Page 127 - tender-is-the-night

as many people as you do.’ She sighed. ‘Sometimes I think
I’m the most selfish person in the world.’
For the first time the mention of her mother annoyed
rather than amused Dick. He wanted to sweep away her
mother, remove the whole affair from the nursery footing
upon which Rosemary persistently established it. But he re-
alized that this impulse was a loss of control—what would
become of Rosemary’s urge toward him if, for even a mo-
ment, he relaxed. He saw, not without panic, that the affair
was sliding to rest; it could not stand still, it must go on or
go back; for the first time it occurred to him that Rosemary
had her hand on the lever more authoritatively than he.
Before he had thought out a course of procedure, Nicole
returned.
‘I found Laura. It was the first news she had and her voice
kept fading away and then getting loud again—as if she was
fainting and then pulling herself together. She said she knew
something was going to happen this morning.’
‘Maria ought to be with Diaghileff,’ said Dick in a gentle
tone, in order to bring them back to quietude. ‘She has a
nice sense of decor—not to say rhythm. Will any of us ever
see a train pulling out without hearing a few shots?’
They bumped down the wide steel steps. ‘I’m sorry for
the poor man,’ Nicole said. ‘Course that’s why she talked so
strange to me— she was getting ready to open fire.’
She laughed, Rosemary laughed too, but they were both
horrified, and both of them deeply wanted Dick to make a
moral comment on the matter and not leave it to them. This
wish was not entirely conscious, especially on the part of

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