Page 313 - tender-is-the-night

settling into it with a series of little readjustments, as if she
wanted it to be right because it was going to be there forever.
She plucked a twig and broke it, but she found no spring in
it. Suddenly seeing what she wanted in Dick’s face she took
his gloved hand and kissed it. Then she cavorted childish-
ly for him until he smiled and she laughed and they began
having a good time.
‘I can’t go out with you to-night, darling, because I prom-
ised some people a long time ago. But if you’ll get up early
I’ll take you out to the set to-morrow.’
He dined alone at the hotel, went to bed early, and met
Rosemary in the lobby at half-past six. Beside him in the car
she glowed away fresh and new in the morning sunshine.
They went out through the Porta San Sebastiano and along
the Appian Way until they came to the huge set of the fo-
rum, larger than the forum itself. Rosemary turned him
over to a man who led him about the great props; the arches
and tiers of seats and the sanded arena. She was working
on a stage which represented a guard-room for Christian
prisoners, and presently they went there and watched Nico-
tera, one of many hopeful Valentinos, strut and pose before
a dozen female ‘captives,’ their eyes melancholy and star-
tling with mascara.
Rosemary appeared in a knee-length tunic.
‘Watch this,’ she whispered to Dick. ‘I want your opin-
ion. Everybody that’s seen the rushes says—‘
‘What are the rushes?’
‘When they run off what they took the day before. They
say it’s the first thing I’ve had sex appeal in.’

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