The Innocents

'The Innocents: A Story for Lovers' is a novel by Sinclair Lewis, the first American author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The story introduces us to a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Seth Appleby, who were almost old. They called each other «Father» and «Mother.» But frequently they were guilty of holding hands, or of cuddling together in corners, and Father was a person of stubborn youthfulness. For something over forty years Mother had been trying to make him stop smoking, yet every time her back was turned he would sneak out his amber cigarette-holder and puff a cheap cigarette, winking at the shocked crochet tidy on the patent rocker. Mother sniffed at him and said that he acted like a young smart Aleck, but he would merely grin in answer and coax her out for a walk.