When Newland Archer opened the door at the babsp;of the club box the curtain had just gone up on the garden se.
There was no reason why the young man should not have e earlier, for he had dined at ven, alone with his mother and sister, and had lingered afterward over a cigar in the Gothibsp;library with glazed black-walnut bookbsp;and finial-topped chairs whibsp;was the only room in the hou where Mrs. Archer allowed smoking. But, in the first plabsp;New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolis it was "not the thing" to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not "the thing" played a part as important in Newland Archer''s New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago.
The d reason for his delay was a personal one.
He had dawdled over his cigar bebsp;he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to e often gave him a subtler satisfa than its realisation.
This was especially the bsp;when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that-well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna''s stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more signifit moment than just as she was singing:"He loves me-he loves me not-HE LOVES ME!-" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.
When Newland Archer opened the door at the babsp;of the club box the curtain had just gone up on the garden se.
There was no reason why the young man should not have e earlier, for he had dined at ven, alone with his mother and sister, and had lingered afterward over a cigar in the Gothibsp;library with glazed black-walnut bookbsp;and finial-topped chairs whibsp;was the only room in the hou where Mrs. Archer allowed smoking. But, in the first plabsp;New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolis it was "not the thing" to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not "the thing" played a part as important in Newland Archer''s New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago.
The d reason for his delay was a personal one.
He had dawdled over his cigar bebsp;he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to e often gave him a subtler satisfa than its realisation.
This was especially the bsp;when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that-well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna''s stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more signifit moment than just as she was singing:"He loves me-he loves me not-HE LOVES ME!-" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.