Читать книгу The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald онлайн

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She caught her breath.

“Yes,” she said faintly, “let’s be frank.”

“I know what you’re up to and I know you’re doing it to be kind. But life doesn’t start all over again when a man talks to an old love on a spring night.”

“I’m not doing it to be kind.”

He looked at her closely.

“You lie, Diamond Dick. But—even if you loved me now it wouldn’t matter. I’m not like I was five years ago—I’m a different person, can’t you see? I’d rather have a drink this minute than all the moonlight in the world. I don’t even think I could love a girl like you anymore.”

She nodded.

“I see.”

“Why wouldn’t you marry me five years ago, Diamond Dick?”

“I don’t know,” she said after a minute’s hesitation. “I was wrong.”

“Wrong!” he exclaimed bitterly. “You talk as if it had been guesswork, like betting on white or red.”

“No, it wasn’t guesswork.”

There was a silence for a minute—then she turned to him with shining eyes.

“Won’t you kiss me, Charley?” she asked simply.

He started.

“Would it be so hard to do?” she went on. “I’ve never asked a man to kiss me before.”