Unit 1: Vocabulary from Readings 4

Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.

Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

In the vestibule below was a letter box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”

Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the air shaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts.

It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason.

He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.

They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication.

Their inborn finesse, their instinctive elegance, their suppleness of wit, are their only aristocracy, making some daughters of the people the equal of great ladies.

Their inborn finesse, their instinctive elegance, their suppleness of wit, are their only aristocracy, making some daughters of the people the equal of great ladies.

She suffered incessantly, feeling herself born for all delicacies and luxuries.

She thought of large drawing rooms hung in old silks, of graceful pieces of furniture carrying bric‑a‑brac of inestimable value and of the little perfumed coquettish apartments made for five o’clock chats with most intimate friends, men known and sought after, whose attention all women envied and desired.

And she wept for whole days from chagrin, from regret, from despair and disappointment.

Suddenly she discovered in a black satin box a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart beat fast with an immoderate desire.

She danced with enthusiasm, with passion, intoxicated with pleasure, thinking of nothing, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a kind of cloud of happiness that came of all this homage and all this admiration, of all these awakened desires and this victory so complete and sweet to the heart of woman.

Finally they found on the dock one of those old nocturnal coupés, that one sees in Paris after nightfall, as if they were ashamed of their misery by day.

He gave notes, made ruinous promises, took money of usurers and the whole race of lenders.

She learned the heavy cares of a household, the odious work of a kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her rosy nails upon the greasy pots and the bottoms of the stewpans.