Page 316 - tender-is-the-night

XXI

Rosemary had another dinner date, a birthday party for
a member of the company. Dick ran into Collis Clay in the
lobby, but he wanted to dine alone, and pretended an en-
gagement at the Excelsior. He drank a cocktail with Collis
and his vague dissatisfaction crystallized as impatience—
he no longer had an excuse for playing truant to the clinic.
This was less an infatuation than a romantic memory. Ni-
cole was his girl—too often he was sick at heart about her,
yet she was his girl. Time with Rosemary was self-indul-
gence— time with Collis was nothing plus nothing.
In the doorway of the Excelsior he ran into Baby War-
ren. Her large beautiful eyes, looking precisely like marbles,
stared at him with surprise and curiosity. ‘I thought you
were in America, Dick! Is Nicole with you?’
‘I came back by way of Naples.’
The black band on his arm reminded her to say: ‘I’m so
sorry to hear of your trouble.’
Inevitably they dined together.
‘Tell me about everything,’ she demanded.
Dick gave her a version of the facts, and Baby frowned.
She found it necessary to blame some one for the catastro-
phe in her sister’s life.
‘Do you think Doctor Dohmler took the right course
with her from the first?’

316 Tender is the Night