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Show I CONDENSED f I CLASSICS I I I PENDENNIS 7 I I I By . WILLIAM M. THACKERAY ? I ? Condensation by X Richard Henry Dana. J W "fa the creation of living ctanractcr Thackeray stands stmply alone anions novelists," iayi Salntsbury. llccky Sharp, unscrupulous and fascinating! Colonel NevTcome, noble and lovable Cllve and Pendennls, nntural young men nil, from Barry Lyndon to Denis Duval, live and have a being of their own. Once crented." aays Thackeray, "they lead and I follow where they direct. di-rect. ... I have never aeen the people I describe nor heard the conversations conver-sations I put down. ... I am often astonished myself to rend it. . . It seems as tf an occult power was moving: the pen." It was this very quality of a life outside hU own mind which made bis characters so vivid to himself as well ns to his readers. He saysi "I know these people utterly I know the sound of their voices." He even visited, after the publication of "Vanity Fnlr," the hotel In Brussels where. Becky had stopped. He never grew tired of most of these people who were born out of his imagination. The one who bored htm was Esmond, and he lived In the only novel of Thackeray's which was completely planned. Paradoxically enough, while his people thus lived outside of himself, settings nnd episodes throughout his novels are traceable to his own experience. expe-rience. His school, Chnrterhouse, appears ap-pears ns Slaughterhouse and Grey Krlars; Pendennls nt his university relived re-lived Thackeray's own life; Grub street and its Inhabitants existed in reality aji in "Pendennls." OXE fine morning in the full London Lon-don season, Major Arthur Pen-dennis Pen-dennis (retired on half pay) came to breakfast at his accustomed corner in his Pall Mall Club. His were the best blacked boots In London. Lon-don. His buff waistcoat, checked cravat, cra-vat, spotless linen, white gloves, his whiskers, his very cane were perfect of their kind. jtie seemeu tinny years oiu, uuui you saw the factitious nature of his rich brown hair and the crow's feet around the eyes of his handsome face with its Wellington nose. His long white cuffs showed the good sleeve buttons given him by his royal highness, high-ness, the duke of York. Through his gold double eye glasses, he reads his letters, one an Invitation from the marquis of Steyne, one from the bishop of Ealing and Mrs. Trail, another from an earl aDd so on, and last of all, two others, one from his widowed sister-in-law, and the other from her only child, Arthur Penden-nis, Penden-nis, Jr. The first begs him to "come immediately" to Fair Oaks, Clavering, St. Mary's, "to entreat, nay command" the "wretched boy" to give up his engagement en-gagement to marry Miss Costlgan, an actress twelve years the senior of this lad of eighteen. The second from this same lad beseeching his uncle to remove re-move his mother's objections to his proposed union with his "dear Emily," a descendant of the old Irish royalty, the most beautiful woman in the world. "A love like mine, sir," writes young Pen, "I feel is contracted once and forever I shall die without ever knowing another passion." The major, inwardly in a rage, ruefully rue-fully sends refusals to the marquis, the earl, the bishop and other entertainers enter-tainers and takes a sleepless and tiring tir-ing trip in the tight, smelly night mail coach for .Clavering. On arrival Major Pendennls is most affable to Pen and his mother. He does not "entreat" or "command" his nephew but wins the boy's confidence and talks familiarly of his own noble friends and the brilliant career he has had in mind for Pen. The major then "faces the enemy," Captain Costigan, the half tipsy imaginative old Irish soldier, the father and protector of "Emily." To him and his beautiful, honest but dull daughter, the major is equally suave. Beautiful she Is, with broad brow, large melting eyes, black wavy hair, white complexion, rosy cheeks and the arms of a "Venus." Pen had come to see and know her through Foker, a school friend, a lad homely and kindly, dull at his books but bright in every-day matters, whose father, the great brewer, furnished him money and Lady Agnes, his mother, moth-er, social position. Verses Pen had been writing to the Greek goddess he now dedicates to his new divinity. Major Pendennis, as his next move, lets slip, In the presence of the Cos-tigans, Cos-tigans, the fact that Pen has no means beyond what his mother allows him out of her slender income. Costigan Is then indignant that Pen "should have had the face to offer himself to his dear beguiled daughter." Pen cannot can-not believe his adored Emily has calmly thrown him over, until the Cos-tlgans Cos-tlgans openly "cut" him in the street. He almost dies, or believes he is dying of despised love, with all the symptoms symp-toms of sleepless nights and feverish days, and is scarcely consoled by his mother and little cousin Laura. Laura is five years younger than Pen, his second cousin on the side of his mother, who adopted her on the death of her parents, perhaps because of a romance of early unmarried days with Laura's father. Miss Costigan secures an engagement engage-ment at a London theater through Major Tendennis' influence. The magnetic mag-netic attraction being thus removed, Pen goes to "Oxbridge." Then through Foker and with the major's encouragement encourage-ment Pen makes rich and aristocratic friends nnd begins n brilliant career at the Debating Union, at dinners and late suppers, with his wit, eloquence, poems' and commanding , self-eonnV dence. Wild without being vulgar, extravagant ex-travagant beyond his means and neglecting neg-lecting his studies, lie becomes deeply In debt and is "plucked" in his degree examination though many a fellow ho has despised for dullness or crushed In debate passes with honors. Unselfish, he would leave the gayest party to go and sit with a sick friend and yet, selfish, he forces his mother to pinch herself to keep him lu college and he accepts Laura's savings to pay his debts. He llees "Oxbridge" In disgrace, dis-grace, though later he tries again and passes hl "exams" with fair credit. Coming home from college, Pen, now a young mau of good figure, medium height, blue eyes and nuburn whiskers, finds Laura grown from the simple little girl, into a tall, slim, handsome young lady with large gray eyes, long black lashes, pale face with rose tinge In her cheeks which flushes easily Into a deep blush. Now comes on the scene Sir Francis Clavering, Bart., who opens Clavering Park, which has long been closed. The papers a few years before announced his marriage with the rich widow of the late J. Amory, esquire, from India. He brings Lady Clavering, her daughter, daugh-ter, Miss Blanche Amory, a young lady, and his son and heir, little Frank Clavering. Blanche has fair hair, dark eyebrows, long black lashes veiling brown eyes, slim figure, small feet, and constant smiles showing sweet pearly teeth and deep dimples. Sir Francis himself Is a weak creature, crea-ture, a gambler, fond of low company and rapidly wasting his wife's property prop-erty with constant demands on her generosity. Lady Clavering, a good, kind soul, illiterate and murdering the king's English, Is hardly more fortunate for-tunate in her second marriage than in her first with the sailor and convict Amory. Shadowing the Claverlngs is n mysterious mys-terious Colonel Altamont, with a strange Influence over Sir Francis and power to get money from him. Pen becomes enamored of Blanche, writes her love poems, and meanwhile she leads him on only to drop him again for anyone with better prospects. pros-pects. When thus dropped, Pen offers himself to Laura, but in a half-hearted way. Laura replies, "When next you offer yourself, do not say as you have done to me, 'I have no heart I do not love you; but I am ready to marry you because my mother wishes for the match.' " After Laura's refusal, Pen tires of the country and goes to London Lon-don to study law. He settles in chambers at the Lamb Court Temple and makes a friend of and rooms with George Warrington, an older graduate of "Oxbridge." In London Pen leads a life not of study, but of joviality, though not of vice. lie is too lofty to stoop to vulgar intrigue. When reduced re-duced to his last few pounds, Pen, by Warrington's help, gets a poem accepted ac-cepted in a magazine, is given books to review, becomes a contributor to the new Pall Mall Gazette, writes the popular novel "Walter Lorraine" and becomes well off and well known. His uncle is proud of him, gets him invitations invi-tations to dine in high society, and introduces him, among other celebrities, celebri-ties, to the great duke of Wellington. One night, the mysterious Colonel Altamont, half drunk, forces his way into the Clavering dining room in London Lon-don and Major Pendennis recognizes him as an Indian acquaintance. Soon after this, he urges Pen to marry for money, saying, "It is as easy to get a rich wife as a poor one," and encourages en-courages him to court Miss Blanche Amory. Somehow the major persuades per-suades Sir Francis to give up his seat in parliament in favor of Pen and to arrange for a large dowry for Miss Blanche. Finally, in lieu of any better prospect, she accepts Pen. The secret of Colonel Altamont's influence in-fluence over Sir Francis becomes public pub-lic property and reaches Pen's ears, for Altamont is none other than Amory, the husband of Lady Clavering. Claver-ing. He was reported to have died, but in reality Is alive. This makes the Clavering marriage invalid and Miss Amory heir to the fortune instead in-stead of young Frank. Pen then refuses re-fuses to benefit by the fortune or to take the seat in parliament and writes Blanche he is still willing to marry her though he admits he does not love her deeply. Later,, when he calls, he finds his old schoolmate Foker, rich through his father's death, now in stalled In Miss Blanche's affections. Still, the fair Blanche confidentially confesses to Pen that she would prefer him if he could lay aside his "absurd scruples." This he refuses to do, so the Foker and Amory wedding is arranged. ar-ranged. Then Pen, freed from this mercenary merce-nary alliance, finds his heart all the while was really devoted to Laura, so he proposes to her in earnest and this time is accepted. Foker in turn finds by accident the secret of Amory's survival sur-vival and what is worse, that Blanche knew and yet concealed it from him. For this lack of confidence he leaves the fickle Blanche, so that there is only one wedding at Clavering and that not at the baronet's hall. It turns out that Altamont, alias Amory, already al-ready had a wife living when he went through the form of marriage with the future Lady Clavering; so after ail, Sir Francis and she are legally husband hus-band and wife. Sir Francis reforms. Miss Blanche goes abroad and marries in Paris a count with doubtful title. Pen Is elected to parliament on his own merits, the new railroad buys some of Pen's lands and greatly increases the value of the rest, so he is well off au.d most happy with the adorable, high-minded and devoted Laura. Copyright, 1919, by Post Publishing Co. (The Boston Post.) |