Rivet in Grandfather's Neck

Branch Cabell James

Description

Though he later gained widespread acclaim as a pioneering writer of fantasy fiction, James Branch Cabell's early novels are largely realistic and dryly humorous in tone. The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck, which unfolds in early-twentieth-century Virginia, is a comedy of manners set among the upper echelons of Richmond high society.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776595891
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK
A COMEDY OF LIMITATIONS
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JAMES BRANCH CABELL
 
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The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck A Comedy of Limitations First published in 1915 Epub ISBN 978-1-77659-589-1 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77659-590-7 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Part One - Propinquity I II III IV V VI VII Part Two - Renascence I II III IV V VI VII VIII Part Three - Tertius I II III IV V VI VII Part Four - Appreciation I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII Part Five - Souvenir I II III IV Part Six - Byways I II III IV V VI Part Seven - Yoked I II III IV V Part Eight - Harvest I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Part Nine - Relics I II III IV V VI Part Ten - Imprimis I II III
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" To this new South, who values her high past in chief, as fitfoundation of that edifice whereon she labors day by day, and withaugmenting strokes ."
TO
PRISCILLA BRADLEY CABELL
"Nightly I mark and praise, or great or small, Such stars as proudly struggle one by one To heaven's highest place, as Procyon, Antarês, Naös, Tejat and Nibal Attain supremacy, and proudly fall, Still glorious, and glitter, and are gone So very soon;—whilst steadfast and alone Polaris gleams, and is not changed at all.
"Daily I find some gallant dream that ranges The heights of heaven; and as others do, I serve my dream until my dream estranges Its errant bondage, and I note anew That nothing dims, nor shakes, nor mars, nor changes, Fond faith in you and in my love of you."
In the middle of the cupboard door was the carved figure of a man....He had goat's legs, little horns on his head, and a long beard; thechildren in the room called him, "Major-General-field-sergeant-commander-Billy-goat's-legs" ... He was always looking at thetable under the looking-glass where stood a very pretty littleshepherdess made of china.... Close by her side stood a littlechimney-sweep, as black as coal and also made of china.... Nearto them stood another figure.... He was an old Chinaman who could nodhis head, and used to pretend he was the grandfather of the shepherdess,although he could not prove it. He, however, assumed authority over her,and therefore when "Major-general-field-sergeant-commander-Billy-goat's-legs" asked for the little shepherdess to be his wife, he nodded his headto show that he consented.
Then the little shepherdess cried, and looked at her sweetheart, thechimney-sweep. "I must entreat you," said she, "to go out with me intothe wide world, for we cannot stay here." ... When the chimney-sweep sawthat she was quite firm, he said, "My way is through the stove up thechimney." ... So at last they reached the top of the chimney.... The skywith all its stars was over their heads.... They could see for a verylong distance out into the wide world, and the poor little shepherdessleaned her head on her chimney-sweep's shoulder and wept. "This is toomuch," she said, "the world is too large." ... And so with a great dealof trouble they climbed down the chimney and peeped out.... There laythe old Chinaman on the floor ... broken into three pieces.... "This isterrible," said the shepherdess. "He can be riveted," said thechimney-sweep.... The family had the Chinaman's back mended and a strongrivet put through his neck; he looked as good as new, but when"Major-General-field-sergeant-commander-Billy-goat's-legs" again askedfor the shepherdess to be his wife, the old Chinaman could no longer nodhis head.
And so the little china people remained together and were thankful forthe rivet in grandfather's neck, and continued to love each other untilthey were broken to pieces.
Part One - Propinquity
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"A singer, eh?... Well, well! but when he sings Take jealous heed lest idiosyncrasies Entinge and taint too deep his melodies; See that his lute has no discordant strings To harrow us; and let his vaporings Be all of virtue and its victories, And of man's best and noblest qualities, And scenery, and flowers, and similar things .
"Thus bid our paymasters whose mutterings Some few deride, and blithely link their rhymes At random; and, as ever, on frail wings Of wine-stained paper scribbled with such rhymes Men mount to heaven, and loud laughter springs From hell's midpit, whose fuel is such rhymes."
PAUL VERVILLE. Nascitur .
I
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At a very remote period, when editorials were mostly devoted todiscussion as to whether the Democratic Convention (shortly to be heldin Chicago) would or would not declare in favor of bi-metallism; whengolf was a novel form of recreation in America, and people disputed howto pronounce its name, and pedestrians still turned to stare after anautomobile; when, according to the fashion notes, "the godet skirts andhuge sleeves of the present modes" were already doomed to extinction;when the baseball season had just begun, and some of our people werediscussing the national game, and others the spectacular burning of theold Pennsylvania Railway depot at Thirty-third and Market Street inPhiladelphia, and yet others the significance of General Fitzhugh Lee'srecent appointment as consul-general to Habana:—at this remote time,Lichfield talked of nothing except the Pendomer divorce case.
And Colonel Rudolph Musgrave had very narrowly escaped being named asthe co-respondent. This much, at least, all Lichfield knew when GeorgePendomer—evincing unsuspected funds of generosity—permitted his wifeto secure a divorce on the euphemistic grounds of "desertion." JohnCharteris, acting as Rudolph Musgrave's friend, had patched up thisarrangement; and the colonel and Mrs. Pendomer, so rumor ran, were to bemarried very quietly after a decent interval.
Remained only to deliberate whether this sop to the conventions shouldbe accepted as sufficient.
"At least," as Mrs. Ashmeade sagely observed, "we can combinevituperation with common-sense, and remember it is not the first time aMusgrave has figured in an entanglement of the sort. A lecherous race!proverbial flutterers of petticoats! His surname convicts the manunheard and almost excuses him. All of us feel that. And, moreover, itis not as if the idiots had committed any unpardonable sin, for theyhave kept out of the newspapers."
Her friend seemed dubious, and hazarded something concerning "the merestsense of decency."
"In the name of the Prophet, figs! People—I mean the people who countin Lichfield—are charitable enough to ignore almost any crime which isjust a matter of common knowledge. In fact, they are mildly grateful. Itgives them something to talk about. But when detraction is printed inthe morning paper you can't overlook it without incurring the suspicionof being illiterate and virtueless. That's Lichfield."
"But, Polly—"
"Sophist, don't I know my Lichfield? I know it almost as well as I knowRudolph Musgrave. And so I prophesy that he will not marry ClaricePendomer, because he is inevitably tired of her by this. He will marrymoney, just as all the Musgraves do. Moreover, I prophesy that we willgabble about this mess until we find a newer target for our stonethrowing, and be just as friendly with the participants to their facesas we ever were. So don't let me hear any idiotic talk about whether orno I am going to receive her—"
"Well, after all, she was born a Bellingham. We must remember that."
"Wasn't I saying I knew my Lichfield?" Mrs. Ashmeade placidly observed.
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And time, indeed, attested her to be right in every particular.
Yet it must be recorded that at this critical juncture chance ratherremarkably favored Colonel Musgrave and Mrs. Pendomer, by givingLichfield something of greater interest to talk about; since now, justin the nick of occasion, occurred the notorious Scott Musgrave murder.Scott Musgrave—a fourth cousin once removed of the colonel's, to bequite accurate—had in the preceding year seduced the daughter of avillage doctor, a negligible "half-strainer" up country at Warren; andher two brothers, being irritated, picked this particular season towaylay him in the street, as he reeled homeward one night from theCommodores' Club, and forthwith to abolish Scott Musgrave after theprimitive methods of their lower station in society.
These details, indeed, were never officially made public, since adiscreet police force "found no clues"; for Fred Musgrave (of King'sGarden), as befitted the dead man's well-to-do brother, had been at nolittle pains to insure constabulary shortsightedness, in preference tohaving the nature of Scott Musgrave's recreations unsympatheticallyaired. Fred Musgrave thereby afforded Lichfield a delectable opportunity(conversationally and abetted by innumerable "they do say's") toaccredit the murder, turn by turn, to every able-bodied person residingwithin stone's throw of its commission. So that few had time, now, totalk of Rudolph Musgrave and Clarice Pendomer; for it was not inLichfieldian human nature to discuss a mere domestic imbroglio whenhere, also in the Musgrave family, was a picturesque and goryassassination to lay tongue to.
So Colonel Musgrave was duly reëlected that spring to the librarianshipof the Lichfield Historical Association, and the name of Mrs. GeorgePendomer was not stricken from the list of patronesses of the LichfieldGerman Club, but was merely altered to "Mrs. Clarice Pendomer."
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At the bottom of his heart Colonel Musgrave was a trifle irritated thathis self-sacrifice should be thus unrewarded by martyrdom. Circumstanceshad enabled him to assume, and he had gladly accepted,