WEBVTT

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Chapter seven of the Great Gatsby by
F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was when

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curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest
that lights in his house failed to go

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on one Saturday night, and as
obscurely as it had begun, his career

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as trimulchio was over. Only gradually
did I become aware that the automobiles which

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turned expectantly into his drive stayed for
just a minute and then drove sulkily away.

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Wondering if he were sick, I
went over to find out. An

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unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted
at me suspiciously from the door. Is

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mister Gatsby sick? Nope? After
a pause, he added, sir,

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in a dilatory, grudging way.
I hadn't seen him around, and I

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was rather worried. Tell him.
Mister Carroway came over, who he demanded

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rudely, carraway, caraway, all
right, I'll tell him. Abruptly he

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slammed the door. My Finn informed
me that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in

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his house a week ago and replaced
them with half a dozen others who never

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went into West Egg Village to be
bribed by the tradesman, but ordered moderate

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supplies. Over the telephone. The
grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked like

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a pig sty, and the general
opinion in the village was that the new

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people weren't servants at all. Next
day, Gatsby called me on the phone

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going away. I inquired no old
sport. I hear you fired all your

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servants. I wanted somebody who wouldn't
gossip. Daisy comes over quite often in

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the afternoons, so the whole caravanswery
had fallen in like a card house at

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the disapproval in her eyes. There
are some people wolf Shine wanted to do

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something for. They're all brothers and
sisters. They used to run a small

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hotel. I see he was calling
up at Daisy's request. Would I come

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to her lunch at house tomorrow?
Miss Baker would be there. Half an

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hour later, Daisy herself telephoned and
seemed relieved to find that I was coming.

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Something was up, and yet I
couldn't believe that they would choose this

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occasion for a scene, especially for
the rather harrowing scene that Gatsby had outlined

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in the garden. The next day
was broiling almost the last, certainly the

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warmest of the summer. As my
train emerged from the tunnel into the sunlight,

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only the hot whistles of the National
Biscuit Company broke the simmering hush.

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At noon, the straw seats of
the car hovered on the edge of combustion.

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The woman next to me perspired delicately
for a while into her white shirt

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waist, and then, as her
newspaper dampened under her fingers, lapsed despairingly

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into deep heat. With a desolate
cry. Her pocketbook slapped to the floor.

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Oh my, she gasped. I
picked it up with a weary bend

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and handed it back to her,
holding it at arm's length and by the

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extreme tip of the corners, to
indicate that I had no desire upon it.

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But everyone nearby, including the woman, suspected me just the same.

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Hot, said the conductor to familiar
faces. Some weather, hot, hot,

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hot. Is it hot enough for
you? Is it hot? Is

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it? My commutation ticket? Came
back to me with a dark stain from

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his hand, that anyone should care
in this heat, whose flushed lips he

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kissed, whose head made damp the
pajama pocket over his heart through the hall

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of the Buchanan's house blew a faint
wind, carrying the sound of the telephone

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bell out to Gatsby and me.
As we waited at the door, the

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master's body roared the butler into the
mouthpiece. I'm sorry, Madame, but

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we can't furnish it. It's far
too hot to touch this noon. What

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he really said was yes, yes, I'll see. He set down the

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receiver and came toward us, glistening
slightly. To take our if straw hats.

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Madame expects you in the salon,
he cried, needlessly, indicating the

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direction. In this heat, every
extra gesture was an affront to the common

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store of life. The room,
shadowed well with awnings, was dark and

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cool. Daisy and Jordan lay upon
an enormous couch, like silver idols,

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weighing down their own white dresses against
the singing breeze of the fans. We

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can't move, they said together.
Jordan's fingers powdered white over their tan.

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Rested for a moment on mine and
mister r Tom Buchanan, the athlete,

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I inquired simultaneously. I heard his
voice, gruff, muffled, husky at

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the hall. Telephone Gatsby stood in
the center of the crimson carpet and gazed

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around with fascinated eyes. Daisy watched
him and laughed her sweet, exciting laugh.

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A tiny gust of powder rose from
her bosom into the air. The

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rumor is whispered Jordan, that that's
Tom's girl on the telephone. We were

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silent. The voice in the hall
rose high with annoyance. Very well,

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then, I won't sell you the
car at all. I'm under no obligations

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to you at all. And as
for your bothering me about it at lunchtime,

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I won't stand at at all holding
down the receiver, said Daisy cynically.

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No, he's not, I assured
her. It's a bonafide deal.

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I happen to know about it.
Tom flung open the door, blocked out

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its space for a moment with his
thick body, and hurried into the room.

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Mister Gadsby. He put out his
broad, flat hand with well concealed

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dislike. I'm glad to see you, sir. Make us a cold drink,

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cried Daisy. As he left the
room again. She got up and

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went over to Gatsby and pulled his
face down, kissing him on the mouth.

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You know I love you. She
murmured. You forget there's a lady

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present, said Jordan. Daisy looked
around. Doubtfully, you kiss Nick too?

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What a low vulgar girl. I
don't care, cried Daisy, and

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began to clog on the brick fireplace. Then she remembered the heat and sat

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down guiltily on the couch. Just
as a freshly laundered nurse leading a little

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girl came into the room. Blessed
precious, she crooned, holding out her

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arms, Come to your own mother
that loves you. The child, relinquished

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by the nurse, rushed across the
room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress.

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The blessed precious, did mother get
powder on your old yellowy hair?

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Stand up now and say how do
you do? Gatsby and I, in

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turn leaned down and took the small, reluctant hand. Afterward, he kept

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looking at the child with surprise.
I don't think he had ever really believed

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in its existence before I got dressed
before luncheon, said the child, turning

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eagerly to Daisy. That's because your
mother wanted to show you off. Her

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face spent into the single wrinkle of
the small white neck. You dream,

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you, you absolute little dream,
yes, admitted the child, calmly.

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Aunt Jordan's got on a white dress
too. How do you like mother's friends?

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Daisy turned her around so that she
faced Gatsby. Do you think they're

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pretty? Where's daddy? She doesn't
look like her father, explained Daisy.

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She looks like me. She's got
my hair and shape of the face.

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Daisy sat back upon the couch.
The nurse took a step forward and held

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out her hand. Come Pammy,
goodbye, sweetheart. With a reluctant backward

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glance, the well disciplined child held
to her nurse's hand and was pulled out

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the door just as Tom came back, proceeding four gin rickies that clicked full

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of ice. Gatsby took up his
drink. They certainly look cool, he

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said, with visible tension. We
drank in long, greedy swallows. I

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read somewhere that the sun's getting hotter
every year, said Tom genially. It

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seems that pretty soon the Earth's going
to fall into the sun. Or wait

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a minute, it's just the opposite. The Sun's getting colder every year.

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Come outside, he suggested to Gatsby. I like you to have a look

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at the place. I went with
them out to the verandah on the green

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Sound, stagnant in the heat,
one small sail crawled slowly toward the fresher

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sea. Gatsby's eyes followed it.
Momentarily, he raised his hand and pointed

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across the bay. I'm right across
from you, so you are. Our

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eyes lifted over the rose beds and
the hot lawn and the weedy refuse of

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the dog days along shore. Slowly
the white wings of the boat moved against

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the blue cool limit of the sky. Ahead lay the scalloped ocean and the

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abounding blessed aisles. They're for you, said Tom, nodding. I like

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to be out there with him.
For about an hour, we had luncheon

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in the dining room, darkened too
against the heat, and drank down nervous

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gaiety with the cold nail. What'll
we do with ourselves this afternoon, cried

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Daisy, And the day after that
and the next thirty years. Don't be

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morbid, Jordan said. Life starts
all over again when it gets crisp in

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the fall. But it's too hot, insisted Daisy, on the verge of

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tears, and everything's so confused let's
all go to town. Her voice struggled

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on through the heat, beating against
it, molding its senselessness into forms.

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I've heard of making a garage out
of a stable, Tom was saying to

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Gatsby. But I'm the first man
who ever made a stable out of a

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garage. Who wants to go to
town, demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby's eyes

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floated toward her. Ah, she
cried, looks so cool. Their eyes

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met, and they stared together at
each other, alone in space. With

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an effort, she glanced down at
the table. You always look so cool,

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she repeated. She had told him
that she loved him, and Tom

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Buchanan saw. He was astounded.
His mouth opened a little, and he

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looked at Gatsby and then back at
Daisy, as if he had just recognized

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her as someone he knew a long
time ago. You resemble the advertisement of

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the man, she went on,
innocently, You know the advertisement of the

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man. All right, Tom broke
in quickly, I'm perfectly willing to go

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to town. Come on, we're
all going to town. He got up,

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his eyes still flashing between Gatsby and
his wife. No one moved,

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Come on, his temper cracked a
little. What's the matter anyhow, If

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we're going to town, let's start. His hand trembling with his effort at

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self control, bore to his lips
the past of his glass of ail.

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Daisy's voice got us to our feet
and out to the blazing gravel drive.

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Are we just going to go?
She objected? Like this. Aren't we

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going to let anyone smoke a cigarette
first? Everybody smoked all through lunch.

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Oh let's have fun, she begged
him. It's too hot to fuss.

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He didn't answer. Having your own
way, she said, come on,

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Jordan. They went upstairs to get
ready. While we three men stood there

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shuffling the hot pebbles with our feet, A silver curve of the moon hovered

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already in the western sky. Gatsby
started to speak, changed his mind,

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but not before Tom wheeled and faced
him expectantly. Have you got your stables

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here? Asked Gatsby, with an
effort, about a quarter of a mile

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down the road. Oh a pause, I don't see the idea of going

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to town, broke out Tom savagely. Women get these notions in their heads.

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Shall we take anything to drink?
Called Daisy from an upper window,

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I'll get some whiskey, answered Tom. He went inside. Gatsby turned to

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me rigidly. I can't say anything
in his house, old sport. She's

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got an indiscreet voice. I remarked, it's full of I hesitated. Her

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voice is full of money, he
said suddenly. That was it. I

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never understood it before. It was
full of money. That was the inexhaustible

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charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the symbols

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song of it, high in a
white palace, the King's daughter, the

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Golden Girl. Tom came out of
the house, wrapping a quart bottle in

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a towel, followed by Daisy and
Jordan, wearing small, tight hats of

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metallic cloth and carrying light capes over
their arms. Shall we go in my

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car, suggested Gatsby. He felt
the hot green leather of the seat.

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I ought to have left it in
the shade. Is it a standard shift?

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Demanded Tom? Yes, well,
you take my coup and let me

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drive your car to town. The
suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby. I don't

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think there's much gas, he objected. Plenty of gas, said Tom boisterously.

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He looked at the gage, and
if it runs out, I can

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stop at a drug store. You
can buy anything at a drug store nowadays.

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A pause followed this apparently pointless remark. Daisy looked at Tom, frowning

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and an indefinable expression, at once
definitely unfamiliar and vaguely recognizable, as if

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I had only heard it described in
words passed over Gatsby's face. Come on,

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Daisy, said Tom, pressing her
with his hand toward Gatsby's car.

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I'll take you in this circus wagon. He opened the door, but she

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moved out from the circles of his
arm. You take Nick and Jordan,

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we'll follow you in the coup.
She walked close to Atsby, touching his

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coat with her hand. Jordan and
Tom and I got into the front seat

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of Gatsby's car. Tom pushed the
unfamiliar gears tentatively, and we shot off

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into the oppressive heat, leaving them
out of sight behind. Did you see

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that, demanded Tom? See what? He looked at me, keenly realizing

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that Jordan I must have known all
along. You think I'm pretty dumb,

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don't you, he suggested? Perhaps
I am, but I have a almost

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second sight sometimes that tells me what
to do. Maybe you don't believe that,

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but science, he paused. The
immediate contingency overtook him, pulled him

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back from the edge of theoretical abyss. I've made a small investigation of this

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fellow, he continued, I could
have gone deeper if i'd known. Do

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you mean you've been to a medium, inquired Jordan humorously. What confused?

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He stared at us as we laughed, A medium about Gatsby, About Gatsby,

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No I haven't, I said,
I've been making a small investigation of

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his past, and you found he
was an Oxford man, said Jordan helpfully.

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An Oxford man. He was incredulous, Like hell he is. He

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wears a pink suit. Nevertheless,
he's an Oxford man, Oxford, New

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Mexico, snorted Tom contemptuously, or
something like that. Listen, Tom,

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if you're such a snob, why
did you invite him to lunch, demanded

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Jordan. Crossly. Daisy invited him. She knew him before we were married.

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God knows where. We were all
irritable now with the fading ale and

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aware of it, we drove for
a while in silence. Then as doctor

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t. J Eckelberg's faded eyes came
into sight, down the road. I

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remembered Gatsby's caution about Gasolene. We've
got enough to get us a town,

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said Tom. But there's a garage
right here, objected Jordan. I don't

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want to get stalled in this baking
heat. Tom threw on both brakes impatiently,

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and we slid to an abrupt,
dusty stop under Wilson's sign. After

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a moment, the proprietor emerged from
the interior of his establishment and gazed hollow

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eyed at the car. Let's have
some gas, cried Tom roughly. What

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00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:26.679
do you think we stopped for to
admire the view? I'm sick, said

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Wilson, without moving, been sick
all day. What's a matter? I'm

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00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:37.320
all run down? Well? Shall
I help myself? Tom demanded, you

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00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:41.840
sounded well enough on the phone.
With an effort, Wilson left the shade

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and supported the doorway, and,
breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the

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tank. In the sunlight. His
face was green. I didn't mean to

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interrupt your lunch, he said,
but I needed money pretty bad, and

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I was wondering what you were going
to do with your old car this one,

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00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.680
inquired Tom. I bought it last
week It's a nice yellow one,

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said Wilson as he strained at the
handle. Like to buy it, big

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chance? Wilson smiled faintly. No, but I could make some money on

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the other What do you want money
for? All of a sudden, I've

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been here too long. I want
to get away my wife and I want

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00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:27.000
to go west. Your wife does, exclaimed Tom, startled. She's been

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00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:32.160
talking about it for ten years.
He rested for a moment against the pump,

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shading his eyes, and now she's
going, whether she wants to or

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00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.960
not. I'm going to get her
away. The coop flashed by us with

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00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.160
a flurry of dust and the flash
of a waving hand. What do I

219
00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:49.240
owe you? Demanded Tom harshly.
I just got too wise duck to something

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00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:53.720
funny the last two days, remarked
Wilson. That's why I want to get

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00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:59.039
away. That's why I've been bothering
you about the car. What do I

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owe you? Thala twenty. The
relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me,

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and I had a bad moment there
before I realized that so far his

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suspicions hadn't alighted on Tom. He
had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of

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life apart from him, in another
world, and the shock had made him

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physically sick. I stared at him, and then at Tom, who had

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made a parallel discovery less than an
hour before, and it occurred to me

228
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that there was no difference between men
in intelligence or race so profound as the

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difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked

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guilty, unforgivably guilty, as if
he had just got some poor girl with

231
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child. I'll let you have that
car, said Tom. I'll send it

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over tomorrow afternoon. That locality was
always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad

233
00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:56.039
glare of afternoon. And now I
turned my head as though I had been

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warned of something behind over the ash
sheeps. The giant eyes of doctor t.

235
00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:07.079
J Eckelberg kept their vigil, but
I perceived after a moment that other

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00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:11.640
eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity
from less than twenty feet away. In

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one of the windows over the garage, the curtains had been moved aside a

238
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little, and Myrtle Wilson was peering
down at the car. So engrossed was

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she that she had no consciousness of
being observed, and one emotion after another

240
00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:30.920
crept into her face, like objects
into a slowly developing picture. Her expression

241
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.680
was curiously familiar. It was an
expression I had often seen on women's faces,

242
00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:41.799
But on Myrtle Wilson's face it seemed
purposeless and inexplicable, until I realized

243
00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.039
that her eyes, wide with jealous
terror, were fixed not on Tom,

244
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:52.480
but on Jordan Baker, whom she
took to be his wife. There is

245
00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.519
no confusion like the confusion of a
simple mind. And as we drove away,

246
00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:00.519
Tom was feeling the hot whips of
panic. His wife and his mistress

247
00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:04.440
until an hour ago, Secure and
Inviolet were slipping precipitately from his control.

248
00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:11.640
Instinct made him step on the accelerator
with the double purpose of overtaking Daisy and

249
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leaving Wilson behind. And we sped
along toward a story at fifty miles an

250
00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:21.200
hour, until among the spidery girders
of the elevated we came in sight of

251
00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:25.960
the easy going Blue Coop. Those
big movies around fiftieth Street are cool,

252
00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:30.960
suggested Jordan. I love New York
on summer afternoons, when everyone's away.

253
00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:36.759
There's something very sensuous about it overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits

254
00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:41.680
were going to fall into your hands. The word sensuous had the effect of

255
00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:45.559
further disquieting Tom, But before he
could invent a protest, the coop came

256
00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:51.599
to a stop and Daisy signaled us
to draw up alongside. Where are we

257
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.200
going, she cried, How about
the movies? It's so hot, She

258
00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.839
complained, You go, we'll ride
around and meet you after. With an

259
00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:06.519
effort, her wit rose faintly,
We'll meet you on some corner. I'll

260
00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:11.880
be the man smoking two cigarettes.
We can't argue about it here, Tom

261
00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:15.319
said impatiently, as a truck gave
out a cursing whistle behind us. You

262
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:21.000
follow me to the south side of
Central Park in front of the Plaza.

263
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.680
Several times he turned his head and
looked back for their car, and if

264
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:29.000
the traffic delayed them, he slowed
up until they came into sight. I

265
00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.200
think he was afraid they would dart
down a side street and out of his

266
00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:37.119
life forever. But they didn't,
and we all took the less explicable step

267
00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:41.640
of engaging the parlor of a suite
in the Plaza hotel. The prolonged and

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00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:45.680
tumultuous argument that ended by hurting us
into that room eludes me, though I

269
00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:51.240
have a sharp physical memory that in
the course of it, my underwear kept

270
00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:56.119
climbing like a damp snake around my
leg, and intermittent beads of sweat raced

271
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cool across my back. The notion
originated with daisy suggestion that we hire five

272
00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:07.200
bathrooms and take cold baths, and
then assumed more tangible form as a place

273
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.640
to have a mint julip. Each
of us said over and over that it

274
00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:15.440
was a crazy idea. We all
talked at once to a baffled clerk in

275
00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:21.799
thought, or pretended to think that
we were being very funny. The room

276
00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.039
was large and stifling, and though
it was already four o'clock, opening the

277
00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.000
windows admitted only a gust of hot
shrubbery from the park. Daisy went to

278
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.039
the mirror and stood with her back
to us, fixing her hair. It's

279
00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:41.799
a swell sweet, whispered Jordan respectfully, and everyone laughed. Open another window,

280
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.920
commanded Daisy, without turning around.
There aren't any more. Well,

281
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:51.480
we'd better telephone for an axe.
The thing to do is forget about the

282
00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:56.160
heat, said Tom, impatiently.
You may get ten times worse by craving

283
00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:00.599
about it. He unrolled the bottle
of whiskey from the towel, put it

284
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:04.240
on the table. Why not let
her alone, Old Sport, remarked Gatsby.

285
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:08.440
You're the one that wanted to come
to town. There was a moment

286
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:14.039
of silence. The telephone book slipped
from its nail and splashed to the floor,

287
00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:19.240
whereupon Jordan whispered, excuse me,
But this time no one laughed.

288
00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:25.680
I'll pick it up, I offered, I've got it. Gatsby examined the

289
00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:30.480
parted string, muttered hum in an
interested way, and tossed the book on

290
00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:34.559
a chair. That's a great expression
of yours, isn't it, said Tom,

291
00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:41.599
sharply. What is all this old
Sport business? Where'd you pick that

292
00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:45.039
up? Now? See here,
Tom, said Daisy, turning around from

293
00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.480
the mirror. If you're going to
make personal remarks, I won't stay here

294
00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:52.640
a minute. Call up and order
some ice for the mint Julip. As

295
00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:57.079
Tom took up the receiver, the
compressed heat exploded into sound, and we

296
00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:03.039
were listening to the portentous core of
Mendelssohn's Wedding March from the ballroom below.

297
00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:08.680
Imagine marrying anybody in this heat,
cried Jordan, dismally. Still, I

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00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:14.839
was married in the middle of June, Daisy remembered, Louisville and June somebody

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00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:18.960
fainted. Who was it? Fainted? Tom Bloxey, he answered shortly.

300
00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:26.839
A man named Biloxey blocks Biloxey and
he made boxes, that's a fact.

301
00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:30.599
And he was from Biloxey, Tennessee. They carried him into my house,

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00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:34.839
appended Jordan, because we lived just
two doors from the church. And he

303
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:38.839
stayed three weeks until Daddy told him
he had to get out. The day

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00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:44.680
after he left, Daddy died.
After a moment, she added, there

305
00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:48.039
wasn't any connection. I used to
know a Bill Biloxey from Memphis, I

306
00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:52.319
remarked. That was his cousin.
I knew his whole family history. Before

307
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.359
he left, he gave me an
aluminum putter that I used today. The

308
00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:00.720
music had died down as the ceremony
began, and now a long cheer floated

309
00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:07.119
in at the window, followed by
interminutent cries of yeah, and finally by

310
00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.839
a burst of jazz as the dancing
began. We are getting old, said

311
00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:17.920
Daisy. If we were young,
we'd rise and dance. Remember Biloxey,

312
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:22.880
Jordan warned her, where'd you know
him? Tom Bloxy? He concentrated with

313
00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:26.680
an effort. I didn't know him. He was a friend of Daisy's.

314
00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:32.640
He was not, She denied.
I never seen him before. He came

315
00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:36.480
down in a private car. Well, he said he knew you. He

316
00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:40.319
said he was raised in Louisville.
He's a bird. Brought him around at

317
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:44.400
the last minute and asked if we
had room for him. Jordan smiled.

318
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:48.480
He was probably bumming his way home. He told me he was president of

319
00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:52.839
your class at Yale. Tom and
I looked at each other blankly. Bloxy,

320
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.599
first place, we didn't have any
president. Gatsby's foot beat a short

321
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.000
rests tattoo, and Tom eyed him. Suddenly, by the way, mister

322
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:08.400
Gatsby, I understand you're an Oxford
man. Not exactly. Oh, yes,

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00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:14.240
I understand you went to Oxford.
Yes, I went there. A

324
00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:18.880
pause, then Tom's voice incredulous and
insulting. You must have gone there about

325
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:25.000
the time Bilocksy went to new Haven. Another pause. A waiter knocked and

326
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:29.079
came in with crushed mint and ice, but the silence was unbroken by his

327
00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:33.240
thank you, and the soft closing
of the door. This tremendous detail was

328
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.400
to be cleared up at last.
I told you I went there, said

329
00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:42.160
Gatsby. I heard you, but
i'd like to know when it was in

330
00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:48.079
nineteen nineteen. I only stayed five
months. That's why I can't really call

331
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:53.160
myself an Oxford man. Tom glanced
around to see if we mirrored his unbelief,

332
00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:57.720
but we were all looking at Gatsby. It was an opportunity they gave

333
00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:02.839
to some of the officers to the
armistice, he continued. We could go

334
00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:07.279
to any of the universities in England
or France. I wanted to get up

335
00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:11.119
and slap him on the back.
I had one of those renewals of complete

336
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:15.240
faith in him that I had experienced
before. Daisy rose, smiling faintly,

337
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:19.319
and went to the table. Open
the whiskey, Tom, she ordered,

338
00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:23.240
and I'll make you a mint,
julip thing you won't seem so stupid to

339
00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:29.200
yourself. Look at the mint.
Wait a minute, snapped Tom, I

340
00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:33.599
want to ask mister Gatsby one more
question. Go on, Gatsby said,

341
00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:37.880
politely, what kind of a row
are you trying to cause in my house?

342
00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:42.039
Anyhow, they were out in the
open at last, and Gatsby was

343
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:48.079
content he isn't causing a row.
Daisy looked desperately from one to the other.

344
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:52.960
You're causing a row. Please have
a little self control, self control,

345
00:27:53.559 --> 00:27:57.759
Tom repeated incredulously. I suppose the
latest thing is to sit back and

346
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:03.720
let mister nobody nowhere make love to
your wife. Well, if that's the

347
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:07.799
idea, you can count me out. Nowadays people begin by sneering at family

348
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:15.440
life, family institutions, and next
they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between

349
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:21.480
black and white. Flushed with his
impassioned gibberish, he saw himself standing alone

350
00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:26.880
on the last barrier of civilization.
We're all white here, murmured Jordan.

351
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:30.559
I know I'm not very popular.
I don't give big parties. I suppose

352
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:33.559
you've got to make your house into
a pig sty in order to have any

353
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:40.559
friends in the modern world. Angry
as I was, as we all were,

354
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:45.400
I was tempted to laugh whenever he
opened his mouth. The transition from

355
00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.440
libertine to prig was so complete.
Well, I've got something to tell you

356
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:56.279
old sport, began Gatsby, but
Daisy guessed at his intention. Please don't,

357
00:28:56.599 --> 00:29:00.960
she interrupted, helplessly. Please,
let's all go home. Why don't

358
00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:04.480
we all go home? That's a
good idea. I got up. Come

359
00:29:04.519 --> 00:29:08.200
on, Tom, nobody wants a
drink. I want to know what mister

360
00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:14.160
Gatsby has to tell me. Your
wife doesn't love you, said Gatsby.

361
00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:19.119
She never loved you, she loves
me. You must be crazy, exclaimed

362
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:25.279
Tom. Automatically. Gatsby sprang to
his feet, vivid with excitement. She

363
00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:29.160
never loved you, do you hear? He cried? She only married you

364
00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:32.960
because I was poor and she was
tired of waiting for me. It was

365
00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:37.119
a terrible mistake, but in her
heart she never loved anyone except me.

366
00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:41.920
At this point, Jordan and I
tried to go, but Tom and Gatsby

367
00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:45.880
insisted with competitive firmness, that we
remain, as though neither of them had

368
00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:51.160
anything to conceal, and it would
be a privilege to partake vicariously of their

369
00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:56.079
emotions. Sit down, Daisy.
Tom's voice groped unsuccessfully for the paternal note.

370
00:29:57.079 --> 00:30:02.720
What's been going on? I want
to hear all about it. I

371
00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:07.440
told you what's been going on,
said Gatsby, going on for five years

372
00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:11.839
and you didn't know. Tom turned
to Daisy, sharply. You've been seeing

373
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:17.839
this fellow for five years, not
seeing, said Gatsby. No, we

374
00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:21.920
couldn't meet, but both of us
loved each other all that time, old

375
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:26.799
sport, and you didn't know.
I used to laugh sometimes, but there

376
00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:32.839
was no laughter in his eyes.
To think that you didn't know. Oh

377
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:37.440
that's all. Tom tapped his thick
fingers together like a clergyman and leaned back

378
00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:42.920
in his chair. You're crazy,
he exploded. I can't speak about what

379
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:48.319
happened five years ago because I didn't
know Daisy then. And I'll be damned

380
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:51.920
if I see how you got within
a mile of her, unless you've brought

381
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:56.599
the groceries to the back door.
But all the rest of that's a goddamned

382
00:30:56.680 --> 00:31:00.920
lie. Daisy loved me when she
married me, and she loves me now,

383
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:04.480
No, said Gatsby, shaking his
head. She does, though.

384
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:10.119
The trouble is that sometimes she gets
foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know

385
00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:15.839
what she's doing. He nodded sagely. And what's more, I love Daisy

386
00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:18.319
too. Once in a while I
go off on a spree and make a

387
00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:22.359
fool of myself, but I always
come back, and in my heart I

388
00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:29.000
love her all the time. You're
revolting, said Daisy. She turned to

389
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:32.480
me, and her voice, dropping
an octave lower, filled the room with

390
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:37.440
thrilling scorn. Do you know why
we left Chicago? I'm surprised that they

391
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:42.000
didn't treat you to the story of
that little spree. Gatsby walked over and

392
00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:47.880
stood beside her. Daisy, that's
all over now, he said, earnestly.

393
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:52.559
It doesn't matter anymore. Just tell
him the truth that you never loved

394
00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:56.039
him, and it's all wiped out
forever. She looked at him blindly.

395
00:31:56.839 --> 00:32:04.000
Why how could I love him?
Possibly? You never loved him, she

396
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.440
hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan
and me with a sort of appeal,

397
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:12.359
as though she realized at last what
she was doing, and as though she

398
00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:16.160
had never all along intended doing anything
at all. But it was done now,

399
00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:22.319
It was too late. I never
loved him, she said, with

400
00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:29.839
perceptible reluctance. Not at Cappiolani demanded
Tom suddenly, no. From the ballroom

401
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:34.799
beneath muffled and suffocating cords were drifting
up on hot waves of air. Not

402
00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:37.519
that day I carried you down from
the punchfowle to keep your shoes dry.

403
00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:45.160
There was a husky tenderness in his
tone. Daisy, please don't. Her

404
00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:47.599
voice was cold, but the rancor
was gone from it. She looked at

405
00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:52.640
Gatsby. There, Jay, she
said, But her hand, as she

406
00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:57.000
tried to light a cigarette, was
trembling. Suddenly she threw the cigarette and

407
00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:00.960
the burning match on the carpet.
Oh you want too much, she cried

408
00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:06.039
to Gatsby. I love you now. Isn't that enough? I can't help

409
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:10.119
what's passed. She began to sob
helplessly. I did love him once,

410
00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:16.799
but I loved you too. Gatsby's
eyes opened and closed. You loved me

411
00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:22.880
too, he repeated. Even that's
a lie, said Tom savagely. She

412
00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:28.880
didn't know you were alive. Why
there's things between Daisy and me that you'll

413
00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:34.680
never know, things that neither of
us can ever forget. The words seemed

414
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:38.200
to bite physically into Gatsby. Well, I want to speak to Daisy alone,

415
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:44.200
he insisted. She's all excited now, even alone, I can't say

416
00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:49.079
I never loved Tom, she admitted, in a pitiful voice. It wouldn't

417
00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:52.680
be true, of course, it
wouldn't, agreed Tom. She turned to

418
00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:58.039
her husband, as if it mattered
to you, she said, Of course

419
00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:00.440
it matters. I'm going to take
better care of you from now on.

420
00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:06.440
You don't understand, said Gatsby,
with a touch of panic. You're not

421
00:34:06.519 --> 00:34:10.400
going to take care of her anymore. I'm not. Tom opened his eyes

422
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:15.400
wide and laughed. He could afford
to control himself. Now, why's that,

423
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:22.840
Daisy's leaving you? Nonsense I am, though, she said, with

424
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:28.559
a visible effort, She's not leaving
me. Tom's words suddenly leaned down over

425
00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:32.440
Gatsby. Certainly not for a common
swindler who'd have to steal the ring to

426
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:37.639
put on her finger. I won't
stand this, cried Daisy. Oh please,

427
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:43.199
let's get out. Who are you
anyhow? Broke out Tom. You're

428
00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:46.559
one of that bunch that hangs around
with myer Wolfsheim that much. I happen

429
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:52.079
to know. I've made a little
investigation into your affairs, and I'll carry

430
00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:57.119
it further tomorrow. You can suit
yourself about that old sport, said Gatsby

431
00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:01.280
steadily. I found out what your
drug stores were. He turned to us

432
00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:06.519
and spoke rapidly. He and this
Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side street

433
00:35:06.599 --> 00:35:10.599
drug stores here and in Chicago and
sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's

434
00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:15.440
one of his little stunts. I
picked him for a bootlegger the first time

435
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:19.239
I saw him, and I wasn't
far wrong. Oh what about it,

436
00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:23.239
said Gatsby politely. I guess your
friend Walter Chase wasn't too proud to come

437
00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:27.639
in on it. And you left
him in the lurch, didn't you.

438
00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.519
You let him go to jail for
a month over in New Jersey. God,

439
00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:36.199
you ought to hear Walter on the
subject of you. He came to

440
00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:38.599
us dead broke. He was very
glad to pick up some money, old

441
00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:45.440
sport. Don't you call me old
sport, cried Tom. Gatsby said nothing.

442
00:35:45.239 --> 00:35:49.800
Walter could have you up on the
bedding laws too. But wolfsheim scared

443
00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:54.280
him into shutting his mouth. That
unfamiliar yet recognizable look was back again in

444
00:35:54.360 --> 00:36:00.119
Gatsby's face. That drug store business
was just small change, Tom, slowly,

445
00:36:00.679 --> 00:36:05.000
But you've got something on now that
Walter's afraid to tell me about.

446
00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:09.360
I glanced at Daisy, who was
staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband,

447
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:15.320
and at Jordan, who had begun
to balance an invisible but absorbing object on

448
00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:19.320
the tip of her chin. Then
I turned back to Gatsby, and was

449
00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:23.480
startled by his expression. He looked, and this is said in all contempt

450
00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:28.800
for the babbled slander of his garden, as if he had killed a man.

451
00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:32.119
For a moment, the set of
his face could be described in just

452
00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:38.239
that fantastic way. It passed,
and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy,

453
00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:44.440
denying everything, defending his name against
accusations that had not been made.

454
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.960
But with every word she was drawing
further and further into herself. So he

455
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:53.400
gave that up, and only the
dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped

456
00:36:53.400 --> 00:37:00.840
away, trying to touch what was
no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, despairingly

457
00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:07.480
toward the lost voice across the room. The voice begged again to go please,

458
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:13.159
Tom, I can't stand this anymore. Her frightened eyes told that whatever

459
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:19.000
intentions, whatever courage she had had, were definitely gone. You two start

460
00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:23.119
on home, Daisy, said Tom
in mister Gadsby's car. She looked at

461
00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:29.480
Tom alarmed now, but he insisted, with magnanimous scorn, go on.

462
00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:34.800
He won't annoy you. I think
he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is

463
00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:39.760
over. They were gone without a
word, snapped out, made accidental,

464
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.320
isolated, like ghosts, even from
our pity. After a moment, Tom

465
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:50.920
got up and began wrapping the unopened
bottle of whiskey in the towel. Want

466
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:57.119
any of this stuff, Jordan?
Nick? I didn't answer Nick. He

467
00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:02.039
asked again, what want any No? I just remembered that to day's my

468
00:38:02.119 --> 00:38:08.000
birthday. I was thirty before me
stretched the portentous, menacing road of a

469
00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:12.800
new decade. It was seven o'clock
when we got into the coupe with him

470
00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:17.480
and started for Long Island. Tom
talked incessantly, exulting and laughing, but

471
00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:22.519
his voice was as remote from Jordan
and me as the foreign clamor on the

472
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:28.679
sidewalk or the tumult of the elevated
overhead. Human sympathy has its limits,

473
00:38:28.679 --> 00:38:31.920
and we were content to let all
their tragic arguments fade with the city lights

474
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:38.039
behind thirty, the promise of a
decade of loneliness, a thinning list of

475
00:38:38.119 --> 00:38:44.000
single men to know, a thinning
brief case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.

476
00:38:44.880 --> 00:38:49.480
But there was Jordan beside me,
who, unlike Daisy, was too wise

477
00:38:49.559 --> 00:38:53.719
ever to carry well forgotten dreams from
age to age. As we passed over

478
00:38:53.800 --> 00:38:59.639
the dark bridge, her wan face
fell lazily against my coat's shoulder, and

479
00:38:59.719 --> 00:39:05.000
the formidable stroke of thirty died away
with the reassuring pressure of her hand.

480
00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:12.320
So we drove on toward death through
the cooling twilight. The young Greek Michaelis,

481
00:39:12.320 --> 00:39:15.280
who ran the coffee joint beside the
ash heaps, was the principal witness

482
00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:20.400
at the inquest. He had slept
through the heat until after five, when

483
00:39:20.440 --> 00:39:23.320
he strolled over to the garage and
found George Wilson sick in his office,

484
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:29.199
really sick, pale as his own, pale hair, and shaking all over.

485
00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:32.599
Michaelis advised him to go to bed, but Wilson refused, saying that

486
00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:37.519
he'd miss a lot of business if
he did. While his neighbor was trying

487
00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:42.599
to persuade him, a violent racket
broke out overhead. I've got my wife

488
00:39:42.639 --> 00:39:46.159
locked up and there, explained Wilson, calmly. She's going to stay there

489
00:39:46.199 --> 00:39:52.239
till the day after tomorrow, and
then we're going to move away. Michaelis

490
00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:55.239
was astonished. They had been neighbors
for four years, and Wilson had never

491
00:39:55.280 --> 00:40:00.719
seemed faintly capable of such a statement. Generally, he was one of these

492
00:40:00.760 --> 00:40:04.360
worn out men. When he wasn't
working, he sat on a chair in

493
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:07.199
the doorway and stared at the people
in the cars that passed along the road.

494
00:40:07.960 --> 00:40:13.400
When anyone spoke to him, he
invariably laughed in an agreeable, colorless

495
00:40:13.400 --> 00:40:17.719
way. He was his wife's man, and not his own, so naturally

496
00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:22.960
Michaelis tried to find out what had
happened, but Wilson wouldn't say a word.

497
00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:27.400
Instead, he began to throw curious, suspicious glances at his visitor and

498
00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:31.039
ask him what he'd been doing at
certain times on certain days. Just as

499
00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:36.239
the latter was getting uneasy, some
workmen came past the door, bound for

500
00:40:36.320 --> 00:40:40.239
his restaurant, and Michaelis took the
opportunity to get away, intending to come

501
00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:45.719
back later. But he didn't.
He supposed he forgot to, that's all.

502
00:40:45.239 --> 00:40:50.079
When he came outside again a little
after seven, he was reminded of

503
00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:55.119
the conversation because he heard missus Wilson's
voice loud and scolding downstairs in the garage.

504
00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:00.559
Beat me, he heard her cry, throw me down and beat me,

505
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:06.519
you dirty little coward. A moment
later, she rushed out into the

506
00:41:06.599 --> 00:41:10.199
dusk waving her hands and shouting before
he could move from his door. The

507
00:41:10.280 --> 00:41:15.320
business was over. The death car, as the newspapers called it, didn't

508
00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:21.320
stop. It came out of the
gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment,

509
00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:25.920
and then disappeared around the next bend. Mavre Michaelis wasn't even sure of

510
00:41:25.960 --> 00:41:30.679
its color. He told the first
policeman that it was light green. The

511
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:35.239
other car, the one going toward
New York, came to rest a hundred

512
00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:38.679
yards beyond, and its driver hurried
back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life

513
00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:44.719
violently extinguished, knelt in the road
and mingled her thick, dark blood with

514
00:41:44.800 --> 00:41:49.880
the dust. Michaelis and this man
reached her first, But when they had

515
00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:53.800
torn open her shirt waist, still
damp with perspiration, they saw that her

516
00:41:53.880 --> 00:41:58.960
left breast was swinging loose like a
flap, and there was no need to

517
00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:02.239
listen for the heart beneath. The
mouth was wide open and ripped a little

518
00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:06.719
at the corners, as though she
had choked a little in giving up the

519
00:42:06.760 --> 00:42:13.320
tremendous vitality she had stored so long. We saw the three or four automobiles

520
00:42:13.320 --> 00:42:17.199
in the crowd when we were still
some distance away, wreck, said Tom.

521
00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:22.480
That's good, Wilson, have a
little business at least. He slowed

522
00:42:22.519 --> 00:42:27.679
down, but still without any intention
of stopping, until as we came near,

523
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:32.320
the hushed intent faces of the people
at the garage door made him automatically

524
00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:37.440
put on the brakes. We'll take
a look, he said, doubtfully,

525
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:42.639
just a look. I became aware
now of a hollow, wailing sound which

526
00:42:42.800 --> 00:42:45.880
issued incessantly from the garage, a
sound which, as we got out of

527
00:42:45.920 --> 00:42:51.719
the coop and walked toward the door, resolved itself into the words, oh

528
00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:57.719
my God, uttered over and over
in a gasping moan. There's some bad

529
00:42:57.800 --> 00:43:01.880
trouble here, said Tom excitedly.
He reached up on tiptoes and peered over

530
00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:06.599
a circle of heads into the garage, which was lit only by a yellow

531
00:43:06.679 --> 00:43:10.639
light in a swinging metal basket overhead. Then he made a harsh sound in

532
00:43:10.719 --> 00:43:15.679
his throat, and with a violent
thrusting movement of his powerful arms, pushed

533
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:21.840
his way through the circle, closed
up again with a running murmur of expostulation.

534
00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:25.559
It was a minute before I could
see anything at all. Then new

535
00:43:25.639 --> 00:43:31.559
arrivals deranged the line, and Jordan
and I were pushed suddenly inside myrtle.

536
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:36.920
Wilson's body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as

537
00:43:36.920 --> 00:43:39.480
though she suffered from a chill.
In the hot night, lay on a

538
00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:44.079
work table by the wall, and
Tom, with his back to us,

539
00:43:44.280 --> 00:43:50.400
was bending over it motionless. Next
to him stood a motorcycle policeman taking down

540
00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:54.280
names with much sweat and correction in
a little book. At first I couldn't

541
00:43:54.320 --> 00:43:59.920
find the source of the high,
groaning words that echoed clamorously through the bare

542
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:04.840
garage. Then I saw Wilson standing
on the raised threshold of his office,

543
00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:09.599
swaying back and forth and holding to
the doorposts with both hands. Some man

544
00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:14.559
was talking to him in a low
voice and attempting from time to time to

545
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:19.360
lay a hand on his shoulder,
but Wilson neither heard nor saw. His

546
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:22.519
eyes would drop slowly from the swinging
light to the laden table by the wall,

547
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:28.119
and then jerk back to the light
again, and he gave out incessantly

548
00:44:28.239 --> 00:44:34.800
his high, horrible call, oh
my god, Oh my god, Oh

549
00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:38.840
my god, oh my God.
Presently Tom lifted his head with a jerk,

550
00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:44.880
and, after staring around the garage
with glazed eyes, addressed a mumbled

551
00:44:44.960 --> 00:44:51.239
incoherent remark to the policeman. M
A v. The policeman was saying,

552
00:44:51.920 --> 00:45:00.400
oh, no R corrected the man
m A V R. O listen to

553
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:07.920
me, muttered Tom, fiercely are
The policeman said, oh, gee gee.

554
00:45:07.920 --> 00:45:12.920
He looked up as Tom's broad hand
fell sharply on his shoulder. What

555
00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:15.239
do you want, fella, what
happened? That's what I want to know.

556
00:45:16.159 --> 00:45:22.119
Bouto hit her? Instantly, killed, instantly killed, repeated Tom,

557
00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:27.119
staring. She ran out in a
row, son of a bitch, didn't

558
00:45:27.159 --> 00:45:31.519
even stop us car. There was
two cars, said michaelis one coming,

559
00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:37.679
one going? See going? Where? Asked the policeman, keenly, one

560
00:45:37.800 --> 00:45:42.360
going each way? Well, she
his hand rose toward the blankets, but

561
00:45:42.559 --> 00:45:45.760
stopped halfway and fell to his side. She ran out. And there's one

562
00:45:45.800 --> 00:45:50.519
of them coming from New York,
knocking right into it, going thirty or

563
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:54.039
forty miles an hour. What's the
name of this place here, demanded the

564
00:45:54.079 --> 00:46:00.320
officer hasn't got any name. A
pale, well dressed negro stepped near.

565
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:05.760
It was a yellow car, he
said, big yellow car. Knew see

566
00:46:05.800 --> 00:46:08.480
the accident, asked the policeman.
No, but the car passed me.

567
00:46:08.599 --> 00:46:14.599
Down on the road going faster and
forty going fifty sixty. Come here and

568
00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:16.760
let's have your name. Look out
now, I want to get his name.

569
00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:22.280
Some words of this conversation must have
reached Wilson, swaying in the office

570
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:29.159
door, for suddenly a new theme
found voice among his grasping cries. You

571
00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:31.280
don't have to tell me what kind
of car it was. I know what

572
00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:37.280
kind of car. Was watching Tom. I saw the wad of muscles back

573
00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:40.360
of his shoulder tightened under his coat. He walked quickly over to Wilson,

574
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:45.320
and, standing in front of him, seized him firmly by the upper arms.

575
00:46:45.079 --> 00:46:49.880
You've got to pull yourself together,
he said, with soothing gruffness.

576
00:46:50.519 --> 00:46:54.320
Wilson's eyes fell upon Tom. He
started up on his tiptoes and then would

577
00:46:54.320 --> 00:47:00.280
have collapsed to his knees had not
Tom held him upright. Listen, said

578
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:02.719
Tom, shaking him a little.
I just got here a minute ago from

579
00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:07.639
New York. I was bringing you
that coop we've been talking about. That

580
00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:10.800
yellow car I was driving this afternoon
wasn't mine, do you hear? I

581
00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:15.320
haven't been in it all afternoon.
Only the Negro and I were near enough

582
00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:19.880
to hear what he said, But
the policeman caught something in the tone and

583
00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:24.320
looked over with truculent eyes. Well
what's all that, he demanded, I'm

584
00:47:24.320 --> 00:47:29.039
a friend of his. Tom turned
his head but kept his hands firm on

585
00:47:29.119 --> 00:47:32.239
Wilson's body. He says he knows
the car that did it. It was

586
00:47:32.280 --> 00:47:38.039
a yellow car. Some dim impulse
moved the policeman to look suspiciously at Tom.

587
00:47:38.800 --> 00:47:44.440
And what colors your car? It's
a blue car, a coup We've

588
00:47:44.440 --> 00:47:47.000
come straight from New York, I
said. Someone who had been driving a

589
00:47:47.039 --> 00:47:52.760
little behind us confirmed this, and
the policeman turned away. Now, if

590
00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:57.159
you'll let me have that name again? Correct. Picking up Wilson like a

591
00:47:57.239 --> 00:48:00.159
doll, Tom carried him into the
office, set him down in a chair,

592
00:48:00.199 --> 00:48:05.000
and came back. If somebody'll come
here and sit down with him,

593
00:48:05.079 --> 00:48:09.880
he snapped authoritatively. We watched a
while while the two men standing closest glanced

594
00:48:09.880 --> 00:48:15.039
at each other and went unwillingly into
the room. Then Tom shut the door

595
00:48:15.079 --> 00:48:19.320
on them and came down the single
step, his eyes avoiding the table.

596
00:48:20.039 --> 00:48:23.559
As he passed close to me,
he whispered, let's get out, self

597
00:48:23.599 --> 00:48:30.639
consciously with the authoritative arms breaking the
way We pushed through the still gathering crowd,

598
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:35.199
passing a hurried doctor case in hand, who had been sent for in

599
00:48:35.320 --> 00:48:39.440
wild Hope half an hour ago.
Tom drove slowly until we were beyond the

600
00:48:39.519 --> 00:48:44.920
bend, and then his foot came
down hard, and the coop raced along

601
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:47.480
through the night. In a little
while, I heard a low, husky

602
00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:54.119
sob and saw that the tears were
overflowing down his face. Goddamn coward,

603
00:48:54.360 --> 00:49:00.679
he whimpered. He didn't even stop
his car to Cannon's house, floated suddenly

604
00:49:00.719 --> 00:49:06.039
toward us through the dark, rustling
trees. Tom stopped beside the porch and

605
00:49:06.159 --> 00:49:09.519
looked up at the second floor,
where two windows bloomed with light among the

606
00:49:09.599 --> 00:49:14.719
vines. Daisy's home, he said. As we got out of the car,

607
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:17.360
he glanced at me and frowned slightly. I ought to have dropped you

608
00:49:17.400 --> 00:49:22.920
in West egg Nick. There's nothing
we can do tonight. A change had

609
00:49:22.920 --> 00:49:27.639
come over him, and he spoke
gravely and with decision. As we walked

610
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:30.880
across the moonlight gravel to the porch. He disposed of the situation in a

611
00:49:30.920 --> 00:49:36.400
few brisk phrases. I'll telephone for
a taxi to take you home, And

612
00:49:36.519 --> 00:49:38.920
while you're waiting. You and Jordan
better go in the kitchen and have them

613
00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:44.159
get you some supper, if you
want any. He opened the door.

614
00:49:44.599 --> 00:49:47.480
Come in, No thanks, but
I'd be glad if you'd order me the

615
00:49:47.519 --> 00:49:52.840
taxi. I'll wait outside. Jordan
put her hand on my arm. Won't

616
00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:58.159
you come in? Nick? No
thanks. I was feeling a little sick

617
00:49:58.159 --> 00:50:01.000
and I wanted to be alone.
But Jordan lingered for a moment. More.

618
00:50:01.800 --> 00:50:07.039
It's only half past nine, she
said, I'd be damned if I'd

619
00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:10.079
go in. I'd had enough of
all of them for one day, and

620
00:50:10.239 --> 00:50:15.000
suddenly that included Jordan too. She
must have seen something of this in my

621
00:50:15.079 --> 00:50:20.159
expression, for she turned abruptly away
and ran up the porch steps into the

622
00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:23.039
house. I sat down for a
few minutes with my head in my hands,

623
00:50:23.400 --> 00:50:28.360
until I heard the phone taken up
inside and the butler's voice calling a

624
00:50:28.480 --> 00:50:32.519
taxi. Then I walked slowly down
the drive away from the house, intending

625
00:50:32.559 --> 00:50:37.599
to wait by the gate. I
hadn't gone twenty yards when I heard my

626
00:50:37.719 --> 00:50:42.599
name, and Gatsby stepped from between
two bushes into the path. I must

627
00:50:42.599 --> 00:50:45.280
have felt pretty weird by that time, because I could think of nothing except

628
00:50:45.320 --> 00:50:50.920
the luminosity of his pink suit under
the moon. What are you doing,

629
00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:55.760
I inquired, But just standing here
old sport. Somehow that seemed a despicable

630
00:50:55.800 --> 00:51:00.440
occupation. For all I knew he
was going to rob the house in a

631
00:51:00.480 --> 00:51:05.119
moment, I wouldn't have been surprised
to see sinister faces, the faces of

632
00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:09.559
Wolfsheim's people standing behind him in the
dark shrubbery. Did you see any trouble

633
00:51:09.599 --> 00:51:14.840
on the road, he asked after
a minute, Yes, he hesitated.

634
00:51:15.880 --> 00:51:21.719
Was she killed? Yes? I
thought so, I told Daisy. I

635
00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:25.400
thought so. It's better that the
shock should all come at once. She

636
00:51:25.559 --> 00:51:30.920
stood it pretty well. He spoke, as if Daisy's reaction was the only

637
00:51:30.960 --> 00:51:34.840
thing that mattered. I got the
west Egg by a side road. He

638
00:51:34.880 --> 00:51:38.559
went on and left the car in
my garage. I don't think anybody saw

639
00:51:38.599 --> 00:51:44.639
us, but of course I can't
be sure. I disliked him so much

640
00:51:44.679 --> 00:51:47.480
by this time that I didn't find
it necessary to tell him he was wrong.

641
00:51:49.679 --> 00:51:52.559
Who was the woman? He inquired? Her name was Wilson. Her

642
00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:59.280
husband owns the garage. How the
devil did it happen? Well? I

643
00:51:59.440 --> 00:52:02.599
tried to swing the wheel, he
broke off and suddenly I guessed at the

644
00:52:02.639 --> 00:52:08.079
truth. Was Daisy driving, Yes, he said, after a moment,

645
00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:13.159
But of course I'll say I was. You see, when we left New

646
00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:15.840
York, she was very nervous and
thought it would steady her to drive.

647
00:52:16.719 --> 00:52:21.320
And this woman rushed out at us
just as we were passing a car coming

648
00:52:21.360 --> 00:52:24.119
the other way. It all happened
in a minute, but it seemed to

649
00:52:24.159 --> 00:52:28.960
me that she wanted to speak to
us, thought we were somebody she knew

650
00:52:29.639 --> 00:52:34.079
well. First Daisy turned away from
the woman toward the other car, and

651
00:52:34.119 --> 00:52:37.079
then she lost her nerve and turned
back. The second in my hand reached

652
00:52:37.079 --> 00:52:40.840
the wheel. I felt the shock. It must have killed her instantly.

653
00:52:42.800 --> 00:52:47.840
It ripped her open. Don't tell
me old sport, he winced. Anyhow,

654
00:52:49.519 --> 00:52:52.880
Daisy stepped on it. I tried
to make her stop, but she

655
00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:57.280
couldn't, so I pulled on the
emergency brake. Then she fell over into

656
00:52:57.280 --> 00:53:00.760
my lap and I drove on.
She'll be all right tomorrow, he said.

657
00:53:00.840 --> 00:53:05.320
Presently. I'm just going to wait
here and see if he tries to

658
00:53:05.360 --> 00:53:09.239
bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. She's locked herself into her room,

659
00:53:09.440 --> 00:53:14.159
and if he tries any brutality,
she's going to turn the light out and

660
00:53:14.280 --> 00:53:17.719
on again. He won't touch her, I said, he's not thinking about

661
00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:22.000
her. I don't trust em,
old Sport. How long are you going

662
00:53:22.039 --> 00:53:27.599
to wait all night, if necessary, anyhow, till they all go to

663
00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:31.400
bed. A new point of view
occurred to me. Suppose Tom found out

664
00:53:31.440 --> 00:53:36.559
that Daisy had been driving. He
might think he saw a connection in it.

665
00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:40.039
He might think anything. I looked
at the house. There were two

666
00:53:40.119 --> 00:53:45.159
or three bright windows downstairs, and
the pink glow from Daisy's room on the

667
00:53:45.199 --> 00:53:49.599
ground floor. You wait here,
I said, I'll see if there's any

668
00:53:49.639 --> 00:53:52.519
sign of a commotion. I walked
back along the border of the lawn,

669
00:53:52.800 --> 00:53:58.920
traversed the gravel softly, and tiptoed
up the veranda steps. The drawing room

670
00:53:58.960 --> 00:54:01.719
curtains were open, and I saw
that the room was empty. Crossing the

671
00:54:01.719 --> 00:54:06.519
porch where we had dined that June
night, three months before, I came

672
00:54:06.559 --> 00:54:09.400
to a small rectangle of light,
which I guessed was the pantry window.

673
00:54:10.119 --> 00:54:15.480
The blind was drawn, but I
found a rift at the sill. Daisy

674
00:54:15.519 --> 00:54:19.119
and Tom were sitting opposite each other
at the kitchen table, with a plate

675
00:54:19.159 --> 00:54:22.239
of cold fried chicken between them,
and two bottles of ale. He was

676
00:54:22.280 --> 00:54:27.559
talking intently across the table adder,
and in his earnestness, his hand had

677
00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:30.800
fallen upon and covered her own.
Once in a while. She looked up

678
00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:36.320
at him and nodded in agreement.
They weren't happy, and neither of them

679
00:54:36.320 --> 00:54:40.159
had touched the chicken or the ale, And yet they weren't unhappy either.

680
00:54:40.960 --> 00:54:45.880
There was an unmistakable air of natural
intimacy about the picture, and anybody would

681
00:54:45.920 --> 00:54:51.199
have said that they were conspiring together. As I tiptoed from the porch,

682
00:54:51.360 --> 00:54:54.039
I heard my taxi feeling its way
along the dark road toward the house.

683
00:54:54.760 --> 00:54:59.480
Gatsby was waiting where I had left
him in the drive. Is it all

684
00:54:59.559 --> 00:55:05.599
quiet there, he asked anxiously,
Yes, it's all quiet, I hesitated.

685
00:55:05.920 --> 00:55:08.519
You better come home and get some
sleep. He shook his head.

686
00:55:09.039 --> 00:55:13.239
I want to wait here till Daisy
goes to bed. Good night, old

687
00:55:13.239 --> 00:55:16.480
Sport. He put his hands in
his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to

688
00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:21.440
his scrutiny of the house. As
though my presence marred the sacredness of the

689
00:55:21.519 --> 00:55:24.920
vigil. So I walked away and
left him standing there in the moonlight,

690
00:55:25.559 --> 00:55:30.239
watching over nothing. End of chapter
seven,