14 - Avalanche by Gertrude Atherton

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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fourteen of The Avalanche. This is a LibriVox according
all LibriVox accordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by Lynne Thompson. The Avalanche by Gertrude horn Atherton, chapter fourteen.

(00:21):
There was a silence for a moment, and then Pryce said, awkwardly,
it is a pity you haven't the chain, or you
could wear the ruby for the rest of the evening.
She turned her eyes from the window and stared at him.
I have the chain, She raised her hand to the
tip of her bodice. But but you can't mean it

(00:42):
isn't possible that you can forgive me. I think I
have taken very bad care of you. What are you,
after all, but a brilliant child? I am thirty three.
He suddenly tore off his domino with a feeling of rage,
and thrust his hands into his friendly pockets. He had
never made many verbal protestations to her, although the most

(01:04):
exacting wife could have found no fault with his love making.
But to night he felt dumb. He was mortally afraid
of appearing high and noble and magnanimous. You see, things
always happen during the first years of married life. Perhaps
more happens, I mean in a prettier way, when the
man has leisure and can see too much of his wife.

(01:26):
In my case, our case, it was the other way,
and something almost tragic happened. So I vote we treat
it casually as something that must have been expected sooner
or later to disturb our our even tenor and forget it.
Forget it, well, yes I can, if you can, And

(01:47):
can you forget who I am? You are exactly what
you were before those scoundrels recognized your mother and and
set me going. Of course, I had to find out
the truth. I thought you knew, and tried to make
you tell me, but you wouldn't, couldn't, and I had
to employ Spalding. Do you mean you would have married

(02:09):
me if you had known the truth at the time? Rather?
And but I told you I became a regular gambler.
He could not help smiling. I have no fear of
your gambling again, and I don't fancy you're a bit
worse than the others who had no gambling blood in them.
All the world has that gambling is about the earliest

(02:31):
of the vices. I if you wouldn't mind promising, I
know you will keep it. Nothing under heaven would induce
me to play again. But but I opened your safe
like a thief and stole. Oh not quite, after all,
it was yours as much as mine. If I had

(02:53):
died without a will, you would have got it. Of course,
I know what you mean. But men have always driven
women in to a corner, and they have had to
get out by methods of their own. I wish now
I had given you the twenty thousand. I prefer you
should accept my decision that it was all my fault.
Give me the chain. She drew it from her bosom

(03:16):
and handed it to him. He fastened the ruby in
its place and drew the chain over her neck. The
great jewel lit up the front of her somber gown
like a sudden torch in a cavern. The stern despair
of Helene's tragic mask relaxed. She dropped her face into
her hands and began to sob. Then Rylah was himself again.

(03:37):
He picked her up in his arms and settled comfortably
into the deepest of the chairs. End of Chapter fourteen.
End of the Avalanche by Gertrude Horn Atherton,