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The Age of Innocence[At the Theatre in the evening. Newland Archer enters the box. Steps to the front,joining the company of several men, including Larry Lefferts and Sillerton Jackson. Larrylooks at stage through pearl opera glasses. Then he swings his opera glasses away fromthe stage and t
families in it who can claim an aristocratic origin in the real sense of the word.
Even dear Mr. Welland made his money in enterprise. So.
(looking at them with resolution)
We will take up this matter with the van der Luydens.
[She starts for the door]
MRS. ARCHER
You should come with me, Newland. Louisa van der Luyden is fond of you, and of
course it's on account of May we're doing this.
ARCHER
Of course.
MRS. ARCHER
If we don't all stand together, there'll be no such thing as society left.
[in the Drawing room at the van der Luyden House. Henry and Louisa van der Luyden are
sitting with Newland and his mother]
HENRY
And all this, you think, was due to some intentional interference by...
ARCHER
...Larry Lefferts, yes sir. I'm certain of it.
LOUISA
But why?
ARCHER
Well. Excuse me but...
LOUISA
Please, go on.
ARCHER
Larry's been going it harder than usual lately. Some service person in their
village or someone, and it's getting noticed. Whenever poor Gertrude Lefferts
begins to suspect something about her husband, Larry starts making some great
diversionary fuss to show how moral he is. He's simply using Countess Olenska as a
lightning rod.
LOUISA
Extraordinary.
HENRY
Not at all, my dear, I'm afraid.
MRS. ARCHER
We all felt this slight on the Countess should not pass without consulting you.
HENRY
Well, it's the principle that I dislike. I mean to say, as long as a member of a
well-known family is backed by that family, it should be considered final.
LOUISA
It seems so to me.
HENRY
So with Louisa's permission...and with Catherine Mingott's, of course...we are
giving a little dinner for our cousin the Duke of St. Austrey, who arrives next week
on the Russia. I;m sure Louisa will be glad as I am if Countess Olenska will
let us include her among our guests.
[In the hallway and drawing room at the van der Luyden House]
NARRATOR
The occasion was a solemn one and the Countess Olenska arrived rather late. Yet she
entered without any appearance of haste or embarrassment the drawing room in which
New York's most chosen company was somewhat awfully assembled.
[Servants open the drawing room doors for Ellen. Henry and Louisa van der Luyden bring
Ellen around the room making introductions.]
[In the dining room at the van der Luyden House]
NARRATOR
The van der Luydens stood above all the city's families. They dwelled in a kind of
super-terrestrial twilight, and dining with them was at best no light matter.
Dining there with a Duke who was their cousin was almost a religious solemnity. The
Trevenna George II plate was out. So was the van der Luyden Lowestoft, from the
East India Company, and the Dagonet Crown Derby. When the van der Luydens chose,
they knew how to give a lesson.
[In the drawing room at the van der Luyden House. Ellen Olenska is having a conversation
with the Duke as Archer watches. Ellen then gets up and approaches Archer]
NARRATOR
It was not the custom in New York drawing rooms for a lady to get up and walk away
from one gentleman in order to seek the company of another. But the Countess did
not observe this rule.
ELLEN
I want you to talk to me about May.
ARCHER
You knew the Duke before?
ELLEN
From Nice. We used to see him every winter. He's very fond of gambling and used to
come to our house a great deal. I think he's the dullest man I ever met. But he's
admired here. I suppose he must seem the very image of traditional Europe. Can I
tell you, though...
(mock conspiratorial)
...what most interests me about New York? It's that nothing has to be traditional
here. All this blind obeying of tradition...somebody else's tradition...is
thoroughly needless. It seems stupid to have discovered America only to make it a
copy of another country. Do you suppose Christopher Columbus would have taken all
that trouble just to go to the opera with Larry Lefferts?
ARCHER
(laughs)
I think if he knew Lefferts was here the Santa Maria would never have left
port.
ELLEN
And May. Does she share these views?
ARCHER
If she does, she'd never say so.
ELLEN
Are you very much in love with her?
ARCHER
