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Transients in Arcadia
Unknown Binding
First published November 1, 1997
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About the author
O. Henry
2,919 books1,891 followersSuch volumes as
Cabbages and Kings
(1904) and
The Four Million
(1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 2, 2023
O. Henry tells us the story of two people with a similar ambition who seeks the comfort of a hotel on Broadway in New York City, which escaped the discovery of the summer-resort promoters.
It is hidden from the public and is an exclusive place reserved for special guests.
Two upper-class guests named Madame Beaumont and Harold Farrington meet each other and enjoy each other's company.
There are certain secrets behind both of them. They start to trust each other and think about revealing their secrets. What secret have they been hiding from everyone in this place of rustic innocence? This simple story by O.Henry tries to explore it and will give you a good reading experience.
It is hidden from the public and is an exclusive place reserved for special guests.
Two upper-class guests named Madame Beaumont and Harold Farrington meet each other and enjoy each other's company.
“The best people are seeking for the quiet places like this one where they can escape the crowds.”
There are certain secrets behind both of them. They start to trust each other and think about revealing their secrets. What secret have they been hiding from everyone in this place of rustic innocence? This simple story by O.Henry tries to explore it and will give you a good reading experience.
June 3, 2022
I loved this. It’s cute. The story of two people on holiday trying to be something else for the weekend. But once their true identities are revealed, they are still interested in one another.
Plus I learned that O. Henry spent a lot of time in hotels observing people and creating stories from them so that makes this story a wee bit more magical.
Plus I learned that O. Henry spent a lot of time in hotels observing people and creating stories from them so that makes this story a wee bit more magical.
July 10, 2024
This was a charming tale, perhaps a bit predictable, but lovely all the same. A young man and young woman meet at an establishment that's considered the area's "best kept secret." They get to enjoy each other's company, but at the end, the reader discovers they haven't been forthright with each other.
July 3, 2019
Oh, what an atmosphere O. Henry produces here. The opulence and the attitude are perfect for the upper class of New York during the early part of the 20th century. That, in the end, is what so ironic.
January 3, 2017
Really liked this. How to be rich when you are not? Is it worthy it? Perhaps and that's what we find out reading this short story. As transient as illusion. I liked it though. 4 stars.
November 16, 2018
This is an absolutely charming short story!
And I arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:
"An idyllic match
Is two who share the same dreams
And reality."
And I arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:
"An idyllic match
Is two who share the same dreams
And reality."
August 21, 2023
O. Henry's "Transients in Arcadia" is a short story with some vacation play acting that has some romantic intrigue that is nothing surprising but indeed enjoyable nonetheless.
Story in short- Mme. Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont vacations at Hotel Lotus in NYC before taking her trip abroad and enjoys company of a gentleman that is of her ilk and much more than she ever imagined.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13598
THERE IS A hotel on Broadway that has escaped discovery by the summer-resort promoters. It is deep and wide and cool. Its rooms are finished in dark oak of a low temperature. Home-made breezes and deep-green shrubbery give it the delights without the inconveniences of the Adirondacks. One can mount its broad staircases or glide dreamily upward in its aërial elevators,
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13601
attended by guides in brass buttons, with a serene joy that Alpine climbers have never attained. There is a chef in its kitchen who will prepare for you brook trout better than the White Mountains ever served, sea food that would turn Old Point Comfort— “by Gad, sah!” — green with envy, and Maine venison that would melt the official heart of a game warden. A few have found out this oasis in the July desert of Manhattan. During that month you will see the hotel’s reduced array of guests scattered luxuriously about in the cool twilight of its lofty dining-room, gazing at one another across the snowy waste of unoccupied tables, silently congratulatory. Superfluous, watchful, pneumatically moving waiters hover near, supplying every want before it is expressed. The temperature is perpetual April. The ceiling is painted in water colors to counterfeit a summer sky across which delicate clouds drift and do not vanish as those of nature do to our regret.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Mme. Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont is actually Mamie Siviter who has saved up for a whole year to have this week in luxury and after telling Harold Farrington, that she is a working girl, he tells her that his real name is James McManus. They plan to go to Coney Island on a date next Saturday. Cute!
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13609
The pleasing, distant roar of Broadway is transformed in the imagination of the happy guests to the noise of a waterfall filling the woods with its restful sound. At every strange footstep the guests turn an anxious ear, fearful lest their retreat be discovered and invaded by the restless pleasure-seekers who are forever hounding nature to her deepest lairs. Thus in the depopulated caravansary the little band of connoisseurs jealously hide themselves during the heated season, enjoying to the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13612
uttermost the delights of mountain and seashore that art and skill have gathered and served to them. In this July came to the hotel one whose card that she sent to the clerk for her name to be registered read “Mme. Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont.” Madame Beaumont was a guest such as the Hotel Lotus loved. She possessed the fine air of the élite, tempered and sweetened by a cordial graciousness that made the hotel employees her slaves. Bell-boys fought for the honor of answering her ring; the clerks, but for
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13620
torrid day one remains in the umbrageous fastnesses of the Lotus as a trout hangs poised in the pellucid sanctuaries of his favorite pool. Though alone in the Hotel Lotus, Madame Beaumont preserved the state of a queen whose loneliness was of position only. She breakfasted at ten, a cool, sweet, leisurely, delicate being who glowed softly in the dimness like a jasmine flower in the dusk. But at dinner was Madame’s glory at its height. She wore a gown as beautiful and immaterial as the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13624
mist from an unseen cataract in a mountain gorge. The nomenclature of this gown is beyond the guess of the scribe. Always pale-red roses reposed against its lace-garnished front. It was a gown that the head-waiter viewed with respect and met at the door. You thought of Paris when you saw it, and maybe of mysterious countesses, and certainly of Versailles and rapiers and Mrs. Fiske and rouge-et-noir. There was an untraceable rumor in the Hotel Lotus that Madame was a cosmopolite, and that she was pulling with
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13627
her slender white hands certain strings between the nations in the favor of Russia. Being a citizeness of the world’s smoothest roads it was small wonder that she was quick to recognize in the refined purlieus of the Hotel Lotus the most desirable spot in America for a restful sojourn during the heat of mid-summer. On the third day of Madame Beaumont’s residence in the hotel a young man entered and registered himself as a guest. His clothing — to speak of his points in approved order — was quietly in the mode;
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13631
his features good and regular; his expression that of a poised and sophisticated man of the world. He informed the clerk that he would remain three or four days, inquired concerning the sailing of European steamships, and sank into the blissful inanition of the nonpareil hotel with the contented air of a traveller in his favorite inn. The young man — not to question the veracity of the register — was Harold Farrington. He drifted into the exclusive and calm current of life in the Lotus so tactfully and
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13634
silently that not a ripple alarmed his fellow-seekers after rest. He ate in the Lotus and of its patronym, and was lulled into blissful peace with the other fortunate mariners. In one day he acquired his table and his waiter and the fear lest the panting chasers after repose that kept Broadway warm should pounce upon and destroy this contiguous but covert haven. After dinner on the next day after the arrival of Harold Farrington Madame Beaumont dropped her handkerchief in passing out. Mr. Farrington recovered and returned it without the effusiveness of a seeker after acquaintance. Perhaps there was a mystic freemasonry between the discriminating guests of the Lotus. Perhaps they were drawn one to another by the fact of their common good fortune in discovering the acme of summer resorts in a Broadway hotel. Words delicate in courtesy and tentative in departure from formality passed between the two. And, as if in the expedient atmosphere of a real summer resort,
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13641
an acquaintance grew, flowered and fructified on the spot as does the mystic plant of the conjuror. For a few moments they stood on a balcony upon which the corridor ended, and tossed the feathery ball of conversation. “One tires of the old resorts,” said Madame Beaumont, with a faint but sweet smile. “What is the use to fly to the mountains or the seashore to escape noise and dust when the very people that make both follow us there?”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13645
“Even on the ocean,” remarked Farrington, sadly, “the Philistines be upon you. The most exclusive steamers are getting to be scarcely more than ferry boats. Heaven help us when the summer resorter discovers that the Lotus is further away from Broadway than Thousand Islands or Mackinac.” “I hope our secret will be safe for a week, anyhow,” said Madame, with a sigh and a smile. “I do not know where I would go if they should descend upon the dear Lotus. I know of but one place so delightful in summer, and that is the castle of Count Polinski, in the Ural Mountains.” “I hear that Baden-Baden and Cannes are almost deserted this season,” said Farrington. “Year by year the old resorts fall in disrepute. Perhaps many others, like ourselves, are seeking out the quiet nooks that are overlooked by the majority.” “I promise myself three days more of this delicious rest,” said Madame Beaumont. “On Monday the Cedric sails.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13653
Harold Farrington’s eyes proclaimed his regret. “I too must leave on Monday,” he said, “but I do not go abroad.” Madame Beaumont shrugged one round shoulder in a foreign gesture. “One cannot hide here forever, charming though it may be. The château has been in preparation for me longer than a month. Those house parties that one must give — what a nuisance! But I shall never forget my week in the Hotel Lotus.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13657
“Nor shall I,” said Farrington in a low voice, “and I shall never forgive the Cedric.” On Sunday evening, three days afterward, the two sat at a little table on the same balcony. A discreet waiter brought ices and small glasses of claret cup. Madame Beaumont wore the same beautiful evening gown that she had worn each day at dinner. She seemed thoughtful. Near her hand on the table lay a small chatelaine purse. After she had
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13660
eaten her ice she opened the purse and took out a one-dollar bill. “Mr. Farrington,” she said, with the smile that had won the Hotel Lotus, “I want to tell you something. I’m going to leave before breakfast in the morning, because I’ve got to go back to my work. I’m behind the hosiery counter at Casey’s Mammoth Store, and my vacation’s up at eight o’clock to-morrow. That paper-dollar is the last cent I’ll see till I draw my eight dollars salary next Saturday night. You’re a real gentleman, and you’ve
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13664
been good to me, and I wanted to tell you before I went. “I’ve been saving up out of my wages for a year just for this vacation. I wanted to spend one week like a lady if I never do another one. I wanted to get up when I please instead of having to crawl out at seven every morning; and I wanted to live on the best and be waited on and ring bells for things just like rich folks do. Now I’ve done it, and I’ve had the happiest time I ever expect to have in my life. I’m going back to my work and my little hall bedroom
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13668
satisfied for another year. I wanted to tell you about it, Mr. Farrington, because I — I thought you kind of liked me, and I — I liked you. But, oh, I couldn’t help deceiving you up till now, for it was all just like a fairy tale to me. So I talked about Europe and the things I’ve read about in other countries, and made you think I was a great lady. “This dress I’ve got on — it’s the only one I have that’s fit to wear — I bought from O’Dowd & Levinsky on the instalment plan.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13673
“Seventy-five dollars is the price, and it was made to measure. I paid $10 down, and they’re to collect $1 a week till it’s paid for. That’ll be about all I have to say, Mr. Farrington, except that my name is Mamie Siviter instead of Madame Beaumont, and I thank you for your attentions. This dollar will pay the instalment due on the dress to-morrow. I guess I’ll go up to my room now.” Harold Farrington listened to the recital of the Lotus’s loveliest guest with an impassive countenance.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13676
When she had concluded he drew a small book like a checkbook from his coat pocket. He wrote upon a blank form in this with a stub of pencil, tore out the leaf, tossed it over to his companion and took up the paper dollar. “I’ve got to go to work, too, in the morning,” he said, “and I might as well begin now. There’s a receipt for the dollar instalment. I’ve been a collector for O’Dowd & Levinsky for three years. Funny, ain’t it, that you and me both had the same idea about spending our vacation? I’ve
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13680
always wanted to put up at a swell hotel, and I saved up out of my twenty per, and did it. Say, Mame, how about a trip to Coney Saturday night on the boat — what?” The face of the pseudo Madame Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont beamed. “Oh, you bet I’ll go, Mr. Farrington. The store closes at twelve on Saturdays. I guess Coney’ll be all right even if we did spend a week with the swells.” Below the balcony the sweltering city growled and buzzed in the July night. Inside the Hotel Lotus the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13685
tempered, cool shadows reigned, and the solicitous waiter single-footed near the low windows, ready at a nod to serve Madame and her escort. At the door of the elevator Farrington took his leave, and Madame Beaumont made her last ascent. But before they reached the noiseless cage he said: “Just forget that ‘Harold Farrington,’ will you? — McManus is the name — James McManus. Some call me Jimmy.” “Good-night, Jimmy,” said Madame.
Story in short- Mme. Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont vacations at Hotel Lotus in NYC before taking her trip abroad and enjoys company of a gentleman that is of her ilk and much more than she ever imagined.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13598
THERE IS A hotel on Broadway that has escaped discovery by the summer-resort promoters. It is deep and wide and cool. Its rooms are finished in dark oak of a low temperature. Home-made breezes and deep-green shrubbery give it the delights without the inconveniences of the Adirondacks. One can mount its broad staircases or glide dreamily upward in its aërial elevators,
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13601
attended by guides in brass buttons, with a serene joy that Alpine climbers have never attained. There is a chef in its kitchen who will prepare for you brook trout better than the White Mountains ever served, sea food that would turn Old Point Comfort— “by Gad, sah!” — green with envy, and Maine venison that would melt the official heart of a game warden. A few have found out this oasis in the July desert of Manhattan. During that month you will see the hotel’s reduced array of guests scattered luxuriously about in the cool twilight of its lofty dining-room, gazing at one another across the snowy waste of unoccupied tables, silently congratulatory. Superfluous, watchful, pneumatically moving waiters hover near, supplying every want before it is expressed. The temperature is perpetual April. The ceiling is painted in water colors to counterfeit a summer sky across which delicate clouds drift and do not vanish as those of nature do to our regret.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Mme. Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont is actually Mamie Siviter who has saved up for a whole year to have this week in luxury and after telling Harold Farrington, that she is a working girl, he tells her that his real name is James McManus. They plan to go to Coney Island on a date next Saturday. Cute!
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13609
The pleasing, distant roar of Broadway is transformed in the imagination of the happy guests to the noise of a waterfall filling the woods with its restful sound. At every strange footstep the guests turn an anxious ear, fearful lest their retreat be discovered and invaded by the restless pleasure-seekers who are forever hounding nature to her deepest lairs. Thus in the depopulated caravansary the little band of connoisseurs jealously hide themselves during the heated season, enjoying to the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13612
uttermost the delights of mountain and seashore that art and skill have gathered and served to them. In this July came to the hotel one whose card that she sent to the clerk for her name to be registered read “Mme. Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont.” Madame Beaumont was a guest such as the Hotel Lotus loved. She possessed the fine air of the élite, tempered and sweetened by a cordial graciousness that made the hotel employees her slaves. Bell-boys fought for the honor of answering her ring; the clerks, but for
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13620
torrid day one remains in the umbrageous fastnesses of the Lotus as a trout hangs poised in the pellucid sanctuaries of his favorite pool. Though alone in the Hotel Lotus, Madame Beaumont preserved the state of a queen whose loneliness was of position only. She breakfasted at ten, a cool, sweet, leisurely, delicate being who glowed softly in the dimness like a jasmine flower in the dusk. But at dinner was Madame’s glory at its height. She wore a gown as beautiful and immaterial as the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13624
mist from an unseen cataract in a mountain gorge. The nomenclature of this gown is beyond the guess of the scribe. Always pale-red roses reposed against its lace-garnished front. It was a gown that the head-waiter viewed with respect and met at the door. You thought of Paris when you saw it, and maybe of mysterious countesses, and certainly of Versailles and rapiers and Mrs. Fiske and rouge-et-noir. There was an untraceable rumor in the Hotel Lotus that Madame was a cosmopolite, and that she was pulling with
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13627
her slender white hands certain strings between the nations in the favor of Russia. Being a citizeness of the world’s smoothest roads it was small wonder that she was quick to recognize in the refined purlieus of the Hotel Lotus the most desirable spot in America for a restful sojourn during the heat of mid-summer. On the third day of Madame Beaumont’s residence in the hotel a young man entered and registered himself as a guest. His clothing — to speak of his points in approved order — was quietly in the mode;
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13631
his features good and regular; his expression that of a poised and sophisticated man of the world. He informed the clerk that he would remain three or four days, inquired concerning the sailing of European steamships, and sank into the blissful inanition of the nonpareil hotel with the contented air of a traveller in his favorite inn. The young man — not to question the veracity of the register — was Harold Farrington. He drifted into the exclusive and calm current of life in the Lotus so tactfully and
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13634
silently that not a ripple alarmed his fellow-seekers after rest. He ate in the Lotus and of its patronym, and was lulled into blissful peace with the other fortunate mariners. In one day he acquired his table and his waiter and the fear lest the panting chasers after repose that kept Broadway warm should pounce upon and destroy this contiguous but covert haven. After dinner on the next day after the arrival of Harold Farrington Madame Beaumont dropped her handkerchief in passing out. Mr. Farrington recovered and returned it without the effusiveness of a seeker after acquaintance. Perhaps there was a mystic freemasonry between the discriminating guests of the Lotus. Perhaps they were drawn one to another by the fact of their common good fortune in discovering the acme of summer resorts in a Broadway hotel. Words delicate in courtesy and tentative in departure from formality passed between the two. And, as if in the expedient atmosphere of a real summer resort,
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13641
an acquaintance grew, flowered and fructified on the spot as does the mystic plant of the conjuror. For a few moments they stood on a balcony upon which the corridor ended, and tossed the feathery ball of conversation. “One tires of the old resorts,” said Madame Beaumont, with a faint but sweet smile. “What is the use to fly to the mountains or the seashore to escape noise and dust when the very people that make both follow us there?”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13645
“Even on the ocean,” remarked Farrington, sadly, “the Philistines be upon you. The most exclusive steamers are getting to be scarcely more than ferry boats. Heaven help us when the summer resorter discovers that the Lotus is further away from Broadway than Thousand Islands or Mackinac.” “I hope our secret will be safe for a week, anyhow,” said Madame, with a sigh and a smile. “I do not know where I would go if they should descend upon the dear Lotus. I know of but one place so delightful in summer, and that is the castle of Count Polinski, in the Ural Mountains.” “I hear that Baden-Baden and Cannes are almost deserted this season,” said Farrington. “Year by year the old resorts fall in disrepute. Perhaps many others, like ourselves, are seeking out the quiet nooks that are overlooked by the majority.” “I promise myself three days more of this delicious rest,” said Madame Beaumont. “On Monday the Cedric sails.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13653
Harold Farrington’s eyes proclaimed his regret. “I too must leave on Monday,” he said, “but I do not go abroad.” Madame Beaumont shrugged one round shoulder in a foreign gesture. “One cannot hide here forever, charming though it may be. The château has been in preparation for me longer than a month. Those house parties that one must give — what a nuisance! But I shall never forget my week in the Hotel Lotus.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13657
“Nor shall I,” said Farrington in a low voice, “and I shall never forgive the Cedric.” On Sunday evening, three days afterward, the two sat at a little table on the same balcony. A discreet waiter brought ices and small glasses of claret cup. Madame Beaumont wore the same beautiful evening gown that she had worn each day at dinner. She seemed thoughtful. Near her hand on the table lay a small chatelaine purse. After she had
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13660
eaten her ice she opened the purse and took out a one-dollar bill. “Mr. Farrington,” she said, with the smile that had won the Hotel Lotus, “I want to tell you something. I’m going to leave before breakfast in the morning, because I’ve got to go back to my work. I’m behind the hosiery counter at Casey’s Mammoth Store, and my vacation’s up at eight o’clock to-morrow. That paper-dollar is the last cent I’ll see till I draw my eight dollars salary next Saturday night. You’re a real gentleman, and you’ve
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13664
been good to me, and I wanted to tell you before I went. “I’ve been saving up out of my wages for a year just for this vacation. I wanted to spend one week like a lady if I never do another one. I wanted to get up when I please instead of having to crawl out at seven every morning; and I wanted to live on the best and be waited on and ring bells for things just like rich folks do. Now I’ve done it, and I’ve had the happiest time I ever expect to have in my life. I’m going back to my work and my little hall bedroom
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13668
satisfied for another year. I wanted to tell you about it, Mr. Farrington, because I — I thought you kind of liked me, and I — I liked you. But, oh, I couldn’t help deceiving you up till now, for it was all just like a fairy tale to me. So I talked about Europe and the things I’ve read about in other countries, and made you think I was a great lady. “This dress I’ve got on — it’s the only one I have that’s fit to wear — I bought from O’Dowd & Levinsky on the instalment plan.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13673
“Seventy-five dollars is the price, and it was made to measure. I paid $10 down, and they’re to collect $1 a week till it’s paid for. That’ll be about all I have to say, Mr. Farrington, except that my name is Mamie Siviter instead of Madame Beaumont, and I thank you for your attentions. This dollar will pay the instalment due on the dress to-morrow. I guess I’ll go up to my room now.” Harold Farrington listened to the recital of the Lotus’s loveliest guest with an impassive countenance.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13676
When she had concluded he drew a small book like a checkbook from his coat pocket. He wrote upon a blank form in this with a stub of pencil, tore out the leaf, tossed it over to his companion and took up the paper dollar. “I’ve got to go to work, too, in the morning,” he said, “and I might as well begin now. There’s a receipt for the dollar instalment. I’ve been a collector for O’Dowd & Levinsky for three years. Funny, ain’t it, that you and me both had the same idea about spending our vacation? I’ve
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 13680
always wanted to put up at a swell hotel, and I saved up out of my twenty per, and did it. Say, Mame, how about a trip to Coney Saturday night on the boat — what?” The face of the pseudo Madame Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont beamed. “Oh, you bet I’ll go, Mr. Farrington. The store closes at twelve on Saturdays. I guess Coney’ll be all right even if we did spend a week with the swells.” Below the balcony the sweltering city growled and buzzed in the July night. Inside the Hotel Lotus the
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tempered, cool shadows reigned, and the solicitous waiter single-footed near the low windows, ready at a nod to serve Madame and her escort. At the door of the elevator Farrington took his leave, and Madame Beaumont made her last ascent. But before they reached the noiseless cage he said: “Just forget that ‘Harold Farrington,’ will you? — McManus is the name — James McManus. Some call me Jimmy.” “Good-night, Jimmy,” said Madame.
December 17, 2017
The short story "Transients in Arcadia" by O. Henry gives the readers the description of a desirable place "There is a hotel on Broadway that has escaped discovery by the summer-resort promoters. It is deep and wide and cool. Its rooms are finished in dark oak of a low temperature. Home-made breezes and deep-green shrubbery give it the delights ..."
This idealistic place is hidden from the public, only special, exclusive guests have happy opportunities to stay here. The first paragraph of this review includes the quote from O. Henry work, the author tried to highlight the uniqueness of the place, so did I at the beginning of the second paragraph.
What makes the master of literature different? It is a very rich vocabulary and the literary style. Reading the O. Henry description we draw in our imagination the bright picture of the world of the story and their characters. Here is a description of the main character of the story - a very welcomed guest of the hotel:
"Madame Beaumont was a guest such as the Hotel Lotus loved. She possessed the fine air of the élite, tempered and sweetened by a cordial graciousness that made the hotel employees her slaves. Bell-boys fought for the honor of answering her ring; the clerks, but for the question of ownership, would have deeded to her the hotel and its contents; the other guests regarded her as the final touch of feminine exclusiveness and beauty that rendered the entourage perfect."
That very respectable guest met another upper-class visitor of the hotel who registered as a Harold Farrington. After Harold Farmington picked up a dropped handkerchief and returned it to madam Beaumont, they started to enjoy being together. They would talk about traveling comparing some luxurious world's resorts.
In the last evening, before Mme Beaumont left the hotel, she said Mr. Farmington that her time of staying in the hotel up and she needs to come back to her work, that her real name is Mamie Siviter and she works in the store here in New York.
"Harold Farrington listened to the recital of the Lotus's loveliest guest with an impassive countenance." He said that his vacation had finished too, he also works as a clerk, he lives in New York. Here is the last paragraph of the story:
"At the door of the elevator Farrington took his leave, and Madame Beaumont made her last ascent. But before they reached the noiseless cage he said: "Just forget that 'Harold Farrington,' will you?—McManus is the name—James McManus. Some call me Jimmy."
"Good-night, Jimmy," said Madame."
A happy end of the story made unnoticeable the theme of poorness, the wishes of two main characters to climb up the social ladder (that wish has nothing to do with arrogance). The positive mood of the story is typical for the classic of American literature - O. Henry. Let's enjoy the story, here is the link to the original text:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1444/1...
This idealistic place is hidden from the public, only special, exclusive guests have happy opportunities to stay here. The first paragraph of this review includes the quote from O. Henry work, the author tried to highlight the uniqueness of the place, so did I at the beginning of the second paragraph.
What makes the master of literature different? It is a very rich vocabulary and the literary style. Reading the O. Henry description we draw in our imagination the bright picture of the world of the story and their characters. Here is a description of the main character of the story - a very welcomed guest of the hotel:
"Madame Beaumont was a guest such as the Hotel Lotus loved. She possessed the fine air of the élite, tempered and sweetened by a cordial graciousness that made the hotel employees her slaves. Bell-boys fought for the honor of answering her ring; the clerks, but for the question of ownership, would have deeded to her the hotel and its contents; the other guests regarded her as the final touch of feminine exclusiveness and beauty that rendered the entourage perfect."
That very respectable guest met another upper-class visitor of the hotel who registered as a Harold Farrington. After Harold Farmington picked up a dropped handkerchief and returned it to madam Beaumont, they started to enjoy being together. They would talk about traveling comparing some luxurious world's resorts.
In the last evening, before Mme Beaumont left the hotel, she said Mr. Farmington that her time of staying in the hotel up and she needs to come back to her work, that her real name is Mamie Siviter and she works in the store here in New York.
"Harold Farrington listened to the recital of the Lotus's loveliest guest with an impassive countenance." He said that his vacation had finished too, he also works as a clerk, he lives in New York. Here is the last paragraph of the story:
"At the door of the elevator Farrington took his leave, and Madame Beaumont made her last ascent. But before they reached the noiseless cage he said: "Just forget that 'Harold Farrington,' will you?—McManus is the name—James McManus. Some call me Jimmy."
"Good-night, Jimmy," said Madame."
A happy end of the story made unnoticeable the theme of poorness, the wishes of two main characters to climb up the social ladder (that wish has nothing to do with arrogance). The positive mood of the story is typical for the classic of American literature - O. Henry. Let's enjoy the story, here is the link to the original text:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1444/1...
June 16, 2020
A sweet read. The time and place setting were my absolute favourites! The tale was crafted very well, truly lovely!
August 9, 2020
Lies! Sometimes, it's presence doesn't act as a spoiler, especially when it comes from both the ends of a thread, it makes the thread even more subtle and rigid. Although, sometimes!
March 19, 2025
Don't you just know that most people on social media or on cruise ships or even making a late night run to a market aren't really real? How could we be, once we step out into the real world? And O. Henry knew this circa 1900, and that's why we still read his work, imo.
October 25, 2021
Lovely meet cute.
September 17, 2024
Great story
September 20, 2025
for school!
December 31, 2020
Reads like a bittersweet dream.
July 23, 2020
El libro tiene 294 páginas, es una antología de un montón de cuentos de este autor traducidos al español. Dejo estos datos acá porque no pude encontrar el libro acá y no tengo intención de seguir teniendo esta copia física en mi biblioteca.
(No me gustó.)
(No me gustó.)
May 10, 2021
Reverse slumming.
Read
May 27, 2013O.Henry Transients in Arcadia level 2
05/26 = 60minutes
hotel-summer-broadway-girl-madame beaumont-lotus
What she would wear at dinner?
she would wear at a beautiful dress.
What kind of cloths do you like?
I like cool style cloths.
It was little difficult for me because there were many word that I could not understand.
but it was very interesting story.
05/26 = 60minutes
hotel-summer-broadway-girl-madame beaumont-lotus
What she would wear at dinner?
she would wear at a beautiful dress.
What kind of cloths do you like?
I like cool style cloths.
It was little difficult for me because there were many word that I could not understand.
but it was very interesting story.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews