Page 132 - tender-is-the-night

Well, after about two hours we went back and there was
Rosemary and Bill Hillis standing in the vestibule argu-
ing with the conductor—Rosemary white as a sheet. Seems
they locked the door and pulled down the blinds and I guess
there was some heavy stuff going on when the conductor
came for the tickets and knocked on the door. They thought
it was us kidding them and wouldn’t let him in at first, and
when they did, he was plenty sore. He asked Hillis if that
was his compartment and whether he and Rosemary were
married that they locked the door, and Hillis lost his temper
trying to explain there was nothing wrong. He said the con-
ductor had insulted Rosemary and he wanted him to fight,
but that conductor could have made trouble—and believe
me I had an awful time smoothing it over.’
With every detail imagined, with even envy for the
pair’s community of misfortune in the vestibule, Dick felt a
change taking place within him. Only the image of a third
person, even a vanished one, entering into his relation with
Rosemary was needed to throw him off his balance and
send through him waves of pain, misery, desire, despera-
tion. The vividly pictured hand on Rosemary’s cheek, the
quicker breath, the white excitement of the event viewed
from outside, the inviolable secret warmth within.
—Do you mind if I pull down the curtain?
—Please do. It’s too light in here.
Collis Clay was now speaking about fraternity politics at
New Haven, in the same tone, with the same emphasis. Dick
had gathered that he was in love with Rosemary in some cu-
rious way Dick could not have understood. The affair with

132 Tender is the Night