II
Dick told Nicole an expurgated version of the catastrophe in Rome, in his version he had gone philanthropically to the rescue of a drunken friend. He could trust Baby Warren to hold her tongue, since he had painted the disastrous effect of the truth upon Nicole. All this, however, was a low hurdle compared to the lingering effect of the episode upon him. In reaction he took himself for an intensified beating in his work, so that Franz, trying to break with him, could find no basis on which to begin a disagreement. No friendship worth the name was ever destroyed in an hour without some painful flesh being torn, so Franz let himself believe with ever-increasing conviction that d**k travelled intellectually and emotionally at such a rate of speed that the vibrations jarred him, this was a
