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PARTISAN REVIEW
heard the machines thro bbing, n o doubt to wa rn him again st ki ssing
Ma ry th rough Daisy. Mary didn 't know how she could have left a pin
in the do ll 's dress. And he could have hit himself for being foolish
eno ugh
LO
think Daisy was a refi eCl ion o f Mary, when in (aCl they
refl ected each other. . .. Now, comin g back
LO
the no ise of the ma–
chi nes, he remembered what he'd been suspecting all along: th at it had
a life of its own , like the sounds of the piano, though they belonged
LO
different families . The noise of the machines was of a nobl e famil y,
whi ch was perhaps why Daisy h ad chosen it to express her true love.
On th a t thought he phoned Fra nk
LO
ask after Daisy. Frank said she
was nea rl y ready, tha t the girl s in the workshop had found a way
LO...
Wh ereupon Horace interrupted him, saying he didn 't want to know
the deta ils. And , hanging up , he felt a hidden pl easure a t the thought
o f a ll those workshop girl s putting somethin g of themselves into the
do ll.
The next day, a t the lunch table, he found Mary wa iting for him
with an arm around Daisy's wa ist. After kiss ing his wife, he took the
doll in hi s a rms, and for a moment her soft warm body gave him the
pl easure he' d been hoping for; tho ugh when he pressed his lips to hers,
she seemed feverish . But he soon got accustomed to this new sensa ti on
and began to enj oy himself.
Tha t ni ght, a t dinner, he wondered : "Why must the tran smigra–
ti on o f soul s ta ke place onl y between people and a nimals? Aren 't there
cases of people on their dea thbed who' ve handed their soul s over to
some beloved o bj ect? Bes ides, it's not just by chance tha t a spirit comes
to dwell in a doll who looks like a beautiful woman. Why not suppose
it might have guided the hands of th ose who built the do ll? When
someone has a purpose in mind, doesn 't he use a ll the means a t hi s
disp osal, es peciall y an unexpected helping hand?" Then he tho ught of
Daisy and wondered whose spirit was living in her.
Mary had been in a bad mood since earl y evening. She' d sco lded
Daisy whil e she dressed her because she wouldn 't stay still. Now tha t
she was full of wa ter, Daisy was a lot heavier than befo re, and kept
ti pping forward . Horace thought of the rela ti ons between hi s wife and
the doll , and of the strange sh ades of enmity he' d noti ced between
women who were such close fri ends tha t they couldn 't get along
without each o ther. At the same time, he remembered the same thing
o ften happened between mother and da ughter. .. A minute la ter, he
ra ised hi s eyes from his pl a te and said :
"T ell me something, Mary. Wha t was your mother like?"
She jumped a t the questi on : "Why? Do you want to trace my
defects to her?"
