Page 366 - tender-is-the-night

depart.
Dick answered the phone-call from Franz. ‘You shouldn’t
have told Nicole,’ he protested.
‘Kaethe told her, very unwisely.’
‘I suppose it was my fault. Never tell a thing to a woman
till it’s done. However, I’ll meet Nicole ... say, Franz, the cra-
ziest thing has happened down here—the old boy took up
his bed and walked... .’
‘At what? What did you say?’
‘I say he walked, old Warren—he walked!’
‘But why not?’
‘He was supposed to be dying of general collapse ... he
got up and walked away, back to Chicago, I guess... . I don’t
know, the nurse is here now... . I don’t know, Franz—I’ve just
heard about it... . Call me later.’
He spent the better part of two hours tracing Warren’s
movements. The patient had found an opportunity between
the change of day and night nurses to resort to the bar where
he had gulped down four whiskeys; he paid his hotel bill
with a thousand dollar note, instructing the desk that the
change should be sent after him, and departed, presum-
ably for America. A last minute dash by Dick and Dangeu
to overtake him at the station resulted only in Dick’s failing
to meet Nicole; when they did meet in the lobby of the hotel
she seemed suddenly tired, and there was a tight purse to her
lips that disquieted him.
‘How’s father?’ she demanded.
‘He’s much better. He seemed to have a good deal of re-
serve energy after all.’ He hesitated, breaking it to her easy.

366 Tender is the Night