38
PARTISAN REVIEW
The professor's face and bald head were flushed. "I don't see
how I can possibly advise you-"
"But you are educated," she said.
"However," he went on, "since the situation
is
still essentially
hypothetical, I will go so far as to say you ought to tell this generous
gentleman that his responsibilities lie with his own family. He
would do well not to offer you gifts, as you will do, not to accept
them.
If
you don't, he can't possibly make any claims upon you or
your person. That's all I care to say. Your business
is
strictly none
of mine. Since you have requested advice, I have given it, but I
will say no more."
Rosa sighed. "The truth of it is I could use a pair of shoes. Mine
look as though they have been chewed by goats. I haven't had a
new pair in six years."
But the professor had nothing more to add.
Mter Rosa had gone for the day, in thinking about her prob–
lem, he decided to buy her a pair of shoes. He was concerned that
she might have been expecting something of the sort, had planned,
so to speak, to have it work out this way. However, since this was
conjecture only, evidence entirely lacking, he would assume, until
proof to the contrary became available, that she had no ulterior mo–
tive in asking his advice. He considered giving her five thousand lire
to make the purchase of the shoes herself and relieve him of the
trouble, but in this he was doubtful, for there was no guarantee she
would use money for the agreed purpose. Suppose she came in the
next day, asserting she had had a liver attack that had necessitated
calling the doctor, who had charged three thousand lire for his visit;
therefore would the professor, in view of these unhappy circumstances,
supply another three thousand for the shoes? That would never do;
so the next morning, when the maid was at the grocer's, the pro–
fessor slipped into her room and quickly traced on paper the outline
of her miserable shoe-a distasteful task, but he accomplished it
quickly. That evening, in a store on the same piazza as the restaur–
ant where he liked to eat, he bought Rosa a pair of brown shoes for
fifty-five hundred lire, slightly more than he had planned to spend;
but they were a solid pair of ties, walking shoes with a medium heel,
a practical gift.
He gave them to Rosa the next day, on a Wednesday. He felt
