May 15, 2025 • 12 mins
Transplanted from New York to save his familys business in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Price Ruyler quickly ascends to the top of the citys bachelor list. Yet, he remains immune to the local girls advances and their mothers schemes. That is, until he encounters the enchanting Helene, leading to a whirlwind proposal within just a week. As they journey into their fourth year of marriage, Prices love for Helene remains steadfast. However, he begins to sense a shift, sparking questions about her enigmatic past and whether any family secrets were lost in the earthquakes aftermath.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seven of The Avalanche by Gertrude horn Atherton. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Lynne Thompson,
Chapter seven, Part one. Ellen, as Rayler had anticipated, refused
positively to accept missus Thornton's invitation. Do you think I'd
(00:23):
leave you to come home to a dreary house every night?
Even if I don't see much of you? At least
you know I'm there, and that if you have an
evening off, you only have to say the word and
I'll break any engagement. You always have known that Rayler
had not, but she looked so eager and sweet she
(00:43):
was lunching with him at the Palace Hotel on the
day following his interview with Spalding that he hastened to
assure her affectionately that the certainty of his wife's desire
for his constant companionship with both his torment and his consolation.
Ellne continued radiantly, Besides Starling, Polly Roberts is staying on
(01:04):
Rex can't get away yet. Polly Roberts is not nearly
good enough for you. She hasn't an idea in her
head and lives on excitement. Elene laughed merrily. You are
quite right. But there's no harm in her after all,
unless one goes in for charities, and I can't price yet. Besides,
(01:24):
the charities here are wonderfully looked. After Playsbridge, has babies,
takes on suffrage, what is there to do but play?
I suppose once life was serious for young women of
our class, but we just get into the habit of
doing nothing because there's nothing to do. Take to morrow
as an example. I suppose Polly and I will wander
(01:44):
down to the Louver in the morning and buy something
or look at the new gowns Monsieur DuPont has just
brought from Paris. Then we'll lunch, where there's lots of
life and everybody is chatting gaily about nothing. Then we'll
go to the moving pictures unless there is a matinee,
and then we'll motor out to the boulevard and then
(02:05):
back and have tea somewhere. Or perhaps we'll motor down
to the club at Burlingame for lunch and chatter away
the day on the verandah, or dance this afternoon. We'll
probably ring up a few that are still in town
and dance in Polly's parlor at the Fermont. Elene's lip curled,
her voice had risen with all her young enjoyment of
(02:25):
wealth and position. She had been bred in a class
where to idle is a crime, just putting in time,
time that ought to be as precious as youth and
high spirits and ease and popularity. But what is one
to do? I have no talents, and I'd lose caste
in my set if I had to. I don't wonder
the socialists hate us and want to put us all
(02:48):
to work. No doubt we should be much happier. But now,
even if you retired from business, you'd spend most of
your time on the links. We poor women wouldn't be
much better off. It does seem an abnormal state of affairs.
I've barely given it a thought. It has always been
such a pleasure to find you after a hard day's work,
(03:09):
looking invariably dainty and pretty and eloquently suggestive of leisure
and repose. But to a student of history, I suppose
it is a condition that cannot last. There must be
some sort of upheval jew Well, I hope it will
give me more of your society. They smiled at each
other across the little table in perfect confidence. They were
(03:31):
lunching in the court, and after she had blown him
a kiss over her glass of red wine, her eyes
happened to travel in the direction of the large dining room.
She gave a little exclamation of distaste. There is maman
lunching with that hateful old mister Lawton. He was in
her sitting room when I ran in to call on
her yesterday, and nearly snapped my head off when I
(03:53):
asked him if he wouldn't buy my electric for Aileen.
He said it was time she began to learn a
few economies instead of more extravagancies. Poor darling, Aileen. She
has to stay in town too, for he won't open
the house in Averton until he is ready to go
down himself every night. Is he an old friend of
(04:13):
your mother's. She and Papa met him when they were here,
and Missus Lawton was very kind when I was born.
It's too bad Missus Lawton's stead. She'd be a nice
friend for Madamore. Perhaps your mother is asking mister Lawton's
advice about the investment of money. He had been observing
his wife closely, but it was more and more apparent
(04:35):
that if mister Lawton held the key to her mother's past.
She had not been informed of the fact, she answered indifferently. Possibly,
one can get much higher interest out here than in France,
and Mademoan would never invest money without the best advice.
She loves me, but money next, oh la la. Had
she said anything more about going back to Rule. I
(04:57):
didn't have a word with her alone yesterday, but I'll
ask her to day. Poor Mamo, I fancy the novelty
has worn off here and she would really be happier
with her own people and customs. She hates traveling, like
all the French. But don't you think that after a
bit we shall be able to go over to Europe
at least once a year. I'm sure of it. And
(05:19):
while I am attending to business in London, you could
visit your mother in Rule. Tell her that one way
or another, I'll manage it. And this seemed to him
an ideal arrangement. Part two. When they left the table
and walked through the more luxurious part of the court,
they saw Madame Delano alone and enthroned as usual in
(05:39):
the largest but most upright of the arm chairs, and
as ever, she watched under her fat drooping eyelids, the
passing throng of smartly dressed women, hurrying men, sauntering, staring tourists.
Here and there under the palm sat small groups of men,
leaning forward, talking in low, earnest tones, their faces whether
(06:01):
of the keen, narrow, nervous or the fleshy, heavy, square jawed, unimaginative, aggressive,
ruthless type, equally expressing that intense concentration of mind which
later would make their luncheon a living torment. Ellyne threw
herself into a chair beside her mother and fondled her hand.
(06:21):
Raylah noted that after Madame Delano's surprised smile of welcome,
she darted a keen glance of apprehension from one to
the other, and her tight little mouth relaxed uncontrollably in
its supporting walls of flesh. But she lowered her lids
immediately and looked approvingly at her daughter, who, in her
new gown of gray with gray hat and gloves and shoes,
(06:44):
was a dainty and refreshing picture of spring. Then she
looked at Rylah with what he fancied was an expression
of relief. I wonder you do not do this, oftener,
she said, I never know until the last moment when
or where I shall be able to take lunch, and
then I often have to meet three or four men.
Such is life in the city of your adoption. There
(07:08):
is no city in the world where women are so
abominably idle and useless. And at the moment, whatever Madame
de Lara may have seen, her voice and mien were
those of a virtuous and outraged bourgeoisie. You are all
very well, Riyler. But if I had known what the
life of a rich young woman was in this town,
I'd have married Helene to a serious young man of
(07:30):
her own class in Ruon, a husband who would have
given her companionship in a normal civilized life, who would
have taken care of her as every young wife should
be taken care of, and who would have insisted upon
at least two children. As a matter of course, with us,
the family is a religion. Here it is an incident
(07:50):
where it is not an accident. Rayla, who was still standing,
looked down at his mother in law with profound interest.
He had never heard her express herself at such length before.
Do you think I fail as a husband? He asked humbly.
God knows I'd like to give my wife about two
thirds of my time, but at least I have perfect
(08:11):
confidence in her. I should soon cease to care for
a wife I was obliged to watch. Young things are
young things. Madame Delano looked at Helene, who had turned
very white and had lowered her own lids to hide
the consternation in her eyes, But as her mother ceased speaking,
she raised them in swift appeal to Rylah. Maman says
(08:33):
I coquet too much, she said plaintively, and Price wondered
if a slight movement under the hem of Madame Delano's
long skirts meant that the toe of a little gray
shoe were boring into one of the massive plints of
his mother in law. But tell him, Mademo, that you
don't really mean it. I can't have Price jealous. That
(08:55):
would be too humiliating. I'm afraid I do flirt as
naturally as I breathe. But Price knows I haven't a
thought for a man on earth but him. The color
had crept back into her cheeks, but there was still
anxiety in her soft black eyes, and Price was sure
that the little pointed toe once more made its peremptory appeal.
(09:17):
Madame de Larnau looked squarely at her son in law.
That's all right so far, she said. Elene is devoted
to you, but so have many other young wives been
to busy American husband's. Now take my advice and give
her more of your companionship before it is too late.
Watch over her. There always comes a time, a turning point.
(09:41):
European husbands understand, but American husbands are fools. Woman's loyalty,
fed on hope, only turns to resentment, and then her
separate life begins. Now I've warned you, go back to
your office, where, no doubt your clerks are hanging out
of the windows, wondering if you are dead and the
business wrecked. I want to talk to Elene. Part three.
(10:07):
In spite of his wise old French mother in law's insinuations,
Raylah felt lighter of heart as he left the hotel
and walked toward his office than he had since Sunday.
Of two things, he was certain there was no ugly
understanding between the mother and daughter over that unspeakable past,
and Madame Delano's new attitude toward her daughter was merely
(10:30):
the result in over sophisticated mother's apprehensions those of a
woman who was looking in upon smart society for the
first time and found it alarming and an welcome but
inevitable thought, peculiarly dangerous to a young and beautiful creature
with wild and lawless blood in her veins. However, it
(10:50):
was patent that so far her apprehensions were merely the
result of a rare imaginative flight, the result no doubt
of her own threatened exposure. Once more, he admired her
courage in returning to San Francisco, and as he recalled
the covert heir of cynical triumph with which she had
accepted his offer for her daughter's hand, he made no
(11:13):
doubt that one object had been to play a sardonic
joke on the city she must hate. He renewed his
determination to keep what guard he could over his young wife,
and wondered if his brother, Harold, who also had elected
to enter the old firm, could not be induced to
come out and take over a certain share of the responsibility.
(11:34):
The young man had paid him a visit a year
ago and been enraptured with life in California. True, he
was accustomed to make quick decisions without consulting any one,
and he should find a partner. Irksome, but he was
beginning to realize acutely that business, even to an American
brain packed with its traditions and energies, was not even
(11:55):
the half of life. Should be a means, not an end.
He set his tea as he walked rapidly along Montgomery Street,
and vowed that he would keep his semestic happiness if
he had to retire on what was available of his
own fortune. He even wondered if it would not be
wise to buy a fruit ranch, where he and Elene
could share equally in the management, and begin at once
(12:18):
to raise a family. They both loved outdoor life, and
this life of complete frivolity, in which she seemed to
be hopeless enmeshed, might before long corrode her nature and
blast the mental aspirations that still survived in that untended soil.
When this great merging deal was over, he should be
(12:38):
free to decide. End of Chapter seven
Chapter seven of The Avalanche by Gertrude horn Atherton. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Lynne Thompson,
Chapter seven, Part one. Ellen, as Rayler had anticipated, refused
positively to accept missus Thornton's invitation. Do you think I'd
(00:23):
leave you to come home to a dreary house every night?
Even if I don't see much of you? At least
you know I'm there, and that if you have an
evening off, you only have to say the word and
I'll break any engagement. You always have known that Rayler
had not, but she looked so eager and sweet she
(00:43):
was lunching with him at the Palace Hotel on the
day following his interview with Spalding that he hastened to
assure her affectionately that the certainty of his wife's desire
for his constant companionship with both his torment and his consolation.
Ellne continued radiantly, Besides Starling, Polly Roberts is staying on
(01:04):
Rex can't get away yet. Polly Roberts is not nearly
good enough for you. She hasn't an idea in her
head and lives on excitement. Elene laughed merrily. You are
quite right. But there's no harm in her after all,
unless one goes in for charities, and I can't price yet. Besides,
(01:24):
the charities here are wonderfully looked. After Playsbridge, has babies,
takes on suffrage, what is there to do but play?
I suppose once life was serious for young women of
our class, but we just get into the habit of
doing nothing because there's nothing to do. Take to morrow
as an example. I suppose Polly and I will wander
(01:44):
down to the Louver in the morning and buy something
or look at the new gowns Monsieur DuPont has just
brought from Paris. Then we'll lunch, where there's lots of
life and everybody is chatting gaily about nothing. Then we'll
go to the moving pictures unless there is a matinee,
and then we'll motor out to the boulevard and then
(02:05):
back and have tea somewhere. Or perhaps we'll motor down
to the club at Burlingame for lunch and chatter away
the day on the verandah, or dance this afternoon. We'll
probably ring up a few that are still in town
and dance in Polly's parlor at the Fermont. Elene's lip curled,
her voice had risen with all her young enjoyment of
(02:25):
wealth and position. She had been bred in a class
where to idle is a crime, just putting in time,
time that ought to be as precious as youth and
high spirits and ease and popularity. But what is one
to do? I have no talents, and I'd lose caste
in my set if I had to. I don't wonder
the socialists hate us and want to put us all
(02:48):
to work. No doubt we should be much happier. But now,
even if you retired from business, you'd spend most of
your time on the links. We poor women wouldn't be
much better off. It does seem an abnormal state of affairs.
I've barely given it a thought. It has always been
such a pleasure to find you after a hard day's work,
(03:09):
looking invariably dainty and pretty and eloquently suggestive of leisure
and repose. But to a student of history, I suppose
it is a condition that cannot last. There must be
some sort of upheval jew Well, I hope it will
give me more of your society. They smiled at each
other across the little table in perfect confidence. They were
(03:31):
lunching in the court, and after she had blown him
a kiss over her glass of red wine, her eyes
happened to travel in the direction of the large dining room.
She gave a little exclamation of distaste. There is maman
lunching with that hateful old mister Lawton. He was in
her sitting room when I ran in to call on
her yesterday, and nearly snapped my head off when I
(03:53):
asked him if he wouldn't buy my electric for Aileen.
He said it was time she began to learn a
few economies instead of more extravagancies. Poor darling, Aileen. She
has to stay in town too, for he won't open
the house in Averton until he is ready to go
down himself every night. Is he an old friend of
(04:13):
your mother's. She and Papa met him when they were here,
and Missus Lawton was very kind when I was born.
It's too bad Missus Lawton's stead. She'd be a nice
friend for Madamore. Perhaps your mother is asking mister Lawton's
advice about the investment of money. He had been observing
his wife closely, but it was more and more apparent
(04:35):
that if mister Lawton held the key to her mother's past.
She had not been informed of the fact, she answered indifferently. Possibly,
one can get much higher interest out here than in France,
and Mademoan would never invest money without the best advice.
She loves me, but money next, oh la la. Had
she said anything more about going back to Rule. I
(04:57):
didn't have a word with her alone yesterday, but I'll
ask her to day. Poor Mamo, I fancy the novelty
has worn off here and she would really be happier
with her own people and customs. She hates traveling, like
all the French. But don't you think that after a
bit we shall be able to go over to Europe
at least once a year. I'm sure of it. And
(05:19):
while I am attending to business in London, you could
visit your mother in Rule. Tell her that one way
or another, I'll manage it. And this seemed to him
an ideal arrangement. Part two. When they left the table
and walked through the more luxurious part of the court,
they saw Madame Delano alone and enthroned as usual in
(05:39):
the largest but most upright of the arm chairs, and
as ever, she watched under her fat drooping eyelids, the
passing throng of smartly dressed women, hurrying men, sauntering, staring tourists.
Here and there under the palm sat small groups of men,
leaning forward, talking in low, earnest tones, their faces whether
(06:01):
of the keen, narrow, nervous or the fleshy, heavy, square jawed, unimaginative, aggressive,
ruthless type, equally expressing that intense concentration of mind which
later would make their luncheon a living torment. Ellyne threw
herself into a chair beside her mother and fondled her hand.
(06:21):
Raylah noted that after Madame Delano's surprised smile of welcome,
she darted a keen glance of apprehension from one to
the other, and her tight little mouth relaxed uncontrollably in
its supporting walls of flesh. But she lowered her lids
immediately and looked approvingly at her daughter, who, in her
new gown of gray with gray hat and gloves and shoes,
(06:44):
was a dainty and refreshing picture of spring. Then she
looked at Rylah with what he fancied was an expression
of relief. I wonder you do not do this, oftener,
she said, I never know until the last moment when
or where I shall be able to take lunch, and
then I often have to meet three or four men.
Such is life in the city of your adoption. There
(07:08):
is no city in the world where women are so
abominably idle and useless. And at the moment, whatever Madame
de Lara may have seen, her voice and mien were
those of a virtuous and outraged bourgeoisie. You are all
very well, Riyler. But if I had known what the
life of a rich young woman was in this town,
I'd have married Helene to a serious young man of
(07:30):
her own class in Ruon, a husband who would have
given her companionship in a normal civilized life, who would
have taken care of her as every young wife should
be taken care of, and who would have insisted upon
at least two children. As a matter of course, with us,
the family is a religion. Here it is an incident
(07:50):
where it is not an accident. Rayla, who was still standing,
looked down at his mother in law with profound interest.
He had never heard her express herself at such length before.
Do you think I fail as a husband? He asked humbly.
God knows I'd like to give my wife about two
thirds of my time, but at least I have perfect
(08:11):
confidence in her. I should soon cease to care for
a wife I was obliged to watch. Young things are
young things. Madame Delano looked at Helene, who had turned
very white and had lowered her own lids to hide
the consternation in her eyes, But as her mother ceased speaking,
she raised them in swift appeal to Rylah. Maman says
(08:33):
I coquet too much, she said plaintively, and Price wondered
if a slight movement under the hem of Madame Delano's
long skirts meant that the toe of a little gray
shoe were boring into one of the massive plints of
his mother in law. But tell him, Mademo, that you
don't really mean it. I can't have Price jealous. That
(08:55):
would be too humiliating. I'm afraid I do flirt as
naturally as I breathe. But Price knows I haven't a
thought for a man on earth but him. The color
had crept back into her cheeks, but there was still
anxiety in her soft black eyes, and Price was sure
that the little pointed toe once more made its peremptory appeal.
(09:17):
Madame de Larnau looked squarely at her son in law.
That's all right so far, she said. Elene is devoted
to you, but so have many other young wives been
to busy American husband's. Now take my advice and give
her more of your companionship before it is too late.
Watch over her. There always comes a time, a turning point.
(09:41):
European husbands understand, but American husbands are fools. Woman's loyalty,
fed on hope, only turns to resentment, and then her
separate life begins. Now I've warned you, go back to
your office, where, no doubt your clerks are hanging out
of the windows, wondering if you are dead and the
business wrecked. I want to talk to Elene. Part three.
(10:07):
In spite of his wise old French mother in law's insinuations,
Raylah felt lighter of heart as he left the hotel
and walked toward his office than he had since Sunday.
Of two things, he was certain there was no ugly
understanding between the mother and daughter over that unspeakable past,
and Madame Delano's new attitude toward her daughter was merely
(10:30):
the result in over sophisticated mother's apprehensions those of a
woman who was looking in upon smart society for the
first time and found it alarming and an welcome but
inevitable thought, peculiarly dangerous to a young and beautiful creature
with wild and lawless blood in her veins. However, it
(10:50):
was patent that so far her apprehensions were merely the
result of a rare imaginative flight, the result no doubt
of her own threatened exposure. Once more, he admired her
courage in returning to San Francisco, and as he recalled
the covert heir of cynical triumph with which she had
accepted his offer for her daughter's hand, he made no
(11:13):
doubt that one object had been to play a sardonic
joke on the city she must hate. He renewed his
determination to keep what guard he could over his young wife,
and wondered if his brother, Harold, who also had elected
to enter the old firm, could not be induced to
come out and take over a certain share of the responsibility.
(11:34):
The young man had paid him a visit a year
ago and been enraptured with life in California. True, he
was accustomed to make quick decisions without consulting any one,
and he should find a partner. Irksome, but he was
beginning to realize acutely that business, even to an American
brain packed with its traditions and energies, was not even
(11:55):
the half of life. Should be a means, not an end.
He set his tea as he walked rapidly along Montgomery Street,
and vowed that he would keep his semestic happiness if
he had to retire on what was available of his
own fortune. He even wondered if it would not be
wise to buy a fruit ranch, where he and Elene
could share equally in the management, and begin at once
(12:18):
to raise a family. They both loved outdoor life, and
this life of complete frivolity, in which she seemed to
be hopeless enmeshed, might before long corrode her nature and
blast the mental aspirations that still survived in that untended soil.
When this great merging deal was over, he should be
(12:38):
free to decide. End of Chapter seven
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!