510
PARTISAN REVIEW
She sobbed brokenly and held him. He hit her again and again on
the head. She tried to shield herself, now like a hunted, timid animal,
as she crouched against the wall with her hands over her.
"Ma'mma, what are you making me do?" He hit her until the
paper was
in
shreds and was loose and fluttering in his hand.
But she rose, and crying, seized him as he left off beating her.
She hit
him
with her hands to keep him from going.
He pushed her against the wall, the image of her bent
head,
shielded against
his
blows, graven on his mind. He threw the paper
at her and ran to the door.
"I'll yell
in
the hall," she sobbed; "I'll yell in the hall and
tonight I will come down to your room."
As
he ran from the house, he cried freely, not noticing the
passers-by.
Later he would see the money in his room. At that moment he
felt that he would have died for her.
He hurried faster and faster, away from the house.
