I was on my way to get drunk from simple embarrassment when Jordan Baker came out of the house and stood at the head of the marble steps, looking with contemptuous interest down into the garden.
Welcome or not, I found it necessary to attach myself to someone before I should begin to address cordial remarks to the passers-by.61
Hello! I cried, going toward her. My voice seemed unnaturally loud across the garden.
I thought you might be here, she answered absently as I came up. I remembered you lived next door to
She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that shed take care of me in a minute, and listened to two girls in twin yellow dresses, who stopped at the foot of the steps.
Hello! they cried together. Sorry you didnt win. That was for the golf tournament. She had lost in the nals the week before. The girls moved on. With Jordans golden arm resting in mine, we descended the steps. A tray of cocktails oated at us through the twilight, and we sat down at a table with the two girls in yellow and three men, each one introduced to us as Mr. Mumble62.
Do you come to these parties often? asked Jordan the girl beside her.
The last one was a month ago when I met you here, answered the girl, in a condent voice. She turned to her companion: Wasnt it for you, Lucille?
It was for Lucille, too.
I like to come, Lucille said. I never care what I do, so I always have a good time. When I was here last I tore my dress on a chair, and he asked me my name and address in half a week I got a package from Croiriers63 with a new evening dress in it.
Did you keep it? asked Jordan.
Sure I did. I was going to wear it tonight, but it was too big in the bust. Two hundred and sixty-ve dollars.
Theres something funny about a fellow thatll do a thing like that, said the other girl eagerly. He doesnt want any trouble with anybody.
Who doesnt? I asked.
Gatsby. Somebody told me The two girls and Jordan leaned together condentially. Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.
A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. Mumbles bent forward and listened eagerly.
I dont think its so much that, argued Lucille skeptically; its more that he was a German spy during the war.
I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in Germany, one of the men assured us positively.
Oh, no, said the rst girl. it couldnt be that, because he was in the American army during the war. As our credulity switched back to her64 she leaned forward with enthusiasm. You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobodys looking at him. Ill bet he killed a man.
She narrowed her eyes and shivered. Lucille shivered. We all turned and looked around for Gatsby.
The rst supper there would be another one after midnight was served, and Jordan invited me to join her own party. There were three married couples and Jordans escort, a persistent undergraduate who was obviously sure that sooner or later Jordan was going to be with him. This party, unlike the others, tried to stay the noble representatives65 of the East Egg and resisted the gaiety of Gatsbys guests.
Lets get out, whispered Jordan, after a somehow wasteful and boring half an hour; this is much too polite for me.
We got up, and she explained that we were going to nd the host: I had never met him, she said, and it was making me uneasy. The bar was crowded, but Gatsby was not there. She couldnt nd him from the top of the steps, and he wasnt on the veranda. On a chance we walked into a high Gothic library, paneled with carved English oak.
A middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed glasses, was sitting somewhat drunk on the edge of a great table, looking at the shelves of books. As we entered he turned around and examined Jordan from head to foot.
What do you think about that? he waved his hand toward the book-shelves. As a matter of fact theyre real. Ive checked.
The books?
He nodded.
Absolutely real have pages and everything. I thought they would be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, theyre absolutely real! Let me show you, he rushed to the bookcases and returned with a book. See! he cried triumphantly. It fooled me. Its a triumph. What realism! What do you expect?
He snatched the book from me and replaced it quickly on its shelf.
Who brought you? he asked. Or did you just come? I was brought. Most people were brought.
Jordan looked at him cheerfully, without answering.
I was brought by a woman named Roosevelt, he continued. Mrs. Claude Roosevelt. Do you know her? I met her somewhere last night. Ive been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.
Has it?
A little bit, I think. I cant tell yet. Ive only been here an hour. Did I tell you about the books? Theyre real. Theyre
You told us.
We shook hands with him and went back outdoors. There was dancing now in the garden; old men pushing young girls backward in circles, couples holding each other fashionably, and a great number of single girls dancing individualistically. By midnight the hilarity had increased. A celebrated tenor had sung in Italian, and a famous contralto had sung in jazz, and happy bursts of laughter rose toward the summer sky. Champagne was served in glasses bigger than nger-bowls66. I was still with Jordan Baker. We were sitting at a table with a man of about my age and a little girl, who gave way to uncontrollable laughter. I was enjoying myself now. I had taken two nger-bowls of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something important.
At a pause in the entertainment the man looked at me and smiled.
Your face is familiar, he said, politely. Werent you in the Third Division during the War?
Why, yes. I was in the ninth machine-gun battalion.
I was in the Seventh Infantry67 until June nineteen-eighteen. I knew Id seen you somewhere before.
We talked for a moment about some wet, gray little villages in France. Evidently he lived in this neighborhood, as he told me that he had just bought a hydroplane68, and was going to try it out in the morning.
Want to go with me, old sport69? Just near the shore along the bay.
What time?
Any time you like.
I was about to ask his name when Jordan looked around and smiled.
Having a gay time now? she asked.
Much better. I turned again to my new acquaintance. This is an unusual party for me. I havent even seen the host. I live over there I waved my hand at the invisible fence in the distance, and this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation.
For a moment he looked at me as if he failed to understand.
Im Gatsby, he said suddenly.
What! I exclaimed. Oh, I beg your pardon.
I thought you knew, old sport. Im afraid Im not a very good host.
He smiled understandingly much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with eternal reassurance in it, that you may see four or ve times in life. It faced or seemed to face the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.70 It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had exactly the impression of you that you hoped to make. Just at that point it disappeared and I was looking at an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd71. Some time before he introduced himself Id got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.