1000130Under the Red, White, and Blue TLP 1000218{THE GREAT GATSBY} TLP 1000302BY TLP 1000419F. SCOTT FITZGERALD TLP 1000546Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; TLP 1000643If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, TLP 1000754Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, TLP 1000818I must have you]" TLP 1000929--THOMAS PARKE D'INVILLIERS. TLP 1001010ONCE AGAIN DED 1001102TO DED 1001205ZELDA DED 1001316THE GREAT GATSBY 1 1001409CHAPTER I 1 1001549IN my younger and more vulnerable years my father 1 1001647gave me some advice that I've been turning over 1 1001723in my mind ever since. 1 1001848"Whenever you feel like criticising any one," he 1 1001951told me, "just remember that all the people in this 1 1002051world haven't had the advantages that you've had." 1 1002145He didn't say any more, but we've always been 1 1002248unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I 1 1002347understood that he meant a great deal more than 1 1002450that. In consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all 1 1002550judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious 1 1002644natures to me and also made me the victim of 1 1002746not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is 1 1002849quick to detect and attach itself to this quality 1 1002950when it appears in a normal person, and so it came 1 1003047about that in college I was unjustly accused of 1 1003153being a politician, because I was privy to the secret 1 1003253griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of the confidences 1 1003347were unsought--frequently I have feigned sleep, 1 1003453preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by 1 1003550some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation 1 1003646was quivering on the horizon; for the intimate 1 1003750revelations of young men, or at least the terms in 1 1003849which they express them, are usually plagiaristic 2 1003946and marred by obvious suppressions. Reserving 2 1004053judgments is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a 2 1004155little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as 2 1004248my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly 2 1004357repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled 2 1004424out unequally at birth. 2 1004547And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I 2 1004651come to the admission that it has a limit. Conduct 2 1004751may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, 2 1004848but after a certain point I don't care what it's 2 1004948founded on. When I came back from the East last 2 1005046autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in 2 1005149uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; 2 1005251I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged 2 1005348glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the 2 1005447man who gives his name to this book, was exempt 2 1005552from my reaction--Gatsby, who represented everything 2 1005653for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality 2 1005745is an unbroken series of successful gestures, 2 1005849then there was something gorgeous about him, some 2 1005953heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if 2 1006050he were related to one of those intricate machines 2 1006151that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. 2 1006247This responsiveness had nothing to do with that 2 1006353flabby impressionability which is dignified under the 2 1006445name of the "creative temperament"--it was an 2 1006549extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness 2 1006650such as I have never found in any other person and 2 1006759which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No--Gatsby 3 1006843turned out all right at the end; it is what 3 1006947preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the 3 1007049wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my 3 1007149interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded 3 1007217elations of men. 3 1007348My family have been prominent, well-to-do people 3 1007451in this Middle Western city for three generations. 3 1007550The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have 3 1007647a tradition that we're descended from the Dukes 3 1007751of Buccleuch, but the actual founder of my line was 3 1007853my grandfather's brother, who came here in fifty-one, 3 1007947sent a substitute to the Civil War, and started 3 1008066the wholesale hardware business that my father carries on to-day. 3 1008149I never saw this great-uncle, but I'm supposed to 3 1008251look like him--with special reference to the rather 3 1008350hard-boiled painting that hangs in father's office 3 1008450I graduated from New Haven in 1915, just a quarter 3 1008550of a century after my father, and a little later I 3 1008647participated in that delayed Teutonic migration 3 1008751known as the Great War. I enjoyed the counter-raid 3 1008849so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead 3 1008942of being the warm centre of the world, the 3 1009046Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of 3 1009151the universe--so I decided to go East and learn the 3 1009248bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond 3 1009349business, so I supposed it could support one more 3 1009451single man. All my aunts and uncles talked it over 4 1009550as if they were choosing a prep school for me, and 4 1009653finally said, "Why--ye-es," with very grave, hesitant 4 1009747faces. Father agreed to finance me for a year, 4 1009850and after various delays I came East, permanently, 4 1009940I thought, in the spring of twenty-two. 4 1010050The practical thing was to find rooms in the city, 4 1010147but it was a warm season, and I had just left a 4 1010249country of wide lawns and friendly trees, so when 4 1010350a young man at the office suggested that we take a 4 1010446house together in a commuting town, it sounded 4 1010556like a great idea. He found the house, a weather-beaten 4 1010641cardboard bungalow at eighty a month, but 4 1010754at the last minute the firm ordered him to Washington, 4 1010843and I went out to the country alone. I had 4 1010949a dog--at least I had him for a few days until he 4 1011047ran away--and an old Dodge and a Finnish woman, 4 1011149who made my bed and cooked breakfast and muttered 4 1011243Finnish wisdom to herself over the electric 4 1011307stove. 4 1011447It was lonely for a day or so until one morning 4 1011547some man, more recently arrived than I, stopped 4 1011616me on the road. 4 1011747"How do you get to West Egg village?" he asked 4 1011812helplessly. 4 1011947I told him. And as I walked on I was lonely no 4 1012059longer. I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler. 4 1012143He had casually conferred on me the freedom 4 1012221of the neighborhood. 4 1012348And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of 5 1012451leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in 5 1012553fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life 5 1012642was beginning over again with the summer. 5 1012748There was so much to read, for one thing, and so 5 1012851much fine health to be pulled down out of the young 5 1012947breath-giving air. I bought a dozen volumes on 5 1013049banking and credit and investment securities, and 5 1013147they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new 5 1013252money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining 5 1013347secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas 5 1013446knew. And I had the high intention of reading 5 1013551many other books besides. I was rather literary in 5 1013649college--one year I wrote a series of very solemn 5 1013751and obvious editorials for the "Yale News"--and now 5 1013849I was going to bring back all such things into my 5 1013946life and become again that most limited of all 5 1014053specialists, the "well-rounded man." This isn't just 5 1014149an epigram--life is much more successfully looked 5 1014236at from a single window, after all. 5 1014344It was a matter of chance that I should have 5 1014450rented a house in one of the strangest communities 5 1014549in North America. It was on that slender riotous 5 1014653island which extends itself due east of New York--and 5 1014749where there are, among other natural curiosities, 5 1014839two unusual formations of land. Twenty 5 1014954miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical 5 1015043in contour and separated only by a courtesy 5 1015147bay, jut out into the most domesticated body of 5 1015251salt water in the Western hemisphere, the great wet 6 1015351barnyard of Long Island Sound. they are not perfect 6 1015447ovals--like the egg in the Columbus story, they 6 1015551are both crushed flat at the contact end--but their 6 1015650physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual 6 1015757confusion to the gulls that fly overhead. to the wingless 6 1015850a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity 6 1015943in every particular except shape and size. 6 1016052I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable 6 1016145of the two, though this is a most superficial 6 1016252tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister 6 1016347contrast between them. my house was at the very 6 1016452tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and 6 1016548squeezed between two huge places that rented for 6 1016650twelve or fifteen thousand a season. the one on my 6 1016751right was a colossal affair by any standard--it was 6 1016855a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, 6 1016938with a tower on one side, spanking new 6 1017052under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming 6 1017143pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and 6 1017250garden. it was Gatsby's mansion. Or, rather, as I 6 1017350didn't know Mr. Gatsby, it was a mansion inhabited 6 1017446by a gentleman of that name. My own house was 6 1017550an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had 6 1017648been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a 6 1017753partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling 6 1017849proximity of millionaires--all for eighty dollars 6 1017909a month. 6 1018044Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of 6 1018151fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and 7 1018254the history of the summer really begins on the evening 7 1018342I drove over there to have dinner with the 7 1018447Tom Buchanans. Daisy was my second cousin once 7 1018554removed, and I'd known Tom in college. And just after 7 1018647the war I spent two days with them in Chicago. 7 1018752Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, 7 1018843had been one of the most powerful ends that 7 1018952ever played football at New Haven--a national figure 7 1019044in a way, one of those men who reach such an 7 1019154acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything 7 1019244afterward savors of anti-climax. His family 7 1019352were enormously wealthy--even in college his freedom 7 1019441with money was a matter for reproach--but 7 1019548now he'd left Chicago and come East in a fashion 7 1019648that rather took your breath away: for instance, 7 1019751he'd brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake 7 1019847Forest. it was hard to realize that a man in my 7 1019946own generation was wealthy enough to do that. 7 1020042Why they came East I don't know. They had 7 1020152spent a year in France for no particular reason, and 7 1020248then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever 7 1020348people played polo and were rich together. This 7 1020452was a permanent move, said Daisy over the telephone, 7 1020544but I didn't believe it--i had no sight into 7 1020649Daisy's heart, but I felt that Tom would drift on 7 1020753forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic 7 1020848turbulence of some irrecoverable football game. 7 1020947And so it happened that on a warm windy evening 7 1021047I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends 8 1021150whom I scarcely knew at all. Their house was even 8 1021256more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white 8 1021342Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the 8 1021450bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward 8 1021552the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over 8 1021654sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens--finally 8 1021741when it reached the house drifting up the 8 1021848side in bright vines as though from the momentum 8 1021953of its run. The front was broken by a line of French 8 1022049windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide 8 1022150open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan 8 1022244in riding clothes was standing with his legs 8 1022326apart on the front porch. 8 1022442He had changed since his New Haven years. 8 1022546Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty 8 1022652with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. 8 1022741Two shining arrogant eyes had established 8 1022851dominance over his face and gave him the appearance 8 1022944of always leaning aggressively forward. Not 8 1023053even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could 8 1023147hide the enormous power of that body--he seemed 8 1023252to fill those glistening boots until he strained the 8 1023352top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle 8 1023447shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin 8 1023552coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage--a 8 1023612cruel body. 8 1023749His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to 8 1023851the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There 8 1023951was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward 9 1024048people he liked--and there were men at New Haven 9 1024124who had hated his guts. 9 1024245"Now, don't think my opinion on these matters 9 1024346is final," he seemed to say, "just because I'm 9 1024445stronger and more of a man than you are." We 9 1024550were in the same senior society, and while we were 9 1024650never intimate I always had the impression that he 9 1024745approved of me and wanted me to like him with 9 1024844some harsh, defiant wistfulness of his own. 9 1024948We talked for a few minutes on the sunny porch. 9 1025047"I've got a nice place here," he said, his eyes 9 1025127flashing about restlessly. 9 1025240Turning me around by one arm, he moved a 9 1025351broad flat hand along the front vista, including in 9 1025449its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of 9 1025548deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat 9 1025631that bumped the tide offshore. 9 1025749"It belonged to Demaine, the oil man." He turned 9 1025850me around again, politely and abruptly. "We'll go 9 1025909inside." 9 1026046We walked through a high hallway into a bright 9 1026153rosy-colored space, fragilely bound into the house by 9 1026247French windows at either end. The windows were 9 1026347ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass 9 1026449outside that seemed to grow a little way into the 9 1026553house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains 9 1026648in at one end and out the other like pale flags, 9 1026748twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake 9 1026854of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored 10 1026939rug, making a shadow on it as wind does 10 1027012on the sea. 10 1027144The only completely stationary object in the 10 1027245room was an enormous couch on which two young 10 1027347women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored 10 1027452balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses 10 1027553were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been 10 1027653blown back in after a short flight around the house. 10 1027748I must have stood for a few moments listening to 10 1027850the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of 10 1027948a picture on the wall. Then there was a boom as 10 1028042Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the 10 1028153caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains 10 1028246and the rugs and the two young women ballooned 10 1028321slowly to the floor. 10 1028445The younger of the two was a stranger to me. 10 1028546She was extended full length at her end of the 10 1028647divan, completely motionless, and with her chin 10 1028754raised a little, as if she were balancing something on 10 1028853it which was quite likely to fall. If she saw me out 10 1028957of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it--indeed, 10 1029040I was almost surprised into murmuring an 10 1029147apology for having disturbed her by coming in. 10 1029251The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise--she 10 1029361leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression--then 10 1029432she laughed, an absurd, charming 10 1029548little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward 10 1029615into the room. 10 1029734"I'm p-paralyzed with happiness." 11 1029848She laughed again, as if she said something very 11 1029948witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up 11 1030048into my face, promising that there was no one in 11 1030148the world she so much wanted to see. That was a 11 1030253way she had. She hinted in a murmur that the surname 11 1030345of the balancing girl was Baker. (I've heard 11 1030451it said that Daisy's murmur was only to make people 11 1030550lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made 11 1030621it no less charming.) 11 1030752At any rate, Miss Baker's lips fluttered, she nodded 11 1030844at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly 11 1030956tipped her head back again--the object she was balancing 11 1031045had obviously tottered a little and given her 11 1031147something of a fright. Again a sort of apology 11 1031252arose to my lips. Almost any exhibition of complete 11 1031350self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me. 11 1031447I looked back at my cousin, who began to ask me 11 1031550questions in her low, thrilling voice. It was the 11 1031650kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as 11 1031751if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will 11 1031851never be played again. Her face was sad and lovely 11 1031950with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright 11 1032048passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in 11 1032146her voice that men who had cared for her found 11 1032254difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered 11 1032351"Listen," a promise that she had done gay, exciting 11 1032445things just a while since and that there were 11 1032548gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour. 11 1032649I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a 12 1032746day on my way East, and how a dozen people had 12 1032828sent their love through me. 12 1032944"Do they miss me?" she cried ecstatically. 12 1033047"The whole town is desolate. All the cars have 12 1033147the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning 12 1033253wreath, and there's a persistent wail all night along 12 1033318the north shore." 12 1033449"How gorgeous] Let's go back, Tom. To-morrow]" 12 1033542Then she added irrelevantly: "You ought to 12 1033615see the baby." 12 1033715"I'd like to." 12 1033847"She's asleep. She's three years old. Haven't 12 1033920you ever seen her?" 12 1034009"Never." 12 1034140"Well, you ought to see her. She's----" 12 1034246Tom Buchanan, who had been hovering restlessly 12 1034349about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my 12 1034410shoulder. 12 1034524"What you doing, Nick?" 12 1034618"I'm a bond man." 12 1034712"Who with?" 12 1034812I told him. 12 1034947"Never heard of them," he remarked decisively. 12 1035017This annoyed me. 12 1035149"You will," I answered shortly. "You will if you 12 1035219stay in the East." 12 1035348"Oh, I'll stay in the East, don't you worry," he 12 1035450said, glancing at Daisy and then back at me, as if 12 1035548he were alert for something more. "I'd be a God 13 1035636damned fool to live anywhere else." 13 1035750At this point Miss Baker said: "Absolutely]" with 13 1035848such suddenness that I started--it was the first 13 1035945word she uttered since I came into the room. 13 1036052Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for 13 1036153she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements 13 1036224stood up into the room. 13 1036348"I'm stiff," she complained, "I've been lying on 13 1036442that sofa for as long as I can remember." 13 1036546"Don't look at me," Daisy retorted, "I've been 13 1036646trying to get you to New York all afternoon." 13 1036751"No, thanks," said Miss Baker to the four cocktails 13 1036843just in from the pantry, "I'm absolutely in 13 1036911training." 13 1037038Her host looked at her incredulously. 13 1037148"You are]" He took down his drink as if it were 13 1037251a drop in the bottom of a glass. "How you ever get 13 1037329anything done is beyond me." 13 1037445I looked at Miss Baker, wondering what it was 13 1037551she "got done." I enjoyed looking at her. She was 13 1037655a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, 13 1037742which she accentuated by throwing her body 13 1037846backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. 13 1037949Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with 13 1038051polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, 13 1038146discontented face. It occurred to me now that 13 1038246I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere 13 1038308before. 13 1038453"You live in West Egg," she remarked contemptuously. 14 1038525"I know somebody there." 14 1038627"I don't know a single----" 14 1038724"You must know Gatsby." 14 1038843"Gatsby?" demanded Daisy. "What Gatsby?" 14 1038944Before I could reply that he was my neighbor 14 1039056dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively 14 1039134under mine, Tom Buchanan compelled 14 1039243me from the room as though he were moving a 14 1039327checker to another square. 14 1039448Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on 14 1039547their hips, the two young women preceded us out 14 1039650onto a rosy-colored porch, open toward the sunset, 14 1039748where four candles flickered on the table in the 14 1039817diminished wind. 14 1039946"Why candles?" objected Daisy, frowning. She 14 1040049snapped them out with her fingers. "In two weeks 14 1040153it'll be the longest day in the year." She looked at 14 1040247us all radiantly. "Do you always watch for the 14 1040351longest day of the year and then miss it? I always 14 1040446watch for the longest day in the year and then 14 1040510miss it." 14 1040641"We ought to plan something," yawned Miss 14 1040755Baker, sitting down at the table as if she were getting 14 1040810into bed. 14 1040949"All right," said Daisy. "What'll we plan?" She 14 1041049turned to me helplessly: "What do people plan?" 14 1041147Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an 14 1041238awed expression on her little finger. 14 1041339"Look]" she complained; "I hurt it." 15 1041447We all looked--the knuckle was black and blue. 15 1041548"You did it, Tom," she said accusingly. "I know 15 1041651you didn't mean to, but you did do it. That's what 15 1041750I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, 15 1041835hulking physical specimen of a----" 15 1041950"I hate that word hulking," objected Tom crossly, 15 1042019"even in kidding." 15 1042128"Hulking," insisted Daisy. 15 1042244Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, 15 1042348unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence 15 1042449that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as 15 1042552their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the 15 1042657absence of all desire. They were here, and they accepted 15 1042741Tom and me, making only a polite pleasant 15 1042852effort to entertain or to be entertained. They knew 15 1042948that presently dinner would be over and a little 15 1043048later the evening too would be over and casually 15 1043150put away. It was sharply different from the West, 15 1043248where an evening was hurried from phase to phase 15 1043360toward its close, in a continually disappointed anticipation 15 1043437or else in sheer nervous dread of the 15 1043515moment itself. 15 1043650"You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy," I confessed 15 1043749on my second glass of corky but rather impressive 15 1043839claret. "Can't you talk about crops or 15 1043912something?" 15 1044049I meant nothing in particular by this remark, but 15 1044138it was taken up in an unexpected way. 15 1044248"Civilization's going to pieces," broke out Tom 16 1044351violently. "I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist 16 1044453about things. Have you read 'The Rise of the Colored 16 1044531Empires' by this man Goddard?" 16 1044646"Why, no," I answered, rather surprised by his 16 1044706tone. 16 1044847"Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to 16 1044952read it. The idea is if we don't look out the white 16 1045061race will be--will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific 16 1045127stufff; it's been proved." 16 1045247"Tom's getting very profound," said Daisy, with 16 1045349an expression of unthoughtful sadness. "He reads 16 1045445deep books with long words in them. What was 16 1045517that word we----" 16 1045648"Well, these books are all scientific," insisted 16 1045751Tom, glancing at her impatiently. "This fellow has 16 1045851worked out the whole thing. It's up to us, who are 16 1045946the dominant race, to watch out or these other 16 1046036races will have control of things." 16 1046147"We've got to beat them down," whispered Daisy, 16 1046244winking ferociously toward the fervent sun. 16 1046346"You ought to live in California--" began Miss 16 1046450Baker, but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily 16 1046514in his chair. 16 1046648"This idea is that we're Nordics. I am, and you 16 1046759are, and you are, and--" After an infinitesimal hesitation 16 1046844he included Daisy with a slight nod, and she 16 1046950winked at me again. "--And we've produced all the 16 1047052things that go to make civilization--oh, science and 16 1047133art, and all that. Do you see?" 16 1047250There was something pathetic in his concentration, 17 1047346as if his complacency, more acute than of old, 17 1047445was not enough to him any more. When, almost 17 1047553immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler 17 1047646left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary 17 1047735interruption and leaned toward me. 17 1047865"I'll tell you a family secret," she whispered enthusiastically. 17 1047938"It's about the butler's nose. Do you 17 1048039want to hear about the butler's nose?" 17 1048135"That's why I came over to-night." 17 1048247"Well, he wasn't always a butler; he used to be 17 1048347the silver polisher for some people in New York 17 1048450that had a silver service for two hundred people. 17 1048550He had to polish it from morning till night, until 17 1048640finally it began to affect his nose----" 17 1048747"Things went from bad to worse," suggested Miss 17 1048807Baker. 17 1048943"Yes. Things went from bad to worse, until 17 1049041finally he had to give up his position." 17 1049149For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic 17 1049252affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled 17 1049352me forward breathlessly as I listened--then the glow 17 1049454faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, 17 1049549like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk. 17 1049643The butler came back and murmured something 17 1049749close to Tom's ear, whereupon Tom frowned, pushed 17 1049848back his chair, and without a word went inside. 17 1049949As if his absence quickened something within her, 17 1050049Daisy leaned forward again, her voice glowing and 17 1050109singing. 17 1050249"I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind 18 1050352me of a--of a rose, an absolute rose. Doesn't he?" 18 1050447She turned to Miss Baker for confirmation: "An 18 1050516absolute rose?" 18 1050646This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a 18 1050749rose. She was only extemporizing, but a stirring 18 1050850warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying 18 1050956to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, 18 1051045thrilling words. Then suddenly she threw her 18 1051148napkin on the table and excused herself and went 18 1051216into the house. 18 1051353Miss Baker and I exchanged a short glance consciously 18 1051440devoid of meaning. I was about to speak 18 1051552when she sat up alertly and said "Sh]" in a warning 18 1051640voice. A subdued impassioned murmur was 18 1051749audible in the room beyond, and Miss Baker leaned 18 1051846forward unashamed, trying to hear. The murmur 18 1051946trembled on the verge of coherence, sank down, 18 1052047mounted excitedly, and then ceased altogether. 18 1052149"This Mr. Gatsby you spoke of is my neighbor----" 18 1052208I said. 18 1052344"Don't talk. I want to hear what happens." 18 1052450"Is something happening?" I inquired innocently. 18 1052544"You mean to say you don't know?" said Miss 18 1052648Baker, honestly surprised. "I thought everybody 18 1052707knew." 18 1052811"I don't." 18 1052947"Why----" she said hesitantly, "Tom's got some 18 1053020woman in New York." 18 1053139"Got some woman?" I repeated blankly. 19 1053219Miss Baker nodded. 19 1053344"She might have the decency not to telephone 19 1053439him at dinner time. Don't you think?" 19 1053545Almost before I had grasped her meaning there 19 1053652was the flutter of a dress and the crunch of leather 19 1053741boots, and Tom and Daisy were back at the 19 1053807table. 19 1053948"It couldn't be helped]" cried Daisy with tense 19 1054008gayety. 19 1054147She sat down, glanced searchingly at Miss Baker 19 1054250and then at me, and continued: "I looked outdoors 19 1054347for a minute, and it's very romantic outdoors. 19 1054449There's a bird on the lawn that I think must be a 19 1054549nightingale come over on the Cunard or White Star 19 1054653Line. He's singing away----" Her voice sang: "It's 19 1054726romantic, isn't it, Tom?" 19 1054848"Very romantic," he said, and then miserably to 19 1054950me: "If it's light enough after dinner, I want to 19 1055031take you down to the stables." 19 1055145The telephone rang inside, startingly, and as 19 1055250Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject 19 1055357of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air. 19 1055451Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes 19 1055548at table I remember the candles being lit again, 19 1055651pointlessly, and I was conscious of wanting to look 19 1055752squarely at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes. I 19 1055848couldn't guess what Daisy and Tom were thinking, 19 1055950but I doubt if even Miss Baker, who seemed to have 19 1056053mastered a certain hardy scepticism, was able utterly 20 1056149to put this fifth guest's shrill metallic urgency 20 1056242out of mind. To a certain temperament the 20 1056346situation might have seemed intriguing--my own 20 1056445instinct was to telephone immediately for the 20 1056508police. 20 1056647The horses, needless to say, were not mentioned 20 1056748again. Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of 20 1056854twilight between them, strolled back into the library, 20 1056957as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body, while, 20 1057055trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf, 20 1057154I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas 20 1057244to the porch in front. In its deep gloom we 20 1057342sat down side by side on a wicker settee. 20 1057450Daisy took her face in her hands as if feeling its 20 1057546lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out 20 1057652into the velvet dusk. I saw that turbulent emotions 20 1057749possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be 20 1057847some sedative questions about her little girl. 20 1057948"We don't know each other very well, Nick," she 20 1058052said suddenly. "Even if we are cousins. You didn't 20 1058121come to my wedding." 20 1058230"I wasn't back from the war." 20 1058349"That's true." She hesitated. "Well, I've had a 20 1058449very bad time, Nick, and I'm pretty cynical about 20 1058513everything." 20 1058649Evidently she had reason to be. I waited but she 20 1058750didn't say any more, and after a moment I returned 20 1058846rather feebly to the subject of her daughter. 20 1058950"I suppose she talks, and--eats, and everything." 21 1059048"Oh, yes." She looked at me absently. "Listen, 21 1059146Nick; let me tell you what I said when she was 21 1059232born. Would you like to hear?" 21 1059313"Very much." 21 1059455"It'll show you how I've gotten to feel about--things. 21 1059543Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom 21 1059648was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether 21 1059748with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the 21 1059853nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told 21 1059950me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and 21 1060055wept. 'all right,' I said, 'i'm glad it's a girl. And 21 1060153I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl 21 1060248can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.' 21 1060347"You see I think everything's terrible anyhow," 21 1060450she went on in a convinced way. "Everybody thinks 21 1060548so--the most advanced people. And I know. I've 21 1060644been everywhere and seen everything and done 21 1060754everything." Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant 21 1060844way, rather like Tom's, and she laughed with 21 1060959thrilling scorn. "Sophisticated--God, I'm sophisticated]" 21 1061050The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel 21 1061153my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity 21 1061251of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though 21 1061350the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to 21 1061448exact a contributory emotion from me. I waited, 21 1061550and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with 21 1061651an absolute smirk on her lovely face, as if she had 22 1061749asserted her membership in a rather distinguished 22 1061846secret society to which she and Tom belonged. 22 1061945Inside, the crimson room bloomed with light. 22 1062048Tom and Miss Baker sat at either end of the long 22 1062150couch and she read aloud to him from the "Saturday 22 1062252Evening Post"--the words, murmurous and uninflected, 22 1062341running together in a soothing tune. The 22 1062447lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the 22 1062549autumn-leaf yellow of her hair, glinted along the 22 1062652paper as she turned a page with a flutter of slender 22 1062721muscles in her arms. 22 1062847When we came in she held us silent for a moment 22 1062920with a lifted hand. 22 1063050"To be continued," she said, tossing the magazine 22 1063141on the table, "in our very next issue." 22 1063249Her body asserted itself with a restless movement 22 1063331of her knee, and she stood up. 22 1063448"Ten o'clock," she remarked, apparently finding 22 1063553the time on the ceiling. "Time for this good girl to 22 1063612go to bed." 22 1063753"Jordan's going to play in the tournament to-morrow," 22 1063840explained Daisy, "over at Westchester." 22 1063928"Oh--you're *jordan Baker." 22 1064050I knew now why her face was familiar--its pleasing 22 1064144contemptuous expression had looked out at me 22 1064251from many rotogravure pictures of the sporting life 22 1064347at Asheville and Hot Springs and Palm Beach. I 22 1064455had heard some story of her too, a critical, unpleasant 23 1064543story, but what it was I had forgotten long 23 1064605ago. 23 1064744"Good night," she said softly. "Wake me at 23 1064819eight, won't you." 23 1064920"If you'll get up." 23 1065044"I will. Good night, Mr. Carraway. See you 23 1065107anon." 23 1065249"Of course you will," confirmed Daisy. "In fact 23 1065350I think I'll arrange a marriage. Come over often, 23 1065452Nick, and I'll sort of--oh--fling you together. You 23 1065551know--lock you up accidentally in linen closets and 23 1065651push you out to sea in a boat, and all that sort of 23 1065710thing----" 23 1065850"Good night," called Miss Baker from the stairs. 23 1065926"I haven't heard a word." 23 1066047"She's a nice girl," said Tom after a moment. 23 1066148"They oughtn't to let her run around the country 23 1066211this way." 23 1066343"Who oughtn't to?" inquired Daisy coldly. 23 1066414"Her family." 23 1066546"Her family is one aunt about a thousand years 23 1066653old. Besides, Nick's going to look after her, aren't 23 1066750you, Nick? She's going to spend lots of week-ends 23 1066849out here this summer. I think the home influence 23 1066928will be very good for her." 23 1067047Daisy and Tom looked at each other for a moment 23 1067112in silence. 23 1067242"Is she from New York?" I asked quickly. 23 1067348"From Louisville. Our white girlhood was passed 24 1067441together there. Our beautiful white----" 24 1067547"Did you give Nick a little heart to heart talk 24 1067641on the veranda?" demanded Tom suddenly. 24 1067745"Did I?" She looked at me. "I can't seem to 24 1067848remember, but I think we talked about the Nordic 24 1067952race. Yes, I'm sure we did. It sort of crept up on 24 1068032us and first thing you know----" 24 1068146"Don't believe everything you hear, Nick," he 24 1068212advised me. 24 1068351I said lightly that I had heard nothing at all, and 24 1068451a few minutes later I got up to go home. They came 24 1068547to the door with me and stood side by side in a 24 1068648cheerful square of light. As I started my motor 24 1068735Daisy peremptorily called: "Wait] 24 1068852"I forgot to ask you something, and it's important. 24 1068939We heard you were engaged to a girl out 24 1069007West." 24 1069146"That's right," corroborated Tom kindly. "We 24 1069230heard that you were engaged." 24 1069329"It's libel. I'm too poor." 24 1069449"But we heard it," insisted Daisy, surprising me 24 1069546by opening up again in a flower-like way. "We 24 1069649heard it from three people, so it must be true." 24 1069745Of course I knew what they were referring to, 24 1069849but I wasn't even vaguely engaged. The fact that 24 1069953gossip had published the banns was one of the reasons 24 1070043I had come East. You can't stop going with 24 1070146an old friend on account of rumors, and on the 24 1070246other hand I had no intention of being rumored 25 1070315into marriage. 25 1070446Their interest rather touched me and made them 25 1070552less remotely rich--nevertheless, I was confused and 25 1070652a little disgusted as I drove away. It seemed to me 25 1070753that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the 25 1070850house, child in arms--but apparently there were no 25 1070950such intentions in her head. As for Tom, the fact 25 1071047that he "had some woman in New York" was really 25 1071150less surprising than that he had been depressed by 25 1071247a book. Something was making him nibble at the 25 1071353edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism 25 1071442no longer nourished his peremptory heart. 25 1071545Already it was deep summer on roadhouse roofs 25 1071656and in front of wayside garages, where new red gas-pumps 25 1071745sat out in pools of light, and when I reached 25 1071850my estate at West Egg I ran the car under its shed 25 1071951and sat for a while on an abandoned grass roller in 25 1072050the yard. The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, 25 1072151bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a 25 1072249persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the 25 1072355earth blew the frogs full of life. The silhouette of a 25 1072452moving cat wavered across the moonlight, and turning 25 1072554my head to watch it, I saw that I was not alone--fifty 25 1072639feet away a figure had emerged from the 25 1072748shadow of my neighbor's mansion and was standing 25 1072850with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver 25 1072948pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely 25 1073050movements and the secure position of his feet upon 25 1073150the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, 26 1073247come out to determine what share was his of our 26 1073315local heavens. 26 1073451I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned 26 1073554him at dinner, and that would do for an introduction. 26 1073639But I didn't call to him, for he gave a 26 1073753sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he 26 1073844stretched out his arms toward the dark water 26 1073947in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I 26 1074051could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I 26 1074149glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except 26 1074253a single green light, minute and far away, that might 26 1074348have been the end of a dock. When I looked once 26 1074448more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone 26 1074531again in the unquiet darkness. 26 1074610CHAPTER II 27 1074744ABOUT half way between West Egg and New York 27 1074850the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs 27 1074955beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away 27 1075055from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley 27 1075148of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like 27 1075250wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; 27 1075349where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys 27 1075450and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent 27 1075541effort, of men who move dimly and already 27 1075650crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a 27 1075756line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives 27 1075855out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately 27 1075937the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden 27 1076047spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which 27 1076150screens their obscure operations from your sight. 27 1076247But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak 27 1076349dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, 27 1076452after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. 27 1076547The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and 27 1076647gigantic--their irises are one yard high. They 27 1076749look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of 27 1076856enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent 27 1076936nose. Evidently some wild wag of an 27 1077052oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the 27 1077145borough of Queens, and then sank down himself 28 1077248into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved 28 1077354away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless 28 1077443days, under sun and rain, brood on over the 28 1077523solemn dumping ground. 28 1077647The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a 28 1077748small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up 28 1077848to let barges through, the passengers on waiting 28 1077951trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as 28 1078049half an hour. There is always a halt there of at 28 1078149least a minute, and it was because of this that I 28 1078235first met Tom Buchanan's mistress. 28 1078342The fact that he had one was insisted upon 28 1078450wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented 28 1078549the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants 28 1078647with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered 28 1078748about, chatting with whomsoever he knew. Though 28 1078858I was curious to see her, I had no desire to meet her--but 28 1078941I did. I went up to New York with Tom on 28 1079047the train one afternoon, and when we stopped by 28 1079151the ashheaps he jumped to his feet and, taking hold 28 1079247of my elbow, literally forced me from the car. 28 1079350"We're getting off," he insisted. "I want you to 28 1079415meet my girl." 28 1079551I think he'd tanked up a good deal at luncheon, and 28 1079645his determination to have my company bordered 28 1079750on violence. The supercilious assumption was that 28 1079848on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do. 28 1079946I followed him over a low whitewashed railroad 28 1080051fence, and we walked back a hundred yards along the 29 1080152road under Doctor Eckleburg's persistent stare. The 29 1080250only building in sight was a small block of yellow 29 1080354brick sitting on the edge of the waste land, a sort of 29 1080453compact Main Street ministering to it, and contiguous 29 1080549to absolutely nothing. One of the three shops it 29 1080651contained was for rent and another was an all-night 29 1080753restaurant, approached by a trail of ashes; the third 29 1080846was a garage--repairs. GEORGE B. WILSON. Cars 29 1080945bought and sold.--and I followed Tom inside. 29 1081048The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only 29 1081148car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford 29 1081251which crouched in a dim corner. It had occurred to 29 1081352me that this shadow of a garage must be a blind, and 29 1081453that sumptuous and romantic apartments were concealed 29 1081546overhead, when the proprietor himself appeared 29 1081642in the door of an office, wiping his hands 29 1081753on a piece of waste. He was a blond, spiritless man, 29 1081846anaemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us 29 1081947a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue 29 1082006eyes. 29 1082145"Hello, Wilson, old man," said Tom, slapping 29 1082249him jovially on the shoulder. "How's business?" 29 1082353"I can't complain," answered Wilson unconvincingly. 29 1082442"When are you going to sell me that car?" 29 1082541"Next week; I've got my man working on it 29 1082606now." 29 1082731"Works pretty slow, don't he?" 29 1082848"No, he doesn't," said Tom coldly. "And if you 29 1082958feel that way about it, maybe I'd better sell it somewhere 30 1083017else after all." 30 1083147"I don't mean that," explained Wilson quickly. 30 1083218"I just meant----" 30 1083347His voice faded off and Tom glanced impatiently 30 1083447around the garage. Then I heard footsteps on a 30 1083548stairs, and in a moment the thickish figure of a 30 1083650woman blocked out the light from the office door. 30 1083754She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but 30 1083860she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. 30 1083960Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, 30 1084038contained no facet or gleam of beauty, 30 1084149but there was an immediately perceptible vitality 30 1084255about her as if the nerves of her body were continually 30 1084344smouldering. She smiled slowly and, walking 30 1084448through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook 30 1084546hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. 30 1084649Then she wet her lips, and without turning around 30 1084745spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice: 30 1084844"Get some chairs, why don't you, so somebody 30 1084915can sit down." 30 1085046"Oh, sure," agreed Wilson hurriedly, and went 30 1085151toward the little office, mingling immediately with 30 1085250the cement color of the walls. A white ashen dust 30 1085351veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled 30 1085448everything in the vicinity--except his wife, who 30 1085520moved close to Tom. 30 1085648"I want to see you," said Tom intently. "Get on 30 1085717the next train." 30 1085813"All right." 31 1085945"I'll meet you by the news-stand on the lower 31 1086008level." 31 1086142She nodded and moved away from him just as 31 1086246George Wilson emerged with two chairs from his 31 1086313office door. 31 1086450We waited for her down the road and out of sight. 31 1086550It was a few days before the Fourth of July, and a 31 1086652gray, scrawny Italian child was setting torpedoes in 31 1086732a row along the railroad track. 31 1086849"Terrible place, isn't it," said Tom, exchanging 31 1086931a frown with Doctor Eckleburg. 31 1087009"Awful." 31 1087132"It does her good to get away." 31 1087230"Doesn't her husband object?" 31 1087349"Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in 31 1087444New York. He's so dumb he doesn't know he's 31 1087508alive." 31 1087651So Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together 31 1087745to New York--or not quite together, for Mrs. 31 1087850Wilson sat discreetly in another car. Tom deferred 31 1087951that much to the sensibilities of those East Eggers 31 1088027who might be on the train. 31 1088144She had changed her dress to a brown figured 31 1088250muslin, which stretched tight over her rather wide 31 1088345hips as Tom helped her to the platform in New 31 1088451York. At the news-stand she bought a copy of "Town 31 1088549Tattle" and a moving-picture magazine, and in the 31 1088646station drug-store some cold cream and a small 31 1088751flask of perfume. Up-stairs, in the solemn echoing 32 1088849drive she let four taxicabs drive away before she 32 1088958selected a new one, lavender-colored with gray upholstery, 32 1089040and in this we slid out from the mass of 32 1089155the station into the glowing sunshine. But immediately 32 1089239she turned sharply from the window and, 32 1089344leaning forward, tapped on the front glass. 32 1089456"I want to get one of those dogs," she said earnestly. 32 1089546"I want to get one for the apartment. They're 32 1089622nice to have--a dog." 32 1089742We backed up to a gray old man who bore an 32 1089848absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller. In a 32 1089947basket swung from his neck cowered a dozen very 32 1090042recent puppies of an indeterminate breed. 32 1090140"What kind are they?" asked Mrs. Wilson 32 1090240eagerly, as he came to the taxi-window. 32 1090343"All kinds. What kind do you want, lady?" 32 1090450"I'd like to get one of those police dogs; I don't 32 1090528suppose you got that kind?" 32 1090642The man peered doubtfully into the basket, 32 1090747plunged in his hand and drew one up, wriggling, 32 1090825by the back of the neck. 32 1090935"That's no police dog," said Tom. 32 1091050"No, it's not exactly a police dog," said the man 32 1091151with disappointment in his voice. "It's more of an 32 1091254Airedale." He passed his hand over the brown wash-rag 32 1091344of a back. "Look at that coat. Some coat. 32 1091451That's a dog that'll never bother you with catching 32 1091507cold." 32 1091657"I think it's cute," said Mrs. Wilson enthusiastically. 33 1091718"How much is it?" 33 1091847"That dog?" He looked at it admiringly. "That 33 1091932dog will cost you ten dollars." 33 1092047The Airedale--undoubtedly there was an Airedale 33 1092147concerned in it somewhere, though its feet were 33 1092249startlingly white--changed hands and settled down 33 1092359into Mrs. Wilson's lap, where she fondled the weather-proof 33 1092419coat with rapture. 33 1092548"Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked delicately. 33 1092631"That dog? That dog's a boy." 33 1092751"It's a bitch," said Tom decisively. "Here's your 33 1092843money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it." 33 1092948We drove over to Fifth Avenue, so warm and soft, 33 1093047almost pastoral, on the summer Sunday afternoon 33 1093156that I wouldn't have been surprised to see a great flock 33 1093232of white sheep turn the corner. 33 1093340"Hold on," I said, "I have to leave you 33 1093407here." 33 1093541"No, you don't," interposed Tom quickly. 33 1093646"Myrtle'll be hurt if you don't come up to the 33 1093732apartment. Won't you, Myrtle?" 33 1093848"Come on," she urged. "I'll telephone my sister 33 1093953Catherine. She's said to be very beautiful by people 33 1094020who ought to know." 33 1094128"Well, I'd like to, but----" 33 1094244We went on, cutting back again over the Park 33 1094346toward the West Hundreds. At 158th Street the 33 1094448cab stopped at one slice in a long white cake of 33 1094546apartment-houses. Throwing a regal homecoming 34 1094652glance around the neighborhood, Mrs. Wilson gathered 34 1094744up her dog and her other purchases, and went 34 1094814haughtily in. 34 1094944"I'm going to have the MCkees come up," she 34 1095047announced as we rose in the elevator. "And, of 34 1095142course, I got to call up my sister, too." 34 1095243The apartment was on the top floor--a small 34 1095350living-room, a small dining-room, a small bedroom, 34 1095447and a bath. The living-room was crowded to the 34 1095553doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too 34 1095650large for it, so that to move about was to stumble 34 1095749continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the 34 1095847gardens of Versailles. The only picture was an 34 1095950over-enlarged photograph, apparently a hen sitting 34 1096055on a blurred rock. Looked at from a distance, however, 34 1096146the hen resolved itself into a bonnet, and the 34 1096248countenance of a stout old lady beamed down into 34 1096353the room. Several old copies of "Town Tattle" lay on 34 1096447the table together with a copy of "Simon Called 34 1096550Peter," and some of the small scandal magazines of 34 1096647Broadway. Mrs. Wilson was first concerned with 34 1096749the dog. A reluctant elevator-boy went for a box 34 1096849full of straw and some milk, to which he added on 34 1096957his own initiative a tin of large, hard dog-biscuits--one 34 1097047of which decomposed apathetically in the saucer 34 1097149of milk all afternoon. Meanwhile Tom brought out 34 1097247a bottle of whiskey from a locked bureau door. 34 1097348I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the 34 1097450second time was that afternoon; so everything that 35 1097547happened has a dim, hazy cast over it, although 35 1097651until after eight o'clock the apartment was full of 35 1097747cheerful sun. Sitting on Tom's lap Mrs. Wilson 35 1097853called up several people on the telephone; then there 35 1097949were no cigarettes, and I went out to buy some at 35 1098046the drugstore on the corner. When I came back 35 1098146they had disappeared, so I sat down discreetly 35 1098247in the living-room and read a chapter of "Simon 35 1098350Called Peter"--either it was terrible stuff or the 35 1098448whiskey distorted things, because it didn't make 35 1098517any sense to me. 35 1098651Just as Tom and Myrtle (after the first drink Mrs. 35 1098750Wilson and I called each other by our first names) 35 1098846reappeared, company commenced to arrive at the 35 1098916apartment-door. 35 1099050The sister, Catherine, was a slender, worldly girl 35 1099154of about thirty, with a solid, sticky bob of red hair, 35 1099253and a complexion powdered milky white. Her eye-brows 35 1099340had been plucked and then drawn on again 35 1099449at a more rakish angle, but the efforts of nature 35 1099550toward the restoration of the old alignment gave a 35 1099646blurred air to her face. When she moved about 35 1099754there was an incessant clicking as innumerable pottery 35 1099845bracelets jingled up and down upon her arms. 35 1099946She came in with such a proprietary haste, and 35 1100051looked around so possessively at the furniture that 35 1100151I wondered if she lived here. But when I asked her 35 1100246she laughed immoderately, repeated my question 35 1100352aloud, and told me she lived with a girl friend at a 36 1100407hotel. 36 1100543Mr. MCkee was a pale, feminine man from the 36 1100648flat below. He had just shaved, for there was a 36 1100749white spot of lather on his cheekbone, and he was 36 1100851most respectful in his greeting to every one in the 36 1100950room. He informed me that he was in the "artistic 36 1101054game," and I gathered later that he was a photographer 36 1101141and had made the dim enlargement of Mrs. 36 1101247Wilson's mother which hovered like an ectoplasm 36 1101353on the wall. His wife was shrill, languid, handsome, 36 1101454and horrible. She told me with pride that her husband 36 1101547had photographed her a hundred and twenty-seven 36 1101635times since they had been married. 36 1101745Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time 36 1101853before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon 36 1101946dress of cream-colored chiffon, which gave out 36 1102048a continual rustle as she swept about the room. 36 1102151With the influence of the dress her personality had 36 1102251also undergone a change. The intense vitality that 36 1102350had been so remarkable in the garage was converted 36 1102453into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, 36 1102552her assertions became more violently affected moment 36 1102639by moment, and as she expanded the room 36 1102747grew smaller around her, until she seemed to be 36 1102848revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the 36 1102911smoky air. 36 1103050"My dear," she told her sister in a high, mincing 36 1103150shout, "most of these fellas will cheat you every 36 1103249time. All they think of is money. I had a woman 37 1103350up here last week to look at my feet, and when she 37 1103444gave me the bill you'd of thought she had my 37 1103519appendicitus out." 37 1103646"What was the name of the woman?" asked Mrs. 37 1103707MCkee. 37 1103844"Mrs. Eberhardt. She goes around looking at 37 1103935people's feet in their own homes." 37 1104046"I like your dress," remarked Mrs. MCkee, "I 37 1104122think it's adorable." 37 1104246Mrs. Wilson rejected the compliment by raising 37 1104324her eyebrow in disdain. 37 1104455"It's just a crazy old thing," she said. "I just slip 37 1104545it on sometimes when I don't care what I look 37 1104607like." 37 1104743"But it looks wonderful on you, if you know 37 1104847what I mean," pursued Mrs. MCkee. "If Chester 37 1104948could only get you in that pose I think he could 37 1105023make something of it." 37 1105152We all looked in silence at Mrs. Wilson, who removed 37 1105239a strand of hair from over her eyes and 37 1105352looked back at us with a brilliant smile. Mr. MCkee 37 1105448regarded her intently with his head on one side, 37 1105548and then moved his hand back and forth slowly in 37 1105619front of his face. 37 1105754"I should change the light," he said after a moment. 37 1105843"I'd like to bring out the modelling of the 37 1105950features. And I'd try to get hold of all the back 37 1106007hair." 37 1106148"I wouldn't think of changing the light," cried 38 1106231Mrs. MCkee. "I think it's----" 38 1106348Her husband said "*sh]" and we all looked at the 38 1106444subject again, whereupon Tom Buchanan yawned 38 1106529audibly and got to his feet. 38 1106648"You MCkees have something to drink," he said. 38 1106745"Get some more ice and mineral water, Myrtle, 38 1106833before everybody goes to sleep." 38 1106947"I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised 38 1107051her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the 38 1107147lower orders. "These people] You have to keep 38 1107226after them all the time." 38 1107347She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then 38 1107453she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy, 38 1107549and swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen 38 1107632chefs awaited her orders there. 38 1107748"I've done some nice things out on Long Island," 38 1107820asserted Mr. MCkee. 38 1107927Tom looked at him blankly. 38 1108042"Two of them we have framed down-stairs." 38 1108127"Two what?" demanded Tom. 38 1108242"Two studies. One of them I call 'Montauk 38 1108348POINT--the Gulls,' and the other I call 'Montauk 38 1108418POINT--the Sea.'" 38 1108546The sister Catherine sat down beside me on the 38 1108607couch. 38 1108755"Do you live down on Long Island, too?" she inquired. 38 1108822"I live at West Egg." 38 1108945"Really? I was down there at a party about a 39 1109044month ago. At a man named Gatsby's. Do you 39 1109111know him?" 39 1109227"I live next door to him." 39 1109344"Well, they say he's a nephew or a cousin of 39 1109451Kaiser Wilhelm's. That's where all his money comes 39 1109507from." 39 1109610"Really?" 39 1109712She nodded. 39 1109845"I'm scared of him. I'd hate to have him get 39 1109917anything on me." 39 1110044This absorbing information about my neighbor 39 1110149was interrupted by Mrs. MCkee's pointing suddenly 39 1110213at Catherine: 39 1110345"Chester, I think you could do something with 39 1110447her," she broke out, but Mr. MCkee only nodded 39 1110543in a bored way, and turned his attention to 39 1110605Tom. 39 1110746"I'd like to do more work on Long Island, if I 39 1110851could get the entry. All I ask is that they should 39 1110918give me a start." 39 1111046"Ask Myrtle," said Tom, breaking into a short 39 1111147shout of laughter as Mrs. Wilson entered with a 39 1111255tray. "She'll give you a letter of introduction, won't 39 1111313you Myrtle?" 39 1111432"Do what?" she asked, startled. 39 1111546"You'll give MCkee a letter of introduction to 39 1111649your husband, so he can do some studies of him." 39 1111753His lips moved silently for a moment as he invented. 39 1111844"'george B. Wilson at the Gasoline Pump,' or 40 1111922something like that." 40 1112045Catherine leaned close to me and whispered in 40 1112107my ear: 40 1112245"Neither of them can stand the person they're 40 1112313married to." 40 1112414"Can't they?" 40 1112545"Can't stand them." She looked at Myrtle and 40 1112646then at Tom. "What I say is, why go on living 40 1112750with them if they can't stand them? If I was them 40 1112847I'd get a divorce and get married to each other 40 1112913right away." 40 1113034"Doesn't she like Wilson either?" 40 1113148The answer to this was unexpected. It came from 40 1113250Myrtle, who had overheard the question, and it was 40 1113321violent and obscene. 40 1113446"You see," cried Catherine triumphantly. She 40 1113554lowered her voice again. "It's really his wife that's 40 1113647keeping them apart. She's a Catholic, and they 40 1113727don't believe in divorce." 40 1113844Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little 40 1113941shocked at the elaborateness of the lie. 40 1114049"When they do get married," continued Catherine, 40 1114145"they're going West to live for a while until 40 1114216it blows over." 40 1114341"It'd be more discreet to go to Europe." 40 1114455"Oh, do you like Europe?" she exclaimed surprisingly. 40 1114536"I just got back from Monte Carlo." 40 1114610"Really." 40 1114748"Just last year. I went over there with another 41 1114807girl." 41 1114913"Stay long?" 41 1115043"No, we just went to Monte Carlo and back. 41 1115149We went by way of Marseilles. We had over twelve 41 1115250hundred dollars when we started, but we got gypped 41 1115351out of it all in two days in the private rooms. We 41 1115448had an awful time getting back, I can tell you. 41 1115529God, how I hated that town]" 41 1115644The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window 41 1115759for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean--then 41 1115837the shrill voice of Mrs. MCkee called 41 1115923me back into the room. 41 1116045"I almost made a mistake, too," she declared 41 1116150vigorously. "I almost married a little kyke who'd 41 1116250been after me for years. I knew he was below me. 41 1116350Everybody kept saying to me: 'Lucille, that man's 41 1116451'way below you]' But if I hadn't met Chester, he'd 41 1116517of got me sure." 41 1116651"Yes, but listen," said Myrtle Wilson, nodding her 41 1116751head up and down, "at least you didn't marry him." 41 1116819"I know I didn't." 41 1116950"Well, I married him," said Myrtle, ambiguously. 41 1117048"And that's the difference between your case and 41 1117107mine." 41 1117244"Why did you, Myrtle?" demanded Catherine. 41 1117324"Nobody forced you to." 41 1117419Myrtle considered. 41 1117553"I married him because I thought he was a gentleman," 41 1117637she said finally. "I thought he knew 42 1117751something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick 42 1117810my shoe." 42 1117945"You were crazy about him for a while," said 42 1118011Catherine. 42 1118148"Crazy about him]" cried Myrtle incredulously. 42 1118249"Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any 42 1118346more crazy about him than I was about that man 42 1118408there." 42 1118548She pointed suddenly at me, and every one looked 42 1118651at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression 42 1118739that I had played no part in her past. 42 1118846"The only crazy I was was when I married him. 42 1118948I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed 42 1119049somebody's best suit to get married in, and never 42 1119152even told me about it, and the man came after it one 42 1119267day when he was out." She looked around to see who was listening. 42 1119328"'oh, is that your suit?' I 42 1119456said. 'this is the first I ever heard about it.' But I 42 1119547gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to 42 1119630beat the band all afternoon." 42 1119749"She really ought to get away from him," resumed 42 1119843Catherine to me. "They've been living over 42 1119950that garage for eleven years. And tom's the first 42 1120023sweetie she ever had." 42 1120144The bottle of whiskey--a second one--was now 42 1120255in constant demand by all present, excepting Catherine, 42 1120343who "felt just as good on nothing at all." 42 1120446Tom rang for the janitor and sent him for some 42 1120551celebrated sandwiches, which were a complete supper 42 1120654in themselves. I wanted to get out and walk southward 43 1120746toward the park through the soft twilight, but 43 1120850each time I tried to go I became entangled in some 43 1120951wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if 43 1121050with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city 43 1121148our line of yellow windows must have contributed 43 1121250their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher 43 1121352in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking 43 1121444up and wondering. I was within and without, 43 1121558simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible 43 1121617variety of life. 43 1121751Myrtle pulled her chair close to mine, and suddenly 43 1121840her warm breath poured over me the story 43 1121931of her first meeting with Tom. 43 1122049"It was on the two little seats facing each other 43 1122151that are always the last ones left on the train. I 43 1122245was going up to New York to see my sister and 43 1122351spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent 43 1122451leather shoes, and I couldn't keep my eyes off him, 43 1122547but every time he looked at me I had to pretend 43 1122650to be looking at the advertisement over his head. 43 1122748When we came into the station he was next to me, 43 1122849and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, 43 1122951and so I told him I'd have to call a policeman, but 43 1123049he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got 43 1123150into a taxi with him I didn't hardly know I wasn't 43 1123249getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking 43 1123350about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; 43 1123426you can't live forever.'" 43 1123542She turned to Mrs. MCkee and the room rang 44 1123633full of her artificial laughter. 44 1123746"My dear," she cried, "I'm going to give you 44 1123852this dress as soon as I'm through with it. I've got 44 1123948to get another one to-morrow. I'm going to make 44 1124052a list of all the things I've got to get. A massage 44 1124148and a wave, and a collar for the dog, and one of 44 1124253those cute little ash-trays where you touch a spring, 44 1124347and a wreath with a black silk bow for mother's 44 1124451grave that'll last all summer. I got to write down 44 1124554a list so I won't forget all the things I got to do." 44 1124649It was nine o'clock--almost immediately afterward 44 1124743I looked at my watch and found it was ten. 44 1124846Mr. MCkee was asleep on a chair with his fists 44 1124950clenched in his lap, like a photograph of a man of 44 1125048action. Taking out my handkerchief I wiped from 44 1125166his cheek the remains of the spot of dried lather that had worried 44 1125222me all the afternoon. 44 1125347The little dog was sitting on the table looking 44 1125448with blind eyes through the smoke, and from time 44 1125558to time groaning faintly. People disappeared, reappeared, 44 1125636made plans to go somewhere, and then 44 1125752lost each other, searched for each other, found each 44 1125849other a few feet away. Some time toward midnight 44 1125947Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face 44 1126048discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. 44 1126146Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name. 44 1126247"Daisy] Daisy] Daisy]" shouted Mrs. Wilson. 44 1126350"I'll say it whenever I want to] Daisy] Dai----" 44 1126442Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan 45 1126535broke her nose with his open hand. 45 1126648Then there were bloody towels upon the bath-room 45 1126744floor, and women's voices scolding, and high 45 1126847over the confusion a long broken wail of pain. 45 1126946Mr. MCkee awoke from his doze and started in a 45 1127048daze toward the door. When he had gone half way 45 1127150he turned around and stared at the scene--his wife 45 1127253and Catherine scolding and consoling as they stumbled 45 1127342here and there among the crowded furniture 45 1127454with articles of aid, and the despairing figure on the 45 1127553couch, bleeding fluently, and trying to spread a copy 45 1127657of "Town Tattle" over the tapestry scenes of Versailles. 45 1127746Then Mr. MCkee turned and continued on out the 45 1127854door. Taking my hat from the chandelier, I followed. 45 1127946"Come to lunch some day," he suggested, as we 45 1128030groaned down in the elevator. 45 1128109"Where?" 45 1128212"Anywhere." 45 1128354"Keep your hands off the lever," snapped the elevator 45 1128405boy. 45 1128550"I beg your pardon," said Mr. MCkee with dignity, 45 1128635"I didn't know I was touching it." 45 1128744"All right," I agreed, "I'll be glad to." 45 1128854. . . I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting 45 1128945up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, 45 1129037with a great portfolio in his hands. 45 1129148"Beauty and the Beast . . . Loneliness . . . Old 45 1129244Grocery Horse . . . Brook'n Bridge . . . ." 45 1129346then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower 46 1129449level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring at the 46 1129549morning Tribune, and waiting for the four o'clock 46 1129608 train. 46 1129711CHAPTER III 47 1129848THERE was music from my neighbor's house through 47 1129947the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and 47 1130052girls came and went like moths among the whisperings 47 1130141and the champagne and the stars. At high 47 1130249tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving 47 1130352from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the 47 1130452hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit 47 1130548the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over 47 1130648cataracts of foam. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce 47 1130746became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from 47 1130850the city between nine in the morning and long past 47 1130950midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a 47 1131052brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays 47 1131144eight servants, including an extra gardener, 47 1131250toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and 47 1131348hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages 47 1131421of the night before. 47 1131546Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons 47 1131650arrived from a fruiterer in New York--every Monday 47 1131743these same oranges and lemons left his back 47 1131850door in a pyramid of pulpless halves. There was a 47 1131946machine in the kitchen which could extract the 47 1132049juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a 47 1132148little button was pressed two hundred times by a 47 1132216butler's thumb. 47 1132350At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came 48 1132444down with several hundred feet of canvas and 48 1132549enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of 48 1132654Gatsby's enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished 48 1132743with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked 48 1132848hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs 48 1132947and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark 48 1133052gold. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail 48 1133149was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and 48 1133248with cordials so long forgotten that most of his 48 1133345female guests were too young to know one from 48 1133409another. 48 1133546By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived, no 48 1133655thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes and 48 1133746trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets 48 1133847and piccolos, and low and high drums. The last 48 1133944swimmers have come in from the beach now and 48 1134050are dressing up-stairs; the cars from New York are 48 1134146parked five deep in the drive, and already the 48 1134244halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with 48 1134345primary colors, and hair shorn in strange new 48 1134447ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. 48 1134548The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of 48 1134648cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the 48 1134750air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual 48 1134849innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, 48 1134943and enthusiastic meetings between women who 48 1135031never knew each other's names. 48 1135145The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches 48 1135251away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing 49 1135346yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices 49 1135451pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by 49 1135549minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a 49 1135647cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, 49 1135749swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the 49 1135851same breath; already there are wanderers, confident 49 1135948girls who weave here and there among the stouter 49 1136050and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment 49 1136145the centre of a group, and then, excited with 49 1136249triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces 49 1136350and voices and color under the constantly changing 49 1136407light. 49 1136547Suddenly one of the gypsies, in trembling opal, 49 1136651seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for 49 1136749courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances 49 1136846out alone on the canvas platform. A momentary 49 1136955hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly 49 1137047for her, and there is a burst of chatter as the 49 1137151erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray's 49 1137253understudy from the "Follies." The party has begun. 49 1137352I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's 49 1137441house I was one of the few guests who had 49 1137553actually been invited. People were not invited--they 49 1137644went there. They got into automobiles which 49 1137746bore them out to Long Island, and somehow they 49 1137848ended up at Gatsby's door. Once there they were 49 1137943introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and 49 1138049after that they conducted themselves according to 49 1138147the rules of behavior associated with amusement 50 1138251parks. Sometimes they came and went without having 50 1138344met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a 50 1138458simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission. 50 1138546I had been actually invited. A chauffeur in a 50 1138649uniform of robin's-egg blue crossed my lawn early 50 1138748that Saturday morning with a surprisingly formal 50 1138852note from his employer: the honor would be entirely 50 1138955Gatsby's, it said, if I would attend his "little party" 50 1139012that night. 50 1139137He had seen me several times, and had 50 1139250intended to call on me long before, but a peculiar 50 1139353combination of circumstances had prevented it--signed 50 1139432Jay Gatsby, in a majestic hand. 50 1139547Dressed up in white flannels I went over to his 50 1139646lawn a little after seven, and wandered around 50 1139752rather ill at ease among swirls and eddies of people 50 1139847I didn't know--though here and there was a face 50 1139956I had noticed on the commuting train. I was immediately 50 1140040struck by the number of young Englishmen 50 1140145dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a 50 1140253little hungry, and all talking in low, earnest voices 50 1140351to solid and prosperous Americans. I was sure that 50 1140450they were selling something: bonds or insurance or 50 1140550automobiles. They were at least agonizingly aware 50 1140647of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced 50 1140747that it was theirs for a few words in the right 50 1140805key. 50 1140946As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find 50 1141046my host, but the two or three people of whom I 51 1141145asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an 51 1141250amazed way, and denied so vehemently any knowledge 51 1141351of his movements, that I slunk off in the direction 51 1141444of the cocktail table--the only place in the 51 1141546garden where a single man could linger without 51 1141631looking purposeless and alone. 51 1141747I was on my way to get roaring drunk from sheer 51 1141847embarrassment when Jordan Baker came out of the 51 1141948house and stood at the head of the marble steps, 51 1142055leaning a little backward and looking with contemptuous 51 1142131interest down into the garden. 51 1142246Welcome or not, I found it necessary to attach 51 1142351myself to some one before I should begin to address 51 1142435cordial remarks to the passers-by. 51 1142545"Hello]" I roared, advancing toward her. My 51 1142649voice seemed unnaturally loud across the garden. 51 1142745"I thought you might be here," she responded 51 1142847absently as I came up. "I remembered you lived 51 1142918next door to ----" 51 1143048She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that 51 1143150she'd take care of me in a minute, and gave ear to 51 1143248two girls in twin yellow dresses, who stopped at 51 1143323the foot of the steps. 51 1143449"Hello]" they cried together. "Sorry you didn't 51 1143506win." 51 1143647That was for the golf tournament. She had lost 51 1143731in the finals the week before. 51 1143845"You don't know who we are," said one of the 51 1143945girls in yellow, "but we met you here about a 52 1144012month ago." 52 1144145"You've dyed your hair since then," remarked 52 1144246Jordan, and I started, but the girls had moved 52 1144357casually on and her remark was addressed to the premature 52 1144445moon, produced like the supper, no doubt, out 52 1144552of a caterer's basket. With Jordan's slender golden 52 1144647arm resting in mine, we descended the steps and 52 1144748sauntered about the garden. A tray of cocktails 52 1144851floated at us through the twilight, and we sat down 52 1144949at a table with the two girls in yellow and three 52 1145046men, each one introduced to us as Mr. Mumble. 52 1145147"Do you come to these parties often?" inquired 52 1145231Jordan of the girl beside her. 52 1145350"The last one was the one I met you at," answered 52 1145443the girl, in an alert confident voice. She 52 1145545turned to her companion: "Wasn't it for you, 52 1145610Lucille?" 52 1145725It was for Lucille, too. 52 1145852"I like to come," Lucille said. "I never care what 52 1145952I do, so I always have a good time. When I was here 52 1146047last I tore my gown on a chair, and he asked me 52 1146145my name and address--inside of a week I got a 52 1146247package from Croirier's with a new evening gown 52 1146308in it." 52 1146434"Did you keep it?" asked Jordan. 52 1146550"Sure I did. I was going to wear it to-night, but 52 1146650it was too big in the bust and had to be altered. 52 1146749It was gas blue with lavender beads. Two hundred 52 1146825and sixty-five dollars." 52 1146947"There's something funny about a fellow that'll 53 1147053do a thing like that," said the other girl eagerly. 53 1147144"He doesn't want any trouble with anybody." 53 1147228"Who doesn't?" I inquired. 53 1147331"Gatsby. Somebody told me----" 53 1147457The two girls and Jordan leaned together confidentially. 53 1147542"Somebody told me they thought he killed a 53 1147611man once." 53 1147747A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. 53 1147843Mumbles bent forward and listened eagerly. 53 1147950"I don't think it's so much that," argued Lucille 53 1148048sceptically; "it's more that he was a German spy 53 1148117during the war." 53 1148239One of the men nodded in confirmation. 53 1148343"I heard that from a man who knew all about 53 1148449him, grew up with him in Germany," he assured us 53 1148512positively. 53 1148654"Oh, no," said the first girl, "it couldn't be that, 53 1148746because he was in the American army during the 53 1148848war." As our credulity switched back to her she 53 1148949leaned forward with enthusiasm. "You look at him 53 1149050sometimes when he thinks nobody's looking at him. 53 1149127I'll bet he killed a man." 53 1149255She narrowed her eyes and shivered. Lucille shivered. 53 1149344We all turned and looked around for Gatsby. 53 1149456It was testimony to the romantic speculation he inspired 53 1149539that there were whispers about him from 53 1149644those who found little that it was necessary 53 1149732to whisper about in this world. 53 1149844The first supper--there would be another one 54 1149948after midnight--was now being served, and Jordan 54 1150049invited me to join her own party, who were spread 54 1150148around a table on the other side of the garden. 54 1150253There were three married couples and Jordan's escort, 54 1150343a persistent undergraduate given to violent 54 1150449innuendo, and obviously under the impression that 54 1150548sooner or later Jordan was going to yield him up 54 1150653her person to a greater or lesser degree. Instead of 54 1150759rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, 54 1150850and assumed to itself the function of representing 54 1150944the staid nobility of the country-side--East 54 1151044Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully 54 1151143on guard against its spectroscopic gayety. 54 1151251"Let's get out," whispered Jordan, after a somehow 54 1151347wasteful and inappropriate half-hour. "This is 54 1151425much too polite for me." 54 1151548We got up, and she explained that we were going 54 1151653to find the host: I had never met him, she said, and 54 1151743it was making me uneasy. The undergraduate 54 1151837nodded in a cynical, melancholy way. 54 1151945The bar, where we glanced first, was crowded, 54 1152048but Gatsby was not there. She couldn't find him 54 1152147from the top of the steps, and he wasn't on the 54 1152251veranda. On a chance we tried an important-looking 54 1152344door, and walked into a high Gothic library, 54 1152446panelled with carved English oak, and probably 54 1152546transported complete from some ruin overseas. 54 1152648A stout, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed 54 1152741spectacles, was sitting somewhat drunk on 55 1152862the edge of a great table, staring with unsteady concentration 55 1152939at the shelves of books. As we entered 55 1153047he wheeled excitedly around and examined Jordan 55 1153119from head to foot. 55 1153247"What do you think?" he demanded impetuously. 55 1153314"About what?" 55 1153443He waved his hand toward the book-shelves. 55 1153545"About that. As a matter of fact you needn't 55 1153653bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They're real." 55 1153713"The books?" 55 1153811He nodded. 55 1153947"Absolutely real--have pages and everything. I 55 1154051thought they'd be a nice durable cardboard. Matter 55 1154154of fact, they're absolutely real. Pages and-- Here] 55 1154217Lemme show you." 55 1154347Taking our scepticism for granted, he rushed to 55 1154449the bookcases and returned with Volume One of the 55 1154521"Stoddard Lectures." 55 1154649"See]" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide 55 1154753piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's 55 1154856a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness] 55 1154945What realism] Knew when to stop, too--didn't 55 1155038cut the pages. But what do you want? 55 1155121What do you expect?" 55 1155244He snatched the book from me and replaced it 55 1155353hastily on its shelf, muttering that if one brick was 55 1155450removed the whole library was liable to collapse. 55 1155545"Who brought you?" he demanded. "Or did you 56 1155644just come? I was brought. Most people were 56 1155710brought." 56 1155849Jordan looked at him alertly, cheerfully, without 56 1155911answering. 56 1156043"I was brought by a woman named Roosevelt," 56 1156145he continued. "Mrs. Claud Roosevelt. Do you 56 1156248know her? I met her somewhere last night. I've 56 1156349been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it 56 1156440might sober me up to sit in a library." 56 1156510"Has it?" 56 1156653"A little bit, I think. I can't tell yet. I've only 56 1156752been here an hour. Did I tell you about the books? 56 1156827They're real. They're----" 56 1156915"You told us." 56 1157045We shook hands with him gravely and went back 56 1157110outdoors. 56 1157250There was dancing now on the canvas in the garden; 56 1157339old men pushing young girls backward in 56 1157451eternal graceless circles, superior couples holding 56 1157550each other tortuously, fashionably, and keeping in 56 1157655the corners--and a great number of single girls dancing 56 1157750individualistically or relieving the orchestra for 56 1157850a moment of the burden of the banjo or the traps. 56 1157953By midnight the hilarity had increased. A celebrated 56 1158042tenor had sung in Italian, and a notorious 56 1158151contralto had sung in jazz, and between the numbers 56 1158247people were doing "stunts" all over the garden, 56 1158351while happy, vacuous bursts of laughter rose toward 56 1158450the summer sky. A pair of stage twins, who turned 57 1158557out to be the girls in yellow, did a baby act in costume, 57 1158642and champagne was served in glasses bigger 57 1158750than finger-bowls. The moon had risen higher, and 57 1158854floating in the Sound was a triangle of silver scales, 57 1158950trembling a little to the stiff, tinny drip of the 57 1159021banjoes on the lawn. 57 1159150I was still with Jordan Baker. We were sitting at 57 1159246a table with a man of about my age and a rowdy 57 1159356little girl, who gave way upon the slightest provocation 57 1159443to uncontrollable laughter. I was enjoying 57 1159555myself now. I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne, 57 1159640and the scene had changed before my eyes 57 1159753into something significant, elemental, and profound. 57 1159848At a lull in the entertainment the man looked at 57 1159915me and smiled. 57 1160054"Your face is familiar," he said, politely. "Weren't 57 1160143you in the Third Division during the war?" 57 1160255"Why, yes. I was in the Ninth MACHINE-gun Battalion." 57 1160361"I was in the Seventh Infantry until June nineteen-eighteen. 57 1160439I knew I'd seen you somewhere before." 57 1160543We talked for a moment about some wet, gray 57 1160654little villages in France. Evidently he lived in this 57 1160750vicinity, for he told me that he had just bought a 57 1160846hydroplane, and was going to try it out in the 57 1160909morning. 57 1161046"Want to go with me, old sport? Just near the 57 1161124shore along the Sound." 57 1161213"What time?" 58 1161332"Any time that suits you best." 58 1161446It was on the tip of my tongue to ask his name 58 1161538when Jordan looked around and smiled. 58 1161640"Having a gay time now?" she inquired. 58 1161755"Much better." I turned again to my new acquaintance. 58 1161836"This is an unusual party for me. I 58 1161951haven't even seen the host. I live over there----" 58 1162055I waved my hand at the invisible hedge in the distance, 58 1162166"and this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation." 58 1162247For a moment he looked at me as if he failed to 58 1162312understand. 58 1162433"I'm Gatsby," he said suddenly. 58 1162548"What]" I exclaimed. "Oh, I beg your pardon." 58 1162647"I thought you knew, old sport. I'm afraid I'm 58 1162723not a very good host." 58 1162859He smiled understandingly--much more than understandingly. 58 1162936It was one of those rare smiles with 58 1163052a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may 58 1163153come across four or five times in life. It faced--or 58 1163256seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, 58 1163349and then concentrated on you with an irresistible 58 1163448prejudice in your favor. It understood you just 58 1163550so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in 58 1163657you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured 58 1163747you that it had precisely the impression of you 58 1163851that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely 58 1163950at that point it vanished--and I was looking at an 58 1164052elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, 59 1164147whose elaborate formality of speech just missed 59 1164253being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself 59 1164347I'd got a strong impression that he was picking 59 1164421his words with care. 59 1164547Almost at the moment when Mr. Gatsby identified 59 1164657himself, a butler hurried toward him with the information 59 1164742that Chicago was calling him on the wire. 59 1164849He excused himself with a small bow that included 59 1164920each of us in turn. 59 1165050"If you want anything just ask for it, old sport," 59 1165153he urged me. "Excuse me. I will rejoin you later." 59 1165260When he was gone I turned immediately to Jordan--constrained 59 1165332to assure her of my surprise. I 59 1165450had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and 59 1165538corpulent person in his middle years. 59 1165642"Who is he?" I demanded. "Do you know?" 59 1165732"He's just a man named Gatsby." 59 1165844"Where is he from, I mean? And what does he 59 1165905do?" 59 1166050"Now you're started on the subject," she answered 59 1166141with a wan smile. "Well, he told me once 59 1166223he was an Oxford man." 59 1166345A dim background started to take shape behind 59 1166443him, but at her next remark it faded away. 59 1166531"However, I don't believe it." 59 1166611"Why not?" 59 1166751"I don't know," she insisted, "I just don't think 59 1166816he went there." 59 1166946Something in her tone reminded me of the other 60 1167053girl's "I think he killed a man," and had the effect 60 1167151of stimulating my curiosity. I would have accepted 60 1167251without question the information that Gatsby sprang 60 1167346from the swamps of Louisiana or from the lower 60 1167449East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. 60 1167547But young men didn't--at least in my provincial 60 1167653inexperience I believed they didn't--drift coolly out 60 1167750of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound. 60 1167847"Anyhow, he gives large parties," said Jordan, 60 1167952changing the subject with an urbane distaste for the 60 1168060concrete. "And I like large parties. They're so intimate. 60 1168143At small parties there isn't any privacy." 60 1168248There was the boom of a bass drum, and the voice 60 1168351of the orchestra leader rang out suddenly above the 60 1168425echolalia of the garden. 60 1168551"Ladies and gentlemen," he cried. "At the request 60 1168642of Mr. Gatsby we are going to play for you 60 1168751Mr. Vladimir Tostoff's latest work, which attracted 60 1168848so much attention at Carnegie Hall last May. If 60 1168958you read the papers, you know there was a big sensation." 60 1169040He smiled with jovial condescension, and 60 1169146added: "Some sensation]" Whereupon everybody 60 1169209laughed. 60 1169349"The piece is known," he concluded lustily, "as 60 1169449'Vladimir Tostoff's Jazz History of the World.'" 60 1169546The nature of Mr. Tostoff's composition eluded 60 1169652me, because just as it began my eyes fell on Gatsby, 60 1169751standing alone on the marble steps and looking from 60 1169853one group to another with approving eyes. His tanned 61 1169953skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his 61 1170049short hair looked as though it were trimmed every 61 1170157day. I could see nothing sinister about him. I wondered 61 1170246if the fact that he was not drinking helped to 61 1170353set him off from his guests, for it seemed to me that 61 1170458he grew more correct as the fraternal hilarity increased. 61 1170540When the "Jazz History of the World" was 61 1170655over, girls were putting their heads on men's shoulders 61 1170749in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning 61 1170845backward playfully into men's arms, even into 61 1170948groups, knowing that some one would arrest their 61 1171045falls--but no one swooned backward on Gatsby, 61 1171148and no French bob touched Gatsby's shoulder, and 61 1171250no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby's head 61 1171314for one link. 61 1171421"I beg your pardon." 61 1171549Gatsby's butler was suddenly standing beside us. 61 1171648"Miss Baker?" he inquired. "I beg your pardon, 61 1171750but Mr. Gatsby would like to speak to you alone." 61 1171839"With me?" she exclaimed in surprise. 61 1171915"Yes, madame." 61 1172048She got up slowly, raising her eyebrows at me in 61 1172148astonishment, and followed the butler toward the 61 1172250house. I noticed that she wore her evening-dress, 61 1172349all her dresses, like sports clothes--there was a 61 1172450jauntiness about her movements as if she had first 61 1172549learned to walk upon golf courses on clean, crisp 61 1172610mornings. 61 1172749I was alone and it was almost two. For some time 62 1172848confused and intriguing sounds had issued from a 62 1172943long, many-windowed room which overhung the 62 1173049terrace. Eluding Jordan's undergraduate, who was 62 1173151now engaged in an obstetrical conversation with two 62 1173248chorus girls, and who implored me to join him, I 62 1173313went inside. 62 1173446The large room was full of people. One of the 62 1173549girls in yellow was playing the piano, and beside 62 1173646her stood a tall, red-haired young lady from a 62 1173748famous chorus, engaged in song. She had drunk a 62 1173847quantity of champagne, and during the course of 62 1173950her song she had decided, ineptly, that everything 62 1174049was very, very sad--she was not only singing, she 62 1174147was weeping too. Whenever there was a pause in 62 1174249the song she filled it with gasping, broken sobs, 62 1174357and then took up the lyric again in a quavering soprano. 62 1174438The tears coursed down her cheeks--not 62 1174548freely, however, for when they came into contact 62 1174646with her heavily beaded eyelashes they assumed 62 1174748an inky color, and pursued the rest of their way 62 1174850in slow black rivulets. A humorous suggestion was 62 1174951made that she sing the notes on her face, whereupon 62 1175051she threw up her hands, sank into a chair, and went 62 1175130off into a deep vinous sleep. 62 1175245"She had a fight with a man who says he's her 62 1175341husband," explained a girl at my elbow. 62 1175445I looked around. Most of the remaining women 62 1175548were now having fights with men said to be their 62 1175648husbands. Even Jordan's party, the quartet from 63 1175747East Egg, were rent asunder by dissension. One 63 1175848of the men was talking with curious intensity to 63 1175950a young actress, and his wife, after attempting to 63 1176053laugh at the situation in a dignified and indifferent 63 1176158way, broke down entirely and resorted to flank attacks--at 63 1176238intervals she appeared suddenly at his 63 1176372side like an angry diamond, and hissed: "You promised]" into his ear. 63 1176445the reluctance to go home was not confined to 63 1176546wayward men. The hall was at present occupied 63 1176654by two deplorably sober men and their highly indignant 63 1176740wives. The wives were sympathizing with 63 1176838each other in slightly raised voices. 63 1176943"Whenever he sees I'm having a good time he 63 1177019wants to go home." 63 1177146"Never heard anything so selfish in my life." 63 1177240"We're always the first ones to leave." 63 1177313"So are we." 63 1177449"Well, we're almost the last to-night," said one 63 1177551of the men sheepishly. "The orchestra left half an 63 1177611hour ago." 63 1177754In spite of the wives' agreement that such malevolence 63 1177841was beyond credibility, the dispute ended 63 1177948in a short struggle, and both wives were lifted, 63 1178025kicking, into the night. 63 1178150As I waited for my hat in the hall the door of the 63 1178247library opened and Jordan Baker and Gatsby came 63 1178351out together. He was saying some last word to her, 63 1178450but the eagerness in his manner tightened abruptly 64 1178550into formality as several people approached him to 64 1178613say good-by. 64 1178746Jordan's party were calling impatiently to her 64 1178848from the porch, but she lingered for a moment to 64 1178913shake hands. 64 1179046"I've just heard the most amazing thing," she 64 1179141whispered. "How long were we in there?" 64 1179222"Why, about an hour." 64 1179354"It was--simply amazing," she repeated abstractedly. 64 1179440"But I swore I wouldn't tell it and here 64 1179551I am tantalizing you." She yawned gracefully in my 64 1179650face: "Please come and see me. . . . Phone book. 64 1179747. . . Under the name of Mrs. Sigourney Howard. 64 1179850. . . My aunt. . . ." she was hurrying off as she 64 1179947talked--her brown hand waved a jaunty salute as 64 1180039she melted into her party at the door. 64 1180144Rather ashamed that on my first appearance I 64 1180249had stayed so late, I joined the last of Gatsby's 64 1180348guests, who were clustered around him. I wanted 64 1180455to explain that I'd hunted for him early in the evening 64 1180544and to apologize for not having known him in 64 1180612the garden. 64 1180745"Don't mention it," he enjoined me eagerly. 64 1180848"Don't give it another thought, old sport." The 64 1180949familiar expression held no more familiarity than 64 1181049the hand which reassuringly brushed my shoulder. 64 1181150"And don't forget we're going up in the hydroplane 64 1181237to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock." 64 1181337Then the butler, behind his shoulder: 65 1181445"Philadelphia wants you on the 'phone, sir." 65 1181549"All right, in a minute. Tell them I'll be right 65 1181626there. . . . good night." 65 1181714"Good night." 65 1181844"Good night." He smiled--and suddenly there 65 1181951seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been 65 1182053among the last to go, as if he had desired it all the 65 1182150time. "Good night, old sport. . . . good night." 65 1182245But as I walked down the steps I saw that the 65 1182348evening was not quite over. Fifty feet from the 65 1182449door a dozen headlights illuminated a bizarre and 65 1182548tumultuous scene. In the ditch beside the road, 65 1182648right side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, 65 1182748rested a new coupe which had left Gatsby's drive 65 1182848not two minutes before. The sharp jut of a wall 65 1182949accounted for the detatchment of the wheel, which 65 1183050was now getting considerable attention from half a 65 1183147dozen curious chauffeurs. However, as they had 65 1183254left their cars blocking the road, a harsh, discordant 65 1183358din from those in the rear had been audible for some time, 65 1183445and added to the already violent confusion of 65 1183511the scene. 65 1183646A man in a long duster had dismounted from the 65 1183754wreck and now stood in the middle of the road, looking 65 1183849from the car to the tire and from the tire to the 65 1183938observers in a pleasant, puzzled way. 65 1184047"See]" he explained. "It went in the ditch." 65 1184149The fact was infinitely astonishing to him, and I 65 1184251recognized first the unusual quality of wonder, and 66 1184348then the man--it was the late patron of Gatsby's 66 1184409library. 66 1184519"How'd it happen?" 66 1184627He shrugged his shoulders. 66 1184746"I know nothing whatever about mechanics," he 66 1184817said decisively. 66 1184945"But how did it happen? Did you run into the 66 1185007wall?" 66 1185149"Don't ask me," said Owl Eyes, washing his hands 66 1185247of the whole matter. "I know very little about 66 1185350driving--next to nothing. It happened, and that's 66 1185413all I know." 66 1185546"Well, if you're a poor driver you oughtn't to 66 1185623try driving at night." 66 1185754"But I wasn't even trying," he explained indignantly, 66 1185824"I wasn't even trying." 66 1185939An awed hush fell upon the bystanders. 66 1186033"Do you want to commit suicide?" 66 1186148"You're lucky it was just a wheel] A bad driver 66 1186222and not even trying]" 66 1186349"You don't understand," explained the criminal. 66 1186453"I wasn't driving. There's another man in the car." 66 1186546The shock that followed this declaration found 66 1186650voice in a sustained "Ah-h-h]" as the door of the 66 1186749coupe swung slowly open. The crowd--it was now a 66 1186847crowd--stepped back involuntarily, and when the 66 1186948door had opened wide there was a ghostly pause. 66 1187052Then, very gradually, part by part, a pale, dangling 66 1187155individual stepped out of the wreck, pawing tentatively 67 1187244at the ground with a large uncertain dancing 67 1187306shoe. 67 1187451Blinded by the glare of the headlights and confused 67 1187543by the incessant groaning of the horns, the 67 1187647apparition stood swaying for a moment before he 67 1187733perceived the man in the duster. 67 1187845"Wha's matter?" he inquired calmly. "Did we 67 1187915run outa gas?" 67 1188008"Look]" 67 1188145Half a dozen fingers pointed at the amputated 67 1188245wheel--he stared at it for a moment, and then 67 1188348looked upward as though he suspected that it had 67 1188422dropped from the sky. 67 1188536"It came off," some one explained. 67 1188611He nodded. 67 1188739"At first I din' notice we'd stopped." 67 1188854A pause. Then, taking a long breath and straightening 67 1188942his shoulders, he remarked in a determined 67 1189006voice: 67 1189154"Wonder'ff tell me where there's a gas'line station?" 67 1189248At least a dozen men, some of them little better 67 1189348off than he was, explained to him that wheel and 67 1189448car were no longer joined by any physical bond. 67 1189547"Back out," he suggested after a moment. "Put 67 1189617her in reverse." 67 1189723"But the wheel's off]" 67 1189814He hesitated. 67 1189931"No harm in trying," he said. 68 1190046The caterwauling horns had reached a crescendo 68 1190148and I turned away and cut across the lawn toward 68 1190246home. I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon 68 1190349was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night 68 1190450fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the 68 1190554sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness 68 1190643seemed to flow now from the windows and the 68 1190749great doors, endowing with complete isolation the 68 1190852figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand 68 1190936up in a formal gesture of farewell. 68 1191048Reading over what I have written so far, I see I 68 1191150have given the impression that the events of three 68 1191254nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. 68 1191347On the contrary, they were merely casual events 68 1191448in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they 68 1191554absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs. 68 1191648Most of the time I worked. In the early morning 68 1191745the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried 68 1191846down the white chasms of lower New York to the 68 1191949Probity Trust. I knew the other clerks and young 68 1192047bond-salesmen by their first names, and lunched 68 1192148with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little 68 1192247pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee. I 68 1192348even had a short affair with a girl who lived in 68 1192452Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, 68 1192541but her brother began throwing mean looks 68 1192649in my direction, so when she went on her vacation 69 1192736in July I let it blow quietly away. 69 1192848I took dinner usually at the Yale Club--for some 69 1192948reason it was the gloomiest event of my day--and 69 1193060then I went up-stairs to the library and studied investments 69 1193141and securities for a conscientious hour. 69 1193251There were generally a few rioters around, but they 69 1193351never came into the library, so it was a good place 69 1193448to work. After that, if the night was mellow, I 69 1193548strolled down Madison Avenue past the old Murray 69 1193651Hill Hotel, and over 33d Street to the Pennsylvania 69 1193709Station. 69 1193847I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous 69 1193959feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant 69 1194043flicker of men and women and machines gives 69 1194153to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue 69 1194246and pick out romantic women from the crowd and 69 1194350imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter 69 1194460into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. 69 1194538Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them 69 1194653to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, 69 1194749and they turned and smiled back at me before they 69 1194848faded through a door into warm darkness. At the 69 1194949enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting 69 1195049loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others--poor 69 1195153young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting 69 1195257until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner--young 69 1195345clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant 69 1195427moments of night and life. 69 1195550Again at eight o'clock, when the dark lanes of the 70 1195648Forties were five deep with throbbing taxi-cabs, 70 1195748bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking 70 1195851in my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as 70 1195952they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter 70 1196066from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes outlined unintelligible 70 1196144gestures inside. Imagining that I, too, was 70 1196249hurrying toward gayety and sharing their intimate 70 1196332excitement, I wished them well. 70 1196450For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then 70 1196547in midsummer I found her again. At first I was 70 1196650flattered to go places with her, because she was a 70 1196744golf champion, and every one knew her name. 70 1196849Then it was something more. I wasn't actually in 70 1196955love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity. The bored 70 1197051haughty face that she turned to the world concealed 70 1197146something--most affectations conceal something 70 1197256eventually, even though they don't in the beginning--and 70 1197342one day I found what it was. When we were 70 1197451on a house-party together up in Warwick, she left a 70 1197551borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and 70 1197649then lied about it--and suddenly I remembered the 70 1197748story about her that had eluded me that night at 70 1197854Daisy's. At her first big golf tournament there was a 70 1197952row that nearly reached the newspapers--a suggestion 70 1198045that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in 70 1198147the semi-final round. The thing approached the 70 1198244proportions of a scandal--then died away. A 70 1198349caddy retracted his statement, and the only other 70 1198451witness admitted that he might have been mistaken. 71 1198538The incident and the name had remained 71 1198621together in my mind. 71 1198749Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd 71 1198849men, and now I saw that this was because she felt 71 1198949safer on a plane where any divergence from a code 71 1199047would be thought impossible. She was incurably 71 1199148dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a 71 1199253disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose 71 1199345she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she 71 1199451was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent 71 1199553smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands 71 1199626of her hard, jaunty body. 71 1199745It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a 71 1199846woman is a thing you never blame deeply--i was 71 1199950casually sorry, and then I forgot. It was on that 71 1200051same house party that we had a curious conversation 71 1200144about driving a car. It started because she 71 1200247passed so close to some workmen that our fender 71 1200336flicked a button on one man's coat. 71 1200452"You're a rotten driver," I protested. "Either you 71 1200550ought to be more careful, or you oughtn't to drive 71 1200609at all." 71 1200716"I am careful." 71 1200818"No, you're not." 71 1200945"Well, other people are," she said lightly. 71 1201033"What's that got to do with it?" 71 1201149"They'll keep out of my way," she insisted. "It 71 1201232takes two to make an accident." 71 1201345"Suppose you met somebody just as careless as 72 1201411yourself." 72 1201555"I hope I never will," she answered. "I hate careless 72 1201633people. That's why I like you." 72 1201750Her gray, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, 72 1201851but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and 72 1201959for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking 72 1202045and full of interior rules that act as brakes 72 1202149on my desires, and I knew that first I had to get 72 1202248myself definitely out of that tangle back home. 72 1202348I'd been writing letters once a week and signing 72 1202449them: "Love, Nick," and all I could think of was 72 1202550how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint 72 1202652mustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. 72 1202749Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that 72 1202850had to be tactfully broken off before I was free. 72 1202949Every one suspects himself of at least one of the 72 1203052cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the 72 1203142few honest people that I have ever known. 72 1203210CHAPTER IV 73 1203348ON Sunday morning while church bells rang in the 73 1203456villages alongshore, the world and its mistress returned 73 1203542to Gatsby's house and twinkled hilariously 73 1203613on his lawn. 73 1203750"He's a bootlegger," said the young ladies, moving 73 1203849somewhere between his cocktails and his flowers. 73 1203948"One time he killed a man who had found out that 73 1204042he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second 73 1204149cousin to the devil. Reach me a rose, honey, and 73 1204252pour me a last drop into that there crystal glass." 73 1204353Once I wrote down on the empty spaces of a time-table 73 1204439the names of those who came to Gatsby's 73 1204563house that summer. It is an old time-table now, disintegrating 73 1204639at its folds, and headed "This schedule 73 1204752in effect July 5th, 1922." But I can still read the 73 1204854gray names, and they will give you a better impression 73 1204942than my generalities of those who accepted 73 1205052Gatsby's hospitality and paid him the subtle tribute 73 1205139of knowing nothing whatever about him. 73 1205245From East Egg, then, came the Chester Beckers 73 1205345and the Leeches, and a man named Bunsen, whom 73 1205449I knew at Yale, and Doctor Webster Civet, who was 73 1205551drowned last summer up in Maine. And the Hornbeams 73 1205642and the Willie Voltaires, and a whole clan 73 1205748named Blackbuck, who always gathered in a corner 73 1205850and flipped up their noses like goats at whosoever 74 1205944came near. And the Ismays and the Chrysties 74 1206045(or rather Hubert Auerbach and Mr. Chrystie's 74 1206146wife), and Edgar Beaver, whose hair, they say, 74 1206247turned cotton-white one winter afternoon for no 74 1206320good reason at all. 74 1206450Clarence Endive was from East Egg, as I remember. 74 1206543He came only once, in white knickerbockers, 74 1206644and had a fight with a bum named Etty in the 74 1206748garden. From farther out on the Island came the 74 1206845Cheadles and the O. R. P. Schraeders, and the 74 1206955Stonewall Jackson Abrams of Georgia, and the Fishguards 74 1207045and the Ripley Snells. Snell was there three 74 1207149days before he went to the penitentiary, so drunk 74 1207249out on the gravel drive that Mrs. Ulysses Swett's 74 1207348automobile ran over his right hand. The Dancies 74 1207449came, too, and S. B. Whitebait, who was well over 74 1207549sixty, and Maurice A. Flink, and the Hammerheads, 74 1207653and Beluga the tobacco importer, and Beluga's girls. 74 1207746From West Egg came the Poles and the Mulreadys 74 1207845and Cecil Roebuck and Cecil Schoen and Gulick 74 1207951the state senator and Newton Orchid, who controlled 74 1208038Films Par Excellence, and Eckhaust and 74 1208153Clyde Cohen and Don S. Schwartze (the son) and Arthur 74 1208245MCcarty, all connected with the movies in one 74 1208349way or another. And the Catlips and the Bembergs 74 1208448and G. Earl Muldoon, brother to that Muldoon who 74 1208554afterward strangled his wife. Da Fontano the promoter 74 1208639came there, and Ed Legros and James B. 74 1208746("Rot-Gut") Ferret and the De Jongs and Ernest 75 1208852Lilly--they came to gamble, and when Ferret wandered 75 1208943into the garden it meant he was cleaned out 75 1209047and Associated Traction would have to fluctuate 75 1209121profitably next day. 75 1209243A man named Klipspringer was there so often 75 1209352and so long that he became known as "the boarder"--i 75 1209446doubt if he had any other home. Of theatrical 75 1209548people there were Gus Waize and Horace O'donavan 75 1209640and Lester Meyer and George Duckweed and 75 1209750Francis Bull. Also from New York were the Chromes 75 1209849and the Backhyssons and the Dennickers and Russel 75 1209949Betty and the Corrigans and the Kellehers and the 75 1210048Dewars and the Scullys and S. W. Belcher and the 75 1210147Smirkes and the young Quinns, divorced now, and 75 1210248Henry L. Palmetto, who killed himself by jumping 75 1210344in front of a subway train in Times Square. 75 1210441Benny MCclenahan arrived always with four 75 1210555girls. They were never quite the same ones in physical 75 1210651person, but they were so identical one with another 75 1210745that it inevitably seemed they had been there 75 1210851before. I have forgotten their names--Jaqueline, I 75 1210951think, or else Consuela, or Gloria or Judy or June, 75 1211046and their last names were either the melodious 75 1211147names of flowers and months or the sterner ones 75 1211251of the great American capitalists whose cousins, if 75 1211346pressed, they would confess themselves to be. 75 1211444In addition to all these I can remember that 75 1211549Faustina O'brien came there at least once and the 75 1211649Baedeker girls and young Brewer, who had his nose 76 1211752shot off in the war, and Mr. Albrucksburger and Miss 76 1211850Haag, his fiancee, and Ardita Fitz-Peters and Mr. 76 1211948P. Jewett, once head of the American Legion, and 76 1212046Miss Claudia Hip, with a man reputed to be her 76 1212145chauffeur, and a prince of something, whom we 76 1212249called Duke, and whose name, if I ever knew it, I 76 1212316have forgotten. 76 1212446All these people came to Gatsby's house in the 76 1212508summer. 76 1212651At nine o'clock, one morning late in July, Gatsby's 76 1212745gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my 76 1212856door and gave out a burst of melody from its three-noted 76 1212945horn. It was the first time he had called on 76 1213052me, though I had gone to two of his parties, mounted 76 1213149in his hydroplane, and, at his urgent invitation, 76 1213232made frequent use of his beach. 76 1213346"Good morning, old sport. You're having lunch 76 1213453with me to-day and I thought we'd ride up together." 76 1213548He was balancing himself on the dashboard of his 76 1213652car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so 76 1213748peculiarly American--that comes, I suppose, with 76 1213869the absence of lifting work or rigid sitting in youth and, even more, 76 1213948with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic 76 1214045games. This quality was continually breaking 76 1214161through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness. 76 1214242He was never quite still; there was always 76 1214349a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening 77 1214423and closing of a hand. 77 1214546He saw me looking with admiration at his car. 77 1214650"It's pretty, isn't it, old sport?" He jumped off 77 1214749to give me a better view. "Haven't you ever seen 77 1214812it before?" 77 1214951I'd seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich 77 1215049cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and 77 1215155there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes 77 1215245and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced 77 1215346with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored 77 1215449a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of 77 1215549glass in a sort of green leather conservatory, we 77 1215617started to town. 77 1215748I had talked with him perhaps half a dozen times 77 1215850in the past month and found, to my disappointment, 77 1215956that he had little to say: So my first impression, that 77 1216050he was a person of some undefined consequence, had 77 1216155gradually faded and he had become simply the proprietor 77 1216238of an elaborate road-house next door. 77 1216342And then came that disconcerting ride. We 77 1216445hadn't reached West Egg village before Gatsby 77 1216550began leaving his elegant sentences unfinished and 77 1216648slapping himself indecisively on the knee of his 77 1216722caramel-colored suit. 77 1216852"Look here, old sport," he broke out surprisingly. 77 1216937"What's your opinion of me, anyhow?" 77 1217054A little overwhelmed, I began the generalized evasions 77 1217130which that question deserves. 77 1217247"Well, I'm going to tell you something about my 78 1217351life," he interrupted. "I don't want you to get a 78 1217451wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear." 78 1217547So he was aware of the bizarre accusations that 78 1217636flavored conversation in his halls. 78 1217753"I'll tell you God's truth." His right hand suddenly 78 1217843ordered divine retribution to stand by. "I 78 1217947am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle 78 1218048West--all dead now. I was brought up in America 78 1218148but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors 78 1218249have been educated there for many years. It is a 78 1218319family tradition." 78 1218447He looked at me sideways--and I knew why Jordan 78 1218544Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried 78 1218649the phrase "educated at Oxford," or swallowed it, 78 1218755or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. 78 1218845And with this doubt, his whole statement fell 78 1218951to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn't something 78 1219040a little sinister about him, after all. 78 1219143"What part of the Middle West?" I inquired 78 1219210casually. 78 1219317"San Francisco." 78 1219409"I see." 78 1219547"My family all died and I came into a good deal 78 1219611of money." 78 1219746His voice was solemn, as if the memory of that 78 1219851sudden extinction of a clan still haunted him. For 78 1219948a moment I suspected that he was pulling my leg, 78 1220044but a glance at him convinced me otherwise. 78 1220149"After that I lived like a young rajah in all the 79 1220251capitals of EUROPE--paris, Venice, Rome--collecting 79 1220350jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting 79 1220447a little, things for myself only, and trying to 79 1220549forget something very sad that had happened to me 79 1220611long ago." 79 1220751With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous 79 1220840laughter. The very phrases were worn so 79 1220948threadbare that they evoked no image except that 79 1221050of a turbaned "character" leaking sawdust at every 79 1221146pore as he pursued a tiger through the Bois de 79 1221210Boulogne. 79 1221346"Then came the war, old sport. It was a great 79 1221453relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to 79 1221548bear an enchanted life. I accepted a commission 79 1221650as first lieutenant when it began. In the Argonne 79 1221742Forest I took two machine-gun detatchments 79 1221845so far forward that there was a half mile gap 79 1221948on either side of us where the infantry couldn't 79 1222050advance. We stayed there two days and two nights, 79 1222149a hundred and thirty men with sixteen Lewis guns, 79 1222248and when the infantry came up at last they found 79 1222348the insignia of three German divisions among the 79 1222449piles of dead. I was promoted to be a major, and 79 1222550every Allied government gave me a decoration--even 79 1222657Montenegro, little Montenegro down on the Adriatic Sea]" 79 1222746Little Montenegro] He lifted up the words and 79 1222855nodded at them--with his smile. The smile comprehended 79 1222945Montenegro's troubled history and sympathized 80 1223043with the brave struggles of the Montenegrin 80 1223151people. It appreciated fully the chain of national 80 1223245circumstances which had elicited this tribute 80 1223352from Montenegro's warm little heart. My incredulity 80 1223446was submerged in fascination now; it was like 80 1223544skimming hastily through a dozen magazines. 80 1223647He reached in his pocket, and a piece of metal, 80 1223738slung on a ribbon, fell into my palm. 80 1223834"That's the one from Montenegro." 80 1223946To my astonishment, the thing had an authentic 80 1224052look. "Orderi di Danilo," ran the circular legend, 80 1224127"Montenegro, Nicolas Rex." 80 1224211"Turn it." 80 1224357"Major Jay Gatsby," I read, "For Valour Extraordinary." 80 1224449"Here's another thing I always carry. A souvenir 80 1224550of Oxford days. It was taken in Trinity Quad--the 80 1224646man on my left is now the Earl of Dorcaster." 80 1224745It was a photograph of half a dozen young men 80 1224851in blazers loafing in an archway through which were 80 1224952visible a host of spires. There was Gatsby, looking 80 1225050a little, not much, younger--with a cricket bat in 80 1225110his hand. 80 1225248Then it was all true. I saw the skins of tigers 80 1225348flaming in his palace on the Grand Canal; I saw 80 1225449him opening a chest of rubies to ease, with their 80 1225550crimson-lighted depths, the gnawings of his broken 80 1225607heart. 80 1225748"I'm going to make a big request of you to-day," 81 1225851he said, pocketing his souvenirs with satisfaction, 81 1225947"so I thought you ought to know something about 81 1226055me. I didn't want you to think I was just some nobody. 81 1226146You see, I usually find myself among strangers 81 1226247because I drift here and there trying to forget 81 1226351the sad thing that happened to me." He hesitated. 81 1226439"You'll hear about it this afternoon." 81 1226512"At lunch?" 81 1226649"No, this afternoon. I happened to find out that 81 1226734you're taking Miss Baker to tea." 81 1226846"Do you mean you're in love with Miss Baker?" 81 1226944"No, old sport, I'm not. But Miss Baker has 81 1227053kindly consented to speak to you about this matter." 81 1227150I hadn't the faintest idea what "this matter" was, 81 1227249but I was more annoyed than interested. I hadn't 81 1227347asked Jordan to tea in order to discuss Mr. Jay 81 1227450Gatsby. I was sure the request would be something 81 1227551utterly fantastic, and for a moment I was sorry I'd 81 1227643ever set foot upon his overpopulated lawn. 81 1227746He wouldn't say another word. His correctness 81 1227845grew on him as we neared the city. We passed 81 1227955Port Roosevelt, where there was a glimpse of red-belted 81 1228043ocean-going ships, and sped along a cobbled 81 1228151slum lined with the dark, undeserted saloons of the 81 1228249faded-gilt nineteen-hundreds. Then the valley of 81 1228347ashes opened out on both sides of us, and I had 81 1228448a glimpse of Mrs. Wilson straining at the garage 81 1228542pump with panting vitality as we went by. 81 1228649With fenders spread like wings we scattered light 82 1228759through half Long Island City--only half, for as we twisted 82 1228854among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar 82 1228946"jug-jug-spat]" of a motorcycle, and a frantic 82 1229026policeman rode alongside. 82 1229150"All right, old sport," called Gatsby. We slowed 82 1229246down. Taking a white card from his wallet, he 82 1229332waved it before the man's eyes. 82 1229447"Right you are," agreed the policeman, tipping 82 1229550his cap. "Know you next time, Mr. Gatsby. Excuse 82 1229605me]" 82 1229746"What was that?" I inquired. "The picture of 82 1229809Oxford?" 82 1229948"I was able to do the commissioner a favor once, 82 1230046and he sends me a Christmas card every year." 82 1230148Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through 82 1230253the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving 82 1230349cars, with the city rising up across the river in 82 1230449white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish 82 1230547out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from 82 1230649the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for 82 1230760the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery 82 1230829and the beauty in the world. 82 1230944A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with 82 1231052blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds, 82 1231148and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The 82 1231249friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and 82 1231350short upper lips of southeastern Europe, and I was 82 1231448glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was 82 1231548included in their sombre holiday. As we crossed 83 1231651Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by 83 1231753a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish negroes, 83 1231851two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks 83 1231955of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry. 83 1232045"Anything can happen now that we've slid over 83 1232152this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ." 83 1232248even Gatsby could happen, without any particular 83 1232308wonder. 83 1232444Roaring noon. In a well-fanned Forty-second 83 1232552Street cellar I met Gatsby for lunch. Blinking away 83 1232652the brightness of the street outside, my eyes picked 83 1232753him out obscurely in the anteroom, talking to another 83 1232805man. 83 1232949"Mr. Carraway, this is my friend Mr. Wolfshiem." 83 1233049A small, flat-nosed Jew raised his large head and 83 1233147regarded me with two fine growths of hair which 83 1233258luxuriated in either nostril. After a moment I discovered 83 1233336his tiny eyes in the half-darkness. 83 1233451"--So I took one look at him," said Mr. Wolfshiem, 83 1233540shaking my hand earnestly, "and what do 83 1233618you think I did?" 83 1233730"What?" I inquired politely. 83 1233846But evidently he was not addressing me, for he 83 1233954dropped my hand and covered Gatsby with his expressive 83 1234006nose. 83 1234143"I handed the money to Katspaugh and I sid: 83 1234249'all right, Katspaugh, don't pay him a penny till 84 1234350he shuts his mouth.' He shut it then and there." 84 1234450Gatsby took an arm of each of us and moved forward 84 1234544into the restaurant, whereupon Mr. Wolfshiem 84 1234651swallowed a new sentence he was starting and lapsed 84 1234735into a somnambulatory abstraction. 84 1234837"Highballs?" asked the head waiter. 84 1234954"This is a nice restaurant here," said Mr. Wolfshiem, 84 1235041looking at the Presbyterian nymphs on the 84 1235149ceiling. "But I like across the street better]" 84 1235250"Yes, highballs," agreed Gatsby, and then to Mr. 84 1235339Wolfshiem: "It's too hot over there." 84 1235448"Hot and small--yes," said Mr. Wolfshiem, "but 84 1235519full of memories." 84 1235632"What place is that?" I asked. 84 1235720"The old Metropole. 84 1235843"The old Metropole," brooded Mr. Wolfshiem 84 1235952gloomily. "Filled with faces dead and gone. Filled 84 1236054with friends gone now forever. I can't forget so long 84 1236152as I live the night they shot Rosy Rosenthal there. 84 1236251It was six of us at the table, and Rosy had eat and 84 1236352drunk a lot all evening. When it was almost morning 84 1236443the waiter came up to him with a funny look 84 1236549and says somebody wants to speak to him outside. 84 1236652'all right,' says Rosy, and begins to get up, and I 84 1236730pulled him down in his chair. 84 1236849"'let the bastards come in here if they want you, 84 1236950Rosy, but don't you, so help me, move outside this 84 1237007room.' 84 1237148"It was four o'clock in the morning then, and if 85 1237250we'd of raised the blinds we'd of seen daylight." 85 1237334"Did he go?" I asked innocently. 85 1237448"Sure he went." Mr. Wolfshiem's nose flashed at 85 1237550me indignantly. "He turned around in the door and 85 1237652says: 'Don't let that waiter take away my coffee]' 85 1237747Then he went out on the sidewalk, and they shot 85 1237851him three times in his full belly and drove away." 85 1237956"Four of them were electrocuted," I said, remembering. 85 1238050"Five, with Becker." His nostrils turned to me in 85 1238152an interested way. "I understand you're looking for 85 1238224a business gonnegtion." 85 1238354The juxtaposition of these two remarks was startling. 85 1238423Gatsby answered for me: 85 1238548"Oh, no," he exclaimed, "this isn't the man." 85 1238642"No?" Mr. Wolfshiem seemed disappointed. 85 1238751"This is just a friend. I told you we'd talk about 85 1238823that some other time." 85 1238949"I beg your pardon," said Mr. Wolfshiem, "I had 85 1239014a wrong man." 85 1239144A succulent hash arrived, and Mr. Wolfshiem, 85 1239249forgetting the more sentimental atmosphere of the 85 1239353old Metropole, began to eat with ferocious delicacy. 85 1239449His eyes, meanwhile, roved very slowly all around 85 1239552the room--he completed the arc by turning to inspect 85 1239649the people directly behind. I think that, except 85 1239740for my presence, he would have taken one 85 1239836short glance beneath our own table. 85 1239945"Look here, old sport," said Gatsby, leaning 86 1240048toward me, "I'm afraid I made you a little angry 86 1240126this morning in the car." 86 1240251There was the smile again, but this time I held out 86 1240312against it. 86 1240446"I don't like mysteries," I answered. "And I 86 1240547don't understand why you won't come out frankly 86 1240649and tell me what you want. Why has it all got to 86 1240726come through Miss Baker?" 86 1240846"Oh, it's nothing underhand," he assured me. 86 1240948"Miss Baker's a great sportswoman, you know, and 86 1241048she'd never do anything that wasn't all right." 86 1241143Suddenly he looked at his watch, jumped up, 86 1241247and hurried from the room, leaving me with Mr. 86 1241324Wolfshiem at the table. 86 1241457"He has to telephone," said Mr. Wolfshiem, following him 86 1241540with his eyes. "Fine fellow, isn't he? 86 1241646Handsome to look at and a perfect gentleman." 86 1241707"Yes." 86 1241824"He's an Oggsford man." 86 1241906"Oh]" 86 1242045"He went to Oggsford College in England. You 86 1242124know Oggsford College?" 86 1242220"I've heard of it." 86 1242344"It's one of the most famous colleges in the 86 1242408world." 86 1242543"Have you known Gatsby for a long time?" I 86 1242610inquired. 86 1242750"Several years," he answered in a gratified way. 86 1242851"I made the pleasure of his acquaintance just after 87 1242951the war. But I knew I had discovered a man of fine 87 1243052breeding after I talked with him an hour. I said to 87 1243152myself: 'There's the kind of man you'd like to take 87 1243248home and introduce to your mother and sister.'" 87 1243355He paused. "I see you're looking at my cuff buttons." 87 1243446I hadn't been looking at them, but I did now. 87 1243546They were composed of oddly familiar pieces of 87 1243607ivory. 87 1243748"Finest specimens of human molars," he informed 87 1243804me. 87 1243954"Well]" I inspected them. "That's a very interesting 87 1244007idea." 87 1244151"Yeah." He flipped his sleeves up under his coat. 87 1244245"Yeah, Gatsby's very careful about women. He 87 1244349would never so much as look at a friend's wife." 87 1244451When the subject of this instinctive trust returned 87 1244549to the table and sat down Mr. Wolfshiem drank his 87 1244640coffee with a jerk and got to his feet. 87 1244746"I have enjoyed my lunch," he said, "and I'm 87 1244848going to run off from you two young men before I 87 1244921outstay my welcome." 87 1245056"Don't hurry, Meyer," said Gatsby, without enthusiasm. 87 1245139Mr. Wolfshiem raised his hand in a sort 87 1245216of benediction. 87 1245357"You're very polite, but I belong to another generation," 87 1245441he announced solemnly. "You sit here and 87 1245545discuss your sports and your young ladies and 87 1245653your----" He supplied an imaginary noun with another 88 1245747wave of his hand. "As for me, I am fifty years 88 1245851old, and I won't impose myself on you any longer." 88 1245944As he shook hands and turned away his tragic 88 1246054nose was trembling. I wondered if I had said anything 88 1246115to offend him. 88 1246251"He becomes very sentimental sometimes," explained 88 1246347Gatsby. "This is one of his sentimental days. 88 1246449He's quite a character around New York--a denizen 88 1246514of Broadway." 88 1246631"Who is he, anyhow, an actor?" 88 1246706"No." 88 1246813"A dentist?" 88 1246947"Meyer Wolfshiem? No, he's a gambler." Gatsby 88 1247048hesitated, then added coolly: "He's the man who 88 1247140fixed the World's Series back in 1919." 88 1247241"Fixed the World's Series?" I repeated. 88 1247348The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, 88 1247454that the World's Series had been fixed in 1919, but if 88 1247553I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it 88 1247659as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable 88 1247740chain. It never occurred to me that one 88 1247855man could start to play with the faith of fifty million 88 1247947people--with the single-mindedness of a burglar 88 1248016blowing a safe. 88 1248146"How did he happen to do that?" I asked after 88 1248210a minute. 88 1248331"He just saw the opportunity." 88 1248424"Why isn't he in jail?" 88 1248545"They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart 89 1248606man." 89 1248746I insisted on paying the check. As the waiter 89 1248848brought my change I caught sight of Tom Buchanan 89 1248925across the crowded room. 89 1249050"Come along with me for a minute," I said; "I've 89 1249131got to say hello to some one." 89 1249244When he saw us Tom jumped up and took half a 89 1249330dozen steps in our direction. 89 1249443"Where've you been?" he demamded eagerly. 89 1249549"Daisy's furious because you haven't called up." 89 1249636"This is Mr. Gatsby, Mr. Buchanan." 89 1249752They shook hands briefly, and a strained, unfamiliar 89 1249840look of embarrassment came over Gatsby's 89 1249906face. 89 1250043"How've you been, anyhow?" demanded Tom of 89 1250145me. "How'd you happen to come up this far to 89 1250206eat?" 89 1250342"I've been having lunch with Mr. Gatsby." 89 1250448I turned toward Mr. Gatsby, but he was no longer 89 1250507there. 89 1250641One October day in nineteen-seventeen---- 89 1250750(said Jordan Baker that afternoon, sitting up very 89 1250853straight on a straight chair in the tea-garden at the 89 1250912Plaza Hotel) 89 1251053--i was walking along from one place to another, half 89 1251154on the sidewalks and half on the lawns. I was happier 89 1251240on the lawns because I had on shoes from 90 1251346England with rubber nobs on the soles that bit 90 1251449into the soft ground. I had on a new plaid skirt 90 1251549also that blew a little in the wind, and whenever 90 1251649this happened the red, white, and blue banners in 90 1251752front of all the houses stretched out stiff and said 90 1251840tut-tut-tut-tut, in a disapproving way. 90 1251949The largest of the banners and the largest of the 90 1252050lawns belonged to Daisy Fay's house. She was just 90 1252149eighteen, two years older than me, and by far the 90 1252251most popular of all the young girls in Louisville. 90 1252354She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster, 90 1252452and all day long the telephone rang in her house and 90 1252548excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded 90 1252656the privilege of monopolizing her that night. "Anyways, 90 1252714for an hour]" 90 1252843When I came opposite her house that morning 90 1252951her white roadster was beside the curb, and she was 90 1253057sitting in it with a lieutenant I had never seen before. 90 1253152They were so engrossed in each other that she didn't 90 1253235see me until I was five feet away. 90 1253351"Hello, Jordan," she called unexpectedly. "Please 90 1253412come here." 90 1253547I was flattered that she wanted to speak to me, 90 1253651because of all the older girls I admired her most. 90 1253748She asked me if I was going to the Red Cross and 90 1253848make bandages. I was. Well, then, would I tell 90 1253950them that she couldn't come that day? The officer 90 1254044looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a 90 1254147way that every young girl wants to be looked at 91 1254248sometime, and because it seemed romantic to me I 91 1254345have remembered the incident ever since. His 91 1254449name was Jay Gatsby, and I didn't lay eyes on him 91 1254549again for over four years--even after I'd met him 91 1254653on Long Island I didn't realize it was the same man. 91 1254746That was nineteen-seventeen. By the next year 91 1254848I had a few beaux myself, and I began to play in 91 1254951tournaments, so I didn't see Daisy very often. She 91 1255047went with a slightly older crowd--when she went 91 1255149with anyone at all. Wild rumors were circulating 91 1255247about her--how her mother had found her packing 91 1255346her bag one winter night to go to New York and 91 1255449say good-by to a soldier who was going overseas. 91 1255548She was effectually prevented, but she wasn't on 91 1255650speaking terms with her family for several weeks. 91 1255751After that she didn't play around with the soldiers 91 1255856any more, but only with a few flat-footed, short-sighted 91 1255940young men in town, who couldn't get into 91 1256017the army at all. 91 1256144By the next autumn she was gay again, gay as 91 1256250ever. She had a debut after the Armistice, and in 91 1256344February she was presumably engaged to a man 91 1256442from New Orleans. In June she married Tom 91 1256552Buchanan of Chicago, with more pomp and circumstance 91 1256637than Louisville ever knew before. He 91 1256747came down with a hundred people in four private 91 1256852cars, and hired a whole floor of the Seelbach Hotel, 91 1256951and the day before the wedding he gave her a string 91 1257052of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand 92 1257109dollars. 92 1257244I was bridesmaid. I came into her room half 92 1257353an hour before the bridal dinner, and found her lying 92 1257454on her bed as lovely as the June night in her flowered 92 1257549dress--and as drunk as a monkey. she had a bottle 92 1257651of Sauterne in one hand and a letter in the other. 92 1257745"'gratulate me," she muttered. "Never had a 92 1257841drink before, but oh how I do enjoy it." 92 1257928"What's the matter, Daisy?" 92 1258052I was scared, I can tell you; I'd never seen a girl 92 1258118like that before. 92 1258253"Here, deares'." She groped around in a waste-basket 92 1258342she had with her on the bed and pulled out 92 1258448the string of pearls. "Take 'em down-stairs and 92 1258550give 'em back to whoever they belong to. Tell 'em 92 1258653all Daisy's change' her mine. Say: 'Daisy's change' 92 1258712her mine]'" 92 1258848She began to cry--she cried and cried. I rushed 92 1258950out and found her mother's maid, and we locked the 92 1259048door and got her into a cold bath. She wouldn't 92 1259152let go of the letter. She took it into the tub with 92 1259248her and squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only 92 1259350let me leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that 92 1259435it was coming to pieces like snow. 92 1259545But she didn't say another word. We gave her 92 1259650spirits of ammonia and put ice on her forehead and 92 1259748hooked her back into her dress, and half an hour 92 1259849later, when we walked out of the room, the pearls 92 1259948were around her neck and the incident was over. 93 1260049Next day at five o'clock she married Tom Buchanan 93 1260149without so much as a shiver, and started off on a 93 1260238three months' trip to the South Seas. 93 1260342I saw them in Santa Barbara when they came 93 1260448back, and I thought I'd never seen a girl so mad 93 1260552about her husband. If he left the room for a minute 93 1260650she'd look around uneasily, and say: "Where's Tom 93 1260747gone?" and wear the most abstracted expression 93 1260850until she saw him coming in the door. She used to 93 1260953sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, 93 1261048rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at 93 1261150him with unfathomable delight. It was touching to 93 1261249see them together--it made you laugh in a hushed, 93 1261350fascinated way. That was in August. A week after 93 1261448I left Santa Barbara Tom ran into a wagon on the 93 1261548Ventura road one night, and ripped a front wheel 93 1261652off his car. The girl who was with him got into the 93 1261748papers, too, because her arm was broken--she was 93 1261844one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara 93 1261907Hotel. 93 1262050The next April Daisy had her little girl, and they 93 1262149went to France for a year. I saw them one spring 93 1262248in Cannes, and later in Deauville, and then they 93 1262347came back to Chicago to settle down. Daisy was 93 1262444popular in Chicago, as you know. They moved 93 1262549with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and 93 1262649wild, but she came out with an absolutely perfect 93 1262753reputation. Perhaps because she doesn't drink. It's 93 1262850a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking 94 1262949people. You can hold your tongue, and, moreover, 94 1263044you can time any little irregularity of your 94 1263148own so that everybody else is so blind that they 94 1263251don't see or care. Perhaps Daisy never went in for 94 1263347amour at all--and yet there's something in that 94 1263421voice of hers. . . . 94 1263545well, about six weeks ago, she heard the name 94 1263650Gatsby for the first time in years. It was when I 94 1263747asked you--do you remember?--if you knew Gatsby 94 1263846in West Egg. After you had gone home she came 94 1263945into my room and woke me up, and said: "What 94 1264045Gatsby?" and when I described him--i was half 94 1264152asleep--she said in the strangest voice that it must 94 1264250be the man she used to know. It wasn't until then 94 1264352that I connected this Gatsby with the officer in her 94 1264411white car. 94 1264547When Jordan Baker had finished telling all this 94 1264647we had left the Plaza for half an hour and were 94 1264748driving in a victoria through Central Park. The 94 1264847sun had gone down behind the tall apartments of 94 1264950the movie stars in the West Fifties, and the clear 94 1265050voices of girls, already gathered like crickets on 94 1265141the grass, rose through the hot twilight: 94 1265225"I'm the Sheik of Araby. 94 1265325Your love belongs to me. 94 1265431At night when you're are asleep 94 1265530Into your tent I'll creep----" 94 1265641"It was a strange coincidence," I said. 95 1265738"But it wasn't a coincidence at all." 95 1265811"Why not?" 95 1265945"Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would 95 1266025be just across the bay." 95 1266146Then it had not been merely the stars to which 95 1266249he had aspired on that June night. He came alive 95 1266346to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his 95 1266422purposeless splendor. 95 1266550"He wants to know," continued Jordan, "if you'll 95 1266650invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then 95 1266720let him come over." 95 1266843The modesty of the demand shook me. He had 95 1266947waited five years and bought a mansion where he 95 1267047dispensed starlight to casual moths--so that he 95 1267148could "come over" some afternoon to a stranger's 95 1267208garden. 95 1267348"Did I have to know all this before he could ask 95 1267422such a little thing?" 95 1267546"He's afraid, he's waited so long. He thought 95 1267653you might be offended. You see, he's a regular tough 95 1267720underneath it all." 95 1267822Something worried me. 95 1267946"Why didn't he ask you to arrange a meeting?" 95 1268049"He wants her to see his house," she explained. 95 1268137"And your house is right next door." 95 1268206"Oh]" 95 1268348"I think he half expected her to wander into one 95 1268451of his parties, some night," went on Jordan, "but 95 1268552she never did. Then he began asking people casually 96 1268652if they knew her, and I was the first one he found. 96 1268750It was that night he sent for me at his dance, and 96 1268849you should have heard the elaborate way he worked 96 1268947up to it. Of course, I immediately suggested a 96 1269048luncheon in New York--and I thought he'd go mad: 96 1269147"'i don't want to do anything out of the way]' 96 1269254he kept saying. 'i want to see her right next door.' 96 1269344"When I said you were a particular friend of 96 1269448Tom's, he started to abandon the whole idea. He 96 1269548doesn't know very much about Tom, though he says 96 1269647he's read a Chicago paper for years just on the 96 1269747chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy's name." 96 1269848It was dark now, and as we dipped under a little 96 1269951bridge I put my arm around Jordan's golden shoulder 96 1270048and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner. 96 1270139Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and 96 1270249Gatsby any more, but of this clean, hard, limited 96 1270350person, who dealt in universal scepticism, and who 96 1270449leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my 96 1270551arm. A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort 96 1270650of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, 96 1270739the pursuing, the busy and the tired." 96 1270848"And Daisy ought to have something in her life," 96 1270923murmured Jordan to me. 96 1271031"Does she want to see Gatsby?" 96 1271144"She's not to know about it. Gatsby doesn't 96 1271249want her to know. You're just supposed to invite 96 1271313her to tea." 96 1271447We passed a barrier of dark trees, and then the 97 1271554facade of Fifty-ninth Street, a block of delicate pale 97 1271648light, beamed down into the park. Unlike Gatsby 97 1271749and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl whose disembodied 97 1271849face floated along the dark cornices and blinding 97 1271954signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening 97 1272045my arms. Her wan, scornful mouth smiled, and 97 1272153so I drew her up again closer, this time to my face. 97 1272209CHAPTER V 98 1272345WHEN I came home to West Egg that night I was 98 1272447afraid for a moment that my house was on fire. 98 1272549Two o'clock and the whole corner of the peninsula 98 1272648was blazing with light, which fell unreal on the 98 1272750shrubbery and made thin elongating glints upon the 98 1272852roadside wires. Turning a corner, I saw that it was 98 1272942Gatsby's house, lit from tower to cellar. 98 1273052At first I thought it was another party, a wild rout 98 1273148that had resolved itself into "hide-and-go-seek" 98 1273250or "sardines-in-the-box" with all the house thrown 98 1273350open to the game. But there wasn't a sound. Only 98 1273448wind in the trees, which blew the wires and made 98 1273550the lights go off and on again as if the house had 98 1273645winked into the darkness. As my taxi groaned 98 1273746away I saw Gatsby walking toward me across his 98 1273806lawn. 98 1273951"Your place looks like the World's Fair," I said. 98 1274051"Does it?" He turned his eyes toward it absently. 98 1274152"I have been glancing into some of the rooms. Let's 98 1274244go to Coney Island, old sport. In my car." 98 1274317"It's too late." 98 1274454"Well, suppose we take a plunge in the swimming-pool? 98 1274538I haven't made use of it all summer." 98 1274625"I've got to go to bed." 98 1274713"All right." 99 1274852He waited, looking at me with suppressed eagerness. 99 1274952"I talked with Miss Baker," I said after a moment. 99 1275048"I'm going to call up Daisy to-morrow and invite 99 1275123her over here to tea." 99 1275254"Oh, that's all right," he said carelessly. "I don't 99 1275333want to put you to any trouble." 99 1275427"What day would suit you?" 99 1275543"What day would suit you?" he corrected me 99 1275650quickly. "I don't want to put you to any trouble, 99 1275710you see." 99 1275837"How about the day after to-morrow?" 99 1275951He considered for a moment. Then, with reluctance: 99 1276041"I want to get the grass cut," he said. 99 1276140We both looked at the grass--there was a 99 1276245sharp line where my ragged lawn ended and the 99 1276352darker, well-kept expanse of his began. I suspected 99 1276424that he meant my grass. 99 1276553"There's another little thing," he said uncertainly, 99 1276615and hesitated. 99 1276748"Would you rather put it off for a few days?" I 99 1276807asked. 99 1276951"Oh, it isn't about that. At least----" He fumbled 99 1277051with a series of beginnings. "Why, I thought--why, 99 1277148look here, old sport, you don't make much money, 99 1277209do you?" 99 1277317"Not very much." 99 1277444This seemed to reassure him and he continued 100 1277518more confidently. 100 1277649"I thought you didn't, if you'll pardon my----You 100 1277756see, I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of 100 1277849side line, you understand. And I thought that if 100 1277949you don't make very much----You're selling bonds, 100 1278024aren't you, old sport?" 100 1278113"Trying to." 100 1278249"Well, this would interest you. It wouldn't take 100 1278349up much of your time and you might pick up a nice 100 1278453bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential 100 1278516sort of thing." 100 1278648I realize now that under different circumstances 100 1278751that conversation might have been one of the crises 100 1278849of my life. But, because the offer was obviously 100 1278953and tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no 100 1279036choice except to cut him off there. 100 1279145"I've got my hands full," I said. "I'm much 100 1279247obliged but I couldn't take on any more work." 100 1279342"You wouldn't have to do any business with 100 1279451Wolfshiem." Evidently he thought that I was shying 100 1279539away from the "gonnegtion" mentioned at 100 1279649lunch, but I assured him he was wrong. He waited 100 1279749a moment longer, hoping I'd begin a conversation, 100 1279851but I was too absorbed to be responsive, so he went 100 1279918unwillingly home. 100 1280047The evening had made me light-headed and happy; 100 1280150I think I walked into a deep sleep as I entered my 100 1280251front door. So I didn't know whether or not Gatsby 100 1280346went to Coney Island, or for how many hours he 101 1280451"glanced into rooms" while his house blazed gaudily 101 1280552on. I called up Daisy from the office next morning, 101 1280632and invited her to come to tea. 101 1280734"Don't bring Tom," I warned her. 101 1280808"What?" 101 1280919"Don't bring Tom." 101 1281039"Who is 'Tom'?" she asked innocently. 101 1281148The day agreed upon was pouring rain. At eleven 101 1281251o'clock a man in a raincoat, dragging a lawn-mower, 101 1281348tapped at my front door and said that Mr. Gatsby 101 1281449had sent him over to cut my grass. This reminded 101 1281547me that I had forgotten to tell my Finn to come 101 1281652back, so I drove into West Egg Village to search for 101 1281746her among soggy, whitewashed alleys and to buy 101 1281834some cups and lemons and flowers. 101 1281948The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o'clock 101 1282052a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby's, with innumerable 101 1282145receptacles to contain it. An hour later the 101 1282245front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a 101 1282355white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, 101 1282451hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs 101 1282535of sleeplessness beneath his eyes. 101 1282650"Is everything all right?" he asked immediately. 101 1282749"The grass looks fine, if that's what you mean." 101 1282845"What grass?" he inquired blankly. "Oh, the 101 1282952grass in the yard." He looked out the window at it, 101 1283052but, judging from his expression, I don't believe he 101 1283113saw a thing. 101 1283246"Looks very good," he remarked vaguely. "One 102 1283351of the papers said they thought the rain would stop 102 1283452about four. I think it was the "Journal." Have you 102 1283550got everything you need in the shape of--of tea?" 102 1283645I took him into the pantry, where he looked a 102 1283758little reproachfully at the Finn. Together we scrutinized 102 1283844the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen 102 1283906shop. 102 1284026"Will they do?" I asked. 102 1284146"Of course, of course] They're fine]" and he 102 1284234added hollowly, ". . .old sport." 102 1284347The rain cooled about half-past three to a damp 102 1284451mist, through which occasional thin drops swam like 102 1284505dew. 102 1284640Gatsby looked with vacant eyes through a 102 1284751copy of Clay's "Economics," starting at the Finnish 102 1284847tread that shook the kitchen floor, and peering 102 1284947toward the bleared windows from time to time as 102 1285048if a series of invisible but alarming happenings 102 1285149were taking place outside. Finally he got up and 102 1285247informed me, in an uncertain voice, that he was 102 1285312going home. 102 1285414"Why's that?" 102 1285545"Nobody's coming to tea. It's too late]" He 102 1285649looked at his watch as if there was some pressing 102 1285748demand on his time elsewhere. "I can't wait all 102 1285806day." 102 1285949"Don't be silly; it's just two minutes to four." 102 1286046He sat down miserably, as if I had pushed him, 102 1286149and simultaneously there was the sound of a motor 102 1286248turning into my lane. We both jumped up, and, a 103 1286350little harrowed myself, I went out into the yard. 103 1286448Under the dripping bare lilac-trees a large open 103 1286550car was coming up the drive. It stopped. Daisy's 103 1286655face, tipped sideways beneath a three-cornered lavender 103 1286744hat, looked out at me with a bright ecstatic 103 1286807smile. 103 1286946"Is this absolutely where you live, my dearest 103 1287006one?" 103 1287147The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild 103 1287251tonic in the rain. I had to follow the sound of it 103 1287345for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone, 103 1287448before any words came through. A damp streak of 103 1287552hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek, 103 1287647and her hand was wet with glistening drops as I 103 1287734took it to help her from the car. 103 1287846"Are you in love with me," she said low in my 103 1287941ear, "or why did I have to come alone?" 103 1288049"That's the secret of Castle Rackrent. Tell your 103 1288145chauffeur to go far away and spend an hour." 103 1288248"Come back in an hour, Ferdie." Then in a grave 103 1288331murmur: "His name is Ferdie." 103 1288437"Does the gasoline affect his nose?" 103 1288550"I don't think so," she said innocently. "Why?" 103 1288644We went in. To my overwhelming surprise the 103 1288726living-room was deserted. 103 1288836"Well, that's funny," I exclaimed. 103 1288916"What's funny?" 103 1289050She turned her head as there was a light dignified 103 1289150knocking at the front door. I went out and opened 104 1289250it. Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged 104 1289351like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a 104 1289449puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes. 104 1289551With his hands still in his coat pockets he stalked 104 1289652by me into the hall, turned sharply as if he were on 104 1289749a wire, and disappeared into the living-room. It 104 1289849wasn't a bit funny. Aware of the loud beating of 104 1289956my own heart I pulled the door to against the increasing 104 1290006rain. 104 1290145For half a minute there wasn't a sound. Then 104 1290253from the living-room I heard a sort of choking murmur 104 1290346and part of a laugh, followed by Daisy's voice 104 1290427on a clear artificial note: 104 1290548"I certainly am awfully glad to see you again." 104 1290647A pause; it endured horribly. I had nothing to 104 1290741do in the hall, so I went into the room. 104 1290853Gatsby, his hands still in his pockets, was reclining 104 1290949against the mantelpiece in a strained counterfeit 104 1291043of perfect ease, even of boredom. His head 104 1291153leaned back so far that it rested against the face of 104 1291251a defunct mantelpiece clock, and from this position 104 1291349his distraught eyes stared down at Daisy, who was 104 1291450sitting, frightened but graceful, on the edge of a 104 1291513stiff chair. 104 1291647"We've met before," muttered Gatsby. His eyes 104 1291751glanced momentarily at me, and his lips parted with 104 1291850an abortive attempt at a laugh. Luckily the clock 104 1291952took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure 104 1292043of his head, whereupon he turned and caught 105 1292153it with trembling fingers, and set it back in place. 105 1292250Then he sat down, rigidly, his elbow on the arm of 105 1292335the sofa and his chin in his hand. 105 1292439"I'm sorry about the clock," he said. 105 1292543My own face had now assumed a deep tropical 105 1292648burn. I couldn't muster up a single commonplace 105 1292732out of the thousand in my head. 105 1292847"It's an old clock," I told them idiotically. 105 1292948I think we all believed for a moment that it had 105 1293032smashed in pieces on the floor. 105 1293145"We haven't met for many years," said Daisy, 105 1293249her voice as matter-of-fact as it could ever be. 105 1293328"Five years next November." 105 1293447The automatic quality of Gatsby's answer set us 105 1293550all back at least another minute. I had them both 105 1293653on their feet with the desperate suggestion that they 105 1293749help me make tea in the kitchen when the demoniac 105 1293830Finn brought it in on a tray. 105 1293946Amid the welcome confusion of cups and cakes a 105 1294052certain physical decency established itself. Gatsby 105 1294148got himself into a shadow and, while Daisy and I 105 1294252talked, looked conscientiously from one to the other 105 1294353of us with tense, unhappy eyes. However, as calmness 105 1294448wasn't an end in itself, I made an excuse at the 105 1294543first possible moment, and got to my feet. 105 1294641"Where are you going?" demanded Gatsby in 105 1294717immediate alarm. 105 1294816"I'll be back." 105 1294948"I've got to speak to you about something before 106 1295009you go." 106 1295146He followed me wildly into the kitchen, closed 106 1295258the door, and whispered: "Oh, God]" in a miserable way. 106 1295321"What's the matter?" 106 1295451"This is a terrible mistake," he said, shaking his 106 1295556head from side to side, "a terrible, terrible mistake." 106 1295651"You're just embarrassed, that's all," and luckily 106 1295737I added: "Daisy's embarrassed too." 106 1295849"She's embarrassed?" he repeated incredulously. 106 1295927"Just as much as you are." 106 1296022"Don't talk so loud." 106 1296161"You're acting like a little boy," I broke out impatiently. 106 1296241"Not only that, but you're rude. Daisy's 106 1296329sitting in there all alone." 106 1296446He raised his hand to stop my words, looked at 106 1296548me with unforgettable reproach, and, opening the 106 1296648door cautiously, went back into the other room. 106 1296745I walked out the back way--just as Gatsby had 106 1296849when he had made his nervous circuit of the house 106 1296945half an hour before--and ran for a huge black 106 1297047knotted tree, whose massed leaves made a fabric 106 1297148against the rain. Once more it was pouring, and 106 1297252my irregular lawn, well-shaved by Gatsby's gardener, 106 1297347abounded in small, muddy swamps and prehistoric 106 1297438marshes. There was nothing to look at 106 1297551from under the tree except Gatsby's enormous house, 106 1297655so I stared at it, like Kant at his church steeple, for 106 1297749half an hour. A brewer had built it early in the 107 1297848"period" craze, a decade before, and there was a 107 1297954story that he'd agreed to pay five years' taxes on all 107 1298049the neighboring cottages if the owners would have 107 1298155their roofs thatched with straw. Perhaps their refusal 107 1298241took the heart out of his plan to Found a 107 1298347Family--he went into an immediate decline. His 107 1298451children sold his house with the black wreath still 107 1298551on the door. Americans, while occasionally willing 107 1298651to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being 107 1298711peasantry. 107 1298848After half an hour, the sun shone again, and the 107 1298947grocer's automobile rounded Gatsby's drive with 107 1299054the raw material for his servants' dinner--i felt sure 107 1299149he wouldn't eat a spoonful. A maid began opening 107 1299252the upper windows of his house, appeared momentarily 107 1299347in each, and, leaning from a large central bay, 107 1299442spat meditatively into the garden. It was 107 1299550time I went back. While the rain continued it had 107 1299650seemed like the murmur of their voices, rising and 107 1299754swelling a little now and then with gusts of emotion. 107 1299846But in the new silence I felt that silence had 107 1299929fallen within the house too. 107 1300047I went in--after making every possible noise in 107 1300151the kitchen, short of pushing over the stove--but I 107 1300252don't believe they heard a sound. They were sitting 107 1300352at either end of the couch, looking at each other as 107 1300451if some question had been asked, or was in the air, 107 1300545and every vestige of embarrassment was gone. 107 1300647Daisy's face was smeared with tears, and when I 108 1300749came in she jumped up and began wiping at it with 108 1300850her handkerchief before a mirror. But there was a 108 1300949change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He 108 1301060literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation 108 1301138a new well-being radiated from him and 108 1301224filled the little room. 108 1301349"Oh, hello, old sport," he said, as if he hadn't 108 1301449seen me for years. I thought for a moment he was 108 1301522going to shake hands. 108 1301624"It's stopped raining." 108 1301746"Has it?" When he realized what I was talking 108 1301851about, that there were twinkle-bells of sunshine in 108 1301947the room, he smiled like a weather man, like an 108 1302052ecstatic patron of recurrent light, and repeated the 108 1302149news to Daisy. "What do you think of that? It's 108 1302218stopped raining." 108 1302354"I'm glad, Jay." Her throat, full of aching, grieving 108 1302441beauty, told only of her unexpected joy. 108 1302540"I want you and Daisy to come over to my 108 1302650house," he said, "I'd like to show her around." 108 1302735"You're sure you want me to come?" 108 1302825"Absolutely, old sport." 108 1302947Daisy went up-stairs to wash her face--too late 108 1303046I thought with humiliation of my towels--while 108 1303133Gatsby and I waited on the lawn. 108 1303249"My house looks well, doesn't it?" he demanded. 108 1303351"See how the whole front of it catches the light." 108 1303431I agreed that it was splendid. 108 1303548"Yes." His eyes went over it, every arched door 109 1303650and square tower. "It took me just three years to 109 1303732earn the money that bought it." 109 1303838"I thought you inherited your money." 109 1303949"I did, old sport," he said automatically, "but 109 1304052I lost most of it in the big panic--the panic of the 109 1304106war." 109 1304246I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for 109 1304353when I asked him what business he was in he answered, 109 1304444"That's my affair," before he realized that 109 1304533it wasn't the appropriate reply. 109 1304648"Oh, I've been in several things," he corrected 109 1304752himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was 109 1304854in the oil business. But I'm not in either one now." 109 1304945He looked at me with more attention. "Do you 109 1305046mean you've been thinking over what I proposed 109 1305118the other night?" 109 1305244Before I could answer, Daisy came out of the 109 1305348house and two rows of brass buttons on her dress 109 1305425gleamed in the sunlight. 109 1305546"That huge place there?" she cried pointing. 109 1305618"Do you like it?" 109 1305750"I love it, but I don't see how you live there all 109 1305808alone." 109 1305951"I keep it always full of interesting people, night 109 1306055and day. People who do interesting things. Celebrated 109 1306109people." 109 1306247Instead of taking the short cut along the Sound 109 1306344we went down the road and entered by the big 109 1306447postern. With enchanting murmurs Daisy admired 110 1306552this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against 110 1306651the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of 110 1306749jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum 110 1306856blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate. 110 1306944It was strange to reach the marble steps and 110 1307051find no stir of bright dresses in and out the door, 110 1307148and hear no sound but bird voices in the trees. 110 1307251And inside, as we wandered through Marie Antoinette 110 1307342music-rooms and Restoration salons, I felt 110 1307445that there were guests concealed behind every 110 1307548couch and table, under orders to be breathlessly 110 1307646silent until we had passed through. As Gatsby 110 1307750closed the door of "the Merton College Library" I 110 1307847could have sworn I heard the owl-eyed man break 110 1307923into ghostly laughter. 110 1308042We went up-stairs, through period bedrooms 110 1308148swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with 110 1308250new flowers, through dressing-rooms and poolrooms, 110 1308347and bathrooms with sunken baths--intruding into 110 1308446one chamber where a dishevelled man in pajamas 110 1308552was doing liver exercises on the floor. It was Mr. 110 1308654Klipspringer, the "boarder." I had seen him wandering 110 1308739hungrily about the beach that morning. 110 1308852Finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment, a bedroom 110 1308939and a bath, and an Adam study, where we 110 1309048sat down and drank a glass of some Chartreuse he 110 1309134took from a cupboard in the wall. 110 1309245He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I 110 1309351think he revalued everything in his house according 111 1309454to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved 111 1309546eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his 111 1309651possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual 111 1309749and astounding presence none of it was any longer 111 1309846real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of 111 1309908stairs. 111 1310048His bedroom was the simplest room of all--except 111 1310152where the dresser was garnished with a toilet set of 111 1310251pure dull gold. Daisy took the brush with delight, 111 1310348and smoothed her hair, whereupon Gatsby sat down 111 1310440and shaded his eyes and began to laugh. 111 1310560"It's the funniest thing, old sport," he said hilariously. 111 1310630"I can't-- When I try to----" 111 1310748He had passed visibly through two states and was 111 1310851entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and 111 1310947his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder 111 1311049at her presence. He had been full of the idea so 111 1311149long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited 111 1311252with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable 111 1311349pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was 111 1311438running down like an overwound clock. 111 1311547Recovering himself in a minute he opened for us 111 1311649two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed 111 1311750suits and dressing-gowns and ties, and his shirts, 111 1311842piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high. 111 1311948"I've got a man in England who buys me clothes. 111 1312052He sends over a selection of things at the beginning 111 1312134of each season, spring and fall." 111 1312247He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing 112 1312350them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen 112 1312455and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds 112 1312550as they fell and covered the table in many-colored 112 1312647disarray. While we admired he brought more and 112 1312746the soft rich heap mounted higher--shirts with 112 1312855stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green 112 1312961and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. 112 1313025Suddenly, with a strained 112 1313152sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began 112 1313217to cry stormily. 112 1313349"They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her 112 1313451voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad 112 1313551because I've never seen such--such beautiful shirts 112 1313609before." 112 1313747After the house, we were to see the grounds and 112 1313856the swimming-pool, and the hydroplane and the mid-summer 112 1313939flowers--but outside Gatsby's window it 112 1314052began to rain again, so we stood in a row looking at 112 1314137the corrugated surface of the Sound. 112 1314249"If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home 112 1314350across the bay," said Gatsby. "You always have a 112 1314451green light that burns all night at the end of your 112 1314507dock." 112 1314646Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he 112 1314751seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly 112 1314853it had occurred to him that the colossal significance 112 1314949of that light had now vanished forever. Compared 112 1315049to the great distance that had separated him from 113 1315153Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching 113 1315245her. It had seemed as close as a star to the 113 1315349moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. 113 1315448His count of enchanted objects had diminished by 113 1315505one. 113 1315649I began to walk about the room, examining various 113 1315749indefinite objects in the half darkness. A large 113 1315848photograph of an elderly man in yachting costume 113 1315946attracted me, hung on the wall over his desk. 113 1316014"Who's this?" 113 1316141"That? That's Mr. Dan Cody, old sport." 113 1316235The name sounded faintly familiar. 113 1316345"He's dead now. He used to be my best friend 113 1316412years ago." 113 1316544There was a small picture of Gatsby, also in 113 1316648yachting costume, on the bureau--Gatsby with his 113 1316749head thrown back defiantly--taken apparently when 113 1316823he was about eighteen. 113 1316949"I adore it," exclaimed Daisy. "The pompadour] 113 1317043You never told me you had a pompadour--or a 113 1317108yacht." 113 1317248"Look at this," said Gatsby quickly. "Here's a 113 1317330lot of clippings--about you." 113 1317450They stood side by side examining it. I was going 113 1317549to ask to see the rubies when the phone rang, and 113 1317629Gatsby took up the receiver. 113 1317751"Yes. . . . well, I can't talk now. . . . I can't 113 1317855talk now, old sport. . . . I said a small town. . . . 113 1317952he must know what a small town is. . . . well, he's 114 1318057no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town...." 114 1318113He rang off. 114 1318247"Come here quick]" cried Daisy at the window. 114 1318348The rain was still falling, but the darkness had 114 1318451parted in the west, and there was a pink and golden 114 1318538billow of foamy clouds above the sea. 114 1318648"Look at that," she whispered, and then after a 114 1318748moment: "I'd like to just get one of those pink 114 1318847clouds and put you in it and push you around." 114 1318949I tried to go then, but they wouldn't hear of it; 114 1319062perhaps my presence made them feel more satisfactorily alone. 114 1319150"I know what we'll do," said Gatsby, "we'll have 114 1319230Klipspringer play the piano." 114 1319345He went out of the room calling "Ewing]" and 114 1319456returned in a few minutes accompanied by an embarrassed, 114 1319542slightly worn young man, with shell-rimmed 114 1319642glasses and scanty blond hair. He was now 114 1319754decently clothed in a "sport shirt," open at the neck, 114 1319847sneakers, and duck trousers of a nebulous hue. 114 1319944"Did we interrupt your exercises?" inquired 114 1320016Daisy politely. 114 1320145"I was asleep," cried Mr. Klipspringer, in a 114 1320252spasm of embarrassment. "That is, I'd been asleep. 114 1320322Then I got up. . . ." 114 1320452"klipspringer plays the piano," said Gatsby, cutting 114 1320541him off. "Don't you, Ewing, old sport?" 114 1320652"I don't play well. I don't--i hardly play at all. 114 1320724I'm all out of prac----" 114 1320848"We'll go down-stairs," interrupted Gatsby. He 115 1320950flipped a switch. The gray windows disappeared as 115 1321032the house glowed full of light. 115 1321145In the music-room Gatsby turned on a solitary 115 1321253lamp beside the piano. He lit Daisy's cigarette from 115 1321351a trembling match, and sat down with her on a couch 115 1321450far across the room, where there was no light save 115 1321550what the gleaming floor bounced in from the hall. 115 1321644When Klipspringer had played "The Love Nest" 115 1321752he turned around on the bench and searched unhappily 115 1321825for Gatsby in the gloom. 115 1321948"I'm all out of practice, you see. I told you I 115 1322040couldn't play. I'm all out of prac----" 115 1322143"Don't talk so much, old sport," commanded 115 1322217Gatsby. "Play]" 115 1322316"In the morning, 115 1322415In the evening, 115 1322521Ain't we got fun----" 115 1322647Outside the wind was loud and there was a faint 115 1322753flow of thunder along the Sound. All the lights were 115 1322861going on in West Egg now; the electric trains, men-carrying, 115 1322935were plunging home through the rain 115 1323045from New York. It was the hour of a profound 115 1323146human change, and excitement was generating on 115 1323209the air. 115 1323337"One thing's sure and nothing's surer 115 1323448The rich get richer and the poor get--children. 115 1323516In the meantime, 115 1323620In between time----" 115 1323755As I went over to say good-by I saw that the expression 116 1323843of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby's 116 1323945face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to 116 1324048him as to the quality of his present happiness. 116 1324148Almost five years] There must have been moments 116 1324247even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of 116 1324350his dreams--not through her own fault, but because 116 1324454of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone 116 1324545beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown 116 1324653himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it 116 1324754all the time, decking it out with every bright feather 116 1324853that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness 116 1324953can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly 116 1325007heart. 116 1325146As I watched him he adjusted himself a little, 116 1325253visibly. His hand took hold of hers, and as she said 116 1325350something low in his ear he turned toward her with 116 1325447a rush of emotion. I think that voice held him 116 1325552most, with its fluctuating, feverish warmth, because 116 1325662it couldn't be over-dreamed--that voice was a deathless song. 116 1325743They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up 116 1325849and held out her hand; Gatsby didn't know me now 116 1325951at all. I looked once more at them and they looked 116 1326049back at me, remotely, possessed by intense life. 116 1326147Then I went out of the room and down the marble 116 1326250steps into the rain, leaving them there together. 116 1326310CHAPTER VI 117 1326448ABOUT this time an ambitious young reporter from 117 1326549New York arrived one morning at Gatsby's door and 117 1326637asked him if he had anything to say. 117 1326746"Anything to say about what?" inquired Gatsby 117 1326810politely. 117 1326934"Why--any statement to give out." 117 1327048It transpired after a confused five minutes that 117 1327149the man had heard Gatsby's name around his office 117 1327250in a connection which he either wouldn't reveal or 117 1327350didn't fully understand. This was his day off and 117 1327454with laudable initiative he had hurried out "to see." 117 1327553It was a random shot, and yet the reporter's instinct 117 1327644was right. Gatsby's notoriety, spread about 117 1327748by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality 117 1327852and so become authorities on his past, had increased 117 1327944all summer until he fell just short of being 117 1328052news. Contemporary legends such as the "underground 117 1328148pipe-line to Canada" attached themselves to him, 117 1328242and there was one persistent story that he 117 1328356didn't live in a house at all, but in a boat that looked 117 1328447like a house and was moved secretly up and down 117 1328549the Long Island shore. Just why these inventions 117 1328652were a source of satisfaction to James Gatz of North 117 1328727Dakota, isn't easy to say. 117 1328849James Gatz--that was really, or at least legally, 118 1328952his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen 118 1329055and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning 118 1329143of his career--when he saw Dan Cody's yacht 118 1329248drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake 118 1329349Superior. It was James Gatz who had been loafing 118 1329453along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey 118 1329550and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay 118 1329648Gatsby who borrowed a rowboat, pulled out to the 118 1329746*tuolumne, and informed Cody that a wind might 118 1329844catch him and break him up in half an hour. 118 1329950I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time, 118 1330055even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful 118 1330145farm people--his imagination had never really 118 1330251accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was 118 1330348that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang 118 1330450from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a 118 1330549son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, 118 1330650means just that--and he must be about His Father's 118 1330744business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and 118 1330850meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort 118 1330949of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would 118 1331050be likely to invent, and to this conception he was 118 1331121faithful to the end. 118 1331249For over a year he had been beating his way along 118 1331349the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger 118 1331449and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that 118 1331547brought him food and bed. His brown, hardening 118 1331655body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy 118 1331740work of the bracing days. He knew women 119 1331856early, and since they spoiled him he became contemptuous 119 1331943of them, of young virgins because they were 119 1332052ignorant, of the others because they were hysterical 119 1332154about things which in his overwhelming self-absorbtion 119 1332221he took for granted. 119 1332349But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. 119 1332449The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted 119 1332559him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness 119 1332651spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked 119 1332746on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet 119 1332853light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night 119 1332955he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness 119 1333041closed down upon some vivid scene with an 119 1333155oblivious embrace. For a while these reveries provided 119 1333243an outlet for his imagination; they were a 119 1333356satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise 119 1333450that the rock of the world was founded securely on 119 1333516a fairy's wing. 119 1333648An instinct toward his future glory had led him, 119 1333749some months before, to the small Lutheran college 119 1333851of St. Olaf in southern Minnesota. He stayed there 119 1333952two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to 119 1334058the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising 119 1334143the janitor's work with which he was to pay 119 1334246his way through. Then he drifted back to Lake 119 1334353Superior, and he was still searching for something to 119 1334450do on the day that Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor 119 1334528in the shallows alongshore. 119 1334647Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the 120 1334753Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for 120 1334854metal since seventy-five. The transactions in Montana 120 1334945copper that made him many times a millionaire 120 1335064found him physically robust but on the verge of soft-mindedness, 120 1335140and, suspecting this, an infinite number 120 1335247of women tried to separate him from his money. 120 1335347The none too savory ramifications by which Ella 120 1335443Kaye, the newspaper woman, played Madame de 120 1335548Maintenon to his weakness and sent him to sea in 120 1335659a yacht, were common knowledge to the turgid sub-journalism 120 1335744of 1902. He had been coasting along all too 120 1335850hospitable shores for five years when he turned up 120 1335947as James Gatz's destiny at Little Girls Point. 120 1336050To the young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking 120 1336148up at the railed deck, the yacht represented all 120 1336250the beauty and glamour in the world. I suppose he 120 1336347smiled at Cody--he had probably discovered that 120 1336445people liked him when he smiled. At any rate 120 1336552Cody asked him a few questions (one of them elicited 120 1336647the brand new name) and found that he was quick 120 1336749and extravagantly ambitious. A few days later he 120 1336850took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat, six 120 1336949pair of white duck trousers, and a yachting cap. 120 1337051And when the *tuolumne left for the West Indies and 120 1337135the Barbary Coast Gatsby left too. 120 1337251He was employed in a vague personal capacity--while 120 1337345he remained with Cody he was in turn steward, 120 1337450mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor, for Dan 120 1337543Cody sober knew what lavish doings Dan Cody 121 1337651drunk might soon be about, and he provided for such 121 1337748contingencies by reposing more and more trust in 121 1337850Gatsby. The arrangement lasted five years, during 121 1337954which the boat went three times around the Continent. 121 1338044It might have lasted indefinitely except for 121 1338150the fact that Ella Kaye came on board one night in 121 1338245Boston and a week later Dan Cody inhospitably 121 1338306died. 121 1338445I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby's 121 1338556bedroom, a gray, florid man with a hard, empty face--the 121 1338642pioneer debauchee, who during one phase of 121 1338750American life brought back to the Eastern seaboard 121 1338856the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon. 121 1338950It was indirectly due to Cody that Gatsby drank so 121 1339053little. Sometimes in the course of gay parties women 121 1339151used to rub champagne into his hair; for himself he 121 1339242formed the habit of letting liquor alone. 121 1339347And it was from Cody that he inherited money--a 121 1339450legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn't 121 1339550get it. He never understood the legal device that 121 1339646was used against him, but what remained of the 121 1339752millions went intact to Ella Kaye. He was left with 121 1339856his singularly appropriate education; the vague contour 121 1339950of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality 121 1340010of a man. 121 1340149He told me all this very much later, but I've put 121 1340251it down here with the idea of exploding those first 121 1340348wild rumors about his antecedents, which weren't 122 1340450even faintly true. Moreover he told it to me at a 122 1340550time of confusion, when I had reached the point of 122 1340649believing everything and nothing about him. So I 122 1340751take advantage of this short halt, while Gatsby, so 122 1340871to speak, caught his breath, to clear this set of misconceptions away. 122 1340956It was a halt, too, in my association with his affairs. 122 1341052For several weeks I didn't see him or hear his voice 122 1341148on the phone--mostly I was in New York, trotting 122 1341250around with Jordan and trying to ingratiate myself 122 1341352with her senile aunt--but finally I went over to his 122 1341448house one Sunday afternoon. I hadn't been there 122 1341546two minutes when somebody brought Tom Buchanan 122 1341651in for a drink. I was startled, naturally, but the 122 1341751really surprising thing was that it hadn't happened 122 1341808before. 122 1341944They were a party of three on horseback--Tom 122 1342046and a man named Sloane and a pretty woman in a 122 1342151brown riding-habit, who had been there previously. 122 1342250"I'm delighted to see you," said Gatsby, standing 122 1342352on his porch. "I'm delighted that you dropped in." 122 1342422As though they cared] 122 1342548"Sit right down. Have a cigarette or a cigar." 122 1342650He walked around the room quickly, ringing bells. 122 1342747"I'll have something to drink for you in just a 122 1342809minute." 122 1342947He was profoundly affected by the fact that Tom 122 1343050was there. But he would be uneasy anyhow until he 122 1343150had given them something, realizing in a vague way 123 1343251that that was all they came for. Mr. Sloane wanted 123 1343356nothing. A lemonade? No, thanks. A little champagne? 123 1343444Nothing at all, thanks. . . . I'm sorry---- 123 1343528"Did you have a nice ride?" 123 1343631"Very good roads around here." 123 1343731"I suppose the automobiles----" 123 1343808"Yeah." 123 1343947Moved by an irresistible impulse, Gatsby turned 123 1344046to Tom, who had accepted the introduction as a 123 1344110stranger. 123 1344243"I believe we've met somewhere before, Mr. 123 1344311Buchanan." 123 1344451"Oh, yes," said Tom, gruffly polite, but obviously 123 1344546not remembering. "So we did. I remember very 123 1344607well." 123 1344723"About two weeks ago." 123 1344842"That's right. You were with Nick here." 123 1344945"I know your wife," continued Gatsby, almost 123 1345014aggressively. 123 1345111"That so?" 123 1345218Tom turned to me. 123 1345328"You live near here, Nick?" 123 1345413"Next door." 123 1345511"That so?" 123 1345646Mr. Sloane didn't enter into the conversation, 123 1345751but lounged back haughtily in his chair; the woman 123 1345850said nothing either--until unexpectedly, after two 123 1345931highballs, she became cordial. 123 1346045"We'll all come over to your next party, Mr. 124 1346145Gatsby," she suggested. "What do you say?" 124 1346243"Certainly; I'd be delighted to have you." 124 1346353"Be ver' nice," said Mr. Sloane, without gratitude. 124 1346441"Well--think ought to be starting home." 124 1346549"Please don't hurry," Gatsby urged them. He had 124 1346652control of himself now, and he wanted to see more of 124 1346744Tom. "Why don't you--why don't you stay for 124 1346853supper? I wouldn't be surprised if some other people 124 1346927dropped in from New York." 124 1347044"You come to supper with me," said the lady 124 1347134enthusiastically. "Both of you." 124 1347247This included me. Mr. Sloane got to his feet. 124 1347341"Come along," he said--but to her only. 124 1347452"I mean it," she insisted. "I'd love to have you. 124 1347515Lots of room." 124 1347645Gatsby looked at me questioningly. He wanted 124 1347755to go, and he didn't see that Mr. Sloane had determined 124 1347814he shouldn't. 124 1347942"I'm afraid I won't be able to," I said. 124 1348046"Well, you come," she urged, concentrating on 124 1348108Gatsby. 124 1348248Mr. Sloane murmured something close to her ear. 124 1348349"We won't be late if we start now," she insisted 124 1348407aloud. 124 1348550"I haven't got a horse," said Gatsby. "I used to 124 1348649ride in the army, but I've never bought a horse. 124 1348749I'll have to follow you in my car. Excuse me for 124 1348816just a minute." 124 1348945The rest of us walked out on the porch, where 125 1349061Sloane and the lady began an impassioned conversation aside. 125 1349149"My God, I believe the man's coming," said Tom. 125 1349240"Doesn't he know she doesn't want him?" 125 1349330"She says she does want him." 125 1349445"She has a big dinner party and he won't know 125 1349551a soul there." He frowned. "I wonder where in the 125 1349651devil he met Daisy. By God, I may be old-fashioned 125 1349748in my ideas, but women run around too much these 125 1349854days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish." 125 1349944Suddenly Mr. Sloane and the lady walked down 125 1350036the steps and mounted their horses. 125 1350150"Come on," said Mr. Sloane to Tom, "we're late. 125 1350248We've got to go." And then to me: "Tell him we 125 1350326couldn't wait, will you?" 125 1350447Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged 125 1350552a cool nod, and they trotted quickly down the drive, 125 1350653disappearing under the August foliage just as Gatsby, 125 1350749with hat and light overcoat in hand, came out the 125 1350812front door. 125 1350946Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy's running 125 1351052around alone, for on the following Saturday night he 125 1351154came with her to Gatsby's party. Perhaps his presence 125 1351259gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness--it 125 1351337stands out in my memory from Gatsby's 125 1351447other parties that summer. There were the same 125 1351553people, or at least the same sort of people, the same 125 1351646profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, 125 1351750many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness 126 1351845in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't 126 1351949been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown 126 1352056used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete 126 1352145in itself, with its own standards and its own 126 1352250great figures, second to nothing because it had no 126 1352351consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at 126 1352459it again, through Daisy's eyes. It is invariably saddening 126 1352545to look through new eyes at things upon which 126 1352649you have expended your own powers of adjustment. 126 1352749They arrived at twilight, and, as we strolled out 126 1352847among the sparkling hundreds, Daisy's voice was 126 1352940playing murmurous tricks in her throat. 126 1353049"These things excite me so," she whispered. "If 126 1353148you want to kiss me any time during the evening, 126 1353253Nick, just let me know and I'll be glad to arrange it 126 1353351for you. Just mention my name. Or present a green 126 1353432card. I'm giving out green----" 126 1353534"Look around," suggested Gatsby. 126 1353649"I'm looking around. I'm having a marvelous----" 126 1353745"You must see the faces of many people you've 126 1353814heard about." 126 1353938Tom's arrogant eyes roamed the crowd. 126 1354046"We don't go around very much," he said. "In 126 1354153fact, I was just thinking I don't know a soul here." 126 1354247"Perhaps you know that lady." Gatsby indicated 126 1354348a gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman who 126 1354452sat in state under a white plum tree. Tom and Daisy 126 1354560stared, with that peculiarly unreal feeling that accompanies 127 1354647the recognition of a hitherto ghostly celebrity 127 1354715of the movies. 127 1354829"She's lovely," said Daisy. 127 1354944"The man bending over her is her director." 127 1355047He took them ceremoniously from group to group: 127 1355140"Mrs. Buchanan . . . and Mr. Buchanan--" 127 1355250After an instant's hesitation he added: "the polo 127 1355309player." 127 1355443"Oh no," objected Tom quickly, "not me." 127 1355549But evidently the sound of it pleased Gatsby, for 127 1355650Tom remained "the polo player" for the rest of the 127 1355709evening. 127 1355856"I've never met so many celebrities]" Daisy exclaimed. 127 1355939"I liked that man--what was his name?-- 127 1356029with the sort of blue nose." 127 1356149Gatsby identified him, adding that he was a small 127 1356210producer. 127 1356328"Well, I liked him anyhow." 127 1356451"I'd a little rather not be the polo player," said 127 1356553Tom pleasantly, "I'd rather look at all these famous 127 1356625people in--in oblivion." 127 1356742Daisy and Gatsby danced. I remember being 127 1356851surprised by his graceful, conservative fox-trot--i 127 1356953had never seen him dance before. Then they sauntered 127 1357046over to my house and sat on the steps for half 127 1357151an hour, while at her request I remained watchfully 127 1357257in the garden. "In case there's a fire or a flood," she 127 1357333explained, "or any act of God." 127 1357449Tom appeared from his oblivion as we were sitting 128 1357546down to supper together. "do you mind if I eat 128 1357651with some people over here?" he said. "A fellow's 128 1357731getting off some funny stuff." 128 1357850"Go ahead," answered Daisy genially, "and if you 128 1357948want to take down any addresses here's my little 128 1358052gold pencil." . . . she looked around after a moment 128 1358145and told me the girl was "common but pretty," 128 1358251and I knew that except for the half-hour she'd been 128 1358349alone with Gatsby she wasn't having a good time. 128 1358448We were at a particularly tipsy table. That was 128 1358550my fault--Gatsby had been called to the phone, and 128 1358653I'd enjoyed these same people only two weeks before. 128 1358748But what had amused me then turned septic on the 128 1358809air now. 128 1358934"How do you feel, Miss Baedeker?" 128 1359049The girl addressed was trying, unsuccessfully, to 128 1359151slump against my shoulder. At this inquiry she sat 128 1359224up and opened her eyes. 128 1359308"Wha'?" 128 1359443A massive and lethargic woman, who had been 128 1359552urging Daisy to play golf with her at the local club 128 1359644to-morrow, spoke in Miss Baedeker's defence: 128 1359749"Oh, she's all right now. When she's had five or 128 1359853six cocktails she always starts screaming like that. 128 1359941I tell her she ought to leave it alone." 128 1360055"I do leave it alone," affirmed the accused hollowly. 128 1360145"We heard you yelling, so I said to Doc Civet 128 1360246here: 'There's somebody that needs your help, 129 1360307Doc.'" 129 1360445"She's much obliged, I'm sure," said another 129 1360550friend, without gratitude. "But you got her dress 129 1360646all wet when you stuck her head in the pool." 129 1360745"Anything I hate is to get my head stuck in a 129 1360844pool," mumbled Miss Baedeker. "They almost 129 1360937drowned me once over in New Jersey." 129 1361046"Then you ought to leave it alone," countered 129 1361114Doctor Civet. 129 1361254"Speak for yourself]" cried Miss Baedeker violently. 129 1361338"Your hand shakes. I wouldn't let you 129 1361416operate on me]" 129 1361551It was like that. Almost the last thing I remember 129 1361655was standing with Daisy and watching the moving-picture 129 1361745director and his Star. They were still under 129 1361849the white plum tree and their faces were touching 129 1361950except for a pale, thin ray of moonlight between. 129 1362054It occurred to me that he had been very slowly bending 129 1362148toward her all evening to attain this proximity, 129 1362253and even while I watched I saw him stoop one ultimate 129 1362330degree and kiss at her cheek. 129 1362452"I like her," said Daisy, "I think she's lovely." 129 1362550But the rest offended her--and inarguably, because 129 1362644it wasn't a gesture but an emotion. She was 129 1362748appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented "place" 129 1362845that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island 129 1362954fishing village--appalled by its raw vigor that chafed 129 1363049under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive 129 1363150fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut 130 1363249from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful 130 1363349in the very simplicity she failed to understand. 130 1363445I sat on the front steps with them while they 130 1363555waited for their car. It was dark here in front; only 130 1363655the bright door sent ten square feet of light volleying 130 1363745out into the soft black morning. Sometimes a 130 1363849shadow moved against a dressing-room blind above, 130 1363955gave way to another shadow, an indefinite procession of 130 1364038shadows, who rouged and powdered in an 130 1364117invisible glass. 130 1364242"Who is this Gatsby anyhow?" demanded Tom 130 1364334suddenly. "Some big bootlegger?" 130 1364438"Where'd you hear that?" I inquired. 130 1364550"I didn't hear it. I imagined it. A lot of these 130 1364647newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you 130 1364707know." 130 1364831"Not Gatsby," I said shortly. 130 1364947He was silent for a moment. The pebbles of the 130 1365031drive crunched under his feet. 130 1365149"Well, he certainly must have strained himself to 130 1365230get this menagerie together." 130 1365354A breeze stirred the gray haze of Daisy's fur collar. 130 1365443"At least they're more interesting than the 130 1365543people we know," she said with an effort. 130 1365633"You didn't look so interested." 130 1365715"Well, I was." 130 1365830Tom laughed and turned to me. 130 1365949"Did you notice Daisy's face when that girl asked 131 1366037her to put her under a cold shower?" 131 1366146Daisy began to sing with the music in a husky, 131 1366247rythmic whisper, bringing out a meaning in each 131 1366349word that it had never had before and would never 131 1366450have again. When the melody rose, her voice broke 131 1366551up sweetly, following it, in a way contralto voices 131 1366653have, and each change tipped out a little of her warm 131 1366726human magic upon the air. 131 1366847"Lots of people come who haven't been invited," 131 1366952she said suddenly. "That girl hadn't been invited. 131 1367050They simply force their way in and he's too polite 131 1367112to object." 131 1367246"I'd like to know who he is and what he does," 131 1367363insisted Tom. "And I think I'll make a point of finding out." 131 1367447"I can tell you right now," she answered. "He 131 1367549owned some drug-stores, a lot of drug-stores. He 131 1367624built them up himself." 131 1367750The dilatory limousine came rolling up the drive. 131 1367833"Good night, Nick," said Daisy. 131 1367948Her glance left me and sought the lighted top of 131 1368048the steps, where "Three o'Clock in the Morning," 131 1368155a neat, sad little waltz of that year, was drifting out 131 1368252the open door. After all, in the very casualness of 131 1368348Gatsby's party there were romantic possibilities 131 1368452totally absent from her world. What was it up there 131 1368555in the song that seemed to be calling her back inside? 131 1368646What would happen now in the dim, incalculable 131 1368745hours? Perhaps some unbelievable guest would 132 1368852arrive, a person infinitely rare and to be marvelled 132 1368950at, some authentically radiant young girl who with 132 1369049one fresh glance at Gatsby, one moment of magical 132 1369167encounter, would blot out those five years of unwavering devotion. 132 1369249I stayed late that night, Gatsby asked me to wait 132 1369353until he was free, and I lingered in the garden until 132 1369449the inevitable swimming party had run up, chilled 132 1369551and exalted, from the black beach, until the lights 132 1369647were extinguished in the guest-rooms overhead. 132 1369751When he came down the steps at last the tanned skin 132 1369851was drawn unusually tight on his face, and his eyes 132 1369923were bright and tired. 132 1370044"She didn't like it," he said immediately. 132 1370121"Of course she did." 132 1370253"She didn't like it," he insisted. "She didn't have 132 1370314a good time." 132 1370447He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable 132 1370512depression. 132 1370652"I feel far away from her," he said. "It's hard to 132 1370722make her understand." 132 1370828"You mean about the dance?" 132 1370948"The dance?" He dismissed all the dances he had 132 1371056given with a snap of his fingers. "Old sport, the dance 132 1371117is unimportant." 132 1371245He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she 132 1371348should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you." 132 1371455After she had obliterated four years with that sentence 132 1371541they could decide upon the more practical 132 1371650measures to be taken. One of them was that, after 133 1371752she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and 133 1371850be married from her house--just as if it were five 133 1371911years ago. 133 1372050"And she doesn't understand," he said. "She used 133 1372150to be able to understand. We'd sit for hours----" 133 1372244He broke off and began to walk up and down a 133 1372353desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and 133 1372417crushed flowers. 133 1372547"I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. 133 1372629"You can't repeat the past." 133 1372750"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. 133 1372825"Why of course you can]" 133 1372948He looked around him wildly, as if the past were 133 1373052lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of 133 1373119reach of his hand. 133 1373248"I'm going to fix everything just the way it was 133 1373356before," he said, nodding determinedly. "She'll see." 133 1373451He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that 133 1373552he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself 133 1373646perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His 133 1373749life had been confused and disordered since then, 133 1373849but if he could once return to a certain starting 133 1373950place and go over it all slowly, he could find out 133 1374027what that thing was. . . . 133 1374148 . . . one autumn night, five years before, they 133 1374248had been walking down the street when the leaves 133 1374350were falling, and they came to a place where there 133 1374457were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight. 133 1374540They stopped here and turned toward each 133 1374652other. Now it was a cool night with that mysterious 134 1374750excitement in it which comes at the two changes of 134 1374854the year. The quiet lights in the houses were humming 134 1374946out into the darkness and there was a stir and 134 1375053bustle among the stars. Out of the corner of his eye 134 1375150Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalks really 134 1375251formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above 134 1375353the trees--he could climb to it, if hs climbed alone, 134 1375453and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp 134 1375538down the incomparable milk of wonder. 134 1375649His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white 134 1375746face came up to his own. He knew that when he 134 1375857kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions 134 1375946to her perishable breath, his mind would never 134 1376047romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, 134 1376148listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork 134 1376249that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed 134 1376351her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like 134 1376443a flower and the incarnation was complete. 134 1376547Through all he said, even through his appalling 134 1376647sentimentality, I was reminded of something--an 134 1376752elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had 134 1376848heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a 134 1376950phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips 134 1377050parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more 134 1377150struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. 134 1377245But they made no sound, and what I had almost 134 1377339remembered was uncommunicable forever. 134 1377411CHAPTER VII 135 1377545IT was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its 135 1377656highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one 135 1377750Saturday night--and, as obscurely as it had begun, 135 1377850his career as Trimalchio was over. Only gradually 135 1377945did I become aware that the automobiles which 135 1378049turned expectantly into his drive stayed for just 135 1378148a minute and then drove sulkily away. Wondering 135 1378254if he were sick I went over to find out--an unfamiliar 135 1378344butler with a villainous face squinted at me 135 1378428suspiciously from the door. 135 1378522"Is Mr. Gatsby sick?" 135 1378652"Nope." After a pause he added "sir" in a dilatory, 135 1378714grudging way. 135 1378853"I hadn't seen him around, and I was rather worried. 135 1378934Tell him Mr. Carraway came over." 135 1379028"Who?" he demanded rudely. 135 1379112"Carraway." 135 1379239"Carraway. All right, I'll tell him." 135 1379330Abruptly he slammed the door. 135 1379445My Finn informed me that Gatsby had dismissed 135 1379550every servant in his house a week ago and replaced 135 1379650them with half a dozen others, who never went into 135 1379747West Egg Village to be bribed by the tradesmen, 135 1379850but ordered moderate supplies over the telephone. 135 1379948The grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked 135 1380053like a pigsty, and the general opinion in the village 136 1380149was that the new people weren't servants at all. 136 1380240Next day Gatsby called me on the phone. 136 1380327"Going away?" I inquired. 136 1380417"No, old sport." 136 1380538"I hear you fired all your servants." 136 1380646"I wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip. Daisy 136 1380744comes over quite often--in the afternoons." 136 1380850So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card 136 1380938house at the disapproval in her eyes. 136 1381043"They're some people Wolfshiem wanted to do 136 1381150something for. They're all brothers and sisters. 136 1381233They used to run a small hotel." 136 1381309"I see." 136 1381445He was calling up at Daisy's request--would I 136 1381549come to lunch at her house to-morrow? Miss Baker 136 1381649would be there. Half an hour later Daisy herself 136 1381749telephoned and seemed relieved to find that I was 136 1381854coming. Something was up. And yet I couldn't believe 136 1381942that they would choose this occasion for a 136 1382048scene--especially for the rather harrowing scene 136 1382140that Gatsby had outlined in the garden. 136 1382253The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly 136 1382340the warmest, of the summer. As my train 136 1382451emerged from the tunnel into sunlight, only the hot 136 1382550whistles of the National Biscuit Company broke the 136 1382651simmering hush at noon. The straw seats of the car 136 1382750hovered on the edge of combustion; the woman next 136 1382853to me perspired delicately for a while into her white 136 1382947shirtwaist, and then, as her newspaper dampened 137 1383053under her fingers, lapsed despairingly into deep heat 137 1383152with a desolate cry. Her pocket-book slapped to the 137 1383207floor. 137 1383323"Oh, my]" she gasped. 137 1383446I picked it up with a weary bend and handed it 137 1383550back to her, holding it at arm's length and by the 137 1383652extreme tip of the corners to indicate that I had no 137 1383749designs upon it--but every one near by, including 137 1383839the woman, suspected me just the same. 137 1383946"Hot]" said the conductor to familiar faces. 137 1384042"Some weather]... hot]... hot]... hot]... 137 1384150Is it hot enough for you? Is it hot? Is it...?" 137 1384244My commutation ticket came back to me with a 137 1384351dark stain from his hand. That any one should care 137 1384453in this heat whose flushed lips he kissed, whose head 137 1384544made damp the pajama pocket over his heart] 137 1384647 . . . Through the hall of the Buchanans' house 137 1384754blew a faint wind, carrying the sound of the telephone 137 1384841bell out to Gatsby and me as we waited at 137 1384910the door. 137 1385048"The master's body]" roared the butler into the 137 1385145mouthpiece. "I'm sorry, madame, but we can't 137 1385250furnish it--it's far too hot to touch this noon]" 137 1385346What he really said was: "Yes ... yes ... I'll 137 1385406see." 137 1385544He set down the receiver and came toward us, 137 1385651glistening slightly, to take our stiff straw hats. 137 1385745"Madame expects you in the salon]" he cried, 137 1385850needlessly indicating the direction. In this heat 138 1385948every extra gesture was an affront to the common 138 1386015store of life. 138 1386146The room, shadowed well with awnings, was dark 138 1386248and cool. Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous 138 1386348couch, like silver idols weighing down their own 138 1386454white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans. 138 1386538"We can't move," they said together. 138 1386648Jordan's fingers, powdered white over their tan, 138 1386729rested for a moment in mine. 138 1386842"And Mr. Thomas Buchanan, the athlete?" I 138 1386910inquired. 138 1387049Simultaneously I heard his voice, gruff, muffled, 138 1387130husky, at the hall telephone. 138 1387248Gatsby stood in the centre of the crimson carpet 138 1387345and gazed around with fascinated eyes. Daisy 138 1387451watched him and laughed, her sweet, exciting laugh; 138 1387550a tiny gust of powder rose from her bosom into the 138 1387605air. 138 1387748"The rumor is," whispered Jordan, "that that's 138 1387830Tom's girl on the telephone." 138 1387948We were silent. The voice in the hall rose high 138 1388051with annoyance: "Very well, then, I won't sell you 138 1388154the car at all. . . . I'm under no obligations to you 138 1388253at all . . . and as for your bothering me about it at 138 1388340lunch time, I won't stand that at all]" 138 1388452"Holding down the receiver," said Daisy cynically. 138 1388550"No, he's not," I assured her. "It's a bona-fide 138 1388635deal. I happen to know about it." 138 1388746Tom flung open the door, blocked out its space 139 1388850for a moment with his thick body, and hurried into 139 1388910the room. 139 1389046"Mr. Gatsby]" He put out his broad, flat hand 139 1389151with well-concealed dislike. "I'm glad to see you, 139 1389225sir. . . . nick. . . ." 139 1389338"make us a cold drink," cried Daisy. 139 1389450As he left the room again she got up and went over 139 1389550to Gatsby and pulled his face down, kissing him on 139 1389611the mouth. 139 1389738"You know I love you," she murmured. 139 1389851"You forget there's a lady present," said Jordan. 139 1389932Daisy looked around doubtfully. 139 1390021"You kiss Nick too." 139 1390127"What a low, vulgar girl]" 139 1390247"I don't care]" cried Daisy, and began to clog 139 1390348on the brick fireplace. Then she remembered the 139 1390449heat and sat down guiltily on the couch just as a 139 1390550freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came 139 1390615into the room. 139 1390746"Bles-sed pre-cious," she crooned, holding out 139 1390846her arms. "Come to your own mother that loves 139 1390906you." 139 1391051The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across 139 1391151the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress. 139 1391247"The bles-sed pre-cious] Did mother get powder 139 1391344on your old yellowy hair? Stand up now, and 139 1391417say--How-de-do." 139 1391545Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the 139 1391649small, reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking 140 1391754at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever 140 1391841really believed in its existence before. 140 1391949"I got dressed before luncheon," said the child, 140 1392026turning eagerly to Daisy. 140 1392142"That's because your mother wanted to show 140 1392251you off." Her face bent into the single wrinkle of 140 1392354the small, white neck. "You dream, you. You absolute 140 1392415little dream." 140 1392549"Yes," admitted the child calmly. "Aunt Jordan's 140 1392627got on a white dress too." 140 1392742"How do you like mother's friends?" Daisy 140 1392848turned her around so that she faced Gatsby. "Do 140 1392927you think they're pretty?" 140 1393017"Where's Daddy?" 140 1393146"She doesn't look like her father," explained 140 1393250Daisy. "She looks like me. She's got my hair and 140 1393320shape of the face." 140 1393446Daisy sat back upon the couch. The nurse took 140 1393538a step forward and held out her hand. 140 1393615"Come, Pammy." 140 1393723"Good-by, sweetheart]" 140 1393853With a reluctant backward glance the well-disciplined 140 1393945child held to her nurse's hand and was pulled 140 1394051out the door, just as Tom came back, preceding four 140 1394138gin rickeys that clicked full of ice. 140 1394226Gatsby took up his drink. 140 1394350"They certainly look cool," he said, with visible 140 1394409tension. 140 1394535We drank in long, greedy swallows. 141 1394647"I read somewhere that the sun's getting hotter 141 1394748every year," said Tom genially. "It seems that 141 1394854pretty soon the earth's going to fall into the sun--or 141 1394948wait a minute--it's just the opposite--the sun's 141 1395027getting colder every year. 141 1395146"Come outside," he suggested to Gatsby, "I'd 141 1395239like you to have a look at the place." 141 1395344I went with them out to the veranda. On the 141 1395449green Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail 141 1395548crawled slowly toward the fresher sea. Gatsby's 141 1395653eyes followed it momentarily; he raised his hand and 141 1395724pointed across the bay. 141 1395829"I'm right across from you." 141 1395914"So you are." 141 1396046Our eyes lifted over the rose-beds and the hot 141 1396155lawn and the weedy refuse of the dog-days along-shore. 141 1396240Slowly the white wings of the boat moved 141 1396350against the blue cool limit of the sky. Ahead lay 141 1396453the scalloped ocean and the abounding blessed isles. 141 1396545"There's sport for you," said Tom, nodding. 141 1396647"I'd like to be out there with him for about an 141 1396707hour." 141 1396844We had luncheon in the dining-room, darkened 141 1396944too against the heat, and drank down nervous 141 1397026gayety with the cold ale. 141 1397147"What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" 141 1397251cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next 141 1397315thirty years?" 141 1397450"Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all 142 1397544over again when it gets crisp in the fall." 142 1397651"But it's so hot," insisted Daisy, on the verge of 142 1397752tears, "and everything's so confused. Let's all go 142 1397810to town]" 142 1397948Her voice struggled on through the heat, beating 142 1398050against it, molding its senselessness into forms. 142 1398148"I've heard of making a garage out of a stable," 142 1398249Tom was saying to Gatsby, "but I'm the first man 142 1398341who ever made a stable out of a garage." 142 1398442"Who wants to go to town?" demanded Daisy 142 1398554insistently. Gatsby's eyes floated toward her. "Ah," 142 1398632she cried, "you look so cool." 142 1398748Their eyes met, and they stared together at each 142 1398850other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced 142 1398919down at the table. 142 1399042"You always look so cool," she repeated. 142 1399140She had told him that she loved him, and 142 1399247Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth 142 1399350opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then 142 1399449back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as 142 1399534some one he knew a long time ago. 142 1399644"You resemble the advertisement of the man," 142 1399752she went on innocently. "You know the advertisement 142 1399815of the man----" 142 1399951"All right," broke in Tom quickly, "I'm perfectly 142 1400051willing to go to town. Come on--we're all going to 142 1400107town." 142 1400249He got up, his eyes still flashing between Gatsby 142 1400329and his wife. No one moved. 142 1400449"Come on]" His temper cracked a little. "What's 143 1400550the matter, anyhow? If we're going to town, let's 143 1400608start." 143 1400752His hand, trembling with his effort at self-control, 143 1400855bore to his lips the last of his glass of ale. Daisy's 143 1400950voice got us to our feet and out on to the blazing 143 1401014gravel drive. 143 1401148"Are we just going to go?" she objected. "Like 143 1401245this? Aren't we going to let any one smoke a 143 1401318cigarette first?" 143 1401438"Everybody smoked all through lunch." 143 1401549"Oh, let's have fun," she begged him. "It's too 143 1401614hot to fuss." 143 1401718He didn't answer. 143 1401845"Have it your own way," she said. "Come on, 143 1401909Jordan." 143 1402047They went up-stairs to get ready while we three 143 1402150men stood there shuffling the hot pebbles with our 143 1402252feet. A silver curve of the moon hovered already in 143 1402350the western sky. Gatsby started to speak, changed 143 1402450his mind, but not before Tom wheeled and faced him 143 1402513expectantly. 143 1402647"Have you got your stables here?" asked Gatsby 143 1402716with an effort. 143 1402843"About a quarter of a mile down the road." 143 1402906"Oh." 143 1403009A pause. 143 1403151"I don't see the idea of going to town," broke out 143 1403248Tom savagely. "Women get these notions in their 143 1403310heads----" 143 1403448"Shall we take anything to drink?" called Daisy 144 1403522from an upper window. 144 1403648"I'll get some whiskey," answered Tom. He went 144 1403708inside. 144 1403828Gatsby turned to me rigidly: 144 1403948"I can't say anything in his house, old sport." 144 1404052"She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. "It's 144 1404125full of--" I hesitated. 144 1404249"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly. 144 1404350That was it. I'd never understood before. It was 144 1404447full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm 144 1404556that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' 144 1404651song of it. . . . high in a white palace the king's 144 1404733daughter, the golden girl. . . . 144 1404842tom came out of the house wrapping a quart 144 1404947bottle in a towel, followed by Daisy and Jordan 144 1405055wearing small tight hats of metallic cloth and carrying 144 1405129light capes over their arms. 144 1405248"Shall we all go in my car?" suggested Gatsby. 144 1405353He felt the hot, green leather of the seat. "I ought 144 1405431to have left it in the shade." 144 1405539"Is it standard shift?" demanded Tom. 144 1405607"Yes." 144 1405746"Well, you take my coupe and let me drive your 144 1405814car to town." 144 1405942The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby. 144 1406048"I don't think there's much gas," he objected. 144 1406151"Plenty of gas," said Tom boisterously. He looked 144 1406263at the gauge. "And if it runs out I can stop at a drug-store. 144 1406348You can buy anything at a drug-store nowadays." 145 1406451A pause followed this apparently pointless remark. 145 1406548Daisy looked at Tom frowning, and an indefinable 145 1406653expression, at once definitely unfamiliar and vaguely 145 1406752recognizable, as if I had only heard it described in 145 1406834words, passed over Gatsby's face. 145 1406946"Come on, Daisy," said Tom, pressing her with 145 1407053his hand toward Gatsby's car. "I'll take you in this 145 1407115circus wagon." 145 1407246He opened the door, but she moved out from the 145 1407319circle of his arm. 145 1407447"You take Nick and Jordan. We'll follow you in 145 1407512the coupe." 145 1407650She walked close to Gatsby, touching his coat with 145 1407750her hand. Jordan and Tom and I got into the front 145 1407847seat of Gatsby's car, Tom pushed the unfamiliar 145 1407954gears tentatively, and we shot off into the oppressive 145 1408040heat, leaving them out of sight behind. 145 1408135"Did you see that?" demanded Tom. 145 1408212"See what?" 145 1408349He looked at me keenly, realizing that Jordan and 145 1408429I must have known all along. 145 1408543"You think I'm pretty dumb, don't you?" he 145 1408649suggested. "Perhaps I am, but I have a--almost a 145 1408751second sight, sometimes, that tells me what to do. 145 1408846Maybe you don't believe that, but science----" 145 1408946He paused. The immediate contingency overtook 145 1409061him, pulled him back from the edge of the theoretical abyss. 145 1409149"I've made a small investigation of this fellow," 146 1409247he continued. "I could have gone deeper if I'd 146 1409310known----" 146 1409448"Do you mean you've been to a medium?" inquired 146 1409519Jordan humorously. 146 1409650"What?" Confused, he stared at us as we laughed. 146 1409712"A medium?" 146 1409816"About Gatsby." 146 1409947"About Gatsby] No, I haven't. I said I'd been 146 1410043making a small investigation of his past." 146 1410143"And you found he was an Oxford man," said 146 1410218Jordan helpfully. 146 1410349"An Oxford man]" He was incredulous. "Like hell 146 1410431he is] He wears a pink suit." 146 1410535"Nevertheless he's an Oxford man." 146 1410650"Oxford, New Mexico," snorted Tom contemptuously, 146 1410726"or something like that." 146 1410849"Listen, Tom. If you're such a snob, why did you 146 1410948invite him to lunch?" demanded Jordan crossly. 146 1411042"Daisy invited him; she knew him before we 146 1411132were married--God knows where]" 146 1411250We were all irritable now with the fading ale, and 146 1411350aware of it we drove for a while in silence. Then 146 1411448as Doctor T. J. Eckleburg's faded eyes came into 146 1411550sight down the road, I remembered Gatsby's caution 146 1411616about gasoline. 146 1411743"We've got enough to get us to town," said 146 1411805Tom. 146 1411953"But there's a garage right here," objected Jordan. 146 1412043"I don't want to get stalled in this baking 147 1412107heat." 147 1412244Tom threw on both brakes impatiently, and we 147 1412350slid to an abrupt dusty stop under Wilson's sign. 147 1412455After a moment the proprietor emerged from the interior 147 1412545of his establishment and gazed hollow-eyed at 147 1412609the car. 147 1412743"Let's have some gas]" cried Tom roughly. 147 1412848"What do you think we stopped for--to admire the 147 1412907view?" 147 1413047"I'm sick," said Wilson without moving. "Been 147 1413115sick all day." 147 1413221"What's the matter?" 147 1413320"I'm all run down." 147 1413444"Well, shall I help myself?" Tom demanded. 147 1413540"You sounded well enough on the phone." 147 1413648With an effort Wilson left the shade and support 147 1413749of the doorway and, breathing hard, unscrewed the 147 1413854cap of the tank. In the sunlight his face was green. 147 1413951"I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch," he said. 147 1414049"But I need money pretty bad, and I was wondering 147 1414146what you were going to do with your old car." 147 1414246"How do you like this one?" inquired Tom. "I 147 1414322bought it last week." 147 1414454"It's a nice yellow one," said Wilson, as he strained 147 1414515at the handle. 147 1414618"Like to buy it?" 147 1414747"Big chance," Wilson smiled faintly. "No, but 147 1414839I could make some money on the other." 147 1414947"What do you want money for, all of a sudden?" 148 1415047"I've been here too long. I want to get away. 148 1415132My wife and I want to go West." 148 1415244"Your wife does," exclaimed Tom, startled. 148 1415348"She's been talking about it for ten years." He 148 1415449rested for a moment against the pump, shading his 148 1415551eyes. "And now she's going whether she wants to or 148 1415634not. I'm going to get her away." 148 1415749The coupe flashed by us with a flurry of dust and 148 1415828the flash of a waving hand. 148 1415944"What do I owe you?" demanded Tom harshly. 148 1416048"I just got wised up to something funny the last 148 1416148two days," remarked Wilson. "That's why I want 148 1416251to get away. That's why I been bothering you about 148 1416310the car." 148 1416421"What do I owe you?" 148 1416517"Dollar twenty." 148 1416652The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse 148 1416740me and I had a bad moment there before I 148 1416854realized that so far his suspicions hadn't alighted on 148 1416949Tom. He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort 148 1417048of life apart from him in another world, and the 148 1417148shock had made him physically sick. I stared at 148 1417254him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery 148 1417344less than an hour before--and it occurred to 148 1417447me that there was no difference between men, in 148 1417551intelligence or race, so profound as the difference 148 1417650between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick 148 1417752that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty--as if he 149 1417840had just got some poor girl with child. 149 1417952"I'll let you have that car," said Tom. "I'll send 149 1418030it over to-morrow afternoon." 149 1418145That locality was always vaguely disquieting, 149 1418247even in the broad glare of afternoon, and now I 149 1418345turned my head as though I had been warned of 149 1418446something behind. Over the ashheaps the giant 149 1418552eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but 149 1418649I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were 149 1418751regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than 149 1418818twenty feet away. 149 1418950In one of the windows over the garage the curtains 149 1419041had been moved aside a little, and Myrtle 149 1419149Wilson was peering down at the car. So engrossed 149 1419256was she that she had no consciousness of being observed, 149 1419340and one emotion after another crept into 149 1419456her face like objects into a slowly developing picture. 149 1419545Her expression was curiously familiar--it was 149 1419648an expression I had often seen on women's faces, 149 1419749but on Myrtle Wilson's face it seemed purposeless 149 1419853and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide 149 1419950with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on 149 1420044Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife. 149 1420152There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple 149 1420242mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling 149 1420351the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, 149 1420453unitl an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping 149 1420550precipitately from his control. Instinct made him 150 1420650step on the accelerator with the double purpose of 150 1420747overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson behind, and 150 1420852we sped along toward Astoria at fifty miles an hour, 150 1420952until, among the spidery girders of the elevated, we 150 1421044came in sight of the easy-going blue coupe. 150 1421144"Those big movies around Fiftieth Street are 150 1421253cool," suggested Jordan. "I love New York on summer 150 1421342afternoons when every one's away. There's 150 1421453something very sensuous about it--overripe, as if all 150 1421550sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your 150 1421608hands." 150 1421757The word "sensuous" had the effect of further disquieting 150 1421841Tom, but before he could invent a protest 150 1421951the coupe came to a stop, and Daisy signalled us to 150 1422019draw up alongside. 150 1422134"Where are we going?" she cried. 150 1422224"How about the movies?" 150 1422348"It's so hot," she complained. "You go. We'll 150 1422452ride around and meet you after." With an effort her 150 1422551wit rose faintly, "We'll meet you on some corner. 150 1422641I'll be the man smoking two cigarettes." 150 1422754"We can't argue about it here," Tom said impatiently, 150 1422844as a truck gave out a cursing whistle behind 150 1422948us. "You follow me to the south side of Central 150 1423030Park, in front of the Plaza." 150 1423148Several times he turned his head and looked back 150 1423256for their car, and if the traffic delayed them he slowed 150 1423353up until they came into sight. I think he was afraid 150 1423454they would dart down a side street and out of his life 151 1423509forever. 151 1423653But they didn't. And we all took the less explicable 151 1423751step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the Plaza 151 1423807Hotel. 151 1423942The prolonged and tumultuous argument that 151 1424045ended by herding us into that room eludes me, 151 1424150though I have a sharp physical memory that, in the 151 1424252course of it, my underwear kept climbing like a damp 151 1424346snake around my legs and intermittent beads of 151 1424455sweat raced cool across my back. The notion originated 151 1424552with Daisy's suggestion that we hire five bath-rooms 151 1424642and take cold baths, and then assumed more 151 1424749tangible form as "a place to have a mint julep." 151 1424850Each of us said over and over that it was a "crazy 151 1424951idea"--we all talked at once to a baffled clerk and 151 1425050thought, or pretended to think, that we were being 151 1425117very funny . . . 151 1425247The room was large and stifling, and, though it 151 1425354was already four o'clock, opening the windows admitted 151 1425444Only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park. 151 1425551Daisy went to the mirror and stood with her back to 151 1425621us, fixing her hair. 151 1425753"It's a swell suite," whispered Jordan respectfully, 151 1425823and every one laughed. 151 1425940"Open another window," commanded Daisy, 151 1426024without turning around. 151 1426125"There aren't any more." 151 1426244"Well, we'd better telephone for an axe----" 151 1426352"The thing to do is to forget about the heat," said 152 1426449Tom impatiently. "You make it ten times worse by 152 1426520crabbing about it." 152 1426648He unrolled the bottle of whiskey from the towel 152 1426725and put it on the table. 152 1426845"Why not let her alone, old sport?" remarked 152 1426947Gatsby. "You're the one that wanted to come to 152 1427007town." 152 1427145There was a moment of silence. The telephone 152 1427253book slipped from its nail and splashed to the floor, 152 1427345whereupon Jordan whispered, "Excuse me"--but 152 1427426this time no one laughed. 152 1427531"I'll pick it up," I offered. 152 1427650"I've got it." Gatsby examined the parted string, 152 1427748muttered "Hum]" in an interested way, and tossed 152 1427821the book on a chair. 152 1427953"That's a great expression of yours, isn't it?" said 152 1428013Tom sharply. 152 1428111"What is?" 152 1428249"All this 'old sport' business. Where'd you pick 152 1428310that up?" 152 1428448"Now see here, Tom," said Daisy, turning around 152 1428551from the mirror, "if you're going to make personal 152 1428648remarks I won't stay here a minute. Call up and 152 1428736order some ice for the mint julep." 152 1428842As Tom took up the receiver the compressed 152 1428946heat exploded into sound and we were listening 152 1429049to the portentous chords of Mendelssohn's Wedding 152 1429131March from the ballroom below. 152 1429247"Imagine marrying anybody in this heat]" cried 153 1429317Jordan dismally. 153 1429445"Still--i was married in the middle of June," 153 1429549Daisy remembered, "Louisville in June] Somebody 153 1429636fainted. Who was it fainted, Tom?" 153 1429732"Biloxi," he answered shortly. 153 1429845"A man named Biloxi. 'blocks' Biloxi, and he 153 1429950made boxes--that's a fact--and he was from Biloxi, 153 1430012Tennessee." 153 1430143"They carried him into my house," appended 153 1430250Jordan, "because we lived just two doors from the 153 1430347church. And he stayed three weeks, until Daddy 153 1430450told him he had to get out. The day after he left 153 1430567Daddy died." After a moment she added as if she might have sounded 153 1430644irreverent, "There wasn't any connection." 153 1430744"I used to know a Bill Biloxi from Memphis," 153 1430812I remarked. 153 1430946"That was his cousin. I knew his whole family 153 1431047history before he left. He gave me an aluminum 153 1431127putter that I use to-day." 153 1431245The music had died down as the ceremony began 153 1431346and now a long cheer floated in at the window, 153 1431449followed by intermittent cries of "Yea--ea--ea]" 153 1431553and finally by a burst of jazz as the dancing began. 153 1431646"We're getting old," said Daisy. "If we were 153 1431728young we'd rise and dance." 153 1431848"Remember Biloxi," Jordan warned her. "Where'd 153 1431920you know him, Tom?" 153 1432046"Biloxi?" He concentrated with an effort. "I 154 1432147didn't know him. He was a friend of Daisy's." 154 1432247"He was not," she denied. "I'd never seen him 154 1432343before. He came down in the private car." 154 1432450"Well, he said he knew you. He said he was raised 154 1432550in Louisville. Asa Bird brought him around at the 154 1432647last minute and asked if we had room for him." 154 1432715Jordan smiled. 154 1432842"He was probably bumming his way home. He 154 1432949told me he was president of your class at Yale." 154 1433040Tom and I looked at each other blankly. 154 1433110"BiloxI?" 154 1433247"First place, we didn't have any president----" 154 1433347Gatsby's foot beat a short, restless tattoo and 154 1433423Tom eyed him suddenly. 154 1433547"By the way, Mr. Gatsby, I understand you're an 154 1433613Oxford man." 154 1433715"Not exactly." 154 1433844"Oh, yes, I understand you went to Oxford." 154 1433921"Yes--i went there." 154 1434054A pause. Then Tom's voice, incredulous and insulting: 154 1434147"You must have gone there about the time Biloxi 154 1434220went to New Haven." 154 1434344Another pause. A waiter knocked and came in 154 1434455with crushed mint and ice but, the silence was unbroken 154 1434542by his "thank you" and the soft closing of 154 1434651the door. This tremendous detail was to be cleared 154 1434712up at last. 154 1434841"I told you I went there," said Gatsby. 155 1434942"I heard you, but I'd like to know when." 155 1435048"It was in nineteen-nineteen, I only stayed five 155 1435149months. That's why I can't really call myself an 155 1435213Oxford man." 155 1435355Tom glanced around to see if we mirrored his unbelief. 155 1435435But we were all looking at Gatsby. 155 1435543"It was an opportunity they gave to some of 155 1435654the officers after the Armistice," he continued. "We 155 1435749could go to any of the universities in England or 155 1435809France." 155 1435947I wanted to get up and slap him on the back. I 155 1436050had one of those renewals of complete faith in him 155 1436129that I'd experienced before. 155 1436252Daisy rose, smiling faintly, and went to the table. 155 1436349"Open the whiskey, Tom," she ordered, "and I'll 155 1436446make you a mint julep. Then you won't seem so 155 1436546stupid to yourself. . . . look at the mint]" 155 1436646"Wait a minute," snapped Tom, "I want to ask 155 1436731Mr. Gatsby one more question." 155 1436832"Go on," Gatsby said politely. 155 1436949"What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my 155 1437015house anyhow?" 155 1437148They were out in the open at last and Gatsby was 155 1437209content. 155 1437351"He isn't causing a row." Daisy looked desperately 155 1437447from one to the other. "You're causing a row. 155 1437536Please have a little self-control." 155 1437648"Self-control]" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I 155 1437752suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. 156 1437844Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. 156 1437953Well, if that's the idea you can count me out. . . . 156 1438048nowadays people begin by sneering at family life 156 1438158and family institutions, and next they'll throw everything 156 1438240overboard and have intermarriage between 156 1438318black and white." 156 1438446Flushed with his impassioned gibberish, he saw 156 1438560himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization. 156 1438642"We're all white here," murmured Jordan. 156 1438747"I know I'm not very popular. I don't give big 156 1438849parties. I suppose you've got to make your house 156 1438950into a pigsty in order to have any friends--in the 156 1439015modern world." 156 1439145Angry as I was, as we all were, I was tempted 156 1439254to laugh whenever he opened his mouth. The transition 156 1439340from libertine to prig was so complete. 156 1439452"I've got something to tell you, old sport--" began 156 1439545Gatsby. But Daisy guessed at his intention. 156 1439653"Please don't]" she interrupted helplessly. "Please 156 1439747let's all go home. Why don't we all go home?" 156 1439849"That's a good idea." I got up. "Come on, Tom. 156 1439923Nobody wants a drink." 156 1440049"I want to know what Mr. Gatsby has to tell me." 156 1440151"Your wife doesn't love you," said Gatsby. "She's 156 1440233never loved you. She loves me." 156 1440351"You must be crazy]" exclaimed Tom automatically. 156 1440450Gatsby sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement. 157 1440547"She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. 157 1440648"She only married you because I was poor and she 157 1440756was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, 157 1440847but in her heart she never loved any one except 157 1440905me]" 157 1441047At this point Jordan and I tried to go, but Tom 157 1441150and Gatsby insisted with competitive firmness that 157 1441249we remain--as though neither of them had anything 157 1441349to conceal and it would be a privilege to partake 157 1441431vicariously of their emotions. 157 1441553"Sit down, Daisy," Tom's voice groped unsuccessfully 157 1441642for the paternal note. "What's been going 157 1441735on? I want to hear all about it." 157 1441849"I told you what's been going on," said Gatsby. 157 1441948"Going on for five years--and you didn't know." 157 1442029Tom turned to Daisy sharply. 157 1442149"You've been seeing this fellow for five years?" 157 1442245"Not seeing," said Gatsby. "No, we couldn't 157 1442353meet. But both of us loved each other all that time, 157 1442448old sport, and you didn't know. I used to laugh 157 1442554sometimes"--but there was no laughter in his eyes--"to 157 1442629think that you didn't know." 157 1442747"Oh--that's all." Tom tapped his thick fingers 157 1442848together like a clergyman and leaned back in his 157 1442907chair. 157 1443045"You're crazy]" he exploded. "I can't speak 157 1443152about what happened five years ago, because I didn't 157 1443248know Daisy then--and I'll be damned if I see how 157 1443351you got within a mile of her unless you brought the 158 1443455groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that's 158 1443550a God damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married 158 1443626me and she loves me now." 158 1443738"No," said Gatsby, shaking his head. 158 1443849"She does, though. The trouble is that sometimes 158 1443951she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know 158 1444050what she's doing." He nodded sagely. "And what's 158 1444152more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on 158 1444252a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come 158 1444348back, and in my heart I love her all the time." 158 1444451"You're revolting," said Daisy. She turned to me, 158 1444551and her voice, dropping an octave lower, filled the 158 1444647room with thrilling scorn: "Do you know why we 158 1444751left Chicago? I'm surprised that they didn't treat 158 1444840you to the story of that little spree." 158 1444941Gatsby walked over and stood beside her. 158 1445050"Daisy, that's all over now," he said earnestly. 158 1445147"It doesn't matter any more. Just tell him the 158 1445251truth--that you never loved him--and it's all wiped 158 1445314out forever." 158 1445445She looked at him blindly. "Why--how could I 158 1445521love him--possibly?" 158 1445623"You never loved him." 158 1445751She hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with 158 1445853a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what 158 1445947she was doing--and as though she had never, all 158 1446050along, intended doing anything at all. But it was 158 1446128done now. It was too late. 158 1446248"I never loved him," she said, with perceptible 159 1446312reluctance. 159 1446444"Not at Kapiolani?" demanded Tom suddenly. 159 1446506"No." 159 1446650From the ballroom beneath, muffled and suffocating 159 1446739chords were drifting up on hot waves of 159 1446805air. 159 1446947"Not that day I carried you down from the Punch 159 1447048Bowl to keep your shoes dry?" There was a husky 159 1447139tenderness in his tone. . . . "daisy?" 159 1447251"Please don't." Her voice was cold, but the rancor 159 1447349was gone from it. She looked at Gatsby. "There, 159 1447453Jay," she said--but her hand as she tried to light a 159 1447548cigarette was trembling. Suddenly she threw the 159 1447647cigarette and the burning match on the carpet. 159 1447747"Oh, you want too much]" she cried to Gatsby. 159 1447849"I love you now--isn't that enough? I can't help 159 1447951what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did 159 1448037love him once--but I loved you too." 159 1448133Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. 159 1448234"You loved me too?" he repeated. 159 1448346"Even that's a lie," said Tom savagely. "She 159 1448449didn't know you were alive. Why--there're things 159 1448551between Daisy and me that you'll never know, things 159 1448637that neither of us can ever forget." 159 1448749The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby. 159 1448848"I want to speak to Daisy alone," he insisted. 159 1448927"She's all excited now----" 159 1449043"Even alone I can't say I never loved Tom," 159 1449149she admitted in a pitiful voice. "It wouldn't be 160 1449207true." 160 1449338"Of course it wouldn't," agreed Tom. 160 1449427She turned to her husband. 160 1449539"As if it mattered to you," she said. 160 1449648"Of course it matters. I'm going to take better 160 1449726care of you from now on." 160 1449844"You don't understand," said Gatsby, with a 160 1449954touch of panic. "You're not going to take care of her 160 1450011any more." 160 1450140"I'm not?" Tom opened his eyes wide and 160 1450250laughed. He could afford to control himself now. 160 1450314"Why's that?" 160 1450423"Daisy's leaving you." 160 1450512"Nonsense." 160 1450649"I am, though," she said with a visible effort. 160 1450745"She's not leaving me]" Tom's words suddenly 160 1450853leaned down over Gatsby. "Certainly not for a common 160 1450947swindler who'd have to steal the ring he put on 160 1451013her finger." 160 1451148"I won't stand this]" cried Daisy. "Oh, please 160 1451216let's get out." 160 1451347"Who are you, anyhow?" broke out Tom. "You're 160 1451446one of that bunch that hangs around with Meyer 160 1451544Wolfshiem--that much I happen to know. I've 160 1451655made a little investigation into your affairs--and I'll 160 1451729carry it further to-morrow." 160 1451852"You can suit yourself about that, old sport." said 160 1451917Gatsby steadily. 160 1452047"I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He 161 1452155turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfshiem 161 1452247bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here 161 1452346and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the 161 1452452counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked 161 1452552him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I 161 1452619wasn't far wrong." 161 1452749"What about it?" said Gatsby politely. "I guess 161 1452849your friend Walter Chase wasn't too proud to come 161 1452911in on it." 161 1453048"And you left him in the lurch, didn't you? You 161 1453151let him go to jail for a month over in New Jersey. 161 1453248God] You ought to hear Walter on the subject of 161 1453306you." 161 1453447"He came to us dead broke. He was very glad to 161 1453532pick up some money, old sport." 161 1453645"Don't you call me 'old sport']" cried Tom. 161 1453750Gatsby said nothing. "Walter could have you up on 161 1453851the betting laws too, but Wolfshiem scared him into 161 1453921shutting his mouth." 161 1454046That unfamiliar yet recognizable look was back 161 1454124again in Gatsby's face. 161 1454249"That drug-store business was just small change," 161 1454348continued Tom slowly, "but you've got something 161 1454447on now that Walter's afraid to tell me about." 161 1454553I glanced at Daisy, who was staring terrified between 161 1454642Gatsby and her husband, and at Jordan, who 161 1454748had begun to balanace an invisible but absorbing 161 1454853object on the tip of her chin. Then I turned back to 161 1454947Gatsby--and was startled at his expression. He 162 1455056looked--and this is said in all contempt for the babbled 162 1455145slander of his garden--as if he had "killed a 162 1455248man." For a moment the set of his face could be 162 1455338described in just that fantastic way. 162 1455451It passed, and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, 162 1455546denying everything, defending his name against 162 1455651accusations that had not been made. But with every 162 1455754word she was drawing further and further into herself, 162 1455843so he gave that up, and only the dead dream 162 1455950fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to 162 1456056touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, 162 1456138undespairingly, toward that lost voice 162 1456217across the room. 162 1456330The voice begged again to go. 162 1456445"Please, Tom] I can't stand this any more." 162 1456550Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, 162 1456653whatever courage, she had had, were definitely gone. 162 1456747"You two start on home, Daisy," said Tom. "In 162 1456819Mr. Gatsby's car." 162 1456947She looked at Tom, alarmed now, but he insisted 162 1457024with magnanimous scorn. 162 1457149"Go on. He won't annoy you. I think he realizes 162 1457250that his presumptuous little flirtation is over." 162 1457344They were gone, without a word, snapped out, 162 1457453made accidental, isolated, like ghosts, even from our 162 1457506pity. 162 1457644After a moment Tom got up and began wrapping 162 1457745the unopened bottle of whiskey in the towel. 162 1457847"Want any of this stuff? Jordan? . . . nick?" 162 1457917I didn't answer. 163 1458025"Nick?" He asked again. 163 1458108"What?" 163 1458212"Want any?" 163 1458344"No . . . I just remembered that to-day's my 163 1458411birthday." 163 1458550I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous, 163 1458631menacing road of a new decade. 163 1458747It was seven o'clock when we got into the coupe 163 1458849with him and started for Long Island. Tom talked 163 1458953incessantly, exulting and laughing, but his voice was 163 1459050as remote from Jordan and me as the foreign clamor 163 1459156on the sidewalk or the tumult of the elevated overhead. 163 1459242Human sympathy has its limits, and we were 163 1459351content to let all their tragic arguments fade with 163 1459449the city lights behind. Thirty--the promise of a 163 1459554decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to 163 1459651know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning 163 1459750hair. But there was Jordan beside me, who, unlike 163 1459848Daisy, was too wise ever to carry well-forgotten 163 1459951dreams from age to age. As we passed over the dark 163 1460049bridge her wan face fell lazily against my coat's 163 1460149shoulder and the formidable stroke of thirty died 163 1460247away with the reassuring pressure of her hand. 163 1460347So we drove on toward death through the cooling 163 1460410twilight. 163 1460546The young Greek, Michaelis, who ran the coffee 163 1460651joint beside the ashheaps was the principal witness 163 1460752at the inquest. He had slept through the heat until 163 1460852after five, when he strolled over to the garage, and 164 1460952found George Wilson sick in his office--really sick, 164 1461058pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over. Michaelis 164 1461145advised him to go to bed, but Wilson refused, 164 1461257saying that he'd miss a lot of business if he did. While 164 1461349his neighbor was trying to persuade him a violent 164 1461427racket broke out overhead. 164 1461549"I've got my wife locked in up there," explained 164 1461651Wilson calmly. "She's going to stay there till the 164 1461749day after to-morrow, and then we're going to move 164 1461807away." 164 1461949Michaelis was astonished; they had been neighbors 164 1462043for four years, and Wilson had never seemed 164 1462147faintly capable of such a statement. Generally 164 1462249he was one of these worn-out men: when he wasn't 164 1462352working, he sat on a chair in the doorway and stared 164 1462448at the people and the cars that passed along the 164 1462546road. When any one spoke to him he invariably 164 1462651laughed in an agreeable, colorless way. He was his 164 1462728wife's man and not his own. 164 1462849So naturally Michaelis tried to find out what had 164 1462949happened, but Wilson wouldn't say a word--instead 164 1463052he began to throw curious, suspicious glances at his 164 1463151visitor and ask him what he'd been doing at certain 164 1463246times on certain days. Just as the latter was 164 1463347getting uneasy, some workmen came past the door 164 1463460bound for his restaurant, and Michaelis took the opportunity 164 1463543to get away, intending to come back later. 164 1463654But he didn't. He supposed he forgot to, that's all. 164 1463752When he came outside again, a little after seven, he 164 1463849was reminded of the conversation because he heard 165 1463951Mrs. Wilson's voice, loud and scolding, down-stairs 165 1464015in the garage. 165 1464145"Beat me]" he heard her cry. "Throw me down 165 1464239and beat me, you dirty little coward]" 165 1464344A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, 165 1464446waving her hands and shouting--before he could 165 1464542move from his door the business was over. 165 1464644The "death car" as the newspapers called it, 165 1464751didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, 165 1464853wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared 165 1464932around the next bend. Michaelis 165 1465058wasn't even sure of its color--he told the first policeman 165 1465148that it was light green. The other car, the one 165 1465245going toward New York, came to rest a hundred 165 1465350yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where 165 1465453Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt 165 1465549in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with 165 1465610the dust. 165 1465745Michaelis and this man reached her first, but 165 1465850when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp 165 1465952with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was 165 1466052swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to 165 1466149listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide 165 1466241open and ripped at the corners, as though 165 1466351she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous 165 1466433vitality she had stored so long. 165 1466544We saw the three or four automobiles and the 165 1466645crowd when we were still some distance away. 165 1466745"Wreck]" said Tom. "That's good. Wilson'll 166 1466833have a little business at last." 166 1466947He slowed down, but still without any intention 166 1467050of stopping, until, as we came nearer, the hushed, 166 1467150intent faces of the people at the garage door made 166 1467237him automatically put on the brakes. 166 1467350"We'll take a look," he said doubtfully, "just a 166 1467407look." 166 1467545I became aware now of a hollow, wailing sound 166 1467649which issued incessantly from the garage, a sound 166 1467750which as we got out of the coupe and walked toward 166 1467847the door resolved itself into the words "Oh, my 166 1467947God]" uttered over and over in a gasping moan. 166 1468054"There's some bad trouble here," said Tom excitedly. 166 1468149He reached up on tiptoes and peered over a circle 166 1468249of heads into the garage, which was lit only by a 166 1468349yellow light in a swinging wire basket overhead. 166 1468450Then he made a harsh sound in his throat, and with 166 1468549a violent thrusting movement of his powerful arms 166 1468624pushed his way through. 166 1468748The circle closed up again with a running murmur 166 1468852of expostulation; it was a minute before I could see 166 1468948anything at all. Then new arrivals deranged the 166 1469052line, and Jordan and I were pushed suddenly inside. 166 1469147Myrtle Wilson's body, wrapped in a blanket, and 166 1469252then in another blanket, as though she suffered from 166 1469352a chill in the hot night, lay on a work-table by the 166 1469447wall, and Tom, with his back to us, was bending 167 1469552over it, motionless. Next to him stood a motorcycle 167 1469637policeman taking down names with much 167 1469750sweat and correction in a little book. At first I 167 1469852couldn't find the source of the high, groaning words 167 1469953that echoed clamorously through the bare garage--then 167 1470045I saw Wilson standing on the raised threshold 167 1470152of his office, swaying back and forth and holding to 167 1470244the doorposts with both hands. Some man was 167 1470350talking to him in a low voice and attempting, from 167 1470448time to time, to lay a hand on his shoulder, but 167 1470550Wilson neither heard nor saw. His eyes would drop 167 1470652slowly from the swinging light to the laden table by 167 1470752the wall, and then jerk back to the light again, and 167 1470848he gave out incessantly his high, horrible call: 167 1470944"Oh, my Ga-od] Oh, my Ga-od] oh, Ga-od] oh, 167 1471011my Ga-od]" 167 1471146Presently Tom lifted his head with a jerk and, 167 1471249after staring around the garage with glazed eyes, 167 1471344addressed a mumbled incoherent remark to the 167 1471411policeman. 167 1471547"M-a-v--" the policeman was saying, "--o----" 167 1471646"No, r--" corrected the man, "M-a-v-r-o----" 167 1471740"Listen to me]" muttered Tom fiercely. 167 1471835"r--" said the policeman, "o----" 167 1471907"g----" 167 1472044"g--" He looked up as Tom's broad hand fell 167 1472150sharply on his shoulder. "What you want, fella?" 167 1472246"What happened?--that's what I want to know." 167 1472335"Auto hit her. Ins'antly killed." 168 1472444"Instantly killed," repeated Tom, staring. 168 1472550"She ran out ina road. Son-of-a-bitch didn't even 168 1472613stopus car." 168 1472744"There was two cars," said Michaelis, "one 168 1472825comin', one goin', see?" 168 1472944"Going where?" asked the policeman keenly. 168 1473042"One goin' each way. Well, she"--his hand 168 1473149rose toward the blankets but stopped half way and 168 1473248fell to his side--"she ran out there an' the one 168 1473346comin' from N'york knock right into her, goin' 168 1473432thirty or forty miles an hour." 168 1473547"What's the name of this place here?" demanded 168 1473613the officer. 168 1473723"Hasn't got any name." 168 1473840A pale well-dressed negro stepped near. 168 1473951"It was a yellow car," he said, "big yellow car. 168 1474006New." 168 1474142"See the accident?" asked the policeman. 168 1474247"No, but the car passed me down the road, going 168 1474338faster'n forty. Going fifty, sixty." 168 1474446"Come here and let's have your name. Look out 168 1474531now. I want to get his name." 168 1474649Some words of this conversation must have reached 168 1474750Wilson, swaying in the office door, for suddenly a 168 1474846new theme found voice among his gasping cries: 168 1474946"You don't have to tell me what kind of car it 168 1475039was] I know what kind of car it was]" 168 1475145Watching Tom, I saw the wad of muscle back of 168 1475247his shoulder tighten under his coat. He walked 169 1475348quickly over to Wilson and, standing in front of 169 1475442him, seized him firmly by the upper arms. 169 1475548"You've got to pull yourself together," he said 169 1475625with soothing gruffness. 169 1475749Wilson's eyes fell upon Tom; he started up on his 169 1475850tiptoes and then would have collapsed to his knees 169 1475930had not Tom held him upright. 169 1476051"Listen," said Tom, shaking him a little. "I just 169 1476144got here a minute ago, from New York. I was 169 1476250bringing you that coupe we've been talking about. 169 1476351That yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn't 169 1476454mine--do you hear? I haven't seen it all afternoon." 169 1476545Only the negro and I were near enough to hear 169 1476648what he said, but the policeman caught something 169 1476749in the tone and looked over with truculent eyes. 169 1476833"What's all that?" he demanded. 169 1476947"I'm a friend of his." Tom turned his head but 169 1477047kept his hands firm on Wilson's body. "He says 169 1477148he knows the car that did it.... it was a yellow 169 1477206car." 169 1477344Some dim impulse moved the policeman to look 169 1477421suspiciously at Tom. 169 1477529"And what color's your car?" 169 1477628"It's a blue car, a coupe." 169 1477746"We've come straight from New York," I said. 169 1477848Some one who had been driving a little behind us 169 1477947confirmed this, and the policeman turned away. 169 1478056"Now, if you'll let me have that name again correct----" 170 1478146Picking up Wilson like a doll, Tom carried him 170 1478250into the office, set him down in a chair, and came 170 1478306back. 170 1478448"If somebody'll come here and sit with him," he 170 1478550snapped authoritatively. He watched while the two 170 1478651men standing closest glanced at each other and went 170 1478750unwillingly into the room. Then Tom shut the door 170 1478847on them and came down the single step, his eyes 170 1478948avoiding the table. As he passed close to me he 170 1479029whispered: "Let's get out." 170 1479154Self-consciously, with his authoritative arms breaking 170 1479246the way, we pushed through the still gathering 170 1479350crowd, passing a hurried doctor, case in hand, who 170 1479449had been sent for in wild hope half an hour ago. 170 1479552Tom drove slowly until we were beyond the bend--then 170 1479638his foot came down hard, and the coupe 170 1479751raced along through the night. In a little while I 170 1479850heard a low husky sob, and saw that the tears were 170 1479927overflowing down his face. 170 1480044"The God damned coward]" he whimpered. "He 170 1480127didn't even stop his car." 170 1480247The Buchanans' house floated suddenly toward us 170 1480352through the dark rustling trees. Tom stopped beside 170 1480444the porch and looked up at the second floor, 170 1480546where two windows bloomed with light among the 170 1480607vines. 170 1480747"Daisy's home," he said. As we got out of the 171 1480843car he glanced at me and frowned slightly. 171 1480948"I ought to have dropped you in West Egg, Nick. 171 1481037There's nothing we can do to-night." 171 1481140A change had come over him, and he spoke 171 1481248gravely, and with decision. As we walked across 171 1481352the moonlight gravel to the porch he disposed of the 171 1481434situation in a few brisk phrases. 171 1481548"I'll telephone for a taxi to take you home, and 171 1481648while you're waiting you and Jordan better go in 171 1481749the kitchen and have them get you some supper--if 171 1481842you want any." He opened the door. "Come 171 1481905in." 171 1482047"No, thanks. But I'd be glad if you'd order me 171 1482131the taxi. I'll wait outside." 171 1482231Jordan put her hand on my arm. 171 1482327"Won't you come in, Nick?" 171 1482414"No, thanks." 171 1482554I was feeling a little sick and I wanted to be alone. 171 1482639But Jordan lingered for a moment more. 171 1482739"It's only half-past nine," she said. 171 1482850I'd be damned if I'd go in; I'd had enough of all 171 1482947of them for one day, and suddenly that included 171 1483049Jordan too. She must have seen something of this 171 1483150in my expression, for she turned abruptly away and 171 1483250ran up the porch steps into the house. I sat down 171 1483349for a few minutes with my head in my hands, until 171 1483450I heard the phone taken up inside and the butler's 171 1483552voice calling a taxi. Then I walked slowly down the 171 1483651drive away from the house, intending to wait by the 172 1483706gate. 172 1483842I hadn't gone twenty yards when I heard my 172 1483947name and Gatsby stepped from between two bushes 172 1484048into the path. I must have felt pretty weird by 172 1484150that time, because I could think of nothing except 172 1484248the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon. 172 1484335"What are you doing?" I inquired. 172 1484433"Just standing here, old sport." 172 1484546Somehow, that seemed a despicable occupation. 172 1484649For all I knew he was going to rob the house in a 172 1484754moment; I wouldn't have been surprised to see sinister 172 1484848faces, the faces of "Wolfshiem's people," behind 172 1484927him in the dark shrubbery. 172 1485048"Did you see any trouble on the road?" he asked 172 1485116after a minute. 172 1485207"Yes." 172 1485314He hesitated. 172 1485418"Was she killed?" 172 1485507"Yes." 172 1485647"I thought so; I told Daisy I thought so. It's 172 1485751better that the shock should all come at once. She 172 1485823stood it pretty well." 172 1485950He spoke as if Daisy's reaction was the only thing 172 1486015that mattered. 172 1486148"I got to West Egg by a side road," he went on, 172 1486254"and left the car in my garage. I don't think anybody 172 1486340saw us, but of course I can't be sure." 172 1486449I disliked him so much by this time that I didn't 172 1486544find it necessary to tell him he was wrong. 172 1486635"Who was the woman?" he inquired. 173 1486743"Her name was Wilson. Her husband owns the 173 1486839garage. How the devil did it happen?" 173 1486946"Well, I tried to swing the wheel--" He broke 173 1487042off, and suddenly I guessed at the truth. 173 1487121"Was Daisy driving?" 173 1487247"Yes," he said after a moment, "but of course 173 1487351I'll say I was. You see, when we left New York she 173 1487448was very nervous and she thought it would steady 173 1487550her to drive--and this woman rushed out at us just 173 1487650as we were passing a car coming the other way. It 173 1487750all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that 173 1487851she wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody 173 1487945she knew. Well, first Daisy turned away from 173 1488049the woman toward the other car, and then she lost 173 1488146her nerve and turned back. The second my hand 173 1488248reached the wheel I felt the shock--it must have 173 1488323killed her instantly." 173 1488424"It ripped her open----" 173 1488555"Don't tell me, old sport." He winced. "Anyhow--Daisy 173 1488641stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, 173 1488754but she couldn't, so I pulled on the emergency brake. 173 1488847Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on. 173 1488953"She'll be all right to-morrow," he said presently. 173 1489051"I'm just going to wait here and see if he tries to 173 1489153bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. 173 1489255She's locked herself into her room, and if he tries any 173 1489350brutality she's going to turn the light out and on 173 1489408again." 173 1489550"He won't touch her,' I said. "He's not thinking 174 1489612about her." 174 1489732"I don't trust him, old sport." 174 1489834"How long are you going to wait?" 174 1489951"All night, if necessary. Anyhow, till they all go 174 1490009to bed." 174 1490148A new point of view occurred to me. Suppose Tom 174 1490248found out that Daisy had been driving. He might 174 1490358think he saw a connection in it--he might think anything. 174 1490446I looked at the house; there were two or three 174 1490549bright windows down-stairs and the pink glow from 174 1490634Daisy's room on the second floor. 174 1490751"You wait here," I said. "I'll see if there's any 174 1490822sign of a commotion." 174 1490953I walked back along the border of the lawn, traversed 174 1491045the gravel softly, and tiptoed up the veranda 174 1491150steps. The drawing-room curtains were open, and I 174 1491248saw that the room was empty. Crossing the porch 174 1491347where we had dined that June night three months 174 1491452before, I came to a small rectangle of light which I 174 1491545guessed was the pantry window. The blind was 174 1491639drawn, but I found a rift at the sill. 174 1491746Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other 174 1491848at the kitchen table, with a plate of cold fried 174 1491949chicken between them, and two bottles of ale. He 174 1492052was talking intently across the table at her, and in 174 1492152his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered 174 1492242her own. Once in a while she looked up at 174 1492329him and nodded in agreement. 174 1492443They weren't happy, and neither of them had 175 1492552touched the chicken or the ale--and yet they weren't 175 1492649unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of 175 1492747natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody 175 1492852would have said that they were conspiring together. 175 1492951As I tiptoed from the porch I heard my taxi feeling 175 1493046its way along the dark road toward the house. 175 1493146Gatsby was waiting where I had left him in the 175 1493207drive. 175 1493349"Is it all quiet up there?" he asked anxiously. 175 1493451"Yes, it's all quiet." I hesitated. "You'd better 175 1493531come home and get some sleep." 175 1493619He shook his head. 175 1493750"I want to wait here till Daisy goes to bed. Good 175 1493819night, old sport." 175 1493947He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned 175 1494052back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though 175 1494151my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So 175 1494248I walked away and left him standing there in the 175 1494334moonlight--watching over nothing. 175 1494412CHAPTER VIII 176 1494551I COULDN'T sleep all night; a fog-horn was groaning 176 1494648incessantly on the Sound, and I tossed half-sick 176 1494749between grotesque reality and savage, frightening 176 1494850dreams. Toward dawn I heard a taxi go up Gatsby's 176 1494942drive, and immediately I jumped out of bed 176 1495050and began to dress--i felt that I had something to 176 1495150tell him, something to warn him about, and morning 176 1495219would be too late. 176 1495348Crossing his lawn, I saw that his front door was 176 1495452still open and he was leaning against a table in the 176 1495537hall, heavy with dejection or sleep. 176 1495647"Nothing happened," he said wanly. "I waited, 176 1495749and about four o'clock she came to the window and 176 1495848stood there for a minute and then turned out the 176 1495908light." 176 1496044His house had never seemed so enormous to me 176 1496147as it did that night when we hunted through the 176 1496253great rooms for cigarettes. We pushed aside curtains 176 1496351that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable 176 1496451feet of dark wall for electric light switches--once 176 1496545I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys 176 1496653of a ghostly piano. There was an inexplicable amount 176 1496748of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as 176 1496847though they hadn't been aired for many days. I 176 1496950found the humidor on an unfamiliar table, with two 176 1497048stale, dry cigarettes inside. Throwing open the 177 1497150French windows of the drawing-room, we sat smoking 177 1497223out into the darkness. 177 1497354"You ought to go away," I said. "It's pretty certain 177 1497425they'll trace your car." 177 1497526"Go away now, old sport?" 177 1497653"Go to Atlantic City for a week, or up to Montreal." 177 1497746He wouldn't consider it. He couldn't possibly 177 1497847leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to 177 1497945do. He was clutching at some last hope and I 177 1498033couldn't bear to shake him free. 177 1498151It was this night that he told me the strange story 177 1498249of his youth with Dan Cody--told it to me because 177 1498351"Jay Gatsby" had broken up like glass against Tom's 177 1498449hard malice, and the long secret extravaganza was 177 1498552played out. I think that he would have acknowledged 177 1498644anything now, without reserve, but he wanted 177 1498721to talk about Daisy. 177 1498849She was the first "nice" girl he had ever known. 177 1498947In various unrevealed capacities he had come in 177 1499055contact with such people, but always with indiscernible 177 1499145barbed wire between. He found her excitingly 177 1499247desirable. He went to her house, at first with 177 1499348other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It 177 1499449amazed him--he had never been in such a beautiful 177 1499551house before. but what gave it an air of breathless 177 1499648intensity, was that Daisy lived there--it was as 177 1499752casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to 177 1499850him. There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of 178 1499947bedrooms up-stairs more beautiful and cool than 178 1500052other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking 178 1500149place through its corridors, and of romances that 178 1500248were not musty and laid away already in lavender 178 1500351but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year's 178 1500451shining motor-cars and of dances whose flowers were 178 1500550scarcely withered. It excited him, too, that many 178 1500651men had already loved Daisy--it increased her value 178 1500750in his eyes. He felt their presence all about the 178 1500851house, pervading the air with the shades and echoes 178 1500927of still vibrant emotions. 178 1501045But he knew that he was in Daisy's house by a 178 1501149colossal accident. However glorious might be his 178 1501251future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless 178 1501343young man without a past, and at any moment 178 1501450the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from 178 1501552his shoulders. So he made the most of his time. He 178 1501665took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously--eventually 178 1501731he took Daisy one still October 178 1501847night, took her because he had no real right to 178 1501916touch her hand. 178 1502042He might have despised himself, for he had 178 1502151certainly taken her under false pretenses. I don't 178 1502248mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, 178 1502356but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; 178 1502444he let her believe that he was a person from 178 1502551much the same stratum as herself--that he was fully 178 1502654able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had 178 1502748no such facilities--he had no comfortable family 179 1502850standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim 179 1502948of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere 179 1503017about the world. 179 1503152But he didn't despise himself and it didn't turn out 179 1503250as he had imagined. He had intended, probably, to 179 1503348take what he could and go--but now he found that 179 1503446he had committed himself to the following of a 179 1503549grail. He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but 179 1503649he didn't realize just how extraordinary a "nice" 179 1503754girl could be. She vanished into her rich house, into 179 1503854her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby--nothing. He felt 179 1503930married to her, that was all. 179 1504043When they met again, two days later, it was 179 1504155Gatsby who was breathless, who was, somehow, betrayed. 179 1504236Her porch was bright with the bought 179 1504355luxury of star-shine; the wicker of the settee squeaked 179 1504450fashionably as she turned toward him and he kissed 179 1504547her curious and lovely mouth. She had caught a 179 1504653cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming 179 1504740than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly 179 1504852aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons 179 1504939and preserves, of the freshness of many 179 1505053clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and 179 1505143proud above the hot struggles of the poor. 179 1505247"I can't describe to you how surprised I was to 179 1505350find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for 179 1505457a while that she'd throw me over, but she didn't, because 179 1505543she was in love with me too. She thought I 180 1505659knew a lot because I knew different things from her. . . . 180 1505749well, there I was, 'way off my ambitions, getting 180 1505850deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I 180 1505952didn't care. What was the use of doing great things 180 1506052if I could have a better time telling her what I was 180 1506114going to do?" 180 1506247On the last afternoon before he went abroad, he 180 1506355sat with Daisy in his arms for a long, silent time. It 180 1506450was a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her 180 1506546cheeks flushed. Now and then she moved and he 180 1506653changed his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark 180 1506751shining hair. The afternoon had made them tranquil 180 1506849for a while, as if to give them a deep memory for 180 1506949the long parting the next day promised. They had 180 1507058never been closer in their month of love, nor communicated 180 1507138more profoundly one with another, than 180 1507256when she brushed silent lips against his coat's shoulder 180 1507350or when he touched the end of her fingers, gently, 180 1507427as though she were asleep. 180 1507549He did extraordinarily well in the war. He was a 180 1507654captain before he went to the front, and following the 180 1507751Argonne battles he got his majority and the command 180 1507852of the divisional machine-guns. After the Armistice 180 1507942he tried frantically to get home, but some 180 1508051complication or misunderstanding sent him to Oxford 180 1508141instead. He was worried now--there was a 180 1508251quality of nervous despair in Daisy's letters. She 180 1508349didn't see why he couldn't come. She was feeling 181 1508449the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted 181 1508550to see him and feel his presence beside her and be 181 1508656reassured that she was doing the right thing after all. 181 1508748For Daisy was young and her artificial world was 181 1508851redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery 181 1508948and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, 181 1509049summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life 181 1509150in new tunes. All night the saxophones wailed the 181 1509250hopeless comment of the "Beale Street Blues" while 181 1509354a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled 181 1509450the shining dust. At the gray tea hour there were 181 1509548always rooms that throbbed incessantly with this 181 1509652low, sweet fever, while fresh faces drifted here and 181 1509752there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around 181 1509811the floor. 181 1509945Through this twilight universe Daisy began to 181 1510044move again with the season; suddenly she was 181 1510150again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a 181 1510247dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the 181 1510351beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among 181 1510451dying orchids on the floor beside her bed. And all 181 1510557the time something within her was crying for a decision. 181 1510648She wanted her life shaped now, immediately--and 181 1510743the decision must be made by some force--of 181 1510852love, of money, of unquestionable practicality--that 181 1510919was close at hand. 181 1511050That force took shape in the middle of spring with 181 1511151the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome 181 1511244bulkiness about his person and his position, 182 1511355and Daisy was flattered. Doubtless there was a certain 182 1511450struggle and a certain relief. The letter reached 182 1511537Gatsby while he was still at Oxford. 182 1511642It was dawn now on Long Island and we went 182 1511750about opening the rest of the windows down-stairs, 182 1511849filling the house with gray-turning, gold-turning 182 1511953light. The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the 182 1512050dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue 182 1512147leaves. There was a slow, pleasant movement in 182 1512256the air, scarcely a wind, promising a cool, lovely day. 182 1512350"I don't think she ever loved him." Gatsby turned 182 1512453around from a window and looked at me challengingly. 182 1512543"You must remember, old sport, she was very 182 1512652excited this afternoon. He told her those things in 182 1512750a way that frightened her--that made it look as if 182 1512849I was some kind of cheap sharper. And the result 182 1512942was she hardly knew what she was saying." 182 1513022He sat down gloomily. 182 1513146"Of course she might have loved him just for a 182 1513250minute, when they were first married--and loved me 182 1513329more even then, do you see?" 182 1513444Suddenly he came out with a curious remark. 182 1513550"In any case," he said, "it was just personal." 182 1513646What could you make of that, except to suspect 182 1513751some intensity in his conception of the affair that 182 1513822couldn't be measured? 182 1513943He came back from France when Tom and Daisy 182 1514054were still on their wedding trip, and made a miserable 183 1514153but irresistible journey to Louisville on the last of 183 1514250his army pay. He stayed there a week, walking the 183 1514350streets where their footsteps had clicked together 183 1514460through the November night and revisiting the out-of-the-way 183 1514538places to which they had driven in her 183 1514651white car. Just as Daisy's house had always seemed 183 1514749to him more mysterious and gay than other houses, 183 1514851so his idea of the city itself, even though she was 183 1514953gone from it, was pervaded with a melancholy beauty. 183 1515050He left feeling that if he had searched harder, he 183 1515154might have found her--that he was leaving her behind. 183 1515240The day-coach--he was penniless now--was 183 1515352hot. He went out to the open vestibule and sat down 183 1515453on a folding-chair, and the station slid away and the 183 1515549backs of unfamiliar buildings moved by. Then out 183 1515652into the spring fields, where a yellow trolley raced 183 1515750them for a minute with people in it who might once 183 1515853have seen the pale magic of her face along the casual 183 1515908street. 183 1516047The track curved and now it was going away from 183 1516149the sun, which as it sank lower, seemed to spread 183 1516251itself in benediction over the vanishing city where 183 1516347she had drawn her breath. He stretched out his 183 1516452hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, 183 1516548to save a fragment of the spot that she had made 183 1516653lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now 183 1516749for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost 183 1516853that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever. 183 1516946It was nine o'clock when we finished breakfast 184 1517048and went out on the porch. The night had made a 184 1517148sharp difference in the weather and there was an 184 1517253autumn flavor in the air. The gardener, the last one 184 1517352of Gatsby's former servants, came to the foot of the 184 1517407steps. 184 1517549"I'm going to drain the pool to-day, Mr. Gatsby. 184 1517653Leaves'll start falling pretty soon, and then there's 184 1517732always trouble with the pipes." 184 1517843"Don't do it to-day," Gatsby answered. He 184 1517951turned to me apologetically. "You know, old sport, 184 1518039I've never used that pool all summer?" 184 1518135I looked at my watch and stood up. 184 1518230"Twelve minutes to my train." 184 1518350I didn't want to go to the city. I wasn't worth a 184 1518451decent stroke of work, but it was more than that--i 184 1518550didn't want to leave Gatsby. I missed that train, 184 1518650and then another, before I could get myself away. 184 1518737"I'll call you up," I said finally. 184 1518817"Do, old sport." 184 1518928"I'll call you about noon." 184 1519033We walked slowly down the steps. 184 1519147"I suppose Daisy'll call too." He looked at me 184 1519248anxiously, as if he hoped I'd corroborate this. 184 1519316"I suppose so." 184 1519417"Well, good-by." 184 1519547We shook hands and I started away. Just before 184 1519646I reached the hedge I remembered something and 184 1519715turned around. 184 1519847"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the 185 1519945lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put 185 1520011together." 185 1520151I've always been glad I said that. It was the only 185 1520249compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved 185 1520346of him from beginning to end. First he nodded 185 1520451politely, and then his face broke into that radiant 185 1520552and understanding smile, as if we'd been in ecstatic 185 1520653cahoots on that fact all the time. His gorgeous pink 185 1520753rag of a suit made a bright spot of color against the 185 1520852white steps, and I thought of the night when I first 185 1520949came to his ancestral home, three months before. 185 1521050The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces 185 1521150of those who guessed at his corruption--and he had 185 1521250stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible 185 1521333dream, as he waved them good-by. 185 1521450I thanked him for his hospitality. We were always 185 1521541thanking him for that--i and the others. 185 1521644"Good-by," I called. "I enjoyed breakfast, 185 1521709Gatsby." 185 1521858Up in the city, I tried for a while to list the quotations 185 1521940on an interminable amount of stock, then 185 1522051I fell asleep in my swivel-chair. Just before noon 185 1522146the phone woke me, and I started up with sweat 185 1522250breaking out on my forehead. It was Jordan Baker; 185 1522359she often called me up at this hour because the uncertainty 185 1522435of her own movements between hotels 185 1522550and clubs and private houses made her hard to find 185 1522650in any other way. Usually her voice came over the 186 1522752wire as something fresh and cool, as if a divot from 186 1522852a green golf-links had come sailing in at the office 186 1522950window, but this morning it seemed harsh and dry. 186 1523046"I've left Daisy's house," she said. "I'm at 186 1523144Hempstead, and I'm going down to Southampton 186 1523217this afternoon." 186 1523352Probably it had been tactful to leave Daisy's house, 186 1523448but the act annoyed me, and her next remark made 186 1523510me rigid. 186 1523640"You weren't so nice to me last night." 186 1523735"How could it have mattered then?" 186 1523828Silence for a moment. Then: 186 1523930"However--i want to see you." 186 1524026"I want to see you, too." 186 1524144"Suppose I don't go to Southampton, and come 186 1524227into town this afternoon?" 186 1524336"No--i don't think this afternoon." 186 1524413"Very well." 186 1524546"It's impossible this afternoon. Various----" 186 1524650We talked like that for a while, and then abruptly 186 1524750we weren't talking any longer. I don't know which 186 1524853of us hung up with a sharp click, but I know I didn't 186 1524955care. I couldn't have talked to her across a tea-table 186 1525047that day if I never talked to her again in this 186 1525107world. 186 1525248I called Gatsby's house a few minutes later, but 186 1525362the line was busy. I tried four times; finally an exasperated 186 1525439central told me the wire was being kept 186 1525548open for long distance from Detroit. Taking out 187 1525647my time-table, I drew a small circle around the 187 1525750three-fifty train. Then I leaned back in my chair 187 1525839and tried to think. It was just noon. 187 1525944When I passed the ashheaps on the train that 187 1526052morning I had crossed deliberately to the other side 187 1526149of the car. I suppose there'd be a curious crowd 187 1526251around there all day with little boys searching for 187 1526354dark spots in the dust, and some garrulous man telling 187 1526448over and over what had happened, until it became 187 1526543less and less real even to him and he could 187 1526657tell it no longer, and Myrtle Wilson's tragic achievement 187 1526739was forgotten. Now I want to go back a 187 1526849little and tell what happened at the garage after 187 1526932we left there the night before. 187 1527055They had difficulty in locating the sister, Catherine. 187 1527151She must have broken her rule against drinking that 187 1527247night, for when she arrived she was stupid with 187 1527350liquor and unable to understand that the ambulance 187 1527450had already gone to Flushing. When they convinced 187 1527552her of this, she immediately fainted, as if that was 187 1527654the intolerable part of the affair. Some one, kind or 187 1527749curious, took her in his car and drove her in the 187 1527827wake of her sister's body. 187 1527949Until long after midnight a changing crowd lapped 187 1528055up against the front of the garage, while George Wilson 187 1528151rocked himself back and forth on the couch inside. 187 1528248For a while the door of the office was open, and 187 1528355every one who came into the garage glanced irresistibly 188 1528442through it. Finally someone said it was a 188 1528550shame, and closed the door. Michaelis and several 188 1528649other men were with him; first, four or five men, 188 1528753later two or three men. Still later Michaelis had to 188 1528851ask the last stranger to wait there fifteen minutes 188 1528947longer, while he went back to his own place and 188 1529050made a pot of coffee. After that, he stayed there 188 1529130alone with Wilson until dawn. 188 1529254About three o'clock the quality of Wilson's incoherent 188 1529338muttering changed--he grew quieter and 188 1529449began to talk about the yellow car. He announced 188 1529552that he had a way of finding out whom the yellow car 188 1529653belonged to, and then he blurted out that a couple of 188 1529751months ago his wife had come from the city with her 188 1529835face bruised and her nose swollen. 188 1529947But when he heard himself say this, he flinched 188 1530052and began to cry "Oh, my God]" again in his groaning 188 1530157voice. Michaelis made a clumsy attempt to distract him. 188 1530241"How long have you been married, George? 188 1530352Come on there, try and sit still a minute and answer 188 1530447my question. How long have you been married?" 188 1530516"Twelve years." 188 1530645"Ever had any children? Come on, George, sit 188 1530749still--i asked you a question. Did you ever have 188 1530815any children?" 188 1530948The hard brown beetles kept thudding against the 188 1531049dull light, and whenever Michaelis heard a car go 188 1531153tearing along the road outside it sounded to him like 189 1531251the car that hadn't stopped a few hours before. He 189 1531351didn't like to go into the garage, because the work 189 1531448bench was stained where the body had been lying, 189 1531547so he moved uncomfortably around the office--he 189 1531648knew every object in it before morning--and from 189 1531750time to time sat down beside Wilson trying to keep 189 1531816him more quiet. 189 1531943"Have you got a church you go to sometimes, 189 1532049George? Maybe even if you haven't been there for 189 1532150a long time? Maybe I could call up the church and 189 1532251get a priest to come over and he could talk to you, 189 1532306see?" 189 1532423"Don't belong to any." 189 1532546"You ought to have a church, George, for times 189 1532647like this. You must have gone to church once. 189 1532752Didn't you get married in a church? Listen, George, 189 1532852listen to me. Didn't you get married in a church?" 189 1532928"That was a long time ago." 189 1533047The effort of answering broke the rhythm of his 189 1533146rocking--for a moment he was silent. Then the 189 1533249same half-knowing, half-bewildered look came back 189 1533321into his faded eyes. 189 1533449"Look in the drawer there," he said, pointing at 189 1533510the desk. 189 1533616"Which drawer?" 189 1533725"That drawer--that one." 189 1533846Michaelis opened the drawer nearest his hand. 189 1533957There was nothing in it but a small, expensive dog-leash, 189 1534043made of leather and braided silver. It was 190 1534116apparently new. 190 1534237"This?" he inquired, holding it up. 190 1534326Wilson stared and nodded. 190 1534451"I found it yesterday afternoon. She tried to tell 190 1534549me about it, but I knew it was something funny." 190 1534632"You mean your wife bought it?" 190 1534742"She had it wrapped in tissue paper on her 190 1534809bureau." 190 1534949Michaelis didn't see anything odd in that, and he 190 1535046gave Wilson a dozen reasons why his wife might 190 1535150have bought the dog-leash. But conceivably Wilson 190 1535249had heard some of these same explanations before, 190 1535344from Myrtle, because he began saying "Oh, my 190 1535452God]" again in a whisper--his comforter left several 190 1535525explanations in the air. 190 1535646"Then he killed her," said Wilson. His mouth 190 1535723dropped open suddenly. 190 1535811"Who did?" 190 1535931"I have a way of finding out." 190 1536049"You're morbid, George," said his friend. "This 190 1536148has been a strain to you and you don't know what 190 1536251you're saying. You'd better try and sit quiet till 190 1536310morning." 190 1536419"He murdered her." 190 1536530"It was an accident, George." 190 1536645Wilson shook his head. His eyes narrowed and 190 1536762his mouth widened slightly with the ghost of a superior "Hm]" 190 1536849"I know," he said definitely, "I'm one of these 191 1536953trusting fellas and I don't think any harm to nobody, 191 1537049but when I get to know a thing I know it. It was 191 1537149the man in that car. She ran out to speak to him 191 1537223and he wouldn't stop." 191 1537351Michaelis had seen this too, but it hadn't occurred 191 1537454to him that there was any special significance in it. 191 1537545He believed that Mrs. Wilson had been running 191 1537649away from her husband, rather than trying to stop 191 1537720any particular car. 191 1537835"How could she of been like that?" 191 1537953"She's a deep one," said Wilson, as if that answered 191 1538027the question. "Ah-h-h----" 191 1538143He began to rock again, and Michaelis stood 191 1538232twisting the leash in his hand. 191 1538349"Maybe you got some friend that I could telephone 191 1538414for, George?" 191 1538548This was a forlorn hope--he was almost sure that 191 1538650Wilson had no friend: there was not enough of him 191 1538757for his wife. He was glad a little later when he noticed 191 1538842a change in the room, a blue quickening by 191 1538951the window, and realized that dawn wasn't far off. 191 1539048About five o'clock it was blue enough outside to 191 1539120snap off the light. 191 1539248Wilson's glazed eyes turned out to the ashheaps, 191 1539347where small gray clouds took on fantastic shape 191 1539452and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind. 191 1539554"I spoke to her," he muttered, after a long silence. 191 1539651"I told her she might fool me but she couldn't fool 191 1539750God. I took her to the window"--with an effort he 192 1539847got up and walked to the rear window and leaned 192 1539950with his face pressed against it--"and I said 'God 192 1540047knows what you've been doing, everything you've 192 1540148been doing. You may fool me, but you can't fool 192 1540207God]'" 192 1540341Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a 192 1540451shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. 192 1540546J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and 192 1540637enormous, from the dissolving night. 192 1540741"God sees everything," repeated Wilson. 192 1540851"That's an advertisement," Michaelis assured him. 192 1540944Something made him turn away from the window 192 1541046and look back into the room. But Wilson stood 192 1541153there a long time, his face close to the window pane, 192 1541227nodding into the twilight. 192 1541351By six o'clock Michaelis was worn out, and grateful 192 1541448for the sound of a car stopping outside. It was 192 1541547one of the watchers of the night before who had 192 1541649promised to come back, so he cooked breakfast for 192 1541748three, which he and the other man ate together. 192 1541847Wilson was quieter now, and Michaelis went home 192 1541953to sleep; when he awoke four hours later and hurried 192 1542037back to the garage, Wilson was gone. 192 1542148His movements--he was on foot all the time--were 192 1542243afterward traced to Port Roosevelt and then 192 1542349to Gad's Hill, where he bought a sandwich that he 192 1542451didn't eat, and a cup of coffee. He must have been 192 1542551tired and walking slowly, for he didn't reach Gad's 193 1542653Hill until noon. Thus far there was no difficulty in 193 1542748accounting for his time--there were boys who had 193 1542851seen a man "acting sort of crazy," and motorists at 193 1542948whom he stared oddly from the side of the road. 193 1543047Then for three hours he disappeared from view. 193 1543146The police, on the strength of what he said to 193 1543246Michaelis, that he "had a way of finding out," 193 1543350supposed that he spent that time going from garage 193 1543444to garage thereabout, inquiring for a yellow 193 1543546car. On the other hand, no garage man who had 193 1543646seen him ever came forward, and perhaps he had 193 1543750an easier, surer way of finding out what he wanted 193 1543846to know. By half-past two he was in West Egg, 193 1543950where he asked someone the way to Gatsby's house. 193 1544039So by that time he knew Gatsby's name. 193 1544145At two o'clock Gatsby put on his bathing-suit 193 1544252and left word with the butler that if any one phoned 193 1544346word was to be brought to him at the pool. He 193 1544451stopped at the garage for a pneumatic mattress that 193 1544548had amused his guests during the summer, and the 193 1544659chauffeur helped him pump it up. Then he gave instructions 193 1544740that the open car wasn't to be taken out 193 1544854under any circumstances--and this was strange, because 193 1544938the front right fender needed repair. 193 1545046Gatsby shouldered the mattress and started for 193 1545151the pool. Once he stopped and shifted it a little, 193 1545250and the chauffeur asked him if he needed help, but 193 1545345he shook his head and in a moment disappeared 194 1545427among the yellowing trees. 194 1545544No telephone message arrived, but the bulter 194 1545651went without his sleep and waited for it until four 194 1545751o'clock--until long after there was any one to give 194 1545853it to if it came. I have an idea that Gatsby himself 194 1545947didn't believe it would come, and perhaps he no 194 1546054longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that 194 1546149he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price 194 1546249for living too long with a single dream. He must 194 1546355have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening 194 1546448leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque 194 1546544thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was 194 1546655upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material 194 1546748without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing 194 1546850dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about . . . 194 1546952like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him 194 1547029through the amorphous trees. 194 1547156The chauffeur--he was one of Wolfshiem's proteges--heard 194 1547238the shots--afterward he could only say 194 1547349that he hadn't thought anything much about them. 194 1547451I drove from the station directly to Gatsby's house 194 1547547and my rushing anxiously up the front steps was 194 1547652the first thing that alarmed any one. But they knew 194 1547751then, I firmly believe. With scarcely a word said, 194 1547851four of us, the chauffeur, butler, gardener, and I, 194 1547926hurried down to the pool. 194 1548046There was a faint, barely perceptible movement 194 1548149of the water as the fresh flow from one end urged 194 1548250its way toward the drain at the other. with little 195 1548350ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the 195 1548448laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool. 195 1548549A small gust of wind that scarcely corrugated the 195 1548651surface was enough to disturb its accidental course 195 1548751with its accidental burden. The touch of a cluster 195 1548854of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of 195 1548941compass, a thin red circle in the water. 195 1549046It was after we started with Gatsby toward the 195 1549150house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little 195 1549254way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete. 195 1549310CHAPTER IX 196 1549448AFTER two years I remember the rest of that day, 196 1549551and that night and the next day, only as an endless 196 1549647drill of police and photographers and newspaper 196 1549746men in and out of Gatsby's front door. A rope 196 1549849stretched across the main gate and a policeman by 196 1549956it kept out the curious, but little boys soon discovered 196 1550042that they could enter through my yard, and 196 1550154there were always a few of them clustered open-mouthed 196 1550240about the pool. Someone with a positive 196 1550348manner, perhaps a detective, used the expression 196 1550443"madman" as he bent over Wilson's body that 196 1550548afternoon, and the adventitious authority of his 196 1550648voice set the key for the newspaper reports next 196 1550709morning. 196 1550850Most of those reports were a nightmare--grotesque, 196 1550940circumstantial, eager, and untrue. When 196 1551053Michaelis's testimony at the inquest brought to light 196 1551151Wilson's suspicions of his wife I thought the whole 196 1551255tale would shortly be served up in racy pasquinade--but 196 1551340Catherine, who might have said anything, 196 1551450didn't say a word. She showed a surprising amount 196 1551553of character about it too--looked at the coroner with 196 1551650determined eyes under that corrected brow of hers, 196 1551748and swore that her sister had never seen Gatsby, 196 1551854that her sister was completely happy with her husband, 196 1551941that her sister had been into no mischief 197 1552054whatever. She convinced herself of it, and cried into 197 1552152her handkerchief, as if the very suggestion was more 197 1552250than she could endure. So Wilson was reduced to a 197 1552346man "deranged by grief" in order that the case 197 1552449might remain in its simplist form. And it rested 197 1552507there. 197 1552655But all this part of it seemed remote and unessential. 197 1552744I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone. 197 1552852From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe 197 1552940to West Egg village, every surmise about 197 1553050him, and every practical question, was referred to 197 1553152me. At first I was surprised and confused; then, as 197 1553249he lay in his house and didn't move or breathe or 197 1553349speak, hour upon hour, it grew upon me that I was 197 1553460responsible, because no one else was interested--interested, 197 1553543I mean, with that intense personal interest 197 1553642to which every one has some vague right at 197 1553709the end. 197 1553850I called up Daisy half an hour after we found him, 197 1553953called her instinctively and without hesitation. But 197 1554047she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, 197 1554129and taken baggage with them. 197 1554219"Left no address?" 197 1554306"No." 197 1554427"Say when they'd be back?" 197 1554506"No." 197 1554644"Any idea where they are? How I could reach 197 1554707them?" 197 1554828"I don't know. Can't say." 198 1554946I wanted to get somebody for him. I wanted to 198 1555047go into the room where he lay and reassure him: 198 1555150"I'll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don't worry. 198 1555248Just trust me and I'll get somebody for you----" 198 1555342Meyer Wolfshiem's name wasn't in the phone 198 1555447book. The butler gave me his office address on 198 1555546Broadway, and I called Information, but by the 198 1555649time I had the number it was long after five, and 198 1555727no one answered the phone. 198 1555823"Will you ring again?" 198 1555930"I've rung them three times." 198 1556023"It's very important." 198 1556137"Sorry. I'm afraid no one's there." 198 1556247I went back to the drawing-room and thought for 198 1556352an instant that they were chance visitors, all these 198 1556448official people who suddenly filled it. But, as 198 1556550they drew back the sheet and looked at Gatsby with 198 1556648unmoved eyes, his protest continued in my brain: 198 1556749"Look here, old sport, you've got to get somebody 198 1556844for me. You've got to try hard. I can't go 198 1556921through this alone." 198 1557049Some one started to ask me questions, but I broke 198 1557147away and going up-stairs looked hastily through 198 1557250the unlocked parts of his desk--he'd never told me 198 1557349definitely that his parents were dead. But there 198 1557450was nothing--only the picture of Dan Cody, a token 198 1557551of forgotten violence, staring down from the wall. 198 1557647Next morning I sent the butler to New York with 198 1557750a letter to Wolfshiem, which asked for information 199 1557850and urged him to come out on the next train. That 199 1557950request seemed superfluous when I wrote it. I was 199 1558048sure he'd start when he saw the newspapers, just 199 1558149as I was sure there'd be a wire from Daisy before 199 1558251noon--but neither a wire nor Mr. Wolfshiem arrived; 199 1558351no one arrived except more police and photographers 199 1558448and newspaper men. When the butler brought back 199 1558557Wolfshiem's answer I began to have a feeling of defiance, 199 1558641of scornful solidarity between Gatsby and 199 1558721me against them all. 199 1558849Dear Mr. Carraway. This has been one of the most 199 1558961terrible shocks of my life to me I hardly can believe it that 199 1559057it is true at all. Such a mad act as that man did should 199 1559158make us all think. I cannot come down now as I am tied up 199 1559258in some very important business and cannot get mixed up in 199 1559361this thing now. If there is anything I can do a little later 199 1559456let me know in a letter by Edgar. I hardly know where I 199 1559556am when I hear about a thing like this and am completely 199 1559622knocked down and out. 199 1559711Yours truly 199 1559815MEYER WOLFSHIEM 199 1559931and then hasty addenda beneath: 199 1560049Let me know about the funeral etc do not know his 199 1560115family at all. 199 1560243When the phone rang that afternoon and Long 199 1560348Distance said Chicago was calling I thought this 199 1560448would be Daisy at last. But the connection came 200 1560550through as a man's voice, very thin and far away. 200 1560629"This is Slagle speaking..." 200 1560733"Yes?" The name was unfamiliar. 200 1560842"Hell of a note, isn't it? Get my wire?" 200 1560932"There haven't been any wires." 200 1561046"Young Parke's in trouble," he said rapidly. 200 1561149"They picked him up when he handed the bonds over 200 1561247the counter. They got a circular from New York 200 1561349giving 'em the numbers just five minutes before. 200 1561447What d'you know about that, hey? You never can 200 1561529tell in these hick towns----" 200 1561655"Hello]" I interrupted breathlessly. "Look here--this 200 1561739isn't Mr. Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby's dead." 200 1561848There was a long silence on the other end of the 200 1561951wire, followed by an exclamation . . . then a quick 200 1562037squawk as the connection was broken. 200 1562147I think it was on the third day that a telegram 200 1562255signed Henry C. Gatz arrived from a town in Minnesota. 200 1562352It said only that the sender was leaving immediately 200 1562443and to postpone the funeral until he came. 200 1562546It was Gatsby's father, a solemn old man, very 200 1562649helpless and dismayed, bundled up in a long cheap 200 1562748ulster against the warm September day. His eyes 200 1562847leaked continuously with excitement, and when I 200 1562949took the bag and umbrella from his hands he began 200 1563052to pull so incessantly at his sparse gray beard that 200 1563152I had difficulty in getting off his coat. He was on 200 1563251the point of collapse, so I took him into the music 201 1563353room and made him sit down while I sent for something 201 1563446to eat. But he wouldn't eat, and the glass of 201 1563538milk spilled from his trembling hand. 201 1563647"I saw it in the Chicago newspaper," he said. 201 1563748"It was all in the Chicago newspaper. I started 201 1563813right away." 201 1563934"I didn't know how to reach you." 201 1564049His eyes, seeing nothing, moved ceaselessly about 201 1564110the room. 201 1564243"It was a madman," he said. "He must have 201 1564311been mad." 201 1564447"Wouldn't you like some coffee?" I urged him. 201 1564543"I don't want anything. I'm all right now, 201 1564608Mr.----" 201 1564712"Carraway." 201 1564846"Well, I'm all right now. Where have they got 201 1564908Jimmy?" 201 1565047I took him into the drawing-room, where his son 201 1565151lay, and left him there. Some little boys had come 201 1565253up on the steps and were looking into the hall; when 201 1565350I told them who had arrived, they went reluctantly 201 1565406away. 201 1565549After a little while Mr. Gatz opened the door and 201 1565652came out, his mouth ajar, his face flushed slightly, 201 1565751his eyes leaking isolated and unpunctual tears. He 201 1565848had reached an age where death no longer has the 201 1565947quality of ghastly surprise, and when he looked 201 1566045around him now for the first time and saw the 201 1566151height and splendor of the hall and the great rooms 202 1566253opening out from it into other rooms, his grief began 202 1566348to be mixed with an awed pride. I helped him to 202 1566452a bedroom up-stairs; while he took off his coat and 202 1566555vest I told him that all arrangements had been deferred 202 1566615until he came. 202 1566747"I didn't know what you'd want, Mr. Gatsby----" 202 1566819"Gatz is my name." 202 1566946"--Mr. Gatz. I thought you might want to take 202 1567016the body West." 202 1567119He shook his head. 202 1567244"Jimmy always liked it better down East. He 202 1567348rose up to his position in the East. Were you a 202 1567430friend of my boy's, Mr.----?" 202 1567525"We were close friends." 202 1567646"He had a big future before him, you know. He 202 1567747was only a young man, but he had a lot of brain 202 1567813power here." 202 1567948He touched his head impressively, and I nodded. 202 1568047"If he'd of lived, he'd of been a great man. A 202 1568152man like James J. Hill. He'd of helped build up the 202 1568210country." 202 1568339"That's true," I said, uncomfortably. 202 1568446He fumbled at the embroidered coverlet, trying 202 1568569to take it from the bed, and lay down stiffly--was instantly asleep. 202 1568648That night an obviously frightened person called 202 1568744up, and demanded to know who I was before he 202 1568821would give his name. 202 1568933"This is Mr. Carraway," I said. 203 1569053"Oh]" He sounded relieved. "This is Klipspringer." 203 1569154I was relieved too, for that seemed to promise another 203 1569246friend at Gatsby's grave. I didn't want it to 203 1569349be in the papers and draw a sightseeing crowd, so 203 1569451I'd been calling up a few people myself. They were 203 1569514hard to find. 203 1569652"The funeral's to-morrow," I said. "Three o'clock, 203 1569751here at the house. I wish you'd tell anybody who'd 203 1569816be interested." 203 1569948"Oh, I will," he broke out hastily. "Of course 203 1570045I'm not likely to see anybody, but if I do." 203 1570129His tone made me suspicious. 203 1570238"Of course you'll be there yourself." 203 1570350"Well, I'll certainly try. What I called up about 203 1570407is----" 203 1570544"Wait a minute," I interrupted. "How about 203 1570621saying you'll come?" 203 1570751"Well, the fact is--the truth of the matter is that 203 1570850I'm staying with some people up here in Greenwich, 203 1570953and they rather expect me to be with them to-morrow. 203 1571048In fact, there's a sort of picnic or something. 203 1571137Of course I'll do my very best to get 203 1571207away." 203 1571342I ejaculated an unrestrained "Huh]" and he 203 1571445must have heard me, for he went on nervously: 203 1571550"What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left 203 1571652there. I wonder if it'd be too much trouble to have 203 1571749the bulter send them on. You see, they're tennis 204 1571849shoes, and I'm sort of helpless without them. My 204 1571929address is care of B. F.----" 204 1572050I didn't hear the rest of the name, because I hung 204 1572117up the receiver. 204 1572249After that I felt a certain shame for Gatsby--one 204 1572350gentleman to whom I telephoned implied that he had 204 1572450got what he deserved. However, that was my fault, 204 1572555for he was one of those who used to sneer most bitterly 204 1572644at Gatsby on the courage of Gatsby's liquor, 204 1572749and I should have known better than to call him. 204 1572843The morning of the funeral I went up to New 204 1572948York to see Meyer Wolfshiem; I couldn't seem to 204 1573048reach him any other way. The door that I pushed 204 1573150open, on the advice of an elevator boy, was marked 204 1573250"The Swastika Holding Company," and at first there 204 1573347didn't seem to be any one inside. But when I'd 204 1573450shouted "hello" several times in vain, an argument 204 1573552broke out behind a partition, and presently a lovely 204 1573651Jewess appeared at an interior door and scrutinized 204 1573728me with black hostile eyes. 204 1573848"Nobody's in," she said. "Mr. Wolfshiem's gone 204 1573913to Chicago." 204 1574048The first part of this was obviously untrue, for 204 1574163someone had begun to whistle "The Rosary," tunelessly, inside. 204 1574249"Please say that Mr. Carraway wants to see him." 204 1574344"I can't get him back from Chicago, can I?" 204 1574449At this moment a voice, unmistakably Wolfshiem's, 204 1574543called "Stella]" from the other side of the 205 1574606door. 205 1574750"Leave your name on the desk," she said quickly. 205 1574841"I'll give it to him when he gets back." 205 1574925"But I know he's there." 205 1575048She took a step toward me and began to slide her 205 1575140hands indignantly up and down her hips. 205 1575243"You young men think you can force your way 205 1575360in here any time," she scolded. "We're getting sickantired 205 1575443of it. When I say he's in Chicago, he's in 205 1575510Chicago." 205 1575620I mentioned Gatsby. 205 1575748"Oh-h]" She looked at me over again. "Will you 205 1575830just---- What was your name?" 205 1575942She vanished. In a moment Meyer Wolfshiem 205 1576047stood solemnly in the doorway, holding out both 205 1576150hands. He drew me into his office, remarking in a 205 1576252reverent voice that it was a sad time for all of us, 205 1576324and offered me a cigar. 205 1576446"My memory goes back to when I first met him," 205 1576549he said. "A young major just out of the army and 205 1576651covered over with medals he got in the war. He was 205 1576748so hard up he had to keep on wearing his uniform 205 1576852because he couldn't buy some regular clothes. First 205 1576950time I saw him was when he come into Winebrenner's 205 1577044poolroom at Forty-third Street and asked for 205 1577153a job. He hadn't eat anything for a couple of days. 205 1577249'come on have some lunch with me,' I sid. He ate 205 1577356more than four dollars' worth of food in half an hour." 205 1577446"Did you start him in business?" I inquired. 206 1577526"Start him] I made him." 206 1577606"Oh." 206 1577749"I raised him up out of nothing, right out of the 206 1577850gutter. I saw right away he was a fine-appearing, 206 1577945gentlemanly young man, and when he told me he 206 1578047was an Oggsford I knew I could use him good. I 206 1578148got him to join up in the American Legion and he 206 1578248used to stand high there. Right off he did some 206 1578348work for a client of mine up to Albany. We were 206 1578449so thick like that in everything"--he held up two 206 1578536bulbous fingers--"always together." 206 1578647I wondered if this partnership had included the 206 1578736World's Series transaction in 1919. 206 1578846"Now he's dead," I said after a moment. "You 206 1578949were his closest friend, so I know you'll want to 206 1579037come to his funeral this afternoon." 206 1579120"I'd like to come." 206 1579219"Well, come then." 206 1579350The hair in his nostrils quivered slightly, and as 206 1579446he shook his head his eyes filled with tears. 206 1579548"I can't do it--i can't get mixed up in it," he 206 1579606said. 206 1579751"There's nothing to get mixed up in. It's all over 206 1579806now." 206 1579949"When a man gets killed I never like to get mixed 206 1580047up in it in any way. I keep out. When I was a 206 1580153young man it was different--if a friend of mine died, 206 1580249no matter how, I stuck with them to the end. You 206 1580351may think that's sentimental, but I mean it--to the 207 1580413bitter end." 207 1580555I saw that for some reason of his own he was determined 207 1580628not to come, so I stood up. 207 1580748"Are you a college man?" he inquired suddenly. 207 1580846For a moment I thought he was going to suggest 207 1580948a "gonnegtion," but he only nodded and shook my 207 1581006hand. 207 1581146"Let us learn to show our friendship for a man 207 1581259when he is alive and not after he is dead," he suggested. 207 1581344"After that my own rule is to let everything 207 1581408alone." 207 1581550When I left his office the sky had turned dark and 207 1581652I got back to West Egg in a drizzle. After changing 207 1581746my clothes I went next door and found Mr. Gatz 207 1581847walking up and down excitedly in the hall. His 207 1581961pride in his son and in his son's possessions was continually 207 1582038increasing and now he had something to 207 1582109show me. 207 1582246"Jimmy sent me this picture." He took out his 207 1582346wallet with trembling fingers. "Look there." 207 1582448It was a photograph of the house, cracked in the 207 1582550corners and dirty with many hands. He pointed out 207 1582651every detail to me eagerly. "Look there]" and then 207 1582748sought admiration from my eyes. He had shown it 207 1582849so often that I think it was more real to him now 207 1582923than the house itself. 207 1583049"Jimmy sent it to me. I think it's a very pretty 207 1583129picture. It shows up well." 207 1583239"Very well. Had you seen him lately?" 208 1583347"He come out to see me two years ago and bought 208 1583451me the house I live in now. Of course we was broke 208 1583549up when he run off from home, but I see now there 208 1583652was a reason for it. He knew he had a big future in 208 1583750front of him. And ever since he made a success he 208 1583828was very generous with me." 208 1583949He seemed reluctant to put away the picture, held 208 1584052it for another minute, lingeringly, before my eyes. 208 1584147Then he returned the wallet and pulled from his 208 1584262pocket a ragged old copy of a book called "Hopalong Cassidy." 208 1584347"Look here, this is a book he had when he was a 208 1584426boy. It just shows you." 208 1584544He opened it at the back cover and turned it 208 1584655around for me to see. On the last fly-leaf was printed 208 1584745the word SCHEDULE, and the date September 12, 208 15848211906. and underneath: 208 1584954Rise from bed .......................... 6.00 A.M. 208 1585055Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling ........ 6.15-6.30 " 208 1585156Study electricity, etc..................... 7.15-8.15 " 208 1585254Work.................................. 8.30-4.30 P.M. 208 1585354Baseball and sports...................... 4.30-5.00 " 208 1585459Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it 5.00-6.00 " 208 1585554Study needed inventions.................. 7.00-9.00 " 208 1585616GENERAL RESOLVES 208 1585755No wasting time at Shafters or {a name, indecipherable} 208 1585827No more smokeing or chewing 208 1585920Bath every other day 209 1586044Read one improving book or magazine per week 209 1586139Save $5.00 {crossed out} $3.00 per week 209 1586220Be better to parents 209 1586352"I come across this book by accident," said the old 209 1586437man. "It just shows you, don't it?" 209 1586521"It just shows you." 209 1586645"Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had 209 1586752some resolves like this or something. Do you notice 209 1586847what he's got about improving his mind? He was 209 1586950always great for that. He told me I et like a hog 209 1587030once, and I beat him for it." 209 1587148He was reluctant to close the book, reading each 209 1587251item aloud and then looking eagerly at me. I think 209 1587350he rather expected me to copy down the list for my 209 1587409own use. 209 1587551A little before three the Lutheran minister arrived 209 1587648from Flushing, and I began to look involuntarily 209 1587748out the windows for other cars. So did Gatsby's 209 1587848father. And as the time passed and the servants 209 1587947came in and stood waiting in the hall, his eyes 209 1588050began to blink anxiously, and he spoke of the rain 209 1588150in a worried, uncertain way. The minister glanced 209 1588251several times at his watch, so I took him aside and 209 1588350asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn't 209 1588423any use. Nobody came. 209 1588547About five o'clock our procession of three cars 209 1588651reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle 209 1588753beside the gate--first a motor hearse, horribly black 210 1588848and wet, then Mr. Gatz and the minister and I in 210 1588955the limousine, and a little later four or five servants 210 1589049and the postman from West Egg in Gatsby's station 210 1589154wagon, all wet to the skin. As we started through the 210 1589254gate into the cemetery I heard a car stop and then the 210 1589350sound of someone splashing after us over the soggy 210 1589455ground. I looked around. It was the man with owl-eyed 210 1589549glasses whom I had found marvelling over Gatsby's 210 1589643books in the library one night three months 210 1589708before. 210 1589848I'd never seen him since then. I don't know how 210 1589949he knew about the funeral, or even his name. The 210 1590047rain poured down his thick glasses, and he took 210 1590152them off and wiped them to see the protecting canvas 210 1590230unrolled from Gatsby's grave. 210 1590348I tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment, 210 1590449but he was already too far away, and I could only 210 1590547remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn't 210 1590650sent a message or a flower. Dimly I heard someone 210 1590749murmur, "Blessed are the dead that the rain falls 210 1590845on," and then the owl-eyed man said "Amen to 210 1590926that," in a brave voice. 210 1591045We straggled down quickly through the rain to 210 1591145the cars. Owl-eyes spoke to me by the gate. 210 1591245"I couldn't get to the house," he remarked. 210 1591330"Neither could anybody else." 210 1591446"Go on]" He started. "Why, my God] they used 210 1591530to go there by the hundreds." 210 1591645He took off his glasses and wiped them again, 211 1591716outside and in. 211 1591836"The poor son-of-a-bitch," he said. 211 1591947One of my most vivid memories is of coming back 211 1592047West from prep school and later from college at 211 1592144Christmas time. Those who went farther than 211 1592241Chicago would gather in the old dim Union 211 1592352Station at six o'clock of a December evening, with a 211 1592449few Chicago friends, already caught up into their 211 1592551own holiday gayeties, to bid them a hasty good-by. 211 1592652I remember the fur coats of the girls returning from 211 1592752Miss THIS-OR-that's and the chatter of frozen breath 211 1592848and the hands waving overhead as we caught sight 211 1592955of old acquaintances, and the matchings of invitations: 211 1593047"Are you going to the Ordways'? the Herseys'? 211 1593143the Schultzes'?" and the long green tickets 211 1593248clasped tight in our gloved hands. And last the 211 1593350murky yellow cars of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 211 1593453Paul railroad looking cheerful as Christmas itself on 211 1593528the tracks beside the gate. 211 1593648When we pulled out into the winter night and the 211 1593751real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us 211 1593844and twinkle against the windows, and the dim 211 1593952lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp 211 1594050wild brace came suddenly into the air. We drew in 211 1594148deep breaths of it as we walked back from dinner 211 1594249through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of 211 1594352our identity with this country for one strange hour, 212 1594450before we melted indistinguishably into it again. 212 1594543That's my Middle West--not the wheat or the 212 1594651prairies or the lost Swede towns, but the thrilling 212 1594750returning trains of my youth, and the street lamps 212 1594851and sleigh bells in the frosty dark and the shadows 212 1594949of holly wreaths thrown by lighted windows on the 212 1595050snow. I am part of that, a little solemn with the 212 1595152feel of those long winters, a little complacent from 212 1595248growing up in the Carraway house in a city where 212 1595347dwellings are still called through decades by a 212 1595452family's name. I see now that this has been a story 212 1595549of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and 212 1595649Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we 212 1595746possessed some deficiency in common which made 212 1595839us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life. 212 1595945Even when the East excited me most, even when 212 1596049I was most keenly aware of its superiority to the 212 1596148bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond the Ohio, 212 1596249with their interminable inquisitions which spared 212 1596348only the children and the very old--even then it 212 1596448had always for me a quality of distortion. West 212 1596551Egg, especially, still figures in my more fantastic 212 1596650dreams. I see it as a night scene by El Greco: a 212 1596751hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, 212 1596847crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a 212 1596947lustreless moon. In the foreground four solemn 212 1597049men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk 212 1597149with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in 212 1597247a white evening dress. Her hand, which dangles 213 1597350over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely 213 1597449the men turn in at a house--the wrong house. But 213 1597541no one knows the woman's name, and no one 213 1597607cares. 213 1597745After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for 213 1597848me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of 213 1597953correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves 213 1598048was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry 213 1598147stiff on the line I decided to come back home. 213 1598248There was one thing to be done before I left, an 213 1598349awkward, unpleasant thing that perhaps had better 213 1598450have been let alone. But I wanted to leave things 213 1598557in order and not just trust that obliging and indifferent 213 1598642sea to sweep my refuse away. I saw Jordan 213 1598750Baker and talked over and around what had happened 213 1598847to us together, and what had happened afterward 213 1598949to me, and she lay perfectly still, listening, in 213 1599013a big chair. 213 1599144She was dressed to play golf, and I remember 213 1599254thinking she looked like a good illustration, her chin 213 1599350raised a little jauntily, her hair the color of an 213 1599448autumn leaf, her face the same brown tint as the 213 1599550fingerless glove on her knee. When I had finished 213 1599648she told me without comment that she was engaged 213 1599745to another man. I doubted that, though there 213 1599851were several she could have married at a nod of her 213 1599957head, but I pretended to be surprised. For just a minute 213 1600040I wondered if I wasn't making a mistake, 213 1600151then I thought it all over again quickly and got up 214 1600216to say good-by. 214 1600350"Nevertheless you did throw me over," said Jordan 214 1600448suddenly. "You threw me over on the telephone. 214 1600547I don't give a damn about you now, but it was a 214 1600652new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for 214 1600710a while." 214 1600816We shook hands. 214 1600940"Oh, and do you remember"--she added--"a 214 1601047conversation we had once about driving a car?" 214 1601120"Why--not exactly." 214 1601246"You said a bad driver was only safe until she 214 1601348met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad 214 1601450driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to 214 1601551make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather 214 1601652an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was 214 1601720your secret pride." 214 1601854"I'm thirty," I said. "I'm five years too old to lie 214 1601930to myself and call it honor." 214 1602048She didn't answer. Angry, and half in love with 214 1602144her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away. 214 1602250One afternoon late in October I saw Tom Buchanan. 214 1602338He was walking ahead of me along Fifth 214 1602452Avenue in his alert, aggressive way, his hands out a 214 1602553little from his body as if to fight off interference, 214 1602648his head moving sharply here and there, adapting 214 1602752itself to his restless eyes. Just as I slowed up to 214 1602850avoid overtaking him he stopped and began frowning 214 1602949into the windows of a jewelry store. Suddenly he 215 1603046saw me and walked back, holding out his hand. 215 1603143"What's the matter, Nick? Do you object to 215 1603224shaking hands with me?" 215 1603338"Yes. You know what I think of you." 215 1603447"You're crazy, Nick," he said quickly. "Crazy 215 1603552as hell. I don't know what's the matter with you." 215 1603648"Tom," I inquired, "what did you say to Wilson 215 1603717that afternoon?" 215 1603844He stared at me without a word, and I knew I 215 1603947had guessed right about those missing hours. I 215 1604049started to turn away, but he took a step after me 215 1604120and grabbed my arm. 215 1604250"I told him the truth," he said. "He came to the 215 1604351door while we were getting ready to leave, and when 215 1604447I sent down word that we weren't in he tried to 215 1604548force his way up-stairs. He was crazy enough to 215 1604648kill me if I hadn't told him who owned the car. 215 1604746His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every 215 1604857minute he was in the house----" He broke off defiantly. 215 1604941"What if I did tell him? That fellow had 215 1605047it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes 215 1605153just like he did in Daisy's, but he was a tough one. 215 1605248He ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and 215 1605329never even stopped his car." 215 1605457There was nothing I could say, except the one unutterable 215 1605526fact that it wasn't true. 215 1605659"And if you think I didn't have my share of suffering--look 215 1605738here, when I went to give up that flat 215 1605851and saw that damn box of dog biscuits sitting there 216 1605952on the sideboard, I sat down and cried like a baby. 216 1606024By God it was awful----" 216 1606150I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that 216 1606253what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It 216 1606355was all very careless and confused. They were careless 216 1606438people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up 216 1606549things and creatures and then retreated back into 216 1606651their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever 216 1606752it was that kept them together, and let other people 216 1606836clean up the mess they had made.... 216 1606951I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for 216 1607053I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. 216 1607144Then he went into the jewelry store to buy a 216 1607259pearl necklace--or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons--rid 216 1607340of my provincial squeamishness forever. 216 1607447Gatsby's house was still empty when I left--the 216 1607549grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine. One 216 1607652of the taxi drivers in the village never took a fare 216 1607752past the entrance gate without stopping for a minute 216 1607848and pointing inside; perhaps it was he who drove 216 1607950Daisy and Gatsby over to East Egg the night of the 216 1608047accident, and perhaps he had made a story about 216 1608155it all his own. I didn't want to hear it and I avoided 216 1608230him when I got off the train. 216 1608346I spent my Saturday nights in New York because 216 1608449those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with 216 1608551me so vividly that I could still hear the music and 216 1608651the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, 217 1608746and the cars going up and down his drive. One 217 1608850night I did hear a material car there, and saw its 217 1608959lights stop at his front steps. But I didn't investigate. 217 1609040Probably it was some final guest who had 217 1609150been away at the ends of the earth and didn't know 217 1609225that the party was over. 217 1609346On the last night, with my trunk packed and my 217 1609449car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at 217 1609551that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. 217 1609647On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by 217 1609752some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in 217 1609847the moonlight, and I erased it, drawing my shoe 217 1609948raspingly along the stone. Then I wandered down 217 1610043to the beach and sprawled out on the sand. 217 1610148Most of the big shore places were closed now and 217 1610248there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, 217 1610349moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And 217 1610452as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began 217 1610546to melt away until gradually I became aware of 217 1610648the old island here that flowered once for Dutch 217 1610755sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. 217 1610851Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for 217 1610948Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to 217 1611048the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a 217 1611146transitory enchanted moment man must have held 217 1611255his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled 217 1611353into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood 217 1611443nor desired, face to face for the last time 217 1611545in history with something commensurate to his 218 1611621capacity for wonder. 218 1611747And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown 218 1611849world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first 218 1611955picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. 218 1612049He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his 218 1612145dream must have seemed so close that he could 218 1612249hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it 218 1612346was already behind him, somewhere back in that 218 1612446vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark 218 1612550fields of the republic rolled on under the night. 218 1612648Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic 218 1612754future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded 218 1612848us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will 218 1612951run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . and 218 1613020one fine morning---- 218 1613147So we beat on, boats against the current, borne 218 1613232back ceaselessly into the past. 218