Show y k 7 MV mt vast DAUGHTER D AU G HT E T bof hleen CHAPTER VII it was at the opera that they first saw serena morrison not that vicky or anyone anyon e in her neighborhood knew who the woman was at f first with four men she was sitting in the forward seat of a box an ashen blonde in a black velvet gown with petal smooth bare shoulders and deep set umber shadowed eyes everyone in the house was looking at her when the curtain went down and the lights went up but if she was conscious of the admiration and curiosity she excited she gave no sign of it joe younger that stout fellow with her quentin said laying down his glasses after a frank inspection by gosh she is beautiful oh quent you know him vicky said eagerly leaning forward in her old chocolate lace to have another look Could ift you slip over and meet her no time now I 1 will in thel the next quentin whispered as the house lights fanned down and the footlights went up but before the next act there was the familiar whisper in the back of the box vicky had resignedly expected it it always came somehow when they were daring enough to go to the theater dr hardisty the whisper said in the dark the hospital on the telephone doctor dr bruce he said it was urgent and then quentin was groping in the gloom for his hat and coat and off in full evening regalia for some hot odorous surgery with the ries wild scream interrupted half way it was too bad but it the first time and be the last vicky reminded her mother philosophically when they were in the car going home and lucky for you too magda responded lucky well he be was perfectly mad about that blonde woman whoever she was he was going over to that box just to meet her but I 1 thought you handled that very cutely vie vic magda said handled what vicky was genuinely amazed oh saying she was waa lovely and like to know who she was that was smart vie vic there was nothing smart to that vicky laughed in generous amusement but she felt just a little chilled nevertheless A bleak breath of wind from an al most forgotten country seemed to touch her cheek quentin admires beauty she presently said but as far as it goes just the same ill bet you something vie vic that he finds who she is tomorrow they were at home now yawningly dragging themselves up the long stairs ill bet you a chocolate bar that he never mentions her again they were in the house the following afternoon when quentin came in to smile wearily at kenty and susan who were cavorting about in pajamas and to discuss the products of the argentine with gwen magda was playing solitaire by the fire oh listen vie vic remember the blonde venus in the box last night quentin presently asked magda looked up and vicky turn i ed with a little color in her face from a minute inspection of susans reputedly burned finger she is an english mrs harrison or morrison or robinson or something quentin said 1 I telephoned joe younger today I 1 wanted to ask him something about the golf club anyway her husband is an english officer attached to them the foreign office or something they left today for china he fell to musing a half smile on his face that was certainly one beautiful woman vo man he said if you want to hold a man like ike quentin you ought to well flirt with him magda said i victoria laughed i flirt with my own husband something like that not flirt exactly but interest him magda said a little at a loss for the exact words she wanted keep him busy unless a man is kept busy ho he gets into mischief especially ally a sheik like quentin with a voice all the women fall for 1 I dont know that all the women fall for his voice vicky said unalarmed and as for keeping him busy I 1 dont know what would keep a man busy if an exacting profession five children four servants a wife and a mother dont oh lord not that kind of busy magda scoffed I 1 dont mean worrying about the furnace or if the new electric bulbs came and I 1 dont mean curvature of the spine either cither A mans got to have some play vie vic the hen sible thing for a woman like you to do is cut out all this nursery stuff have a hairdo hair do every week get a new lipstick and some peau de jeu jeunesse nessel and lie around in the mornings reading fashion magazines 1 I dont know where bo be today if cut out all this nursery stuff vicky wanted more than once to say good nat but she never did men have always liked me and ye yet t ive never had any character and I 1 never do anything I 1 dont want vant to do the woman explained simply I 1 sleep late I 1 wander I 1 downtown in the afternoon to a dimovic j movie I 1 never assume the slightest responsibility and I 1 am alto gether unwise and idle and useless j in the beginning victoria would laugh at such whimsicalities but her mother had not been long her iguest before she discovered that ethey were partly true magda really never levei did make any effort or assume any responsibility except to interest and please men she would not be left alone ac lhome at night with the children even though they were all asleep in their beds j one of them would set bonte i thing on fire and then think ii 11 deliberately killed the lot she pleaded and the mere suggestion of this calamity prevented victoria from ever urging the orrange I 1 i ment i tor for the rest it was astonishing astonishing aston ishin g to discover that magdas self re inspect had suffered no whit ny dy her along long and exciting career I 1 in the beginning of the E european uro experiences lucius farmer i had become strange he had been a delightful person in tahiti and majorca but somehow gouan southern germany had affected hini him badly it his fault but ht he really have quality vie vic magda explained it generously he a gentleman it there perhaps I 1 was to blame for thinking that it ever was victoria listened on scrambling as she did so along the line of th the e sitting room bookcases taking out childrens books matching sets stacking the volumes neatly now and then she sat back on her heels smiling at her mother magda busy with a nail file and a tiny pair of scissors occasionally in her turn raised her eyes from her hands and looked seriously at vie vic while without anger or resentment she recounted the strange actions of lucius farmer after all she magda had done for him he had been unappreciative precia tive enough to desert her As the days went by and vie vic found herself drawn more and more under her mothers influence affected more and more by her mothers point of view she found it increasingly difficult to maintain her own standing the solid earth rocked a little sometimes beneath her feet poor faded mummy with nothing to show for all the flattered romantic years the presents and the checks the beautiful face and the beautiful gowns mummy be entirely right in her preposterous post erous ideas and attitudes but there were moments when victoria felt uneasily that perhaps she entirely wrong either mummy for one very important thing thought that having more than one or two children was s a mistake it was a forgivable mistake for you have them so easily vie vic and you do adore them so but I 1 tell you its selfish lose him victoria felt that she could afford to laugh at this according to mummy every man between the ages of sixteen and eighty was interested in any reasonably pretty woman anywhere everywhere at all times and seasons no wife was safe but magda was not to be laughed out of her position she said thoughtfully women must go crazy about him hes stunning hes forty three vie vic laughed and he has a large family and the hardest surgery practice in the city forty three hes not at the dangerous age yet magda mused Is anyone specially crazy about him theres always some woman telephoning vie vic answered una larm edly 1 I know the signs but he be take them seriously magda was hardly listening her eyes were narrowed in speculation 1 I dont think any woman gets hold of a man vie vic submitted comfortably relaxed in a big chair now with her feet stretched out before her 1 I dont believe any woman loses her husband because some other woman wants him she substituted beginning again her mother regarded her in astonishment ish ment what do you think magda demanded 1 I mean I 1 think the wife has lost him first victoria explained ali ah yes but it all depends upon what you mean by losing him the other woman said it always mean that quarreling that made up their minds to separate te it means that drifted apart perhaps they dont realize it themselves mother do you really believe that all married women are walting waiting ing for affairs with other men to come along that all married men have an eye out for charming women fresh women mrs Herren deens surprised stare was sufficient answer why but of course she said amazed vicky look at them they do they all dont vicky muttered but she was thinking some men never would mag j da conceded but some men are after women smart women and beautiful women all the time the worlds full of them women who have comfortable big ali monies or settlements and who are arc on the loose hunting for some one like quentin someone to love there are lots of men hand somer than quentin for them to go after victoria observed with a laugh but it looks that count vie vic that hard faced deep voiced dark headed square sort of a man is well I 1 tell you mrs her lendeen said shrugging lightly looking away 1 I tell you that if I 1 were ten years younger id give that lad ad of yours a run for his money for once vicky was vas not amused she was secretly affronted by her mothers isra words magda broke athe the silence r marriage arriage 1 what it used to I 1 be vie vic in the old days if a man wanted to wander there were places he could go that his wife never heard about women suspected what was going on oil but they were having their ton or a dozen children and feeding chickens and making soap and putting up preserves and they have much to say its different now tile the women they can buy are of their own class and not all after presents and trips and alimony they want love got money after the love part theres a sex war var on vie vic women dont vant one experience they want twenty now well I 1 hate the word sex and I 1 hate hae so much talk about it and I 1 hate the idea that its the I 1 niest niost most important thing in the world vie vic presently said with ith feeling but it is the most im important t thing in the world her mother assured her seriously i victoria shook her head frown ing she fell into thought and her 1 mother idling in her favorite fashion on a couch beside the fire was silent too later that evening evening victoria asked quentin if he thought sex iva was so important I 1 ISe sex 11 lie he echoed in surprise vi vicky laid a hand on his 1 I dont mean in youth flu tag is natural and ana right when but afterward does docs it have to go all through life men tempting and d women women throw tempting men to everything else over decency and home and honor and obligation often 11 the doctor said it that slowly ls is tha way they tell me about it he added how do you mean it is that 1 I 1 way wa y 1 I mean that a man who really loves his wife and kids who is perfectly satisfied with ni ais home life 11 perfectly satisfied th tha a tarn tame e phrase affronted her and she lau laughed ched well perhaps what I 1 mean is that his now new affair has nothing to do with his his organized life he meets some woman who appeals to him tremendously I 1 bibly physically vie vic put in scornfully as he hesitated for fol a word worda I 1 he accepted it simply oh yes primarily that primarily that she has some trick of using her eyes some note ini in her voice something that sets him on fire just as definitely as if a fuse were lighted there was a pause victoria was studying his face attentively yes but suppose all that she presently said grant all that Is he then to tear up his whole life kick his wife out deprive his children of their father its usually the wife who does that vicky A man might expect his wife to forgive him vicky said after tan thought but then how w would she know th that at it happen again she Q quentin u e n t i n said g adly unsmilingly ha vicky exclaimed out of deep thought quentin laughed it would seem that it takes you yo u by sur pirse he observed well it does ive always felt ive always hoped that a man liked a woman for other things I 1 her being sweet tempered and a good sport and making him ai comfortable home and loving al him she stopped short in her harj I 1 catalogue logue so much in earnest that tears were near her eyes he does vie vic A man who has I 1 a wife like that is lucky and he knows Vs it but that mean that oh well that the look some woman gives him over her shoulder as she goes out of his office wont wont stay with him for days oh quentin victoria exclaimed in surprise and dismay and irresistibly she added does that happen to you sometimes the doctor admitted laughing cut but but theres no sense to it look what it leads to look at mother and so many others the mess they make of it in the end in the end in the end its the who show them what fools they were quentin said teasingly quentin quantin have you since we were married I 1 mean ever had bad that feeling about any other woman m n id tell you if I 1 had would 1 I 1 I alf you would well I 1 dont know but that I 1 would I 1 believe be very understanding der standing about it pity the sinner and forgive the sin but a man with five kids another coming a new stove to put in bills unpaid and an operation at eight tomorrow morning has a swell chance at that sort of thing quentin yawned dawned id be afraid of your mother anyway he laughed to be continued |