454
PARTISAN REVIEW
"I've had them pointed out to me," said Mary Texeira, "and,
yes,
they're both equally stunning. You'd think they were sisters
if
they
ir
ever appeared together. But it's the mother that's the real beauty-dead-
f(
white skin and dead-black hair and a glitter of ornaments-like one of
those jeweled madonnas in Spanish churches. How could you ever have
liked the daughter better, Pepe? Oh, I grant you she's more in the cur·
rent idiom-but she looks rather cruel, don't you think? Although
I
hear there's no choosing between the pair of them. They're jewel thieves,
people here say, or gem smugglers perhaps. I've asked Paco if it's true
but he won't talk about them although he saw quite a lot of them
when he was over in Manila and they've been writing him
such
letters ... Don't gape at me, Pepe. Paco himself gave me those letten
to read. I didn't want to, but he insisted. You did, darling, didn't you?"
"I wish you'd shut up, Mary, and let Pepe drink his tea in peace."
"Am I being a bore, Pepe?"
"Absolutely not. I'm all agog."
"There, you see. Pepe's my own buddy boy and his mamma's
gtr
ing to cut him more cake. Which reminds me-Paco, will you see
if
the babies have finished their tea?"
"We'd be hearing them if they had. How's your father, Pepe?"
"Not any better. Tony thinks we ought to put him in a nursing
home, but I feel rather sorry for the old man. He's been quietly going
to pieces since he came back from that trip to Manila. I wish to
God
he'd never gone at all but it was the great dream of his life . ..
No,
Mary-no more tea, thanks."
"Here, have a cigarette. It's just a Chinese brand, alas. We're very,
very poor right now. That's why Paco had to go and work in Manila–
and I wish to God he'd never gone either-"
"Do shut up, Mary."
"-and what did he get for it anyway? Just a Boris Karloff look
in the eye. I don't mind doing my own cleaning and cooking besides
looking after the babies; I don't mind this sardine can of an apart.
ment-it's cute, Pepe, isn't it? Just pretend you don't feel my wash
dripping over our heads-and we're grateful to have a place like
this
with housing what it currently is in Hong Kong even if we do have
to climb up those four filthy flights of stairs very carefully because
they're liable to break down any moment now . . . Are you and your
father still in that poky apartment on the waterfront?"
"Alas, yes. The stairs are just as dark and filthy: the rent's a
king's ransom."
"But you were planning to move to Manila-"
