Page 450 - tender-is-the-night

‘Got everything here, Buddies,’ he announced. ‘Been
here long?’
‘Cessez cela! Allez Ouste!’ Tommy cried and then to
Dick, ‘Now no woman would stand such—‘
‘Buddies,’ interrupted the American again. ‘You think
I’m wasting my time—but lots of others don’t.’ He brought
a gray clipping from his purse—and Dick recognized it as
he saw it. It cartooned millions of Americans pouring from
liners with bags of gold. ‘You think I’m not going to get part
of that? Well, I am. I’m just over from Nice for the Tour de
France.’
As Tommy got him off with a fierce ‘allez-vous-en,’ Dick
identified him as the man who had once hailed him in the
Rue de Saints Anges, five years before.
‘When does the Tour de France get here?’ he called after
him.
‘Any minute now, Buddy.’
He departed at last with a cheery wave and Tommy re-
turned to Dick.
‘Elle doit avoir plus avec moi qu’avec vous.’
‘Speak English! What do you mean ‘doit avoir’?’
‘‘Doit avoir?’ Would have more happiness with me.’
‘You’d be new to each other. But Nicole and I have had
much happiness together, Tommy.’
‘L’amour de famille,’ Tommy said, scoffing.
‘If you and Nicole married won’t that be ‘l’amour de fa-
mille’?’ The increasing commotion made him break off;
presently it came to a serpentine head on the promenade
and a group, presently a crowd, of people sprung from hid-

450 Tender is the Night