THE CHILD IS THE MEANING
269
which sometimes occurred just as, when a storekeeper refused to sell
her a grocery which was on sale because she was not a steady customer
and had entered the store just to save a few cents on the one item,
Sarah departed from the store with an untouched dignity, not in
the least distressed by what the storekeeper had said. She was ex–
tremely proud and given to extraordinary anger when her pride was
penetrated. She was not moved by such incidents because she began
with the idea that she was smarter when she saved money by such
devices and she took pride in the fact that Michael, though he seldom
praised her, had said:
"That girl can make a dollar go farther than anyone else in
the world."
Michael did not know that it was precisely this ability, in which
her whole being participated, which made her the kind of a wife
she was. Nor did he know that this desire to save money was the
same emotion, in all truth, that made Sarah so jealous of the other
women her husband went after. Ruth Hart, however, illuminated by
her years and her intimate experience of goodness, perceived the com–
plicated truth when she said to her daughter that it was strange
that she drove a man who was making so much money from the house
and yet at the same time was so concerned about the expenditure of
money.
Ruth Hart pointed out that the suitors who came to see Re–
becca from time to time were all men who would never be as success–
ful as Michael, Michael was really one in a million. But Sarah justi–
fied herself with the hope that Michael would return one day as he
had returned before, exhausted by sensuality, pleased to have a home,
and in love with his children, if not with his wife. She would then
have everything she wanted, a husband who was rich and who was
faithful to her, too.
Seymour never spoke with Sarah about her husband, but he
questioned his mother like a detective about the latest events in the
unhappy marriage. He admired Michael, he detested Sarah, and he
felt that he and Michael were men of the world. When he heard
that Michael had moved from a hotel to the apartment of
his
latest
lady friend, he was disappointed, for he felt that Michael would
have more freedom in a hotel to seek out whatever new companion
he wanted.
"Look at you,u said Ruth Hart, "you like to have a woman take
care of you: why do you think that Michael does not feel like that
too?"
