‘Jimmy always liked it better down East. He rose up to his position in the East. Were you a friend of my boy’s, Mr.—?’
‘We were close friends.’
‘He had a big future before him, you know. He was only a young man but he had a lot of brain power here.’
He touched his head impressively and I nodded.
‘If he’d of lived he’d of been a great man. A man like James J. Hill. He’d of helped build up the country.’
‘That’s true,’ I said, uncomfortably.
He fumbled at the embroidered coverlet, trying to take it Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com
1
from the bed, and lay down stiffly—was instantly asleep.
That night an obviously frightened person called up and demanded to know who I was before he would give his name.
‘This is Mr. Carraway,’ I said.
‘Oh—’ He sounded relieved. ‘This is Klipspringer.’
I was relieved too for that seemed to promise another friend at Gatsby’s grave. I didn’t want it to be in the papers and draw a sightseeing crowd so I’d been calling up a few people myself. They were hard to find.
‘The funeral’s tomorrow,’ I said. ‘Three o’clock, here at the house. I wish you’d tell anybody who’d be interested.’
‘Oh, I will,’ he broke out hastily. ‘Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do.’
His tone made me suspicious.
‘Of course you’ll be there yourself.’
‘Well, I’ll certainly try. What I called up about is——‘
‘Wait a minute,’ I interrupted. ‘How about saying you’ll come?’
‘Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I’m stay-ing with some people up here in Greenwich and they rather expect me to be with them tomorrow. In fact there’s a sort of picnic or something. Of course I’ll do my very best to get away.’
I ejaculated an unrestrained ‘Huh!’ and he must have heard me for he went on nervously:
‘What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on. You see they’re tennis shoes and I’m sort of help-10
The Great Gatsby
less without them. My address is care of B. F.——‘
I didn’t hear the rest of the name because I hung up the receiver.
After that I felt a certain shame for Gatsby—one gentleman to whom I telephoned implied that he had got what he deserved. However, that was my fault, for he was one of those who used to sneer most bitterly at Gatsby on the courage of Gatsby’s liquor and I should have known better than to call him.
The morning of the funeral I went up to New York to see Meyer Wolfshiem; I couldn’t seem to reach him any other way. The door that I pushed open on the advice of an elevator boy was marked ‘The Swastika Holding Company’ and at first there didn’t seem to be any one inside. But when I’d shouted ‘Hello’ several times in vain an argument broke out behind a partition and presently a lovely Jewess appeared at an interior door and scrutinized me with black hostile eyes.
‘Nobody’s in,’ she said. ‘Mr. Wolfshiem’s gone to Chicago.’The first part of this was obviously untrue for someone had begun to whistle ‘The Rosary,’ tunelessly, inside.
‘Please say that Mr. Carraway wants to see him.’
‘I can’t get him back from Chicago, can I?’
At this moment a voice, unmistakably Wolfshiem’s called
‘Stella!’ from the other side of the door.
‘Leave your name on the desk,’ she said quickly. ‘I’ll give it to him when he gets back.’
‘But I know he’s there.’
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11
She took a step toward me and began to slide her hands indignantly up and down her hips.
‘You young men think you can force your way in here any time,’ she scolded. ‘We’re getting sickantired of it. When I say he’s in Chicago, he’s in ChiCAgo.’
I mentioned Gatsby.
‘Oh—h!’ She looked at me over again. ‘Will you just—
