576
PARTISAN REVIEW
instructed. "Henry, just relax and breathe normally. Ricky ," he
said evenly, "get that out of his face."
"It's just a bubble," explained Ricky. Nevertheless, it with–
drew.
"Is he going to be alright?" Henrietta asked.
Roy chuckled. There was a wet, echoing chuckle from
Henry.
The relief was too fast for Rita. She stared out to the
horseshoe pit, then blinked back to her fingernails. "I must be
qui te a hostess," she sighed.
There was the sound of an airplane, invisible.
Roy stood Henry on his feet and proceeded to walk him
around the premises. They stopped briefly at the bird bath,
where Henry consented to douse his head, they spent a few
minutes at the tomato patch, and then continued through the
back door of the house.
44.
Were they going any place in particular?
Roy led Henry to his music den.
It
looked like the fix-it area
of a rich man's radio shop. The thick white broadloom was
strewn with tape reels, breakable television components; the
shelves were loaded with electronic machinery, tiny screwdrivers
. .. and a small cardboard box that Roy took down.
It
was sealed
wi th masking tape.
45. The goodbye present!
"This here is for Henrietta," he said. "Think you're steady
enough to carry it?"
"In a minute," said Henry, lowering himself to the piano
bench.
"I was going to scrub it with ammonia, but I decided that
was the husband's job," Roy said. "It'll be priceless when you
get the crime out."
"The what?"
"The cobwebs and grime," said Roy. "Whatever."
Henry struck middle C on the keyboard. "I feel somewhat
better," he said.
Roy supported Henry by the elbow back to the patio. As
they approached he whispered: "It's from one of Westhampton's
