Oh Jake, Brett said, We could have had such a damned good time together.Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly, pressing Brett against me.Yes, I said. Isnt it pretty to think so?
she said. “You’ll be all right.”
“I’m not getting drunk,” I said. “I’m just drinking a little wine. I
like to drink wine.”
“Don’t get drunk,” she said. “Jake, don’t get drunk.”
“Want to go for a ride?” I said. “Want to ride through the town?”
“Right,” Brett said. “I haven’t seen Madrid. I should see Madrid.”
“I’ll finish this,” I said.
Down-stairs we came out through the first-floor dining-room to the
street. A waiter went for a taxi. It was hot and bright. Up the street
was a little square with trees and grass where there were taxis parked.
A taxi came up the street, the waiter hanging out at the side. I tipped
him and told the driver where to drive, and got in beside Brett. The
driver started up the street. I settled back. Brett moved close to me.
We sat close against each other. I put my arm around her and she rested
against me comfortably. It was very hot and bright, and the houses
looked sharply white. We turned out onto the Gran Via.
“Oh, Jake,” Brett said, “we could have had such a damned good time
together.”
Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his
baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.
“Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious printing errors have been silently corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation, spelling and punctuation have been
preserved.
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Never fall in love?Always, said the count. I am always in love.
“You see them?”
Below the line where his ribs stopped were two raised white welts. “See
on the back where they come out.” Above the small of the back were the
same two scars, raised as thick as a finger.
“I say. Those are something.”
“Clean through.”
The count was tucking in his shirt.
“Where did you get those?” I asked.
“In Abyssinia. When I was twenty-one years old.”
“What were you doing?” asked Brett. “Were you in the army?”
“I was on a business trip, my dear.”
“I told you he was one of us. Didn’t I?” Brett turned to me. “I love
you, count. You’re a darling.”
“You make me very happy, my dear. But it isn’t true.”
“Don’t be an ass.”
“You see, Mr. Barnes, it is because I have lived very much that now I
can enjoy everything so well. Don’t you find it like that?”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
“I know,” said the count. “That is the secret. You must get to know the
values.”
“Doesn’t anything ever happen to your values?” Brett asked.
“No. Not any more.”
“Never fall in love?”
“Always,” said the count. “I am always in love.”
“What does that do to your values?”
“That, too, has got a place in my values.”
“You haven’t any values. You’re dead, that’s all.”
“No, my dear. You’re not right. I’m not dead at all.”
We drank three bottles of the champagne and the count left the basket in
my kitchen. We dined at a restaurant in the Bois. It was a good dinner.
Food had an excellent place in the count’s values. So did wine. The
count was in fine form during the meal. So was Brett. It was a good
party.
“Where would you like to go?” asked the count after dinner. We were the
only people left in the restaurant. The two waiters were standing over
against the door. They wanted to go home.
“We might go up on the hill,” Brett said. “Haven’t we had a splendid
party?”
The count was beaming. He was very happy.
“You are very nice people,” he said. He was smoking a cigar again. “Why
don’t you get married, you two?”
“We want to lead our own lives,” I said.
“We have our careers,” Brett said.
Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters.
You can see all the
South Americans you want in Paris anyway.”
“They’re not the real South Americans.”
“They look awfully real to me.”
I had a boat train to catch with a week’s mail stories, and only half of
them written.
“Do you know any dirt?” I asked.
“No.”
“None of your exalted connections getting divorces?”
“No; listen, Jake. If I handled both our expenses, would you go to South
America with me?”
“Why me?”
“You can talk Spanish. And it would be more fun with two of us.”
“No,” I said, “I like this town and I go to Spain in the summer-time.”
“All my life I’ve wanted to go on a trip like that,” Cohn said. He sat
down. “I’ll be too old before I can ever do it.”
“Don’t be a fool,” I said. “You can go anywhere you want. You’ve got
plenty of money.”
“I know. But I can’t get started.”
“Cheer up,” I said. “All countries look just like the moving pictures.”
But I felt sorry for him. He had it badly.
“I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really
living it.”
“Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.”
“I’m not interested in bull-fighters. That’s an abnormal life. I want to
go back in the country in South America. We could have a great trip.”
“Did you ever think about going to British East Africa to shoot?”
“No, I wouldn’t like that.”
“I’d go there with you.”
“No; that doesn’t interest me.”
“That’s because you never read a book about it. Go on and read a book
all full of love affairs with the beautiful shiny black princesses.”
“I want to go to South America.”
He had a hard, Jewish, stubborn streak.
“Come on down-stairs and have a drink.”
“Aren’t you working?”
“No,” I said. We went down the stairs to the café on the ground floor. I
had discovered that was the best way to get rid of friends. Once you had
a drink all you had to say was: “Well, I’ve got to get back and get off
some cables,” and it was done. It is very important to discover graceful
exits like that in the newspaper business, where it is such an important
part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working.
This is a good place, he said.Theres a lot of liquor, I agreed.
”
“Did you ever think about going to British East Africa to shoot?”
“No, I wouldn’t like that.”
“I’d go there with you.”
“No; that doesn’t interest me.”
“That’s because you never read a book about it. Go on and read a book
all full of love affairs with the beautiful shiny black princesses.”
“I want to go to South America.”
He had a hard, Jewish, stubborn streak.
“Come on down-stairs and have a drink.”
“Aren’t you working?”
“No,” I said. We went down the stairs to the café on the ground floor. I
had discovered that was the best way to get rid of friends. Once you had
a drink all you had to say was: “Well, I’ve got to get back and get off
some cables,” and it was done. It is very important to discover graceful
exits like that in the newspaper business, where it is such an important
part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working. Anyway, we
went down-stairs to the bar and had a whiskey and soda. Cohn looked at
the bottles in bins around the wall. “This is a good place,” he said.
“There’s a lot of liquor,” I agreed.
“Listen, Jake,” he leaned forward on the bar. “Don’t you ever get the
feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage
of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live
already?”
“Yes, every once in a while.”
“Do you know that in about thirty-five years more we’ll be dead?”
“What the hell, Robert,” I said. “What the hell.”
“I’m serious.”
“It’s one thing I don’t worry about,” I said.
“You ought to.”
“I’ve had plenty to worry about one time or other. I’m through
worrying.”
“Well, I want to go to South America.”
“Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference.
I’ve tried all that. You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one
place to another. There’s nothing to that.”
“But you’ve never been to South America.”
“South America hell! If you went there the way you feel now it would be
exactly the same. This is a good town. Why don’t you start living your
life in Paris?”
“I’m sick of Paris, and I’m sick of the Quarter.
“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good, and the very gentle, and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry.”
“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”
“If it is any use to know it, I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that does”
“All our words from loose using have lost their edge”
“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”
“All things truly wicked start from an innocence.”
“I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.”
“Never write about a place until youre away from it, because that gives you perspective”
“The only thing that could spoil a day was people. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”
“Or dont you like to write letters. I do because its such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel youve done something.”
“Dont you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure. When you work hard all day with your head and know you must work again the next day what else can change your”
“Drinking is a way of ending the day”
“There isnt any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know.”
“Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.”
“Theres no one thing that is true. Theyre all true.”
“The shortest answer is doing the thing.”
