348
PARTISAN REVIEW
day that the papers mentioned. . . . "A gift of $500 which the
Mayor received from his friend Bowman soon after election."
The Mayor, thinking back on the telegram, was horrified by
its clear intention and began to feel sorry for himself for having taken
a snake to his bosom. When his secretary, a tall, middle-aged, un–
married woman, entered, he longed to give some expression to the
moral and social relief he felt by "discovering" his friend's desperate
character, as
if
this discovery were the core of the problem. The
Mayor did not understand his secretary. Solemn, diligent, and
unobtrusive, she lived for these official embarrassments and ap–
proached them all from an attitude that could hardly be sur–
passed for its efficiency in providing scorn of her bosses: if an of–
ficial fought back when attacked she could privately call him a
scoundrel and a liar because she knew where he stretched and evaded;
and if he didn't respond actively she detested him as a weakling.
Seeing only her indifferent, polite countenance, the Mayor would
never have dreamed she was thinking, "Obviously unsuited to lead–
ership. No more weight than a dust ball and deserves to be swept
out just as fast." The Mayor pitied the secretary and regretted her
hard, cheerless life; he imagined she knew and appreciated his feel–
ings.
"There are some problems as old as the hills," he said shyly,
"but that doesn't mean we've ever found the answer."
Furious for a reason she could not have named, the secretary
patiently said, "Sir?"
"Aren't all gifts a bribe in one way or another?" he continued
thoughtfully. "We can usually manage to forgive anyone who has
been generous with money, don't you think?"
"A rare form of generosity," the secretary said dryly, not giving
an inch. She did not want to discuss
anything
with the Mayor.
Secretive and impersonal, she was the sort to remain silent at the
stake, even against an enemy, because her only desire was to in–
crease her treasure of derogation and to guard it greedily, indicating
and enjoying it by obscure snorts and snickers when she was alone
at night talking to herself.
"I do feel this latest business deserves a frank answer and I
mean to give it," the Mayor said with a bit of loftiness utterly lost
upon his retreating secretary.
