Edith Wharton

Name: The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI
Author: Edith Wharton

The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

Summary

“The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI”, published in 1916, is a work by Edith Wharton. It explores elements such as Ann Eliza, Evelina and Miss Mellins.

Quotes from The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (Edith Wharton)

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ But this vision did not often give Ann Eliza its negative relief; and always, beneath its hazy lines, lurked the dark conviction that Evelina was alive, in misery and longing for her.
So the summer wore on. Ann Eliza was conscious that Mrs. Hawkins and Miss Mellins were watching her with affectionate anxiety, but the knowledge brought no comfort. She no longer cared what they felt or thought about her. Her grief lay far beyond touch of human healing, and after a while she became aware that they knew they could not help her. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ Ashamed to write to Ann Eliza?"
Evelina raised herself on her thin elbow, while Ann Eliza, bending over, drew a corner of the shawl about her shoulder.
"Do lay down again. You'll catch your death."
"My death? That don't frighten me! You don't know what I've been through." And sitting upright in the old mahogany bed, with flushed cheeks and chattering teeth, and Ann Eliza's trembling arm clasping the shawl about her neck, Evelina poured out her story. It was a tale of misery and humiliation so remote from the elder sister's innocent experiences that much of it was hardly intelligible to her. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ In the solitude of the shop and the back room she was tortured by vague pictures of Evelina's sufferings. What horrors might not be hidden beneath her silence? Ann Eliza's great dread was that Miss Mellins should worm out of her what she had learned from Mr. Loomis. She was sure Miss Mellins must have abominable things to tell about drug-fiends— things she did not have the strength to hear. "Drug-fiend"—the very word was Satanic; she could hear Miss Mellins roll it on her tongue. But Ann Eliza's own imagination, left to itself, had begun to people the long hours with evil visions. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ The glare of the gas beat full on her as she stood and looked at Ann Eliza.
"Sister—oh, Evelina! I knowed you'd come!"
Ann Eliza had caught her close with a long moan of triumph. Vague words poured from her as she laid her cheek against Evelina's—trivial inarticulate endearments caught from Mrs. Hawkins's long discourses to her baby.
For a while Evelina let herself be passively held; then she drew back from her sister's clasp and looked about the shop. "I'm dead tired. Ain't there any fire?" she asked.
"Of course there is!" Ann Eliza, holding her hand fast, drew her into the back room. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ I've been in hell all that time, Ann Eliza." She fixed her eyes with passionate intentness on Ann Eliza's face. "He took opium. I didn't find it out till long afterward—at first, when he acted so strange, I thought he drank. But it was worse, much worse than drinking."
"Oh, sister, don't say it—don't say it yet! It's so sweet just to have you here with me again."
"I must say it," Evelina insisted, her flushed face burning with a kind of bitter cruelty. "You don't know what life's like— you don't know anything about it—setting here safe all the while in this peaceful place." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ Just sit still and warm yourself while I run and get the kettle. I've got something you always used to fancy for supper." She laid her hand on Evelina's shoulder. "Don't talk—oh, don't talk yet!" she implored. She wanted to keep that one frail second of happiness between herself and what she knew must come.
Evelina, without a word, bent over the fire, stretching her thin hands to the blaze and watching Ann Eliza fill the kettle and set the supper table. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ I always meant it for you anyhow."
"Yes, but I wouldn't have taken it if he hadn't been at me the whole time. He used to make me do just what he wanted. Well, when I said I wouldn't write to you for more money he said I'd better try and earn some myself. That was when he struck me. . . . Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about yet! . . . I tried to get work at a milliner's, but I was so sick I couldn't stay. I was sick all the time. I wisht I'd ha' died, Ann Eliza."
"No, no, Evelina." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (1916)

“ Suddenly Ann Eliza remarked a small neat handkerchief on the counter: it must have dropped from the lady's purse, and she would probably come back to get it. Ann Eliza, pleased at the idea, sat on behind the counter and watched the darkening street. She always lit the gas as late as possible, keeping the box of matches at her elbow, so that if any one came she could apply a quick flame to the gas-jet. At length through the deepening dusk she distinguished a slim dark figure coming down the steps to the shop. With a little warmth of pleasure about her heart she reached up to light the gas. ”

Edith Wharton

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Quotes from The Bunner Sisters — Chapter XI (Edith Wharton)

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