LIVES AND WIVES OF A GENIUS
159
ly since the whole thing proved they were right
ill
the first place.
Only once did her father speak of Stanley, and that was in con–
nection with the practical question of a divorce. "A fine genius
you found yourself," he said. "I bet he doesn't even care if you get
a divorce or not." Sue walked off to her room and began to cry,
for the first time since she had left Stanley.
Stanley'S second wife, Dorothy, was a more sophisticated wo–
man, a veteran of Village life. Nobody could remember when she
first appeared on the social scene, nor could anyone keep track of
her various husbands and lovers, but as far back as memory could
stretch she seemed to have been connected with every new literary
movement and every new man who came to the arts. A heavy wo–
man, with a great mass of black hair reaching carelessly over the
side of her face and draping her large, ripe eyes, she made her
physical presence felt as soon as she entered a room. She made no
pretense at being a writer or artist in her own right, but her gift
for literary gossip and her enthusiasm for creative men placed her
at the very center of bohemian life, where art and sex merge. She
was
also
bright and quick with words, perhaps as a result of working
for years in advertising agencies, and she could pick up with great
ease the strays of almost any conversation.
When Dorothy'S father died, she inherited a small income,
making it possible for her to devote full time to the affairs of the
avant-garde. She surrounded herself with a group of penniless artists
whom she fed and lent money to, and her apartment served as a
shelter for all the wandering men who carried their creativity as
though it were a passport. Since the turnover was so great, people
began to think of her as truly benevolent and disinterested, and
she came to be known rather fondly, though not without a touch
of malice, as the "golden womb of the Village."
Stanley and Dorothy became man and wife mainly out of
inertia. Stanley took his turn one night for board and lodging at
Dorothy's house, staying on until he acquired squatter's rights, and
they soon discovered that living together did not in any way inter–
fere with their separate lives. Dorothy did, however, take charge
of Stanley, if only in an abstract way, like an impresario, con–
verting him into a symbol of all the men she was born to save.
