A BAROQUE AFFAIR
239
he
did
ask her to write to him when he went back to New York.
Lucy did not ask him to write first, but said instead that she really
loved writing letters and would adore writing to him-although, she
said, she might not write regularly.
As
he walked back to the Plauts',
he surprised himself by wondering why she hadn't offered to show
him her poetry. It was quite a change for
him.
And he was a change for Lucy too. When he left her at the
house, she had the sense about him that he would stay up very late
drinking gin and water. Without knowing why, she was sure he
would sleep all morning and get up only a few minutes before his
afternoon seminar, sleepy, bedraggled, splenetic, and late, but very
impressive.
As
Lucy came into her pleasant room, with its Bates bed–
spread and matching drapes, its bright maple furniture, and with
all her furry animals and the photographs of Mummy and Dad, she
was a little shocked, and mentally forgave herself for something.
There was an early, busy day ahead of her, neat schedules and
regular hours which seemed so incompatible with the feeling of the
Baroque. And Lucy Doob was not sure she knew what Despair really
was, except that it had to do with being cynical. To judge from what
Craven said, it meant not being excited about life, and therefore,
inevitably, it meant being "mature"-only a child could be happy
with things as they were! So here was a dilemma for Lucy, who
was really very much excited about being a sophomore, being
eighteen and a half, having Seventeenth Century with Plaut who
didn't take just anyone-and then having such a good room this year,
no roommate, and such a marvelous schedule. Lucy knew she did not
really despair about her life, but now it seemed that she should.
Even before she pulled off her pink angora sweater, she went over
to the dresser and tore up the typewritten list and schedule she had
stuck in the mirror that morning.
Lucy's friends in the suite heard her come in, and now they
all clattered in to hear about the party. But Lucy had just begun to
stop telling her friends about all her feelings, so she gave them only
a brief official report.
"Was
Mrs.
Plaut as awful as ever?" asked Binky.
Lucy nodded, as if she still had all the same old feelings.
"And what about Craven," Kappy wanted to know. Lucy told.
And Bunchy couldn't resist asking, "How dq Craven and
frg~
f~sor
Plaut get along, do
you
thi~?"
