270
PARTISAN REVIEW
"If
I had the money that Michael has," said Seymour, "I would
have a man servant."
"I am better than a man servant," said his mother.
Soon there was a new quarrel beween Sarah and Rebecca about
the children. Sarah again referred to the fact that the children were
hers and not Rebecca's, and that she was not going to let the children
be spoiled by an old maid aunt who was overdevoted. Rebecca often
referred to herself as an old maid and for this reason Sarah, who did
not know or wish to believe that other human beings were as proud
as she, thought that it was all right to speak of Rebecca as an old
maid.
"Shame on you," said Ruth Hart, "to say such a thing, such
an insulting thing! You pick out what your sister is most ashamed of
in the whole world and you throw it in her face!"
Sarah cited her sister's own references.
"She says herself that she is an old maid."
"You're smart," her mother replied, "but you have no feelings."
It was then necessary for the mother to explain that she did not mean
that Sarah had no feelings about herself, she had no feeling for what
occurred in other human hearts. Sarah denied this and stopped speak–
ing to her mother. She decided to get a new apartment and to live
by herself with her children.
Her mother tried to stop her and she resumed conversation with
her daughter as if nothing had occurred. But it was useless. Sarah
declared that she would consent to stay only if the amount of rent
paid by Rebecca was increased, for Rebecca paid only a third of the
rent on the premise that Sarah too was helping to support her mother,
and Sarah, as Michael's wife, was really more prosperous than Re–
becca.
Sarah moved to a new apartment and Ruth Hart looked with
Rebecca for a new apartment and
in
the end it was the mother in
Ruth Hart who decided that she and her daughter and her son would
take an apartment in the same house as Sarah. Sarah had been in–
stalled for a month on the fourth floor when her sister, mother, and
brother arrived on the second floor, and soon Ruth Hart wa<> con–
stantly passing from the second floor to the fourth floor and back,
supervising her family. Sarah was not really displeased to have her
mother so near, although she concealed her satisfaction. She liked to
be alone where no one could tell her what to do or criticize her ac–
tions, but it was a comfort to have her mother near her and it made
it possible for her to make visits and leave the children alone at home.
