The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1937-08-06
CHAPTER VII-Continued

simply. II sleep late, wander
downtown in the afternoon to NOV
lie; never assume the slightest re-
sponsibility, and I am altogether
unwise and idle and uselessl"
In the beginning Victoria would
laugh at such whimsicalities. But
her mother had not been long her
guest before she discovered that
they were partly true; Magda really
never did make any effort, or as
sumo any responsibility, except to
interest and please men. She
would not be left alone at home at
night with the children, even though
they were all asleep in their beds.
"One of them would set something
on fire, and then you'd think de-
liberately killed the lott" she plead
ed, and the mere suggestion of this
calamity prevented Victoria from
ever urging the arrangement.
For the rest, it was astonishing
to discover that Magda's self-re-
spect had suffered no whit by her
long and exciting career.
In the beginning of the European
experiences, Lucius Farmer had be-
come Strange" He had been a de-
lightful person in Tahiti and Ma
jorca, but somehow southern Ger
many had affected him badly. "It
wasn't his fault, but he didn't really
have quality, Vic," Magda ex-
planned it, generously. "He wasn't
a gentleman; it simply wasn't
there! Perhaps I was to blame for
thinking that it ever was"
Victoria listened on, scrambling
as she did so along the line of the
sitting-room bookcases, taking out
children's 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 tiny pair of
scissors, occasionally in her turn
raised her eyes from her hands
and looked seriously at Vic, while
without anger or resentment she re-
counted the strange actions of Lu-
cius Farmer. After all she, Magda,
had done for him, he had been I'M
appreciative enough to desert her.
AS the days went by, and Vic
found herself drawn more and more
under her mothers influence, af-
fected more and more by her moth
er's point of view, she found it in
creasingly 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 fiattered, roman
tic years, the presents and the
checks, the beautiful face and the
beautiful gowns-Mummy couldn't
be entirely right in her preposterous
ideas and attitudes, but there were
moments when Victoria felt uneas-
lily that perhaps she wasn't entirely
wrong, either.
Mummy, for one very important
thing, thought that having more
than one or two children was a
mistake. It was a forgivable mis-
take "For you have them so cas-
lily, Vic, and you do adore them so.
But I tell you it's selfish. You'll
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 in
terested 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. He's stunning!"
''He's forty-three!" Vic laughed.
"And he has large family and the
hardest surgery practice in the
city"
"Forty-three. He's not at the dam
gerous age yet" Magda unused. SIS
anyone specially crazy about hin?"
There's always some woman tel
ephoning," Vic answered unalarm-
eddy. "I know the signs. But he
doesn't take them seriously"
Magda was hardly listening; her
eyes were narrowed in speculation.
''I don't think any woman gets
hold of man." Vic submitted, COM
fortably relaxed in big chair now,
with her feet stretched out before
her. 81 don't believe any woman
loses her husband because some
other woman wants him." she SUBJ
stituted, beginning again. Her
mother regarded her in astonish-
ment.
"What do you Think" Magda de-
manded.
81 mean think the wife has lost
him first" Victoria explained.
'Ah, yes, but it all depends upon
what you mean by losing him." the
pther woman said. SIT doesn't al
ways mean that they're quarreling,
that they've made up their minds to
separated It may mean that they've
drifted apart-perhaps they don't
realize it themselves :"
Mother, do you really believe
that all married women are waiting
for affairs with other men to come