Page 42 - tender-is-the-night

it could be examined only in its effect. Then, without cau-
tion, lest the first bloom of the relation wither, he opened
the gate to his amusing world. So long as they subscribed to
it completely, their happiness was his preoccupation, but at
the first flicker of doubt as to its allinclusiveness he evapo-
rated before their eyes, leaving little communicable memory
of what he had said or done.
At eight-thirty that evening he came out to meet his
first guests, his coat carried rather ceremoniously, rather
promisingly, in his hand, like a toreador’s cape. It was char-
acteristic that after greeting Rosemary and her mother he
waited for them to speak first, as if to allow them the reas-
surance of their own voices in new surroundings.
To resume Rosemary’s point of view it should be said
that, under the spell of the climb to Tarmes and the fresh-
er air, she and her mother looked about appreciatively. Just
as the personal qualities of extraordinary people can make
themselves plain in an unaccustomed change of expression,
so the intensely calculated perfection of Villa Diana trans-
pired all at once through such minute failures as the chance
apparition of a maid in the background or the perversity of
a cork. While the first guests arrived bringing with them
the excitement of the night, the domestic activity of the day
receded past them gently, symbolized by the Diver children
and their governess still at supper on the terrace.
‘What a beautiful garden!’ Mrs. Speers exclaimed.
‘Nicole’s garden,’ said Dick. ‘She won’t let it alone—she
nags it all the time, worries about its diseases. Any day now
I expect to have her come down with Powdery Mildew or Fly

42 Tender is the Night