PARTISAN REVIEW
law was like to live with. But though he listened politely; although
they shared the same roof, and even the same hot water bottle and
bath tub, they did not share speech. He said no more to her than
a crow would, and clearly showed he preferred to be left alone.
So
she left him alone and was lonely in the apartment. Working for for–
eigners has its advantages, she thought, but it also has its disadvan–
tages.
After a while, the professor noticed that the telephone was ring–
ing regularly for Rosa each afternoon, during the time she usually
was resting in her room. In the following week, instead of staying
in the house until four, after the telephone call she asked permission
to leave. At first she said her liver was bothering her, but later she
stopped giving excuses. Although he did not much approve of this
sort of thing, suspecting she would take advantage of him if he were
too liberal in granting favors, he informed her that, until his wife
arrived, she might leave at three on two afternoons of the week, pro–
vided that all her duties were fully discharged. He knew that every–
thing was done before she left but thought he ought to say it. She
listened meekly-her eyes aglow, lips twitching-and meekly agreed.
He presumed, when he happened to think about it afterwards, that
Rosa had a good spot here, by any standard, and she ought soon to
show it in her face, change her unhappy expression for one less so.
However, this didn't happen, for when he chanced to observe her,
even on days when she was leaving early, she still seemed sadly pre–
occupied, sighed much, as
if
something on her heart was weighing her
down.
He never asked what, preferring not to become involved in
whatever it was. These people had endless troubles, and if you let
yourself, you could become endlessly involved. He knew of one
woman, the wife of a colleague who had had to say to her maid:
"Lucrezia, I am sympathetic to your condition, but I don't want
to hear about it." This, the professor reflected, was basically good
policy. It kept employer-employee relationships where they belonged
--on an objective level. He was, after all, leaving Italy in April
and would probably never in his life see Rosa again. It would
do her a lot more good if, say, he sent her a small annual check at
Christmas, than if he needlessly immersed himself in her miseries now.
The professor knew he was nervous and often impatient, and he was
