Page 257 - tender-is-the-night

were in a ship with landfall just ahead; in the faces of all the
girls was the same innocent expectation of the possibilities
inherent in the situation and the night. He looked to see if
that special girl was there and got an impression that she
was at the table behind them—then he forgot her and in-
vented a rigmarole and tried to make his party have a good
time.
‘I must talk to you,’ said Franz in English. ‘I have only
twentyfour hours to spend here.’
‘I suspected you had something on your mind.’
‘I have a plan that is—so marvellous.’ His hand fell upon
Dick’s knee. ‘I have a plan that will be the making of us
two.’
‘Well?’
‘Dick—there is a clinic we could have together—the old
clinic of Braun on the Zugersee. The plant is all modern
except for a few points. He is sick—he wants to go up in
Austria, to die probably. It is a chance that is just insuper-
able. You and me—what a pair! Now don’t say anything yet
until I finish.’
From the yellow glint in Baby’s eyes, Dick saw she was
listening.
‘We must undertake it together. It would not bind you
too tight— it would give you a base, a laboratory, a centre.
You could stay in residence say no more than half the year,
when the weather is fine. In winter you could go to France
or America and write your texts fresh from clinical expe-
rience.’ He lowered his voice. ‘And for the convalescence
in your family, there are the atmosphere and regularity of

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