Tender is the Night / Ночь нежна. Фрэнсис Скотт Фицджеральд
Читать онлайн.| Название | Tender is the Night / Ночь нежна |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Фрэнсис Скотт Фицджеральд |
| Жанр | |
| Серия | MovieBook (Анталогия) |
| Издательство | |
| Год выпуска | 1934 |
| isbn | 978-5-6047428-3-9 |
“All right,” she agreed quietly.
“I want to give a really BAD party. I mean it[39]. I want to give a party where there’s a brawl and seductions and people going home with their feelings hurt and women passed out in the cabinet de toilette. You wait and see.”
He went back into his house and Nicole saw that one of his most characteristic moods was upon him. Dick Diver won everyone quickly. Then, without caution, he opened the gate to his amusing world.
At eight-thirty that evening he came out to meet his first guests. It was characteristic that after greeting Rosemary and her mother he waited for them to speak first, as if to allow them to hear their own voices in new surroundings.
“What a beautiful garden!” Mrs. Speers exclaimed.
“Nicole’s garden,” said Dick. “She won’t let it alone[40] – she works on it all the time.”
He pointed his forefinger decisively at Rosemary, saying with a lightness seeming to conceal a paternal interest, “I’m going to save you— I’m going to give you a hat to wear on the beach.”
He turned them from the garden to the terrace, where he poured a cocktail. Earl Brady arrived, discovering Rosemary with surprise. Comparing him instantly with Dick Diver, she moved sharply toward the latter. In comparison Earl Brady seemed gross and ill-bred; once more, though, she felt an electric response to his person.
He spoke familiarly to the children who were getting up from their outdoor supper.
“Hello, Lanier, how about a song? Will you and Topsy sing me a song?”
“What shall we sing?” agreed the little boy, with the odd accent of American children brought up in France.
“That song about ‘Mon Ami Pierrot[41].’”
Brother and sister stood side by side without shyness and their voices sounded sweet upon the evening air.
The singing finished and the children, their faces aglow with the late sunshine, stood smiling calmly at their success. Rosemary was thinking that the Villa Diana was the centre of the world. On such a stage some memorable thing was sure to happen. The gate opened and the rest of the guests arrived – the McKiscos, Mrs. Abrams, Mr. Dumphry, and Mr. Campion came up to the terrace.
Rosemary had a sharp feeling of disappointment – she looked quickly at Dick, as though to ask an explanation of this strange mixture. But there was nothing unusual in his expression. He greeted his new guests in a friendly way. She believed in him so much that presently she accepted the McKiscos’ presence.
“I’ve met you in Paris,” McKisco said to Abe North, who with his wife had arrived on their heels[42], “in fact I’ve met you twice.”
“Yes, I remember,” Abe said.
“Then where was it?” asked McKisco.
“Why, I think —” Abe got tired of the game, “I can’t remember.”
Rosemary stood beside Tommy Barban – he was in a particularly scornful mood and there seemed to be some special reason for it. He was leaving in the morning.
“Going home?”
“Home? I have no home. I am going to a war.”
“What war?”
“What war? Any war. I haven’t seen a paper lately but I suppose there’s a war – there always is.”
“Don’t you care what you fight for?”
“Not at all – so long as I’m well treated. When I’m in a rut[43] I come to see the Divers, because then I know that in a few weeks I’ll want to go to war.”
Rosemary stiffened.
“You like the Divers,” she reminded him.
“Of course – especially her – but they make me want to go to war.”
She considered this, to no avail[44]. The Divers made her want to stay near them forever.
“You’re half American,” she said, as if that should solve the problem.
“Also I’m half French, and I was educated in England and since I was eighteen I’ve worn the uniforms of eight countries. But I hope I did not give you the impression that I am not fond of the Divers – I am, especially of Nicole.”
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