Page 62 - tender-is-the-night

subject rather suddenly.
‘Abe North is around here somewhere.’
‘Why, he’s staying at the Divers’!’
‘Yes, but he’s up—don’t you know what happened?’
A shutter opened suddenly in a room two stories above
and an English voice spat distinctly:
‘Will you kaindlay stup tucking!’
Rosemary and Luis Campion went humbly down the
steps and to a bench beside the road to the beach.
‘Then you have no idea what’s happened? My dear, the
most extraordinary thing—‘ He was warming up now,
hanging on to his revelation. ‘I’ve never seen a thing come
so suddenly—I have always avoided violent people—they
upset me so I sometimes have to go to bed for days.’
He looked at her triumphantly. She had no idea what he
was talking about.
‘My dear,’ he burst forth, leaning toward her with his
whole body as he touched her on the upper leg, to show it
was no mere irresponsible venture of his hand—he was so
sure of himself. ‘There’s going to be a duel.’
‘Wh-at?’
‘A duel with—we don’t know what yet.’
‘Who’s going to duel?’
‘I’ll tell you from the beginning.’ He drew a long breath
and then said, as if it were rather to her discredit but he
wouldn’t hold it against her. ‘Of course, you were in the oth-
er automobile. Well, in a way you were lucky—I lost at least
two years of my life, it came so suddenly.’
‘What came?’ she demanded.

62 Tender is the Night