The Nest Builder: A NovelHale, Beatrice Forbes-Robertson
General
The Nest Builder: A Novel
Hale, Beatrice Forbes-Robertson
Marriage -- Fiction
Stefan was working fitfully at this time. He would have spurts of energy
followed by fits of depression and disgust with his work, during which
he would leave the house and take long rides uptown on the tops of
omnibuses. Mary could not see that these excursions in search of air
calmed his nervousness, and she concluded that the spring fever was in
his blood and that he needed a change of scene at least as much as she
did.
About this time he sold his five remaining drawings of New York to the
Pan-American Magazine, a progressive monthly. They gained considerable
attention from the art world, and were seized upon by certain groups
of radicals as a sermon on the capitalistic system. On the strength
of them, Stefan was hailed as that rarest of all beings, a politically
minded artist, and became popular in quarters from which his intolerance
had hitherto barred him.
It entertained him hugely to be proclaimed as a champion of democracy,
for he had made the drawings in impish hatred not of a class but of
American civilization as a whole.
Their bank account, in spite of much heightened living expenses,
remained substantial by reason of this new sale, but Stefan was as
indifferent as ever to its control, and Mary's sense of caution was
little diminished. Her growing comprehension of him warned her that
their position was still insecure; he remained, for all his success, an
unknown quantity as a producer. She wanted him to assume some interest
in their affairs, and suggested separate bank accounts, but he begged
off.
“Let me have a signature at the bank, so that I can cash checks for
personal expenses, but don't ask me to keep accounts, or know how much
we have,” he said. “If you find I am spending too much at any time, just
tell me, and I will stop.”
Further than this she could not get him to discuss the matter, and saw
that she must think out alone some method of bookkeeping which would
be fair to them both, and would establish a record for future use.
Ultimately she transferred her own money, less her private expenditures
during the winter, to a separate account, to be used for all her
personal expenses. The old account she put in both their names, and made
out a monthly schedule for the household, beyond which she determined
never to draw. Anything she could save from this amount she destined
for a savings bank, but over and above it she felt that her husband's
earnings were his, and that she could not in honor interfere with them.
Mary was almost painfully conscientious, and this plan cost her many
heart-searchings before it was complete.
After her baby was born she intended to continue her writing; she did
not wish ever to draw on Stefan for her private purse. So far at least,
she would live up to feminist principles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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