The beautiful lady [Paperback]

Booth Tarkington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2009

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: from the box of which the waiter made offering. "Do not remain!" I whispered, and I saw his sad perplexity. "I know her answer has not been given. Will you present him his chance to receive it — just when her sympathy must be stronger for him, since she will think he has had to bear rudeness?" He went out of the door quick- I did not smoke. I pretended to, while the waiters made the arrangements of the table and took themselves off. I sat there a long, long time waiting for Antonio to do what I hoped I had betrayed him to do. It befell at last. Poor Jr. came to the door and spoke in his steady voice. "Ansolini, will you come out here a moment?" Then I knew that I had succeeded, had made Antonio afraid that I would do the thing he himself, in a panic, had already done — speak evil of another privately. As I reached the door I heard him call out foolishly, "But, Mr. Poor, I beg you — " Poor Jr. put his hand on my shoulder, and we walked out into the dark of the terrace. Antonio was leaning against the railing, the beautiful lady standing near. Mrs. Landry had sunk into a chair beside her daughter. No other people were upon the terrace. "Prince Caravacioli has been speaking of you," said Poor Jr., very quietly. "Ah? "said I. "I listened to what he said; then I told him that you were my friend, and that I considered it fair that you should hear what he had to say. I will repeat what he said, Ansolini. If I mistake anything, he can interrupt me." Antonio laughed, and in such a way, so sincerely, so gaily, that I was frightened. "Very good!" he cried. "I am content. Repeat all." " He began," Poor Jr. went on, quietly, though his hand gripped my shoulder to almost painfulness,— " he began by saying to these ladies, in my presence, that we should be ...

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: General Books LLC (August 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0217621945
• ISBN-13: 978-0217621946
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Real Beauty Comes From Within, October 22, 2008

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful Lady (Hardcover)

"The Beautiful Lady", is another of the short novels from Booth Tarkington's early career. It was originally published in two parts, December of 1904 and January of 1905, in "Harper's Magazine", and then as Tarkington's fifth book in May of 1905. As with many of Tarkington's other works, it is a bit too predictable, though in this case that doesn't detract too much from the story.

The story appears to sets up a love triangle (or in this case it may be a love square), but it does deviate from that a bit. The story is told from the point of the Italian, Ansolini from Naples, living in Paris who due to being down on his luck is forced into a most embarrassing position of acting as a billboard by shaving his head and having an advertisement for a show placed on the back of his bald head. It is while performing this job, that he nearly meets the "beautiful lady", though he keeps his head down and sees only her feet and the hem of her skirt and hears her lovely voice as it has sympathy for his plight. In fact, Ansolini's feelings are appreciative of her beautiful soul, and not that of romance.

The job gets him out of his immediate need for cash, but he is resolved to find a better line of work, and after writing to a friend he is setup for a position where he needs to appear much older, and so he continues to keep his head shaven as to appear older. The job is for him to take care of Mr. Lambert R. Poor's son and keep him out of trouble. The son, Rufus, is likely older than Ansolini is. Ansolini fails miserably at this job, until he learns that the son recognized Ansolini from his previous job, and knows that he isn't as old as he pretended to be. They become friends, and we learn that Rufus Poor also has a woman who he is set on, and to no surprise for anyone who has read Tarkington before that their feelings are for the same woman, Mrs. Landry.

Next, the reader learns that there is another man who appears to be about to become engaged to Mrs. Landry, and again the reader who knows Tarkington knows exactly who this man is. Ansolini is touched by the beautiful soul of Mrs. Landry, and ultimately he comes to her defense to protect her, not for himself, and not initially for Rufus Poor, but for the kindness she showed him with her sympathy for him when he was at his lowest point. It is a fairly quick read, though a bit too predictable. There are better choices if you are looking for an introduction to Tarkington, but there are worse ones as well.