262
PARTISAN REVIEW
of a suitable husband. There was no question but that an acute
rivalry existed between the sisters, although curiously enough it
was
Sarah who suffered from it more than Rebecca. Yet perhaps it was
not curious, for Rebecca had been her father's pet as a child and
now it was clear that her .mother preferred her to Sarah.
During the first World War, during prosperity, Rebecca's salary
increased and by the end of the war she was made a designer by her
employer, partly because he liked her very much, and partly because
she was dependable, although uninspired. She had no genuine gift
for design, but she was very good at following the fashions and imi–
tating the inventions of other designers.
As
a designer, her salary was
so high that the question of whom she would marry became more
difficult, for she felt that she did not want to surrender her pay check
of one hundred and fifty dollars a week merely for the sake of some
struggling salesman who made perhaps a third of that amount. But
her mother was impatient. Rebecca was already thirty and her mo–
ther became embarrassed when she heard of the marriages of other
and younger girls. As a mother, Ruth Hart felt in the depths of her
being, where the family life dictated her emotions, that it was utterly
wrong that Rebecca should be unmarried.
"Don't worry, Mamma," said Rebecca, "the right man will
come along one of these days." •
Ruth Hart, however, did not depend upon this belief, and she
studiously saved as much money as possible from Rebecca's salary so
that the right man would be tempted by the money Rebecca had to
give him. Rebecca obeyed her mother in all things, but she pointed
out to her that many girls married without giving any money to their
husbands.
"This is America, Mamma," said Rebecca. "You left Europe
twenty-five years ago, but you think about everything as if you were
still a girl in Europe."
"Money is money," said her mother, "it is just as important
in America as Europe."
Rebecca was fairly content and she joked about being an old
maid. But her mother's will prevailed. It was decided that if an in–
vestment were made in a better apartment and in better furniture,
if mother, daughter, and son moved to a better neighborhood, Re–
becca's chances would improve. When these shifts had been accom–
plished, it was decided that Samuel's name was vulgar and that it
might be a good idea to call him Seymour. This was Rebecca's idea,
and Samuel was indifferent.
