Atdtda37: Reunion of outlaws, 1057-1059 #2

[Paul Nightingale]

Lew observes Jardine herself but '... couldn't remember if he was
remembering this now or, worse, foreseeing her in some way ...' etc. Cf the
earlier reference to 'mug shots' and the issue of originality. Following the
moment when Lew 'gradually underst[ands] ...' etc (1057), Jardine remains
evasive. She 'smell[s] of cigarette smoke' and reminds Lew of Troth (1058);
and then, when they speak, she hides behind 'the old publicity-still glaze'
(1059). Finally, even though they have agreed that Lew will help her leave
town, she 'already had other plans', the story 'as the papers told it
later'.

Upon her appearance, Jardine offers background information/history: 'Chester
and Encarnacion were married once ...' etc, the anticipated death sentence
for Deuce. However, the section has earlier featured another kind of
history, Haymarket, Ludlow, the Palmer raids (1058), all of which are denied
(with '[g]eneral merriment') as references, followed by the Times bomb and
Otis, the McNamaras and Darrow, a story that involves denial and competing
interpretations. Such references might be said to function as some kind of
context; but they follow the description of Hollywood hedonism, 'society
ladies in flapper-rejected outfits from Hamburger's basement, real flappers
in extras' costumes ...' etc (1057). 

Jardine herself emerges from that (inscrutable) crowd. Her disappearance is
reported ('never heard from since') on 1042; she is absent ('checked out')
on 1043; and then her photographic image is observed going to Carefree Court
(where the current section takes place) on 1049. Upon seeing her, rather
than her image, Lew's response is to wonder about his own location. Earlier
he had been the unnoted (or unrecognised?) observer; he now contemplates her
'passing so smoothly among the guests, smiling ...' etc (1058), and then 'he
ha[s] to worry about the possibility that not only might [she] be dead but
also that it had not happened yet'. Jardine, at this point has become her
photographic image: not only will she be the first (only) person to
acknowledge and speak to him, she first makes eye-contact ('looked up, into
his eyes, as if offering a dare'), rather like the film character who makes
eye-contact with the film spectator, perhaps.



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