmured. "It's not good for Mamma to get so excited. Remember her heart."
    "Very well, I shall not ask you to invite her," he retorted in choked tones. "I shall invite her myself. I shall ask her to come as the guest of the groom. Surely it is proper to accord the groom and his family a list of invitees. I shall limit mine to Mrs. Atalanta Norrie."
    "And do you know what I shall do if that woman dares to cross my threshold,
Mister
Griswold Norrie?" Elsa's eyes were now bulging, and her voice rose almost to a shout. "Did you see
Lady Windermere's Fan
? Well, I shall do what Lady Windermere only threatened to do. I shall strike that woman across her face with my fan!"
    Ione hurried over to her mother, put an arm protectively around her shoulders and led her from the room. She was gone for fifteen minutes. When she returned alone she was very cool and poised.
    "I'm surprised to find you still here. Haven't you done enough for one day? Do you want to kill my mother?"
    "Ione, darling, I never thought—"
    "You never thought, I know. But think now, Griswold. You cannot possibly expect Mrs. Norrie to come here to be insulted, nor can you risk Mother's heart by allowing her to insult her. Give up your foolish idea. Would you like me to go to Mrs. Norrie and explain the whole thing?"
    "But that's my job!"
    "As I've said already, don't you think you've done enough? This is women's work, my dear. You had far better stay out of it altogether."
    Griswold felt his heart pounding in sudden violent gratitude at what this enchanting creature was willing to do for him. He stepped forward to clasp her in his arms and was deeply relieved that she did not repulse him.
    "My angel, you're right. Of course you're right. How could you not be? I'll take you to call on Atalanta, but not till I've explained to her first how things are."

    Atalanta Norrie continued to occupy her late husband's gray stone tomb of a mansion on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street. It seemed to have no function but to repel; it was devoid of decoration except for its Romanesque windows, and its interior was made up of huge, sparsely furnished, needlessly dark chambers. Its owner did not entertain, but she was surrounded by a motley court of hangers-on, some of whom seemed to live in the upper stories—muttering ancient women, presumably relations, and young, colorfully dressed, apparently unemployed young men. It was widely believed that Mrs. Norrie gave lessons in spiritualism to her disciples.
    She received her step-grandson alone. The tall, exotic, red-haired female preacher had filled out into a strong, straight, rather massive woman of sixty, with a firm, almost unlined face and thick gray hair piled in layers, like a pagoda, over her high brow. The eyes, large and expressionless, were fixed on Griswold as he made his stumbling explanation.
    "I understand everyone's position with the utmost clarity," Atalanta said at last. "I am not in the least interested in going to Mrs. Carruthers's against her will. I shall go to the church to see you married, dear boy, and that will be quite enough for me. I don't suppose that Elsa Carruthers will deny me a seat in the house