388
PARTISAN REVIEW
Da isy was one o f those changea ble dolls who could receive warnings
and transmit messages . Since she lived in the house, Mary had been
showing increasing signs of jeal ousy. Even before, whenever he flirted
with a salesgirl, he'd felt her reproach in Da isy's knowing look. T ha t
was back in the days when she kept pesterin g him to give up the sto re.
But now her fits of jealou sy a t the sight of an y o ther woman h ad
reached the point where they couldn 't even spend an even ing out
together anymore.
On the morning after the quarrel he made up with bo th of them.
His dark thoughts bloomed a t night and faded in the day time. As
usua l, they went for a walk in the garden . H e and Ma ry carried Daisy
between them-in a long skirt ,
to
cover her lifeless legs- as if propping
up a sick rela ti ve. (the neighbo rs had cooked up a sto ry about how
they'd let a sister o f Mary's di e,
to
inherit her money, whereupon , to do
penance, they'd ta ken in a do ll who resembled her, as a constant
reminder of their crime.)
After a peri od of happiness, during whi ch Mary prepa red surpri ses
for him with Da isy and he has tened to enter them in hi s no tebook,
came the ni ght of the second show, with its announcement of Mary's
death .
He then hit on the idea of buying hi s wife a number of strong
dresses -to remember her by la ter on-and made her try them on Daisy.
She was deli ghted and he also pretended to be, when-a t a hint from
him-she decided to have some of their cl oses t fri ends to dinner one
ni ght. It was sto rming o ut , but the gues ts a ll sa t down gay ly
to
ea t; and
he, thinking of a ll the memori es the evening was going to leave with
him, tri ed to be the life of the party. First he twirl ed hi s knife and
fork-like a cowboy with a pair of guns- and a imed them a t a girl next
to him. She, go in g a long with the jo ke, ra ised her a rms, a nd he tickl ed
her p lucked armpits with the knife.
It
was too much for Mary, who
burst out:
" Horace, you 're being a bra t!"
He apologized a ll around, and soon everyone was having fun
again . But when he was serving his French wine, over dessert, she saw a
bi g black sta in-the wine he was pouring outside the glass - growing
on the ta bleclo th ; and tryin g to rise, clutching a t her th roa t, she
fa inted. They carried her into her bedroom; a nd when she recovered she
sa id she hadn 't been feeling well for days. H e sent a t once for the
doctor, who sa id it was no thing seri ous but she had
to
wa tch her
nerves . She got up and saw off her gues ts as if not hing had happened .
But a lone with him la ter on , she sa id :
" [ can 't stand thi s life any more. You were play ing with tha t girl
ri ght under my nose."
