Edith Wharton

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

The Custom of the Country — Chapter XVII (1913)

Summary

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

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

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

“ But my marriage was a mistake from the beginning; and Ralph feels just as I do about it. His people hate me, they've always hated me; and he looks at everything as they do. They've never forgiven me for his having had to go into business--with their aristocratic ideas they look down on a man who works for his living. Of course it's all right for YOU to do it, because you're not a Marvell or a Dagonet; but they think Ralph ought to just lie back and let you support the baby and me. ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ Mr. Spragg's brows began to jut. "More bills?"
"No." She stretched out her hand and began to finger the dusty objects on his desk. "I'm unhappy at home."
"Unhappy--!" His start overturned the gorged waste-paper basket and shot a shower of paper across the rug. He stooped to put the basket back; then he turned his slow fagged eyes on his daughter. "Why, he worships the ground you walk on, Undie."
"That's not always a reason, for a woman--" It was the answer she would have given to Popple or Van Degen, but she saw in an instant the mistake of thinking it would impress her father. ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ Undine frowned: there was nothing more irritating, in these encounters with her father, than his habit of opening the discussion with a joke.
"I wish you'd understand that I'm serious, father. I've never been strong since the baby was born, and I need a change. But it's not only that: there are other reasons for my wanting to go."
Mr. Spragg still held to his mild tone of banter. "I never knew you short on reasons, Undie. Trouble is you don't always know other people's when you see 'em." ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ Chapter XVII Nothing was bitterer to her than to confess to herself the failure of her power; but her last talk with Van Degen had taught her a lesson almost worth the abasement. She saw the mistake she had made in taking money from him, and understood that if she drifted into repeating that mistake her future would be irretrievably compromised. What she wanted was not a hand-to-mouth existence of precarious intrigue: to one with her gifts the privileges of life should come openly. ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ Marvell--and I'm happy to have the opportunity of telling her so," he proclaimed, holding his hand out gallantly.
Undine stood up with a laugh. "It sounded like old times, I suppose--you thought father and I were quarrelling? But we never quarrel any more: he always agrees with me." She smiled at Mr. Spragg and turned her shining eyes on Moffatt. "I wish that treaty had been signed a few years sooner!" the latter rejoined in his usual tone of humorous familiarity.
Undine had not met him since her marriage, and of late the adverse turn of his fortunes had carried him quite beyond her thoughts. ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ In their set lots of people older than you and mother dine every night of the winter--society's full of them. The Marvells are ashamed to have you meet their friends: that's the reason. They're ashamed to have it known that Ralph married an Apex girl, and that you and mother haven't always had your own servants and carriages; and Ralph's ashamed of it too, now he's got over being crazy about me. If he was free I believe he'd turn round to-morrow and marry that Ray girl his mother's saving up for him."
Mr. Spragg listened with a heavy brow and pushed-out lip. ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ Already in her short experience she had seen enough of the women who sacrifice future security for immediate success, and she meant to lay solid foundations before she began to build up the light super-structure of enjoyment. ”

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Source: Wikisource

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

“ The people she wanted would be at Newport or in Europe, and she was too resolutely bent on a definite object, too sternly animated by her father's business instinct, to turn aside in quest of casual distractions. ”

Edith Wharton

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

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