Edith Wharton

Name: The Custom of the Country — Chapter II
Author: Edith Wharton

The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

Summary

“The Custom of the Country — Chapter II”, published in 1913, is a work by Edith Wharton. It explores elements such as Undine, Spragg and New York.

Quotes from The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (Edith Wharton)

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ Undine bolted her door, dragged the tall pier-glass forward and, rummaging in a drawer for fan and gloves, swept to a seat before the mirror with the air of a lady arriving at an evening party. Celeste, before leaving, had drawn down the blinds and turned on the electric light, and the white and gold room, with its blazing wall-brackets, formed a sufficiently brilliant background to carry out the illusion. So untempered a glare would have been destructive to all half-tones and subtleties of modelling; but Undine's beauty was as vivid, and almost as crude, as the brightness suffusing it. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ It was all very novel and interesting, and at first Undine envied Mabel Lipscomb for having made herself a place in such circles; but in time she began to despise her for being content to remain there. For it did not take Undine long to learn that introduction to Mabel's "set" had brought her no nearer to Fifth Avenue. Even in Apex, Undine's tender imagination had been nurtured on the feats and gestures of Fifth Avenue. She knew all of New York's golden aristocracy by name, and the lineaments of its most distinguished scions had been made familiar by passionate poring over the daily press. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ There was nothing of the monopolist about Mabel, and she lost no time in making Undine free of the Stentorian group and its affiliated branches: a society addicted to "days," and linked together by membership in countless clubs, mundane, cultural or "earnest." Mabel took Undine to the days, and introduced her as a "guest" to the club-meetings, where she was supported by the presence of many other guests--"my friend Miss Stager, of Phalanx, Georgia," or (if the lady were literary) simply "my friend Ora Prance Chettle of Nebraska--you know what Mrs. Chettle stands for." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ Mr. Spragg was standing near her mother, who sat in a drooping attitude, her head sunk on her breast, as she did when she had one of her "turns." He looked up abruptly as Undine entered.
"Father--has mother told you? Mrs. Fairford has asked me to dine. She's Mrs. Paul Marvell's daughter--Mrs. Marvell was a Dagonet--and they're sweller than anybody; they WON'T KNOW the Driscolls and Van Degens!"
Mr. Spragg surveyed her with humorous fondness.
"That so? What do they want to know you for, I wonder?" he jeered. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ If they ain't swell enough for you. Undine Spragg, you'd better go right over to the court of England!"
Undine straightened herself. "I want the best. Are they as swell as the Driscolls and Van Degens?"
Mrs. Heeny sounded a scornful laugh. "Look at here, now, you unbelieving girl! As sure as I'm standing here before you, I've seen Mrs. Harmon B. Driscoll of Fifth Avenue laying in her pink velvet bed with Honiton lace sheets on it, and crying her eyes out because she couldn't get asked to one of Mrs. Paul Marvell's musicals. She'd never 'a dreamt of being asked to a dinner there! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ Fairford wrote on the old-fashioned white sheet, without even a monogram--simply her address and telephone number. It gave Undine rather a poor opinion of Mrs. Fairford's social standing, and for a moment she thought with considerable satisfaction of answering the note on her pigeon-blood paper. Then she remembered Mrs. Heeny's emphatic commendation of Mrs. Fairford, and her pen wavered. What if white paper were really newer than pigeon blood? It might be more stylish, anyhow. Well, she didn't care if Mrs. Fairford didn't like red paper--SHE did! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country — Chapter II (1913)

“ He had carelessly shown her a card-case with a coronet, and had confided in her that he had been forced to resign from a crack cavalry regiment for fighting a duel about a Countess; and as a result of these confidences she had pledged herself to him, and bestowed on him her pink pearl ring in exchange for one of twisted silver, which he said the Countess had given him on her deathbed with the request that he should never take it off till he met a woman more beautiful than herself. ”

Edith Wharton

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