He remembered dimly next morning that it had been about a broken pint
bottle of champagne. Maury had told him to sober up and Anthony's
feelings had been hurt, so with an attempted gesture of dignity he had
risen from the table and seizing Gloria's arm half led, half shamed her
into a taxicab outside, leaving Maury with three dinners ordered and
tickets for the opera.
This sort of semi-tragic fiasco had become so usual that when they
occurred he was no longer stirred into making amends. If Gloria
protested--and of late she was more likely to sink into contemptuous
silence--he would either engage in a bitter defense of himself or else
stalk dismally from the apartment. Never since the incident on the
station platform at Redgate had he laid his hands on her in anger--though
he was withheld often only by some instinct that itself made him tremble
with rage. Just as he still cared more for her than for any other
creature, so did he more intensely and frequently hate her.
So far, the judges of the Appellate Division had failed to hand down a
decision, but after another postponement they finally affirmed the
decree of the lower court--two justices dissenting.
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