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About this book
When Edward Barnard, a young and promising man from Chicago, is sent to Tahiti for business, everyone expects him to return with wealth and success. After some time, his fiancée Isabel Longstaffe sends Bateman Hunter to bring him home. But Bateman is surprised to see how his friend changed. Edward now embraces the slower rhythm of life on the island, prioritizing simplicity, beauty and spiritual contentment. Can he ever be brought back home? What really is success? Is it about wealth or about living a life that feels true to you? Meet Edward Barnard in this enjoyable tale about what really matters in life!
Author
W. Somerset Maugham
Read by
Digital Voice
Story
The Fall of Edward Barnard
By W. Somerset Maugham
BATEMAN Hunter slept badly. For a fortnight on the boat that brought him from Tahiti to San Francisco he had been thinking of the story he had to tell, and for three days on the train he had repeated to himself the words in which he meant to tell it. But in a few hours now he would be in Chicago, and doubts assailed him. His conscience, always very sensitive, was not at ease. He was uncertain that he had done all that was possible, it was on his honour to do much more than the possible, and the thought was disturbing that, in a matter which so nearly touched his own interest, he had allowed his interest to prevail over his quixotry. Self-sacrifice appealed so keenly to his imagination that the inability to exercise it gave him a sense of disillusion. He was like the philanthropist who with altruistic motives builds model dwellings for the poor and finds that he has made a lucrative investment. He cannot prevent the satisfaction he feels in the ten per cent which rewards the bread he had cast upon the waters, but he has an awkward feeling that it detracts somewhat from the savour of his virtue. Bateman Hunter knew that his heart was pure, but he was not quite sure how steadfastly, when he told her his story, he would endure the scrutiny of Isabel Longstaffe's cool grey eyes. They were far-seeing and wise. She measured the standards of others by her own meticulous uprightness and there could be no greater censure than the cold silence with which she expressed her disapproval of a conduct that did not satisfy her exacting code. There was no appeal from her judgment, for, having made up her mind, she never changed it. But Bateman would not have had her different. He loved not only the beauty of her person, slim and straight, with the proud carriage of her head, but still more the beauty of her soul. With her truthfulness, her rigid sense of honour, her fearless outlook, she seemed to him to collect in herself all t...
🎧
Audiobook Available
Listen to The Fall of Edward Barnard in the app. It's free and ad-free.
About this book
When Edward Barnard, a young and promising man from Chicago, is sent to Tahiti for business, everyone expects him to return with wealth and success. After some time, his fiancée Isabel Longstaffe sends Bateman Hunter to bring him home. But Bateman is surprised to see how his friend changed. Edward now embraces the slower rhythm of life on the island, prioritizing simplicity, beauty and spiritual contentment. Can he ever be brought back home? What really is success? Is it about wealth or about living a life that feels true to you? Meet Edward Barnard in this enjoyable tale about what really matters in life!
Author
W. Somerset Maugham
Read by
Digital Voice
Story
The Fall of Edward Barnard
By W. Somerset Maugham
BATEMAN Hunter slept badly. For a fortnight on the boat that brought him from Tahiti to San Francisco he had been thinking of the story he had to tell, and for three days on the train he had repeated to himself the words in which he meant to tell it. But in a few hours now he would be in Chicago, and doubts assailed him. His conscience, always very sensitive, was not at ease. He was uncertain that he had done all that was possible, it was on his honour to do much more than the possible, and the thought was disturbing that, in a matter which so nearly touched his own interest, he had allowed his interest to prevail over his quixotry. Self-sacrifice appealed so keenly to his imagination that the inability to exercise it gave him a sense of disillusion. He was like the philanthropist who with altruistic motives builds model dwellings for the poor and finds that he has made a lucrative investment. He cannot prevent the satisfaction he feels in the ten per cent which rewards the bread he had cast upon the waters, but he has an awkward feeling that it detracts somewhat from the savour of his virtue. Bateman Hunter knew that his heart was pure, but he was not quite sure how steadfastly, when he told her his story, he would endure the scrutiny of Isabel Longstaffe's cool grey eyes. They were far-seeing and wise. She measured the standards of others by her own meticulous uprightness and there could be no greater censure than the cold silence with which she expressed her disapproval of a conduct that did not satisfy her exacting code. There was no appeal from her judgment, for, having made up her mind, she never changed it. But Bateman would not have had her different. He loved not only the beauty of her person, slim and straight, with the proud carriage of her head, but still more the beauty of her soul. With her truthfulness, her rigid sense of honour, her fearless outlook, she seemed to him to collect in herself all t...
