“did not stir” was “had not stirred”
“but proudly astonished” was “but astonished [into an] with un- usual pride — ”
“appealing to her.” reads “appealing to her,”—ed.
“curls wrapped in an emerald scarf” was “curls sheathed in an emerald cloth”—next to this amendment reads “or square?”— “square” is unclear—ed.
“as they thought” was “in a twinkling”
After “alone — —” was “for where I lurked they could not / empty kitchen” and “see me”
“ ‘I seem to have been’ ” was “ ‘I seem to be’ ”
In margin next to “Irishwoman” reads “colleen”—ed.
Before the second section of “Agony of the Partition,” a page reads:
I asked her how she could make such an idiotic exhibi- tion of herself with such a mother—
‘Why she didn’t go to you for advice — — Cassy said
“Not much — I mean to manage this affair my way”—
She managed it all right — getting her pregnant was his way of showing annoyance his excuse — just that he’d never had to bother — because this girl he lives with can’t conceive—
“He said,” [and] the blonde’s voice grated more shrilly on Mrs. Nome’s tension—
“I hope she kills herself and the baby too”
“She,” the voice fell slobbering in her throat — wanted to keep it to remember him by—
“My poor sweet child” cried Mrs. Nome—
“My poor sweet child — ”
PAGE 9
II.
After “fell lower” a long wavy horizontal line is drawn in the text—ed.
“ ‘her Nature, although denied’ ” was “ ‘her Nature, had been’ ”
“ ‘denied me’ ” reads “ ‘denied (to?) me’ ”—ed.
After “ ‘cling to her’ ” was “ ‘like a slowly waning essence’ ”
“With these few words” reads “These few words”—ed.
“affair, whose” reads “affair, with whose”—ed.
After “discrepancy” reads “(or disparity?)”—ed.
“ ‘I love him’. . erotically” is a later addition
“Shaken with my” was “Shaken with the enormity of my”
PAGE 10
“erasure of feature: the unfaded” was “erasure of feature — due to the veil of insomnia that dims the unfaded”
After “ ‘him to her’ ” reads “?(at the fair).”—ed.
“My bruises. . ‘violent with me’ ” is a later addition
PAGE 11
“moaned the girl. . chair—” is a later addition
“ ‘had been such friends’ ” was “ ‘had been friends’ ”
“ ‘over and over again I told her’ ” has a couple of variants, including “ ‘I kept on telling’ ”
“ ‘never seen.’ Mrs. Nome seemed. . back her up” was “ ‘never seen.’ continued Mrs. Nome”
“That face they brought” reads “That face she continued they brought”—“she continued” may belong to the line above—ed.
After “surprise.” a small gap is left before the next paragraph—ed.
PAGE 12
“ ‘into her room against’ ” was “ ‘into her room so hardly’ ”
“ ‘grief — should have been her wedding-day — that’ ” reads “ ‘grief should have been her wedding-day; that’ ”—ed.
“ ‘lightning overthrow, sheathed’ ” was “ ‘lightening overthrow, retaining in their sheath? coat of lava’ ”
“ ‘contractile’ ” was “ ‘contractive’ ”
“ ‘as if she were too heavy to fall’ ” is a later addition
“ ‘an insane levitation’ ” was “ ‘an impossible levitation’ ”
After “looking as she always did, perplexed” reads:
Walls withhold (see notes)
The partition had not that mercy; hung with spy-paper it came to function as a seismograph, and at once a sound-track for cataclysms that would suddenly converge on Mrs. Nome at impredictable intervals along the otherwise unbroken tenor of her isolation. Time, for her, a clock that had stopped, only recalled itself to her attention, when, crazily, its alarm would “go off”.
The next page reads:
It seemed to me as if riotous armies invaded a vacuum;—the shadowy brain of Mrs. Nome, while be- sieged by foreign terrors — only awaiting their recession, to reform her obstinate vision of her daughter’s soul.
“for convincing” was “to convince”
In the margin next to “ ‘After she got rid of the baby’ ” reads “OK”—ed. “ ‘all night, every night, dragging’ ” was “ ‘all night, dragging’ ”
PAGE 13
“projected as it were in television” was “projected in television”
“clapboard; in her aerial colouring, a place” was “clapboard; a place”
“alcohol, with Cassandra” was “alcohol, Cassandra”
“ ‘And they actually had’ ” was “ ‘And they had’ ”
Above “ ‘mix with decent people’ ” reads: “insert all the Mops friends here or previously?”—ed.
Another available variant of “ ‘after that low crowd. . like them — ’ ” is “ ‘She’ll never again be able to mix with decent people. After those common — —’ ”—ed.
After “ ‘readapted’ ” reads:
Ira’s scream of resentment — paralysed the partition— “the dirty, the mean — hypocritical cad — that’s the low- est thing I ever heard — absolutely the lowest — —”
“Cassandra was not speaking of the Moppets — you know she loves to chat with grocers’ wives and bell hops — scrub women; anyone, she used to spend half her time that way—” Mrs. Nome repaired forgetting, per- haps subconsciously indicted, she had not used that kin- dling word —
“The Moppets are simple, jolly people — and whatever you may see in her, Ma Mop is fundamentally kind.”
III.
The heading “Mrs. Nome” is Loy’s own; a paragraph above this heading reads:
The Agony of the Partition
The blonde and the baroness sipped their tea. In sparse phrases they discussed “men”; like icebergs scanning the horizon for something to collide with. Touched on abor- tion with a precision of surgical instruments. Frequent as their lips to their cups, the word “rich” hissed from one to other on the air ultimatum in acquiescence—
After “vindicatory” reads “?”—ed.
“occasional effusion” reads “occasionly effusion”—ed.
“in an angelic” was “in angelic”
“fastidiously selected the” was “fastidiously the”
PAGE 14
“Mrs. Nome perhaps” reads “Mrs. Nome (bowed her soul) perhaps”—above “(bowed her soul)” reads: “somewhere else” —ed.
“plausibly suspected”—“suspected” is unclear—ed.
“fleshly bond between mother” reads “fleshly bond (between) of? mother”—ed.
“This, she had modified,” reads “ ‘This, she had modified’ ”—ed.
Above “the young, withholding” reads “OK bits. Mrs Nome.”—ed. After “disgust?” reads “x apropos — cf [possibly “of”] some former observation”—ed.
“ ‘pregnant’—to her” reads “ ‘pregnant’—To her”—ed.