Pleasure Reading 4. Chapter 4

Two and a half years after the stock market crash, Isabel and her family were living in Elliott's Paris apartment. Once Maugham went to Paris on other business. While waiting for her husband to come back home, Maugham met Isabel and her children. The woman told Maugham that the years after the crash had been difficult. Asked if she regreted not marrying Larry, Isabel told Maugham that Gray was a wonderful husband and very kind to her and their children. When Gray arrived, Maugham was taken aback by the contrast in the way the years had changed him. Maugham continued to see Isabel and her family and enjoyed their company.Once at a cafe that he used to visit as a youth, a bearded, disheveled man said hello to Maugham. Maugham didn't recognize the man, who turned out to be Larry. Gray asked him about the crash, but Larry said that because the U.S. government had guaranteed his money, he hadn't lost anything. Larry said that he had been in India and heard from Dr. Nelson about Isabel's marriage. Larry asked about Elliott and then about Gray, and Maugham told him that Gray was trying to find himself in Paris. Larry said he would like to see them. Maugham told Isabel and Gray that Larry planed to visit them, and they were delighted, and soon Larry went to their home. In contrast to Gary, he looked young and had retained his attractiveness. Isabel asked what Larry had been doing all these years. He said he had spent time in Italy, Spain and the East. Also he said that he had visited with spiritual Yogis and learned Hindu, one of a half dozen languages that he had learned. Maugham noticed that Isabel was looking intently at Larry. Abruptly, Larry got up, said good night and went home. Days after Larry helped Gray using his knowledge in Eastern medicine when Gray was suffering from a migraine headache. Larry started coming over regularly, curing Gray's headaches when they flared up. Maugham asked Isabel if she still loved Larry. She said yes but that she had married Gray because she had to marry someone. Maugham and Isabel then got into a discussion about the true meaning of love. Maugham then reintroduced Suzanne Rouvier, the woman who told Maugham about Larry's war story and brush with death. Suzanne was a farm girl who moved to Paris with her artist lover as a youth. She had spent the next several years moving from one lover to another. Eventually, she settled down and became a mistress to a businessman from Lille. A week after meeting Larry unexpectedly, Maugham had dinner with Suzanne, who met Maugham through a common artist friend. While having dinner, Larry walked past and said hello to Suzanne. He sat down, has a quick dinner and then said goodnight. Suzanne then told the story of how she knew Larry. Six or seven years earlier, Suzanne was recovering from a bought with Typhoid that had left her thin and weak. She ran into Larry, whom she knew through an artist friend, and he offered to take her out to the country where they could spend a long holiday. She and her daughter had spent an idyllic time in the small town, swimming, boating and reading. During this time, Larry unexpectedly told her the story about his best friend dying while saving Larry's life during the war. When Suzanne fell in love with the man, she noted that he never made a pass at her. Once Larry told her he had to leave and kissed her. He also gave her 12,000 francs. Suzanne, like Isabel, said she couldn't understand Larry.