Page 453 - tender-is-the-night

XII

The day before Doctor Diver left the Riviera he spent all
his time with his children. He was not young any more with
a lot of nice thoughts and dreams to have about himself, so
he wanted to remember them well. The children had been
told that this winter they would be with their aunt in Lon-
don and that soon they were going to come and see him
in America. Fräulein was not to be discharged without his
consent.
He was glad he had given so much to the little girl—about
the boy he was more uncertain—always he had been uneasy
about what he had to give to the ever-climbing, ever-cling-
ing, breast-searching young. But, when he said good-by to
them, he wanted to lift their beautiful heads off their necks
and hold them close for hours.
He embraced the old gardener who had made the first
garden at Villa Diana six years ago; he kissed the Provençal
girl who helped with the children. She had been with them
for almost a decade and she fell on her knees and cried un-
til Dick jerked her to her feet and gave her three hundred
francs. Nicole was sleeping late, as had been agreed upon—
he left a note for her, and one for Baby Warren who was just
back from Sardinia and staying at the house. Dick took a big
drink from a bottle of brandy three feet high, holding ten
quarts, that some one had presented them with.

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