Wharton, Edith — The Age of Innocence [787]

Old Catherine beamed on him approvingly. “No; I can see that. You’ve got a quick eye. When you were a little boy I’ve no doubt you liked to be helped first.” She threw back her head with a laugh that made her chins ripple like little waves. “Ah, here’s my Ellen now!” she exclaimed, as the portières parted behind her. — Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence, 787

Note

Old Catherine Mingott’s frankness cuts through the decorum of every other New Yorker — she names Archer’s impatience as the childish wish ‘to be helped first’ and laughs with ‘chins [rippling] like little waves.’ Wharton gives her the book’s only physical comedy that isn’t embarrassed by itself.