Tender is the Night Book 3, Chapter 12

Book 3, Chapter 12

Dick spent his last days on the Riviera with his children. He told them that they would live with their aunt that winter, but that they could come see him in America. Dick said goodbye to everyone and left a note for Nicole and one for Baby.

That morning, Dick saw Nicole and Baby on the beach. Nicole looks at Dick sitting on the rock and says, "When people are taken out of their depths they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they put up." Book 3, Chapter 12, pg. 312 They continued to watch Dick from afar. Nicole told Baby that he was a good husband to her for 6 years.

Dick saw Nicole and Baby as he was sitting talking to Mary North. Mary asked Dick why he isn't nice all the time; like he was the night he helped them. Mary told him that Dick's friends still liked him, even though he said cruel things to them after he had been drinking. Dick told Mary that they are all dull, and Mary told him that they are all nice people. Dick looked at Mary fondly, and hoped for her sympathy. He asked her if she had liked him once, and she said that she loved him--that everybody loved him. Dick told her that there had always been something between them, no matter how charming a bluff they put up.