16 The Other Two by Edith Wharton

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Mr. Waythorn just married Mrs. Waythorn and were coming back from their honeymoon, because Lily Haskett, Mrs. Waythorn's daughter with her first husband, was sick. Mrs. Waythorn was married first to Mr. Haskett, then to Mr. Varick, then to Mr. Waythorn. Mr. Haskett really loved his daughter, so he moved from Utica to New York City to be near Lily. He cared about her education and came to Mr. Waythorn's house frequently to visit Lily. He was a little man. At first Mr. Waythorn thought he was a brute, because Mrs. Waythorn put it that way until Mr. Waythorn met him. Mr. Waythorn found out that Mrs. Waythorn lied when she said that she didn't meet Mr. Haskett when he came the first time after Lily was ill. Mr. Waythorn had a friend in business called Mr. Sellers. Mr. Sellers was ill with gout, so he cannot carried out the business for Mr. Varick and he asked Mr. Waythorn to manage the money and transaction for Mr. Varick in place of him. Therefore, Mr. Waythorn began meeting Mr. Varick regularly. Once, Mr. Waythorn saw Mr. Varick in a restaurant drinking coffee with cognac. When he got home, Mrs. Waythorn did the same with his coffee, but he said that he didn't drink cognac with coffee. In the beginning Mr. Waythorn was really angry about Mrs. Waythorn meeting Haskett and that he met Mr. Varick on the street. After Lily and Sellers's illnesses, he learned to live with them on a regular basis. Mr. Varick was a polite man. Mr. Waythorn finally realized that Mrs. Waythorn learned from her previous marriages to make this third marriage a success. At last, they all met and Mrs. Waythorn offered all 3 tea and they all accepted it.