CHAPTER 31

a strand of hair from her eyes and smiled brilliantly at us. Mr. McKee looked at her intently, his head tilted to one side, and then moved his hand slowly back and forth in front of his face. 

"I should adjust the light," he said after a moment. "I'd like to highlight the features better. And I'd try to get all the back hair." 

"I wouldn't think of changing the light," protested Mrs. McKee. "I think it's—" 

Her husband said "SH!" and we all turned our attention back to the subject, at which point Max Caldwell yawned loudly and stood up. 

"You McKees have something to drink," he said. "Get more ice and mineral water, Sophie, before everyone falls asleep." 

"I told that boy about the ice." Sophie raised her eyebrows in despair at the laziness of the lower classes. "These people! You have to keep on top of them all the time." 

She glanced at me and laughed without purpose. Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it passionately, and swept into the kitchen, as if a dozen chefs awaited her commands there. 

"I've done some nice work out on Long Island," asserted Mr. McKee. 

Max stared at him blankly. 

"Two of them are framed downstairs." 

"Two what?" demanded Max. 

"Two studies. One I call 'Montauk Point—the Gulls,' and the other 'Montauk Point—the Sea.'" 

Catherine sat down beside me on the couch. "Do you live on Long Island too?" she asked. 

"I live at West Egg." 

"Really? I was there at a party about a month ago. At a man named Alex Sterling's. Do you know him?" 

"I live next door to him." 

"Well, they say he's a nephew or cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm's. That's where all his money comes from."