WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:04.919 Chapter five of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When I came 2 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.719 home to West Egg that night, I was afraid for a moment that my 3 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:12.160 house was on fire. Two o'clock and the whole corner of the peninsula was 4 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:17.320 blazing with light which fell unreal on the shrubbery and made thin, elongating glints 5 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.960 upon the roadside wires. Turning a corner, I saw that it was Gatsby's 6 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.879 house, lit from tower to cellar. At first I thought it was another 7 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:30.399 party, a wild route that had resolved itself into hide and go seek or 8 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.719 sardines in the box, with all the house thrown open to the game. 9 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:39.240 But there wasn't a sound, only wind in the trees, which blew the 10 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.719 wires and made the lights go off and on again, as if the house 11 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:47.840 had winked into the darkness. As my taxi groaned away, I saw Gatsby 12 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:52.719 walking toward me across his lawn. Your place looks like the World's fair, 13 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.880 I said, does it. He turned his eyes toward it absently. I've 14 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:00.840 been glancing into some of the rooms. Let's go to Coney Island, Old 15 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:07.000 Sport in my car. It's too late. We'll suppose we take a plunge 16 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.920 in the swimming pool. I haven't made use of it all summer. I've 17 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:14.879 got to go to bed, all right, he waited, looking at me 18 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:19.079 with suppressed eagerness. I talked with miss Baker, I said, after a 19 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:22.480 moment, I'm going to call up Daisy tomorrow and bite her over here to 20 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.000 tea. Oh that's all right, he said, carelessly. I don't want 21 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.959 to put you to any trouble. What day would suit you? What day 22 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.599 would suit you? He corrected me quickly. I don't want to put you 23 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:38.760 to any trouble. You see, how about the day after tomorrow? He 24 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.599 considered for a moment, then with reluctance, I want to get the grass 25 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:47.319 cut, he said. We both looked down at the grass. There was 26 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.840 a sharp line where my ragged lawn ended and the darker, well kept expanse 27 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:57.920 of his began. I suspected that he meant my grass. There's another little 28 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:02.000 thing, he said, uncertainly and hesitated. Would you rather put it off 29 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:07.719 for a few days? I asked, Oh, it isn't about that at 30 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:12.000 least. He fumbled with a series of beginnings. Why, I thought, 31 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.599 Why look here, old Sport, you don't make much money? Do you 32 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:21.159 not very much? This seemed to reassure him, and he continued more confidently. 33 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:24.360 But I thought you didn't. If you'll pardon my You see, I 34 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:29.000 carry on a little business on the side, a sort of sideline, you 35 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:32.599 understand. I thought that if you don't make very much, you're selling bonds, 36 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:38.000 aren't you? Old sport? Trying to well? This would interest you. 37 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:40.560 It wouldn't take up much of your time, and you might pick up 38 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:45.280 a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of 39 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:50.400 thing. I realized now that under different circumstances, that conversation might have been 40 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:53.919 one of the crises of my life. But because the offer was obviously and 41 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:59.400 tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no choice except to cut 42 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.719 him off. There. I've got my hands full, I said, I'm 43 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:07.360 much obliged, but I couldn't take on any more work. You wouldn't have 44 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.800 to do any business with wolfsheim. Evidently he thought that I was shying away 45 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:15.319 from the connection mentioned at lunch, but I assured him he was wrong. 46 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:20.639 He waited a moment longer, hoping I had begin a conversation, but I 47 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:24.879 was too absorbed to be responsive, so he went unwillingly home. The evening 48 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:29.639 had made me light headed and happy. I think I walked into a deep 49 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.199 sleep as I entered my front door. So I don't know whether or not 50 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:38.520 Gatsby went to Coney Island, or for how many hours he glanced into rooms 51 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:43.520 while his house blazed gaudily on. I called up Daisy from the office next 52 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:46.800 morning and invited her to come to tea. Don't bring Tom, I warned 53 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:53.639 her, what don't bring Tom? Who's Tom? She asked innocently. The 54 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:58.759 day agreed upon was pouring rain. At eleven o'clock, a man in a 55 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.520 raincoat, dragging along on more tapped at my front door and said that mister 56 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:05.199 Gatsby had sent him over to cut my grass. This reminded me that I 57 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:09.800 had forgotten to tell my Fin to come back, so I drove into West 58 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:13.879 Egg Village to search for her among soggy, whitewashed alleys, and to buy 59 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.800 some cups and lemons and flowers. The flowers were unnecessary, for at two 60 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:25.040 o'clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby's with innumerable receptacles to contain it. An hour 61 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:29.120 later, the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel 62 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:33.120 suit, silver shirt, and gold colored tie, hurried in. He was 63 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:38.920 pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes. Is everything 64 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:43.000 all right, he asked immediately. The grass looks fine, if that's what 65 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:47.319 you mean. What grass? He inquired blankly, Oh, the grass in 66 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:50.720 the yard. He looked out the window at it, but judging from his 67 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:56.399 expression, I don't believe he saw a thing. Looks very good, he 68 00:04:56.439 --> 00:05:00.480 remarked vaguely. One of the papers said that he thought the rain would stop 69 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:03.160 about four. I think it was the Journal. Have you got everything you 70 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:08.759 need? In the shape of tea? I took him into the pantry, 71 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:13.560 where he looked a little reproachfully at the fin Together we scrutinized the twelve lemmon 72 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:17.600 cakes from the delicatessen shop. Will they do, I asked, Of course, 73 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:23.920 of course they're fine, and he added hollowly, old sport. The 74 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.439 rain cooled about half past three to a damp mist, through which occasional fin 75 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:32.519 drops swam like dew. Gatsby looked with vacant eyes through a copy of Clay's 76 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.879 Economics, starting at the finished tread that shook the kitchen floor, and peering 77 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:43.160 towards the bleared windows from time to time as if a series of invisible but 78 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:47.360 alarming happenings were taking place outside. Finally, he got up and informed me 79 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:54.079 in an uncertain voice that he was going home. Why's that nobody's coming to 80 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:57.639 tea? It's too late. He looked at his watch, as if there 81 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:00.879 was some pressing demand on his time elsewhere. I can't wait all day. 82 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:05.879 Don't be silly, it's just two minutes to four. He sat down miserably, 83 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:10.439 as if I had pushed him, and simultaneously there was the sound of 84 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:15.120 a motor turning into my lane. We both jumped up and a little harrowed 85 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:18.759 myself. I went out into the yard under the dripping, bare lilac trees. 86 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:24.279 A large open car was coming up the drive. It stopped. Daisy's 87 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:28.279 face, tipped sideways beneath a three cornered lavender hat, looked out at me 88 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:32.319 with a bright, ecstatic smile. Is this absolutely where you live, my 89 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:36.920 dearest one? The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the 90 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.000 rain. I had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up 91 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:46.120 and down with my ear alone Before any words came through. A damp streak 92 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.720 of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek, and her 93 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.199 hand was wet with glistening drops as I took it to help her from the 94 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:57.160 car. Are you in love with me? She said, low in my 95 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.160 ear? Or why did I have to come alone? That's a secret of 96 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.920 Castle Rack. Rent. Tell your chauffeur to go far away and spend an 97 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:09.079 hour. Come back in an hour, Ferdy, then, in a grave 98 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:15.480 murmur, his name is Ferdy. Does the gasoline effect his nose? I 99 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:19.240 don't think so, she said, innocently. Why we went in? To 100 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:25.560 my overwhelming surprise, the living room was deserted. Well, that's funny, 101 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:29.839 I exclaimed, what's funny? She turned her head. As there was a 102 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:32.720 light, dignified knocking at the front door. I went out and opened it. 103 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:36.639 Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his 104 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:41.839 coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water, glaring tragically into my 105 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.120 eyes. With his hand still in his coat pockets. He stalked by me 106 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:48.879 into the hall, turned sharply as if he were on a wire, and 107 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:55.279 disappeared into the living room. It wasn't a bit funny. Aware of the 108 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.439 loud beating of my own heart, I pulled the door too against the increasing 109 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:03.720 rain. For half a minute there wasn't a sound. Then from the living 110 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:07.639 room I heard a sort of choking murmur and part of a laugh, followed 111 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:11.879 by Daisy's voice on a clear artificial note. I certainly am awfully glad to 112 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:16.959 see you again. A pause. It endured horribly. I had nothing to 113 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.560 do in the hall, so I went into the room. Gatsby, his 114 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:26.399 hand still in his pockets, was reclined against the mantelpiece in a strained counterfeit 115 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:31.839 of perfect ease, even of boredom. His head leaned back so far that 116 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:35.440 it rested against the face of a defunct mantelpiece clock, and from this position, 117 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.240 his distraught eyes stared down at Daisy, who was sitting frightened but graceful 118 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:46.600 on the edge of a stiff chair. We've met before, muttered Gatsby. 119 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:50.440 His eyes glanced momentarily at me, and his lips parted with an abortive attempt 120 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:56.000 at a laugh. Luckily, the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at 121 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:00.000 the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers 122 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:05.000 and set it back in place. Then he sat down rigidly, his elbows 123 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.080 on the arm of the sofa and his chin in his hand. I'm sorry 124 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:13.000 about the clock, he said, My own face had now assumed a deep 125 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.799 tropical burn. I couldn't muster up a single commonplace out of the thousand in 126 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.440 my head. It's an old clock, I told him, idiotically. I 127 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.879 think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the 128 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:30.279 floor. Oh, we haven't meant for many years, said Daisy, her 129 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:35.200 voice as matter of fact as it could ever be. Five years next November. 130 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.759 The automatic quality of Gatsby's answer set us all back at least another minute. 131 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:43.679 I had them both on their feet with a desperate suggestion that they helped 132 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:48.519 me make tea in the kitchen. When the demoniac Finn brought it in on 133 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:52.720 a tray. Amid the welcome confusion of cups and cakes, a certain physical 134 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:58.000 decency established itself. Gatsby got himself into a shadow, and while Daisy and 135 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:03.720 I talked conscientiously from one to the other, of us with tense, unhappy 136 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:07.320 eyes. However, as calmness wasn't an end in itself. I made an 137 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.679 excuse at the first possible moment and got to my feet. Where are you 138 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:18.159 going, demanded Gatsby an immediate alarm. I'll be back. I've got to 139 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:22.279 speak to you about something before you go. He followed me wildly into the 140 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.480 kitchen, closed the door, and whispered, oh God, in a miserable 141 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:31.519 way. What's the matter. This is a terrible mistake, he said, 142 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:37.159 shaking his head from side to side, A terrible, terrible mistake. You're 143 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:43.039 just embarrassed, that's all. And luckily, I added, Daisy's embarrassed too. 144 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:48.559 She's embarrassed, he repeated, incredulously, just as much as you are. 145 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.279 Don't talk so loud. You're acting like a little boy, I broke 146 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:56.840 out impatiently. Not only that, but you're rude. Daisy's sitting in there 147 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:01.080 all alone. He raised his hand to stop my words, looked at me 148 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:05.639 with unforgettable reproach, and, opening the door, cautiously, went back into 149 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:11.080 the other room. I walked out the back way, just as Gatsby had 150 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.360 when he had made his nervous circuit of the house half an hour before, 151 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:18.639 and ran for a huge black knotted tree, whose massed leaves made a fabric 152 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.159 against the rain. Once more, it was pouring, and my irregular lawn, 153 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:28.639 well shaved by a Gatsby's gardener, abounded in small muddy swamps and prehistoric 154 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:33.600 marshes. There was nothing to look at from under the tree except Gatsby's enormous 155 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:39.440 house. So I stared at it like Kant at his church steeple, for 156 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.120 half an hour. A brewer had built it early in the period craze, 157 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:48.320 a decade before, and there was a story that he'd agreed to pay five 158 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.159 years taxes on all the neighboring cottages if the owners would have their roofs thatched 159 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:58.039 with straw. Perhaps their refusal took the heart out of his plan to found 160 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:03.600 a family, so he went into an immediate decline. His children sold his 161 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.879 house, with the black wreath still on the door. Americans, while willing, 162 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:13.159 even eager to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry. 163 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:18.200 After half an hour, the sun shone again, and the grocer's automobile rounded 164 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:22.360 Gatsby's drive with the raw material for his servants dinner. I felt sure he 165 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:28.200 wouldn't eat a spoonful a maid began opening the upper windows of his house, 166 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.159 appeared momentarily in each, and leaning from the large central bay, spat meditatively 167 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:39.440 into the garden. It was time I went back, while the rain continued. 168 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.360 It had seemed like the murmur of their voices, rising and swelling a 169 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.840 little now and then with gusts of emotion. But in the new silence, 170 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:52.440 I felt that silence had fallen within the house too. I went in after 171 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:56.200 making every possible noise in the kitchen, short of pushing over the stove. 172 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:01.879 But I don't believe they heard a sound. They were sitting at either end 173 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:05.200 of the couch, looking at each other as if some question had been asked 174 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:09.559 or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone. Daisy's 175 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.440 face was smeared with tears, and when I came in, she jumped up 176 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.679 and began wiping at it with her handkerchief before a mirror. But there was 177 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:24.559 a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He literally glowed, without a 178 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.519 word or a gesture of exultation. A new well being radiated from him and 179 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:33.600 filled the little room. Oh hello, old Sport, he said, as 180 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:37.840 if he hadn't seen me for years. I thought for a moment he was 181 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:43.240 going to shake hands. It stopped raining, has it? When he realized 182 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.720 what I was talking about, that there were twinkle bells of sunshine in the 183 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.279 room, He smiled like a weather man, like an ecstatic patron of recurrent 184 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:54.799 light, and repeated the news to Daisy. Well, what do you think 185 00:13:54.840 --> 00:14:00.360 of that it stopped raining? I'm glad, Jay, her throat full of 186 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:05.519 aching, grieving Beauty told only of her unexpected joy. I want you and 187 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:07.639 Daisy to come over to my house, he said, I'd like to show 188 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:13.519 her around. You're sure you want me to come? Absolutely old sport. 189 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.840 Daisy went upstairs to wash her face, too late, I thought, with 190 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.279 humiliation of my towels, while Gatsby and I waited on the lawn. My 191 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:26.840 house looks well, doesn't it? He demanded. See how the whole front 192 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:31.200 of it catches the light. I agreed that it was splendid. Yes. 193 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.360 His eyes went over at every arch door and square tower. It took me 194 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.639 just three years to earn the money that bought it. I thought you inherited 195 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.399 your money. I did, old Sport, he said, automatically, But 196 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.600 I lost most of it in the big panic, the panic of the war. 197 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.639 I think he hardly knew what he was saying. For when I asked 198 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:56.279 him what business he was in, he answered, that's my affair, before 199 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:01.240 he realized that it wasn't an appropriate reply. Oh, I've been in several 200 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.840 things, he corrected himself. I was in the drug business, and that 201 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:07.320 I was in the oil business. But I'm not in either one. Now, 202 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.519 he looked at me with more attention. Do you mean you've been thinking 203 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:16.919 over what I proposed the other night? Before I could answer, Daisy came 204 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:20.679 out of the house and two rows of brass buttons on her dress gleamed in 205 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:26.879 the sunlight. That huge place there, she cried, pointing, do you 206 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:31.039 like it? I love it, but I don't see how you've lived there 207 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.639 all alone. I keep it always full of interesting people day and night, 208 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.960 people who do interesting things, celebrated people. Instead of taking the short cut 209 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.159 along the sound, we went down to the road and entered by the big 210 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:48.279 postern with enchanting murmurs. Daisy admired this aspect, or that of the feudal 211 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:54.240 silhouette against the sky. Admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of the juncules, 212 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.360 and the frothy odor of hawthorne and plum blossoms, and the pale gold 213 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:02.480 odor of kiss me at the gate. It was strange to reach the marble 214 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:06.120 steps and find no stir of bright dresses in and out the door, and 215 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:11.960 hear no sound but bird voices in the trees and inside. As we wandered 216 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.639 through Marie antoinette, music rooms and restoration salons, I felt that there were 217 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:22.600 guests concealed behind every couch and table, under orders to be breathlessly silent until 218 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:27.360 we had passed through. As Gatsby closed the door of the Merton College Library, 219 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:32.559 I could have sworn I heard the allied man break into ghostly laughter. 220 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:38.039 We went upstairs, through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid 221 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:44.720 with new flowers, through dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths 222 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:49.240 intruding into one chamber where a disheveled man in pajamas was doing liver exercises on 223 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:55.720 the floor. It was mister Kilpspringer, the boarder. I had seen him 224 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:00.320 wandering hungrily about the beach that morning. Finally we came into Gatsby his own 225 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:03.160 apartment, a bedroom and a bath and an atom's study, where we sat 226 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.599 down and drank a glass of some chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the 227 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:11.839 wall. He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued 228 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:15.680 everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well 229 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:21.039 loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a 230 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:26.039 dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was 231 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.960 any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs, his 232 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:36.200 bedroom was the simplest room of all, except where the dresser was garnished with 233 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:40.799 a toilet set out of pure dull gold. Daisy took the brush with delight 234 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.559 and smoothed her hair, whereupon Gatsby sat down and shaded his eyes and began 235 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:49.359 to laugh. It's the funniest thing old sport, he said, hilariously. 236 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:56.160 I can't when I try to. He had passed visibly through two states, 237 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.599 and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and unreasoning joy, he 238 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:04.839 was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea, 239 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:10.200 so long dreamed it right through to the end, weighted with his teeth 240 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:15.200 set so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now in the 241 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:21.359 reaction he was running down like an overwhelmed clock. Recovering himself in a minute. 242 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:26.000 He opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and 243 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:30.559 dressing gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks and stacks a 244 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.119 dozen high. I've got a man in England who buys me clothes. He 245 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.880 sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and 246 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:42.440 fall. He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them one by 247 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:48.240 one before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, 248 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:52.599 which lost their folds as they fell, and covered the table in many colored 249 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:56.160 disarray. While we admired, he brought more, and the soft, rich 250 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:02.200 heap mounted higher, shirts with stripes and scrolls, and plaids, and coral 251 00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:07.839 and apple green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, 252 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:12.480 with a strange sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began 253 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:18.559 to cry stormily. They're such beautiful shirts. She sobbed, her voice muffled 254 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:25.480 in the thick folds. It makes me sad, because I've never seen such 255 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:30.079 beautiful shirts before. After the house, we were to see the grounds in 256 00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:34.799 the swimming pool, and the hydroplane in the midsummer flowers. But outside Gatsby's 257 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:38.440 window it began to rain again. So we stood in a row looking at 258 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:42.599 the corrugated surface of the sound. If it wasn't for the mist, we 259 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:47.720 could see your home across the bay, said Gatsby. You always have a 260 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:51.759 green light that burns all night at the end of your dock. Daisy put 261 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:55.759 her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just 262 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:00.920 said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significant of that light 263 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:06.680 had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from 264 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:11.039 Daisy, it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It 265 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:15.440 had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again 266 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:19.880 a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by 267 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:26.920 one. I began to walk about the room, examining various indefinite objects in 268 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:32.160 the half darkness. A large photograph of an elderly man in yachting costume attracted 269 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:37.240 me hung on the wall over his desk. Who's this That that's mister Dan 270 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:42.720 Cody old Sport. The name sounded faintly familiar. He's dead now. He 271 00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:47.759 used to be my best friend years ago. There was a small picture of 272 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:52.400 Gatsby, also in yachting costume, on the bureau, Gatsby with his head 273 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:56.680 thrown back, defiantly, taken apparently when he was about eighteen. I adore 274 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.759 it, exclaimed Daisy, the pampa door. You never told me you had 275 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:07.319 a pompadour or a yacht. Look at this, said Gatsby quickly. Here's 276 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.319 a lot of clippings about you. They stood side by side, examining it. 277 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:15.720 I was going to ask to see the rubies when the phone rang and 278 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:19.440 Gatsby took up the receiver. Yes, well, I can't talk now. 279 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:23.160 I can't talk now, old Sport, I said, a small town. 280 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.279 He must know what a small town is. Well, he's no use to 281 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:32.519 us if Detroit is his idea of a small town. He rang off. 282 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:37.400 Come here, quick, cried Daisy at the window. The rain was still 283 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.519 falling, but the darkness had parted in the west, and there was a 284 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:45.119 pink and golden billow of foamy clouds above the sea. Look at that, 285 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:48.519 she whispered, And then after a moment, I'd like to just get one 286 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:52.480 of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around. I 287 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.480 tried to go then, but they wouldn't hear of it. Perhaps my presence 288 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:02.960 made them feel more satisfactorily alone. I know what we'll do, said Gatsby. 289 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:07.720 We'll have Kilpspringer play the piano. He went out of the room, 290 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.759 calling youing, and returned in a few minutes, accompanied by an embarrassed, 291 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:18.079 slightly worn young man with shell rimmed glasses and scanty blonde hair. He was 292 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:23.039 now decently clothed in a sports shirt open at the neck, sneakers, and 293 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:30.039 duck trousers of a nebulous hue. Did we interrupt your exercise, inquired Daisy 294 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:36.039 politely. I was asleep, cried mister Kilpspringer, in a spasm of embarrassment. 295 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.960 That is, I'd been asleep. Then I got up. Kilpspringer plays 296 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:44.279 the piano, said Gatsby, cutting him off. Don't you you in old 297 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:48.240 sport? I don't play well. I don't hardly play at all. I'm 298 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:52.599 all out of crack. We'll go downstairs, interrupted Gatsby. He flipped a 299 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:57.200 switch. The gray windows disappeared as the house glowed full of light. In 300 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:02.519 the music room, Gatsby turned on a solitary lamp beside the piano. He 301 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:06.640 lit Daisy cigarette from a trembling match, and sat down with her on a 302 00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:10.799 couch far across the room, where there was no light save what the gleaming 303 00:23:10.839 --> 00:23:15.519 floor bounced in from the hall. When Kilpspringer had played The Love Nest, 304 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.839 he turned round on the bench and searched unhappily for Gatsby in the gloom. 305 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:23.160 I'm all out of practice, you see, I told you I couldn't play. 306 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:26.200 I'm all out of prack. Don't talk so much, Old Sport, 307 00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:33.119 commanded Gatsby. Play in the mornin in the evenin, ain't we got faun? 308 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:37.200 Outside? The wind was loud, and there was a faint glowing of 309 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:41.400 thunder along the sound. All the lights were going on in West egg now 310 00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:47.160 the electric trains men carrying were plunging home through the rain from New York. 311 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:52.519 It was the hour of a profound human change, and excitement was generating on 312 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.480 the air. One thing sure and nothing sure. The rich get richer, 313 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:03.279 and the poor get children in the meantime in between time. As I went 314 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:07.319 over to say goodbye, I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back 315 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:11.359 into Gatsby's face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to 316 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:18.039 the quality of his present happiness. Almost five years there must have been moments, 317 00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:22.480 even that afternoon, when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams, not through 318 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:26.519 her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It 319 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:32.000 had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with 320 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:36.279 a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking an owl with 321 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:41.160 every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can 322 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:47.319 challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart. As I watched 323 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:51.880 him, he adjusted himself a little visibly. His hand took hold of hers, 324 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.599 and as she said something low in his ear, he turned toward her 325 00:24:55.640 --> 00:25:00.440 with a rush of emotion. I think that voice held him most with its 326 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:06.799 fluctuating, feverish warmth, because it couldn't be over dreamed. That voice was 327 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:11.480 a deathless song. They had forgotten me. But Daisy glanced up and held 328 00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:17.119 out her hand Gatsby didn't know me now at all. I looked once more 329 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:22.000 at them, and they looked back at me, remotely possessed by intense life. 330 00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:26.000 Then I went out of the room and down the marble steps into the 331 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:30.839 rain, leaving them there together. End of Chapter five.