Page 427 - tender-is-the-night

‘You’ve got too much money,’ he said impatiently. ‘That’s
the crux of the matter. Dick can’t beat that.’
She considered while the melons were removed.
‘What do you think I ought to do?’
For the first time in ten years she was under the sway of
a personality other than her husband’s. Everything Tommy
said to her became part of her forever.
They drank the bottle of wine while a faint wind rocked
the pine needles and the sensuous heat of early afternoon
made blinding freckles on the checkered luncheon cloth.
Tommy came over behind her and laid his arms along hers,
clasping her hands. Their cheeks touched and then their lips
and she gasped half with passion for him, half with the sud-
den surprise of its force... .
‘Can’t you send the governess and the children away for
the afternoon?’
‘They have a piano lesson. Anyhow I don’t want to stay
here.’
‘Kiss me again.’
A little later, riding toward Nice, she thought: So I have
white crook’s eyes, have I? Very well then, better a sane
crook than a mad puritan.
His assertion seemed to absolve her from all blame or
responsibility and she had a thrill of delight in thinking of
herself in a new way. New vistas appeared ahead, peopled
with the faces of many men, none of whom she need obey
or even love. She drew in her breath, hunched her shoulders
with a wriggle and turned to Tommy.
‘Have we GOT to go all the way to your hotel at Monte

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