Aprendiendo

to love and to honor
it was rather surprising to discover a deep vein of sentiment in little george potter. I had been his friend and his lawyer for many years and had watched the always fat, and once alert, little man settle into a domestic routine. He had been moderately successful in business, sufficiently successful to permit him to retire from business and to travel about the world alittle if he had wanted to do so. But instead he and esther were content to sit night after night in their pleasant she busy with her living-room; she busy with her sewing or reading;el He passing the time with his very excellent collection of postage-stamps

looking back over the years of my friendship with Potter, I can see that the vein of romance had probably been there all the time. There was,for instance, his very romantic love-affair with Althea Deane- an affair which almost became a scandal. But just when people began to gossip about them, george married her.
That marriage appeared to extinguish george Potter's last spark of romanticism. It never had a chance to be successful, and when althea left him suddenly, George's friends considered that he was fortunate to lose her. Latercame the news of althea's death while living abroad, and a couple of years later george began to call upon esther seriously. the people of our group were only slightly interested- it is difficult to become greatly excited over possible marriage when both the man and the woman are equally rather dull and uninteresting.
the marriage was a very nice affair. There followed the usual series of partiesfor the newly married couple. Then it seemed that george and esther retired from life. Even his business affairs ran so well that there was little need on george's part for services as his lawyer- and while I never ceased to like him, we found less and less in common as the years passed. I couldn't imagine that they were happy; perhaps they were contented but no really happy. There wasn't enoughsentiment.... That's the way I figured George. And nothing happened to change my opinion until a few weeks before their twenty fifth anniversary.
It was then that he came into my office, his fat little face shining with enthusiasm, and told me of his unsual plans for the silver anniversary. His bright little eyes shone as he explained the thing, and I'll confess that I was very sentimental andprofoundly impressive; but mainly because it was quiet, dull, old george potter who was planing life since his second marriage, and who had avoided social contacts.

according to what george told me, he was doing this thing for esther's sake. "It'll please her" he explained. "Women like that sort of thing, you know- and this seems to me a real idea. You have to be a part of it, because you werebest mean when esther and i were married. It's just a gesture on my part- a sort of sacrifice to please the Old Lady"
I'll say this for george; he didn´t do things halfway. Instead of the usual party, he presented a perfect duplication of his marriage to esther twenty-five years before. There was even the same minister- very old now- and the same violinist who had played "Oh, promise me" at theother ceremony. A good many original guests were of the original guests were there: most of us rather gray-haired now.
a amar y honrar
era bastante sorprendente descubrir una vena profunda del sentimiento en poco george potter. Yo había sido su amigo y su abogado durante muchos años y había visto el pequeño siempre grasa, y una vez que el hombre alerta, establecer una rutina doméstica. Habíatenido un éxito moderado en los negocios, lo suficientemente exitosa para permitir que se retire de los negocios y de viajar por el mundo un poco si hubiera querido hacerlo. Pero en lugar de eso y esther se contentaban con sentarse noche tras noche en su agradable ella ocupada con su salón, ella ocupada con su costura o lectura;
Él el que pasa el tiempo con su muy excelente colección de sellos de...