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PARTISAN REVIEW
signs; and, though he made up again with Mary when he got home,
later that night, when he was alone for a moment in the showroom, he
thought of renting one of the small houses with a Daisy Doll.
The next day at brea kfast he was struck by the fact that the ca t had
green bows in its ears. Mary exp lained people took their newbo rn
kittens to the druggist to have th eir ears pierced with one of those
machines used for punching holes in fil e paper. H e liked the idea and
thought it a good sign. From the street, he phoned Frank to ask him
how he could distinguish the Daisy Dolls from the others on show at
the fancy department store downtown. Frank said a t the moment there
was only one available, near the cash register, wearing a single ea rring.
The coincidence, he decided, was providential: she was mea nt for him.
And he began to relish the thought of returning to his vice as to a
voluptuous fate. He could have taken a tram ; but he didn 't want to
break the mood; so he wa lked, thinking about how he was going to
pick out his doll. Now he was a lso caught up among other people,
pleasantly lost-i twas just before Carni val-in the holiday crowd. The
store was farther away then he had calculated . He began to feel tired,
and anxious to meet the doll. A child aimed a horn at him and blasted
it in his fa ce. He started to have horribl e misgivings and wondered
whether he shouldn't leave the visit for the afternoon . But when he
reached the store and saw other dolls dressed up in the show windows
he decided to go in. The Dai sy Doll was wea ring a wine-colored
Renaissance dress. A tiny mas k added to her proud bear ing and he felt
like humbling her; but a sa lesgirl he knew came up with a twi sted
smile, and that drove him off.
A few days later he' d installed the doll in one of the small houses
near the park. Two ni ghts a week, a t nine o'clock, Frank sent a
secretary over with a cleaning woman . At ten , they fill ed the doll with
hot water and left. He' d asked them to leave her mask on. He was
delighted with her and ca ll ed her Hermione. Once when they were
both sitting in front of a pi cture, he saw her eyes -thoughtful eyes,
shining through the mask-refl ected in the glass. From then on, they
sat in the same place, cheek to cheek. Whenever he thought the eyes in
the glass -it was a picture of a waterfall-took on an express ion of
humbled pride, he ki ssed her passionately. Sometimes he crossed the
park with her -he seemed to be wa lking a ghost-and they sat on a
bench near a fountain. But sudden ly he rea lized her water was gelling
cold and hurried her back into the house.
Not long after tha t there was a big fashion show in the fancy
department store. A huge glass case fill ed the who le of the top floor: it
was in the middl e of the room, leav ing just enough space on al l four
