«Великий Гэтсби» и другие лучшие произведения Ф.С. Фицджеральда

�I’ll get some whisky,’ answered Tom. He went inside.

Gatsby turned to me rigidly:

�I can’t say anything in his house, old sport.’

�She’s got an indiscreet voice,’ I remarked. �It’s full of – ’ I hesitated.

�Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly.

That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it… High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl…

Tom came out of the house wrapping a quart[87 - quart – measure of liquid capacity equal to 1.

13 litre in Britain, and 0.94 litre in the USA] bottle in a towel, followed by Daisy and Jordan wearing small tight hats of metallic cloth and carrying light capes over their arms.

�Shall we all go in my car?’ suggested Gatsby. He felt the hot, green leather of the seat. �I ought to have left it in the shade.’

�Is it standard shift?’ demanded Tom.

�Yes.’

�Well, you take my coupe and let me drive your car to town.

’

The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby.

�I don’t think there’s much gas,’ he objected.

�Plenty of gas,’ said Tom boisterously. He looked at the gauge. �And if it runs out I can stop at a drug-store. You can buy anything at a drug-store nowadays.’

A pause followed this apparently pointless remark. Daisy looked at Tom frowning, and an indefinable expression, at once definitely unfamiliar and vaguely recognizable, as if I had only heard it described in words, passed over Gatsby’s face.

�Come on, Daisy,’ said Tom, pressing her with his hand toward Gatsby’s car. �I’ll take you in this circus wagon.’

He opened the door, but she moved out from the circle of his arm.

�You take Nick and Jordan. We’ll follow you in the coupe.’

She walked close to Gatsby, touching his coat with her hand. Jordan and Tom and I got into the front seat of Gatsby’s car, Tom pushed the unfamiliar gears tentatively, and we shot off into the oppressive heat, leaving them out of sight behind.

�Did you see that?’ demanded Tom.

�See what?’

He looked at me keenly, realizing that Jordan and I must have known all along.

�You think I’m pretty dumb, don’t you?’ he suggested. �Perhaps I am, but I have a – almost a second sight, sometimes, that tells me what to do. Maybe you don’t believe that, but science —’

He paused.