Page 167 - tender-is-the-night

Nicole knelt beside the tub swaying sidewise and side-
wise. ‘It’s you!’ she cried, ‘—it’s you come to intrude on the
only privacy I have in the world—with your spread with red
blood on it. I’ll wear it for you—I’m not ashamed, though it
was such a pity. On All Fools Day we had a party on the Zu-
richsee, and all the fools were there, and I wanted to come
dressed in a spread but they wouldn’t let me—‘
‘Control yourself!’
‘—so I sat in the bathroom and they brought me a domi-
no and said wear that. I did. What else could I do?’
‘Control yourself, Nicole!’
‘I never expected you to love me—it was too late—only
don’t come in the bathroom, the only place I can go for pri-
vacy, dragging spreads with red blood on them and asking
me to fix them.’
‘Control yourself. Get up—‘
Rosemary, back in the salon, heard the bathroom door
bang, and stood trembling: now she knew what Violet
McKisco had seen in the bathroom at Villa Diana. She an-
swered the ringing phone and almost cried with relief when
she found it was Collis Clay, who had traced her to the Div-
ers’ apartment. She asked him to come up while she got her
hat, because she was afraid to go into her room alone.

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