GEORGE
417
no obscenities! No one had the courage of
his
lechery ) and the ones
who took it the worst-to be sure, Phil and Martha among them, in
a rage-had settled on the proper discount: Really, this is so dated!
Just like the '20s, don't you know....
"It was then that George said and did what he did.- But you've
got to know about George. You've never met him?"
"Once, long ago."
"When he was in
his
prime. Then you have an impression of
the man. Mind you, I make no case for him. He's neurotic, sick. Look
at it one way, and walking out of a window was just another in a
string of eccentricities, like the time he walked across the subway
tracks at Times Square, and not even on a dare. Or the years he
spent in a basement on Perry Street, smoking the tea, or his crazy
marriage. You've probably heard all that. But one thing about
George, he knows. He knows what it is to go up to a woman, and
his
eyes always come alive. He's a model of decorum, of reserve, he
has feelings, he knows what the world's like. Not that he hasn't done
many mean, stupid, even cruel things in his time, but he has the
morality of a bandit chieftain- where you'd least expect it-a sense
of justice, of life. Watch him some time at a party, watch how he
handles people. You'll see what I mean.
"I could tell. The moment he came into this party he knew it
wasn't for him.
It
offended him- he's been fighting against it all his
life, this frantic, dirty spirit, this misery they were
all
so full of that
night. It wasn't that these were the wrong people, that he didn't
belong. He knew all of them, they were all his friends. And it's not
even that he's older. Some of the men, and it wouldn't surprise me if
even a few of the women, are older than he. It's just that he's been
through this and has put it behind him. Detached himself, clean.
"When he saw what was going on, it must have disappointed
him deeply- he always looks forward to parties. I could see he wanted
to leave. Still, he was among friends, some of whom he hadn't seen in
months. He went up to them, he tried to make contact, he met
some of his old girls, found a few new ones.
It
was no good. They
were all putting him off.
"And he saw what was coming. He saw the violence between
Phil and Martha- as he has seen it all along. He predicted the af–
fair, .and explained her motives, and Phil's and Sam's, and it all
