Page 383 - tender-is-the-night

‘He had to—they all left. His honor makes it necessary.’
Now both the Divers were up and dressing; Mary went
on:
‘And what’s all that about the bathwater. As if a thing like
that could happen in this house! We’ll ask Lanier about it.’
Dick sat on the bedside indicating in a private gesture to
Nicole that she should take over. Meanwhile Mary went to
the door and spoke to an attendant in Italian.
‘Wait a minute,’ Nicole said. ‘I won’t have that.’
‘You accused us,’ answered Mary, in a tone she had never
used to Nicole before. ‘Now I have a right to see.’
‘I won’t have the child brought in.’ Nicole threw on her
clothes as though they were chain mail.
‘That’s all right,’ said Dick. ‘Bring Lanier in. We’ll settle
this bathtub matter—fact or myth.’
Lanier, half clothed mentally and physically, gazed at the
angered faces of the adults.
‘Listen, Lanier,’ Mary demanded, ‘how did you come to
think you were bathed in water that had been used before?’
‘Speak up,’ Dick added.
‘It was just dirty, that was all.’
‘Couldn’t you hear the new water running, from your
room, next door?’
Lanier admitted the possibility but reiterated his point—
the water was dirty. He was a little awed; he tried to see
ahead:
‘It couldn’t have been running, because—‘
They pinned him down.
‘Why not?’

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