Page 226 - tender-is-the-night

walk overlooking the lake Nicole was the figure motionless
between two lamp stands, and he approached silently across
the grass. She turned to him with an expression of: ‘Here
YOU are,’ and for a moment he was sorry he had come.
‘Your sister wondered.’
‘Oh!’ She was accustomed to being watched. With an ef-
fort she explained herself: ‘Sometimes I get a little—it gets a
little too much. I’ve lived so quietly. To-night that music was
too much. It made me want to cry—‘
‘I understand.’
‘This has been an awfully exciting day.’
‘I know.’
‘I don’t want to do anything anti-social—I’ve caused
everybody enough trouble. But to-night I wanted to get
away.’
It occurred to Dick suddenly, as it might occur to a dy-
ing man that he had forgotten to tell where his will was, that
Nicole had been ‘re-educated’ by Dohmler and the ghostly
generations behind him; it occurred to him also that there
would be so much she would have to be told. But having
recorded this wisdom within himself, he yielded to the in-
sistent face-value of the situation and said:
‘You’re a nice person—just keep using your own judg-
ment about yourself.’
‘You like me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Would you—‘ They were strolling along toward the dim
end of the horseshoe, two hundred yards ahead. ‘If I hadn’t
been sick would you—I mean, would I have been the sort of

226 Tender is the Night