To Have And Have Not

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
'It is a nice clean little yacht basin/ said Wallace
Johnston. 'Is it true Tommy Bradley's impotent?'
'I shouldn't think so. You hear that about every
one. He's simply broad-minded,'
'Broad-minded is excellent. She's certainly a
broad if there ever was one.'
'She's a remarkably nice woman,' said Henry
Carpenter, 'You'd like her, Wally.'
'I would not,' said Wallace. 'She represents
everything I hate in a woman, and Tommy
Bradley epitomizes everything I hate in a man.'
'You feel awfully strongly to-night,'
'You never feel strongly because you have no
consistency,' Wallace Johnston said. 'You can't make
up your mind, You don't know what you are even,'
'Let's drop me/ said Henry Carpenter. He lit a
cigarette.
my should I?'
'Well, one reason you might is because I go witli
you on your bloody yacht, and at least half the time
I do what you want to do, and that keeps you from
paying blackmail and one thing and another, to the
people that do know what they are, and what you
are/
'You're in a pretty mood/ said Wallace Johnston.
'You know I never pay blackmail'
'No. You're too tight to. You have friends like
me instead/
'I haven't any other friends like you/
'Don't be charming/ said Henry. 'I don't feel up to
224