The Gilded Age · Season 1
She thanks you for the letter that you did not show me and for the tickets that you purchased without my knowledge. She means to join us here just as soon as she has closed the house and sold her furniture.
What a relief.
A relief? And who is to support her? Exactly. Me. With the Van Rhijn money, which was not achieved at no cost to myself. You were allowed the pure and tranquil life of a spinster. I was not.
I'm very grateful.
So you should be.
Now you need to know, we only receive the old people in this house. Not the new. Never the new.
What's the difference?
The old have been in charge since before the Revolution. They ruled, justly, until the new people invaded.
It's not quite as simple as that.
Yes, it is.
Well, I'm new. I've only just arrived.
Marian, never mind that the Brooks have been in Pennsylvania for a century and a half. My mother, your grandmother, was a Livingston of Livingston Manor, and they came to this city in 1674. You belong to old New York, my dear, and don't let anyone tell you different. You are my niece, and you belong to old New York.
I don't need money. I'm fed, I'm paid, and I have a place to stay.
Well, I brought you something. You take it.
I told you I don't need it.
Don't be silly, I'm your mother, I'm allowed to give you money.
I may be a bastard, Mr. Thorburn, but you are a fool. And of the two, I think I know which I prefer. Now, good day to you, sir.
Well I like her strong views. I like her energy. Don't worry, Agnes. She's clever. She'll learn the rules.
Will she? Revolutions are launched by clever people with strong views and excess energy.
Who is this Mr. Raikes?
The lawyer who settled Henry's estate.
Do we have to receive him?
He waived his fee.
Oh, I see. Well, let's make it tea and be quick about it.
Money isn't everything.
It is when you haven't got it.
New York is a collection of villages, my dear. We know the people who live in our own village.
But not the ones who don't.
The Russells live in your village, Mama. I could throw a stone from here and break their windows.
Don't tease me.
I'm not. I'm stating facts.
I'm not concerned with facts. Not if they interfere with my beliefs.
This sort of stunt does not impress the people you want to win over.
Mrs. Morris, this sort of stunt impresses everyone.
If you want me to kneel, I'll kneel. If you want me to beg, I am begging now. We've already lost enough to make us poor. But if it goes on for much longer, there are some among us facing ruin. Please. End it.
I won't say I feel no pity, because I do. But you have not only tried to get the better of me. You and Mrs. Morris have snubbed and belittled my wife. How could I allow that to go unpunished? I don't suggest that you men committed every crime that I'm avenging here. But to employ a modern phrase, I'm afraid you must face the music.
Why would you want to go to Brooklyn?
As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of paying someone a surprise visit. She may need cheering up.
So should I if I lived in Brooklyn.
What are you doing here? And the shoes, what was that? Because we're colored, we must be poor? I loaned you train fare!
I made a stupid assumption.
And you just showed up at my parents' home!
What's so wrong about that? My aunt lets you live at her house.
Lets me? I work there.
I know.
No you don't know anything! About me, about my life, about my situation. I live in a different country from the one you know!
Look, I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry! Just stop thinking you're really my friend.
My lady was in a high window, so I realized I needed a long ladder.
Charity has two functions in our world, my dear. The first is to raise funds for the less fortunate, which is wholly good. The second is to provide a ladder for people to climb into society who do not belong there.
And that is wholly bad?
Not wholly, perhaps, but it should give us pause.
So Mr. McAllister's opinion is important?
Is any of it important?
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Gilded Age pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
