DOI article:
James, Henry: The next time
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27805#0021
l7
By Henry James
surround her satisfied spouse (he took, for some mysterious reason,
a part of the credit) with a little family, in sets of triplets, which,
properly handled, would be the support of his declining years.
The young couple, neither of whom had a penny, were now virtu-
ally engaged : the thing was subject to Ralph’s putting his hand
on some regular employment. People more enamoured couldn’t
be conceived, and Mrs. Highmore, honest woman, who had more-
over a professional sense for a love-story, was eager to take them
under her wing. What was wanted was a decent opening for
Limbert, which it had occurred to her I might assist her to find,
though indeed I had not yet found any such matter for myself.
But it was well known that I was too particular, whereas poor
Ralph, with the easy manners of genius, was ready to accept
almost anything to which a salary, even a small one, was attached.
If he could only get a place on a newspaper, for instance, the rest
of his maintenance would come freely enough. It was true that
his two novels, one of which she had brought to leave with me,
had passed unperceived, and that to her, Mrs. Highmore person-
ally, they didn’t irresistibly appeal ; but she could none the less
assure me that I should have only to spend ten minutes with him
(and our encounter must speedily take place) to receive an impres-
sion of latent power.
Our encounter took place soon after I had read the volumes
Mrs. Highmore had left with me, in which I recognised an inten-
tion of a sort that I had now pretty well given up the hope of
meeting. I daresay that, without knowing it, I had been looking
out rather hungrily for an altar of sacrifice : at any rate, when I
came across Ralph Limbert I submitted to one of the rarest emo-
tions of my literary life, the sense of an activity in which I could
critically rest. The rest was deep and salutary, and it has not
been disturbed to this hour. It has been a long, large surrender,
the
By Henry James
surround her satisfied spouse (he took, for some mysterious reason,
a part of the credit) with a little family, in sets of triplets, which,
properly handled, would be the support of his declining years.
The young couple, neither of whom had a penny, were now virtu-
ally engaged : the thing was subject to Ralph’s putting his hand
on some regular employment. People more enamoured couldn’t
be conceived, and Mrs. Highmore, honest woman, who had more-
over a professional sense for a love-story, was eager to take them
under her wing. What was wanted was a decent opening for
Limbert, which it had occurred to her I might assist her to find,
though indeed I had not yet found any such matter for myself.
But it was well known that I was too particular, whereas poor
Ralph, with the easy manners of genius, was ready to accept
almost anything to which a salary, even a small one, was attached.
If he could only get a place on a newspaper, for instance, the rest
of his maintenance would come freely enough. It was true that
his two novels, one of which she had brought to leave with me,
had passed unperceived, and that to her, Mrs. Highmore person-
ally, they didn’t irresistibly appeal ; but she could none the less
assure me that I should have only to spend ten minutes with him
(and our encounter must speedily take place) to receive an impres-
sion of latent power.
Our encounter took place soon after I had read the volumes
Mrs. Highmore had left with me, in which I recognised an inten-
tion of a sort that I had now pretty well given up the hope of
meeting. I daresay that, without knowing it, I had been looking
out rather hungrily for an altar of sacrifice : at any rate, when I
came across Ralph Limbert I submitted to one of the rarest emo-
tions of my literary life, the sense of an activity in which I could
critically rest. The rest was deep and salutary, and it has not
been disturbed to this hour. It has been a long, large surrender,
the