Page 71 - The Great Gatsby

60 The Creat Catsby A hot day in town 61

'I didn't mean to call you away from your lunch,' he said.
'But I need money pretty bad, and if I could buy your old ¡;ar,
I could make a few dollars on it.'
'What do you want money for, ali of a sudden?'
'I want to get away. My wife and I want to go West.'
'Your wife does?' cried Tom in surprise.
'She's going whether she wa nts to or not. l'm taking her.'
T h e coupé drove by, with a waving hand at the window.
'Something funny's been going on,' said Wilson. 'l just
found out about it in the last rwo days. That's why 1 wanc to
get away. That's why I want to buy your car.'
I realized that, so far, he didn't suspe¡;t Tom. He had
discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in
another world, and the shock had made him ill. I stared at him
and then at Tom, who had made a similar discovery about his
own wife less than an hour before.
'1'11 send that car over tomo.rrow afternoon,' said 10111.
The valley of ashes always made me a little uneasy, and now,
aware of something threatening behind me, I turned my head.
Over rhe ash-heaps the huge eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg
watched as usual, but I soon noticed that other eyes were
looking at us with peculiar intcrest from only a short distancc
away.
From one of thc windows ovcr the garage, Myrtle Wilson
was staring clown at the car. She wore an exprcssion that f had
oftcn seen on women's faces. I realized that her eyes, wide with
jealous terror, were fixed not on T o m, but on Jordan Baker -
she clearly thought Jordan was his wife.
There is no confusion like rhe confusion of a simple mind ,
and as we drove away, Tom was feeling rhe first waves of
terror. His wife and his misrress, until an hour ago safe and 1 soon noticed that other eyes were looking al us with peculiar interest.