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PARTISAN REVIEW
up on the second fl oor - and the firemen were com ing. Just then , he
saw Mary leanin g out another window of the hotel. She'd a lready
noticed him and was staring a t him in surprise. He waved, shut the
window and went up the ha ll to knock on what he thought was her
door. She came ri ght out saying:
"You 're wasting your time followin g me."
And she slammed the doo r in his face.
He stayed there qui etly, till he heard her sobbing inside. Then he
said:
" I wasn 't following you. But since we've met, why do n 't we go
home?"
"You go on if you want," she said.
He thought he sensed doubt in her voice; a nd the next day he
moved back happil y into the black house. There he bas ked in luxury,
wandering like a sleepwalker among hi s riches. The familiar objects a ll
seemed full of peaceful memori es, the high ceilings braced aga inst
dea th, if it struck from above.
But when he went into the showroom a fter dinner tha t evening ,
the piano reminded him of a bi g coffin , the resonant silence of a wake.
He raised the top of the piano and , suddenly terrified , let it fa ll with a
bang. For a moment he stood there with hi s arms up, as if someone
were pointing a gun at him, but then rushed o ut into the courtya rd
shouting: "Who put Daisy in the piano?"
As his shouts echoed, he went on seeing her hair tangled in the
strings, her fa ce fl a ttened by the weight of the lid. One o f the twins
answered his call , speechless. Finally Alex appea red and sa id: "The
lady was in this afternoon . She came to get some clothes."
"These surprises of hers a re going
to
be the death of me," Horace
shouted, losing control. But sudden ly he pu ll ed himself toge ther:
"Take Daisy to your room and have Frank come fo r her earl y tomorrow
morning. Wait-" he shouted aga in. "Come here." And as the twin s
left -lowering his voice to a whisper: "T ell Frank to bring the other
doll when h e comes for her. "
That night he slept in another hotel. He got a room with a sing le
mirror. The ye ll ow wa llpaper had red flowers a nd green leaves woven
in a pattern tha t sugges ted a trellis. The bedspread was a lso ye ll ow and
irritated him: he had the feeling he was sleep ing outdoors.
The next morning he went home and had some la rge mirrors
brought into the showroom to multiply the scenes in the g lass cases.
The day passed with no word from Frank . That evening, as he came
into the showroom with the wine, Alex dropped the bottle...
"So, what's a ll the fu ss a bo ut ?" said Ho race.
