* * * * *
For a moment he saw nothing of what was before him, and then realized
that he had moved next to Frank Warner, who was standing by Nelly
Powers, and asking her to dance with him again. She was shaking her
head, and looking about the room uneasily. Vincent felt a gust of anger
again. "Oh, go _to_ it, Frank!" he said, in a low fierce tone. "Take her
out again, as often as you like. Why shouldn't you?"
Nelly gave him one of her enigmatic looks, deep and inscrutable,
shrugged her shoulders, put her hand on Frank's arm, and walked off with
him.
"They're the handsomest couple in the room," said Vincent, at random to
a farmer near him, who looked at him astonished by the heat of his
accent. And then, seeing that Nelly's husband was in possible earshot,
Vincent raised his voice recklessly. "They're the handsomest couple in
the room," he repeated resentfully. "They ought always to dance
together."
If 'Gene heard, he did not show it, the granite impassivity of his harsh
face unmoved.
Vincent went on towards the door, his nerves a little relieved by this
outburst. He would go out and have another cigarette, he thought, and
then take his old man-child home to bed. What were they doing in this
absurd place?
The music began to skirl again as he stepped out and closed the door
behind him.
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