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A Well-Behaved Woman

by

By Therese Anne Fowler

Alva Vanderbilt is the woman in question and the story follows her as she sets her cap for W.K. Vanderbilt in spite of society spurning his family due to shenanigans involving his grandfather. Alva’s mother died before a suitable match could be made for her. Her father’s health was in decline and his income from the cotton plantations that were so reliable before the Civil War have now dried up. But Alva’s closest friend, Consuela Yznaga, is steering her in the right direction and finagles the introduction to W.K. It seems he is uninterested and spends his time with other beauties at the society functions. But before long he approaches Alva and with hardly any courtship, asks her to be his wife. Of course she says yes. No more money worries. Apparently at the time, which is late nineteenth century, the husband paid the wife’s family as part of the arrangement, so Alva’s father and sisters were taken care of.

Alva wonders what her wedding night will be like. She waits in a state of anxiety, not knowing what to expect, but nothing happens. Then finally, very late at night after she had already fallen asleep her new husband appears and the marriage is consummated in an almost formal act. Because of the way she was raised Alva supposes this is normal behavior and it takes years of marriage before she realizes that W.K. is having flings with other women. Alva finds herself attracted to Oliver Belmont but restrains herself and doesn’t allow her feelings to move her to any action beyond friendship, in spite of her husband’s infidelities. She names her daughter after her best friend Consuela.

The Vanderbilt’s fortunes continue to rise and they indulge in building sprees in NYC and in the countryside. This helps their social status as they spare no expense on their homes and entertaining. Alva oversees many of the projects herself even though she has no formal architectural education. In later years she will support women’s right to vote.

A turning point comes in Alva’s life when her dearest friend, now Lady Mandeville, sends a letter revealing her affair with W.K. which has gone on for years. Alva does not respond but soon confronts her husband. She demands a divorce, the country house and an annual income for her and their children. W.K. does not fight this and Alva finds herself a divorced woman, who although still very wealthy, is no longer at the center of New York society. She has lost her closest friend and never can bring herself to forgive Lady C. After living in a loveless marriage for so many years she finally married Oliver Belmont and has a happy life until his early death from appendicitis. Her daughter Consuela has married into the Churchill family in England but the marriage doesn’t last. Alva worries that she had pushed her daughter into a marriage she didn’t want, as opposed to letting her marry a man much older than herself whom Consuela was in love with. But Consuela now realizes that her mother did have her best interests at heart and the life she has been able to lead was so much more than she would’ve had with the gold digger she had wanted to marry when she was twenty.

Lots of name dropping in this story about a woman who was able to put herself in a position to make changes in her world, the world of New York society in the nineteenth century.

The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton

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I found this book on my bookshelf and I’m not sure where it came from. There was a time when I collected leather bound books at estate sales and it may have come from there. Whenever I start a book I always check the copyright page to see the date of publication. This book has no copyright page at all, which is very unusual. So I don’t know when it was published. the story takes place I would say early twentieth century. Lily Bart is a beautiful young woman in New York society who has had several opportunities to marry well but has never done so. Her parents are deceased and she lives with her aunt who provides her with expensive clothing but no money of her own. With only a small stipend to pay her expenses, she lives a life of high society staying with wealthy friends most of the year in country houses, invited for her beauty and charm. When we enter the story she has set her cap for a wealthy but dull young man, Percy, who is astonished that a girl so beautiful and sophisticated would even notice him. It doesn’t take much for Lily to ensnare him, her plan is that once married she will coax him into the expensive lifesyle she dreams of with elegant houses and entertainment for the rest of her days. But just at the moment she should be finalizing the deal by going to church with him and a group of house guests, she instead pleads ill and then goes off for a walk with a man whom she truly likes, maybe even loves, but who has little in the way of money, Lawrence Seldon. Because she didn’t go, Percy meets a wealthy heiress who is quite plain, and soon they are engaged to be married.

The list of eligible men is dwindling rapidly. Lily spends time with a married couple and rides out one day with the husband, who takes pity on Lily’s plight and offers to invest her small amount of savings so that she receives some return on the investment. Soon Lily has received several thousand dollars from this scheme. This allows her to pay off her debts and spend freely for a while, which she enjoys immensely. She even pays a charwoman who has collected some letters from a married woman to Lawrence Seldon, to keep quiet. Lily keeps the letters secret. She also gives a small amount to Gerty Farish, Seldon’s relation, who is in straightened financial circumstances but has learned to live a more frugal life and spends her time working with poor women in the community. But what Lily regards as a pure investment situation becomes something far more serious. The husband who made the investment invites Lily to his home one evening, pretending that his wife is the one who has asked her to call. His wife is not even in London and the husband is demanding his payment, not in cash, for services rendered. Although Lily manages to extricate herself from the situation, she does not go unseen, leaving the house late at night when everyone knows she is alone with the man. She vows to pay the money back but has no way to do so. Just as she is about to be forced to do something drastic, another married couple asks her to take a cruise to the Mediterranean and she is gone the next morning. But this proves to be a very bad choice as the wife has asked Lily to entertain her husband while she pursues another love interest. Lily is again compromised and with the help of Lawrence, who was also traveling in the area on business, goes home to her aunt.

When she arrives home, her aunt has passed away. But unbeknowst to Lily her aunt has changed her will and the bulk of the estate, which was to have come to her upon her aunt’s death, now goes to another relative and Lily is to receive ten thousand dollars, which is just enough to settle her debt from the so-called investment. To make matters even worse, she will not receive the money for almost a year due to the slow legal processes of the time. A few friends try to help her, setting her up as a private secretary to aspiring new-money society ladies, trying to get invitations to the cultured society events that Lily is part of. A wealthy business man is also pursuing her, he has enough money to give her whatever her heart desires and is in love with her but Lily detests him and can’t bring herself to consider a relationship with him, even though it would mean the end of her financial woes for good. But as her place in society sinks lower and lower, he no longer is willing to marry her. He knows about the letters she has in her possession and advises her to in a way, blackmail the woman who wrote them. This is the wife of the man who invested her money and is snubbing Lily in a very public manner. Lily realizes it’s not because there was anything romantic about their relationship, it’s because the man gave her money. The wealthy suitor advises that she merely let the woman know she has the letters and come to an understanding that she will be welcomed in high society again and Lily will keep the letters secret. This will fulfil her wealthy suitor’s ambitions, he has enough money to set Lily up as the hostess with the mostest, so to speak but wants the high society to go with it. Lily, who has by now resorted to taking laudanum in order to sleep, and is suffering from exhaustion, decides she must do as her suitor suggests and takes the letters with the intention of securing her place in society by paying a visit to her former friend. On the way she gets caught in a downpour and finds herself at Lawrence Seldon’s apartment. He takes her in, seeing that she is in crisis, and gives her tea to try to help settle her. While there Lily realizes she can’t subject this man, who she probably loves if she could ever admit in, to the insult of making use of his letters to blackmail her former friend. Lily asks him to build up the fire and while he’s not looking, burns the packet in his fireplace.

Lily makes her way home and finds to her surprise that the check for ten thousand dollars has arrived, the lawyers have concluded their work early. She writes a check to the investor for nine thousand dollars, the amount she received from the investment and leaves the checks on her desk. Unable to sleep again, she takes the laudanum which she has become reliant on for chasing away the nightly fears. next morning Seldon makes his way to her boarding house only to find Gerty there, Lily has overdosed and died.

Such a sad story and yet if at any time Lily had come to grips with her situation and learned to control herself she could’ve had a happy life. But her beauty made her the plaything of society. Her only safe harbor was marriage to either wealthy men whom she abhorred, or to a good man who had nothing and where her only talents, which are for society life, would be useless.