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wanted to talk to Dick, wanted to talk to him with the im-
petus that sent her out vagrantly toward all new men, as
though she were on an inelastic tether and considered that
she might as well get to the end of it as soon as possible. She
crossed and recrossed her knees frequently in the manner
of tall restless virgins.
‘—Nicole told me that you took part care of her, and had
a lot to do with her getting well. What I can’t understand is
what WE’RE supposed to do—they were so indefinite at the
sanitarium; they only told me she ought to be natural and
gay. I knew the Marmoras were up here so I asked Tino to
meet us at the funicular. And you see what happens—the
very first thing Nicole has him crawling over the sides of the
car as if they were both insane—‘
‘That was absolutely normal,’ Dick laughed. ‘I’d call it a
good sign. They were showing off for each other.’
‘But how can I tell? Before I knew it, almost in front of
my eyes, she had her hair cut off, in Zurich, because of a pic-
ture in ‘Vanity Fair.’’
‘That’s all right. She’s a schizoid—a permanent eccentric.
You can’t change that.’
‘What is it?’
‘Just what I said—an eccentric.’
‘Well, how can any one tell what’s eccentric and what’s
crazy?’
‘Nothing is going to be crazy—Nicole is all fresh and
happy, you needn’t be afraid.’
Baby shifted her knees about—she was a compendium
of all the discontented women who had loved Byron a hun-

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