THE BLEEDING HEART
repulsive like a goiter or a birthmark or if it were some sort of fascist
insignia and he was cat's-paw to a band of crooks.
"Yes," she said, as bashful as a child.
"It
is
a plant from the
school."
From the left came the scream again, beside itself with rage,
"Tea! Toast! Me!" The man, as if to himself, said, "Bring my tea
and toast to me," and then smiling and looking directly at Rose
with active brown eyes, he explained, "My mother has lost her verbs
.and adjectives. In fact, she has lost all parts of speech except her
nouns and pronouns, a very interesting phenomenon. Come in,
please," and he put his hand under her elbow with gallant pressure.
There was nothing she could do and she stepped inside the vestibule
which had a sweet smell like the taste of Neccos.
"Where shall I put it?" Rose asked.
"Oh, we'll take it right in to Mother, don't you think? What
kind is it? A geranium, I hope."
"A bleeding-heart."
"Oh," he said scowling. "Well, we'll have to make the best of
it." He tucked her arm in his and bent down toward her. "She likes
either geraniums or cut flowers. She has forgotten the names of all
the others."
Now that she was so close to him she discovered that it was he
who smelled of Neccos and that actually the hall smelled of ordure.
There was a rustling like that of stiff silk and the man said, "Excuse
me just a minute," and right beside them but still invisible the voice
malevolently aped him. He shut the door and there she saw a parrot
in a cage on a marble-topped bureau. It regarded her with wicked
eyes like a patient maniac.
"I'll bet Waldo here has you buffaloed, didn't he?" said the
man with a laugh as he opened the cage and the parrot stepped
out on to his wrist with a haughty mutter. "He's a great old bird."
"Hours!" shrieked the voice of the invalid and the man trans–
lated for the smug bird, "You have been gone for hours."
Rose, while she could not claim to be really surprised herself,
could not adjust herself to the man's unhesitating acceptance of the
situation as if they had planned it together some days before. He
indicated that she was to precede him down the corridor as if this
were the most natural thing in the world, and they went, all three
987
