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    My Extract THE GREAT GATSBY

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    My Extract THE GREAT GATSBY

    Uploaded by

    a01786487
    24 views2 pages

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    My extract THE GREAT GATSBY

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    24 views2 pages

    My Extract THE GREAT GATSBY

    Uploaded by

    a01786487

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    “For half a minute there wasn’t a sound.

    Then from the living room I heard a sort of choking


    murmur and part of a laugh followed by Daisy’s voice on a clear artificial note.

    ‘I certainly am awfully glad to see you again.’

    A pause; it endured horribly. I had nothing to do in the hall so I went


    into the room.

    Gatsby, his hands still in his pockets, was reclining against the
    mantelpiece in a strained counterfeit of perfect ease, even of boredom. His head leaned
    back so far that it rested against the face of a defunct mantelpiece clock and from this
    position his distraught eyes stared down at Daisy who was sitting frightened but graceful on
    the edge of a stiff chair.

    ‘We’ve met before,’ muttered Gatsby. His eyes glanced momentarily at


    me and his lips parted with an abortive attempt at a laugh. Luckily the clock took this
    moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it
    with trembling fingers and set it back in place. Then he sat down, rigidly, his elbow on the
    arm of the sofa and his chin in his hand.

    ‘I’m sorry about the clock,’ he said.

    My own face had now assumed a deep tropical burn. I couldn’t muster
    up a single commonplace out of the thousand in my head.

    ‘It’s an old clock,’ I told them idiotically.

    I think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on


    the floor.

    ‘We haven’t met for many years,’ said Daisy, her voice as
    matter-of-fact as it could ever be.

    ‘Five years next November.’

    The automatic quality of Gatsby’s answer set us all back at least


    another minute. I had them both on their feet with the desperate suggestion that they help
    me make tea in the kitchen when the demoniac Finn brought it in on a tray.

    Amid the welcome confusion of cups and cakes a certain physical decency established itself.
    Gatsby got himself into a shadow and while Daisy and I talked looked conscientiously from
    one to the other of us with tense unhappy eyes. However, as calmness wasn’t an end in
    itself I made an excuse at the first possible moment and got to my feet.

    ‘Where are you going?’ demanded Gatsby in immediate alarm.

    ‘I’ll be back.’
    ‘I’ve got to speak to you about something before you go.’

    He followed me wildly into the kitchen, closed the door and whispered:
    ‘Oh, God!’ in a miserable way.

    ‘What’s the matter?’

    ‘This is a terrible mistake,’ he said, shaking his head from side to side,
    ‘a terrible, terrible mistake.’

    ‘You’re just embarrassed, that’s all,’ and luckily I added: ‘Daisy’s


    embarrassed too.’

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