Summary: The Beautiful and Damned

In the ini­tial years of the 1900s, a pros­per­ous young gen­tle­man called Antho­ny Patch, who takes pride in his Har­vard diplo­ma and sub­stan­tial inher­i­tance, lives a life of ease in New York City, cour­tesy of his afflu­ent lin­eage. Sig­nif­i­cant­ly, he is the only inher­i­tor of the immense­ly rich and influ­en­tial moral reformer Adam J. Patch, who dis­ap­proves of Antho­ny’s idle lifestyle. Antho­ny sur­rounds him­self with a group of high soci­ety asso­ciates, includ­ing his Har­vard col­leagues Mau­ry Noble and Richard Caramel, the lat­ter intro­duc­ing him to his daz­zling rel­a­tive, Glo­ria Gilbert, a scan­dalous socialite.

Antho­ny becomes cap­ti­vat­ed by Glo­ria, see­ing her as a per­son­i­fi­ca­tion of his hedo­nis­tic ideals. Despite Glo­ri­a’s indif­fer­ent demeanor towards him, his infat­u­a­tion leads to a pro­pos­al, which she agrees to. The cou­ple indulges in a lav­ish wed­ding cer­e­mo­ny host­ed at Antho­ny’s grand­fa­ther’s estate, fol­lowed by a seem­ing­ly nev­er-end­ing sequence of soirées extend­ing from New York to Cal­i­for­nia. They antic­i­pate a sub­stan­tial share of Adam J. Patch’s rich­es after his pass­ing, pre­sum­ing it will sus­tain their extrav­a­gant lifestyle. How­ev­er, their finan­cial cir­cum­stances wors­en with the com­mence­ment of the war in Europe, while their peers’ finan­cial well-being is enhanced. Richard’s book gains acclaim, Mau­ry secures a pres­ti­gious posi­tion, and their neme­sis, film pro­duc­er Joseph Bloeck­man’s movies gains pop­u­lar­i­ty. As their funds dimin­ish, Antho­ny and Glo­ri­a’s lifestyle neces­si­tates a move to small­er lodg­ings, resort­ing increas­ing­ly to alco­hol for solace.

Their finan­cial predica­ments esca­late when Antho­ny’s grand­fa­ther pass­es away, exclud­ing Antho­ny from his will. The cou­ple ini­ti­ates a legal process against their will, becom­ing a con­stant source of quar­rels between them. Amidst these upheavals, Antho­ny gets con­script­ed into the army dur­ing World War I, spark­ing a liai­son with a young woman named Dot Ray­croft. Mean­while, Glo­ria stays in New York, mon­i­tor­ing their legal pro­ceed­ings and turn­ing to alco­hol. Post-war, the cou­ple strives to revive their bond, but their endeav­ors are foiled by their dete­ri­o­rat­ing finan­cial state. Glo­ri­a’s failed movie audi­tion sym­bol­izes her wan­ing youth and charm. Just as they reach a point of severe decline, the inher­i­tance law­suit con­cludes in favor of Antho­ny, ren­der­ing him a mil­lion­aire. Nev­er­the­less, the tri­umph comes at the price of Antho­ny’s break­down, with Glo­ria and him inhab­it­ing a sem­blance of their for­mer opu­lent life.

Book 1 Chapter 1

Antho­ny Patch, a twen­ty-five-year-old man in 1913, deems him­self cul­tured and attrac­tive. He envi­sions a future of sig­nif­i­cance con­fi­dent­ly. His grand­fa­ther, dubbed as “Cross Patch,” is a Wall Street mag­nate and a moral reformist. Antho­ny’s par­ents, a Boston socialite, and Adam Patch’s son, both pass away dur­ing his youth. Antho­ny grows up soli­tary in his grand­fa­ther’s Tar­ry­town man­sion, find­ing solace in his postage col­lec­tion. As a Har­vard schol­ar, he resides seclud­ed in a tur­ret room, amass­ing books and dress­ing ele­gant­ly. Fol­low­ing col­lege, he resided in Rome tem­porar­i­ly before return­ing to New York City in 1912. In New York, Antho­ny’s abode is an extrav­a­gant apart­ment filled with opu­lent fur­nish­ings. He fre­quent­ly unwinds in his capa­cious, elab­o­rate bath­room. His income stems from the inter­est on his inher­it­ed for­tune, which he lav­ish­ly expends. Antho­ny plans to com­pose a his­to­ry of the Mid­dle Ages when his grand­fa­ther demands accom­plish­ment from him, but he only suc­ceeds in sketch­ing an ini­tial out­line. Antho­ny rel­ish­es a leisure­ly bath, then gazes out of his win­dow, spot­ting a woman clad in a crim­son neg­ligee on an adja­cent rooftop. Fleet­ing­ly, he deems her exquis­ite. Lat­er, he dines with his for­mer Har­vard com­pan­ions, Mau­ry Noble and Richard Caramel, and after a jovial evening, he and Mau­ry attend a musi­cal com­e­dy. Upon return­ing home, he watch­es the city from his win­dow, com­fort­ed by the dis­tant urban sounds. In a flash­back, Beau­ty waits in a breezy out­door space, informed by a voice that she will rein­car­nate as a soci­ety damsel, with love as her usu­al compensation.

Book 1 Chapter 2

Reveal­ing a Seduc­er Amidst Novem­ber’s social whirl in New York City, Richard pro­pos­es pre­sent­ing his cousin, Glo­ria Gilbert, to Antho­ny. Glo­ria, strik­ing but seem­ing­ly lack­ing in intel­lect, is absent when Antho­ny and Richard vis­it their rel­a­tives at the Plaza. They encounter Mrs. Gilbert, Richard’s aunt, and Mr. Gilbert who oper­ates in the film field, but they depart with­out meet­ing Glo­ria. Ban­ter about a Lady’s Allure Dur­ing a frosty Decem­ber eve, Antho­ny stops by his friend Mau­ry Noble’s abode. They con­verse about Geral­dine, a night­club atten­dant known to Antho­ny, and Richard Caramel’s ongo­ing nov­el. Mau­ry recounts his encounter with Glo­ria Gilbert at an event, pro­fess­ing admi­ra­tion for her beau­ty and dis­cussing her belief in Bil­phism or rebirth. Inter­nal Con­flict Post a night of carous­ing with Richard, Antho­ny awakes con­fused. He recalls ask­ing Richard to bring Glo­ria for tea. He spends his morn­ing mus­ing over­writ­ing and his after­noon con­tem­plat­ing a career in pol­i­tics. While reflect­ing on his fool­ish­ness, Glo­ria Gilbert arrives at his doorstep. An Enthralling Vis­i­tor Glo­ria eclipses the descrip­tions pro­vid­ed by Richard and Mau­ry. Amid their dia­logue on wom­en’s names and Glo­ri­a’s live­ly rep­u­ta­tion, Antho­ny feels a warm glow in his apart­ment. Unful­filled Long­ings As Glo­ria and Antho­ny con­tin­ue their acquain­tance, they patron­ize a pop­u­lar cabaret favored by the pro­le­tari­at. Though Antho­ny finds the venue mediocre, Glo­ria is exhil­a­rat­ed. Glo­ria feels a sense of belong­ing there and to Antho­ny, Glo­ri­a’s allure radi­ates as bright­ly as the sun.

Book 1 Chapter 3

Dur­ing a vis­it to his aunt, Richard gets insights into her wor­ries about her daugh­ter, Glo­ria, and her declin­ing social sta­tus. They also dis­cuss Joseph Bloeck­man, one of Glo­ri­a’s admir­ers. Lat­er, Glo­ria arrives with her friends, Rachael Jer­ryl and Muriel Kane. In a capri­cious ges­ture, Glo­ria plans a din­ner soiree, invit­ing Richard, Antho­ny, Mau­ry, and Bloeck­man. In the inter­im, Antho­ny spends time with his low­er-class para­mour, Geral­dine, shar­ing with her an elab­o­rate nar­ra­tive fea­tur­ing him­self. Sub­se­quent­ly, they engage in a pro­tract­ed kiss. At Glo­ri­a’s din­ner event, Antho­ny meets Bloeck­man and shares moments with Glo­ria. They par­take in a taxi ride and a kiss before return­ing to the gath­er­ing. The ensu­ing day sees Antho­ny pre­oc­cu­pied with Glo­ria, repeat­ed­ly attempt­ing to con­tact her. Even­tu­al­ly reach­ing her, Glo­ria can­not meet until Tues­day. Their Tues­day stroll cul­mi­nates in an impas­sioned kiss, but Glo­ria reacts unfa­vor­ably, prompt­ing Antho­ny’s abrupt exit.

Dis­tressed, Antho­ny wan­ders the city, even­tu­al­ly stop­ping at a din­er. While din­ing, he rumi­nates on Glo­ria with Bloeck­man and real­izes his love for her. Sub­se­quent­ly, he resolves to shun Glo­ria for six weeks, hop­ing her appre­ci­a­tion will deep­en dur­ing his absence. Richard’s man­u­script lands a pub­lish­ing deal, caus­ing their cir­cle of acquain­tances to shift their atten­tion towards him, although Antho­ny remains fix­at­ed on Glo­ria alone. He fre­quent­ly encoun­ters Geral­dine and coin­ci­den­tal­ly runs into Bloeck­man. A surge of doubt wash­es over him upon wit­ness­ing Glo­ria with an unknown indi­vid­ual, prompt­ing him to call her before abrupt­ly hang­ing up when her moth­er answers the phone. Their sub­se­quent reunion sees Antho­ny cap­ti­vat­ed by Glo­ri­a’s fresh­ly trimmed hair­style. They amble through the spring breeze, and Antho­ny extends an invi­ta­tion for her to vis­it his res­i­dence. The ren­dezvous unfolds as sched­uled, with Antho­ny unveil­ing his affec­tion and Glo­ria rec­i­p­ro­cat­ing it. She for­goes her pri­or com­mit­ments to be by his side.

Book 2 Chapter 1

Efful­gent Moment Antho­ny and Glo­ria, whol­ly enveloped in their emo­tions, fre­quent­ly clash and make amends. They fond­ly recall their past roman­tic entan­gle­ments, with Glo­ria dis­clos­ing her refusal of Bloeck­man’s pro­pos­al in favor of Antho­ny. Gold­en Age The cou­ple delights in sun­ny bus rides, envi­sion­ing a pros­per­ous future. They dodge dis­cus­sions about the poten­tial inher­i­tance from Antho­ny’s grand­fa­ther, Adam J. Patch. A triplet of Tan­gents Antho­ny updates his grand­fa­ther about his engage­ment, lead­ing to an unex­pect­ed pro­pos­al of hold­ing the wed­ding at the Tar­ry­town estate. Mean­while, Richard’s tri­umphant pub­li­ca­tion trig­gers envy with­in Antho­ny and Gloria.

Glo­ria, thrilled by the influx of wed­ding presents, is espe­cial­ly elat­ed by a gen­er­ous cheque from Adam. Jour­nal On the eve of her nup­tials, Glo­ria doc­u­ments her past roman­tic endeav­ors in her diary, con­clud­ing her entries with the word “FINIS”. Whiff of the Cave Fol­low­ing a pre-wed­ding feast, Antho­ny spends a soli­tary night in his apart­ment, unset­tled by a wom­an’s rau­cous laugh­ter. Morn­ing Antho­ny ris­es ear­ly, ensur­ing all arrange­ments for the wed­ding and sub­se­quent jour­ney are in order, pray­ing that their finances are suf­fi­cient. The Atten­dants Before the cer­e­mo­ny, spir­it­ed ban­ter among the atten­dants, fea­tur­ing Richard and Mau­ry, is fueled by alco­hol in the man­sion’s library. Antho­ny Dur­ing the nup­tials, Antho­ny is over­whelmed by the spec­ta­tors but is cap­ti­vat­ed by the cler­gy­man’s gleam­ing teeth.

Hold­ing Glo­ria fills him with grat­i­fi­ca­tion. Glo­ria Glo­ria is engulfed in a whirl­wind of sen­ti­ments, pray­ing for endur­ing secu­ri­ty and pro­tec­tion. “Con Amore” The duo embarks on a sum­mer-long expe­di­tion along the Cal­i­for­nia coast­line, deep­en­ing their under­stand­ing of each oth­er. Glo­ri­a’s self-cen­tered­ness and Antho­ny’s anx­i­eties come to the sur­face. Glo­ria evades respon­si­bil­i­ties, while Antho­ny shoul­ders them. Glo­ria and Gen­er­al Lee When vis­it­ing Gen­er­al Lee’s estate, Glo­ria finds the throngs of tourists dis­taste­ful, argu­ing that beau­ty mer­its rev­er­ence. Emo­tion Their depar­ture from the hon­ey­moon suite on the final day brings Glo­ria to tears due to the inevitabil­i­ty of change.

The Gray Abode Feel­ing sti­fled in Antho­ny’s flat, they are nudged by Mau­ry and Richard to locate a rur­al dwelling. Fol­low­ing a vehic­u­lar mishap and a run-in with a real estate agent, they opt to rent an aged gray house, herald­ing the com­mence­ment of their rur­al exis­tence. The Spir­it of Glo­ria Coun­try Liv­ing fails to quell their dis­putes, yet they find moments of joy. Glo­ria recounts more tales of past loves, and Antho­ny yields to her caprices. They envis­age their poten­tial prog­e­ny. The Con­clu­sion of a Chap­ter Their activ­i­ties in the coun­try club incite jeal­ousy among the local spous­es. Regard­less, they per­sist in host­ing gath­er­ings, fea­tur­ing guests like Muriel Kane and Richard Caramel. In Novem­ber, they return to the city and lat­er jour­ney to Kansas City for Glo­ri­a’s moth­er’s burial.

Book 2 Chapter 2

Sym­po­sium Antho­ny and Glo­ria, a pair of youth­ful elites, rev­el in the spring with grand soirées along the Cal­i­for­nia coast, indulging in opu­lence. Their extrav­a­gant way of life com­pels them to retreat to an anti­quat­ed house for the sum­mer. This phase wit­ness­es a heat­ed pub­lic dis­agree­ment between the cou­ple, fol­lowed by a brief rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, hint­ing at a somber turn in their rela­tion­ship. They employ an eccen­tric Japan­ese ser­vant named Tana. Niet­zschean Inci­dent Glo­ria falls ill and sus­pects a poten­tial preg­nan­cy, dread­ing the loss of her beau­ty. Antho­ny responds with indif­fer­ence to her con­di­tion, urg­ing her to face it with grace.

The Prac­ti­cal Indi­vid­u­als Dur­ing Antho­ny’s vis­it to his grand­fa­ther, Adam J. Patch, the lat­ter embarks on dia­tribes about Ger­mans and the ongo­ing Euro­pean war. Patch’s sec­re­tary, Edward Shut­tle­worth, a for­mer bar­tender, informs Antho­ny of Patch’s propo­si­tion for him to serve as a war cor­re­spon­dent. This pro­pos­al aligns Antho­ny with Bloeck­man, resid­ing close to their old dwelling. The Vic­to­ry of Sloth The duo opts out of Antho­ny’s plan to be a war cor­re­spon­dent due to finan­cial con­straints. Glo­ria toys with the idea of pur­su­ing a career in act­ing, result­ing in a screen test arranged by Bloeck­man. Antho­ny par­dons Glo­ri­a’s tem­po­rary absence, attribut­ing it to her youth and allure. Chill The pair awak­ens in their New York apart­ment with no rec­ol­lec­tion of their return. Giv­en their fis­cal predica­ment, a trip to Cal­i­for­nia becomes unfea­si­ble. Mau­ry and Richard fare well finan­cial­ly. Antho­ny secures employ­ment as a bond sales­man fol­low­ing coun­sel from his grand­fa­ther. Their cel­e­bra­tion cul­mi­nates in a grand two-day festivity.

Des­tiny Despite his dis­dain for his job and habit­u­al hang­overs, Antho­ny abrupt­ly resigns. Ine­bri­at­ed, he and Glo­ria inad­ver­tent­ly renew the rent for the old house, sub­se­quent­ly spend­ing a sum­mer beyond their means. The Eerie Sum­mer The cou­ple dreads soli­tude, sus­tain­ing a social life by host­ing week­ly gath­er­ings char­ac­ter­ized by copi­ous drink­ing. Fric­tions sur­face between Glo­ria and Tana, yet the mer­ry­mak­ing per­sists. In Obscu­ri­ty One week­end, Richard and Mau­ry bring along Joe Hull. Glo­ria holds an aver­sion towards Joe. A tip­sy dance soirée cap­ti­vates all atten­dees until Joe lifts Glo­ria, pre­cip­i­tat­ing a clash. Despite Antho­ny’s efforts to detain her, Glo­ria escapes to the city. The episode con­cludes with Glo­ria board­ing a train unac­com­pa­nied, leav­ing the men behind.

Book 2 Chapter 3

The Dis­cor­dant Lute Dur­ing a cus­tom­ary week­end gath­er­ing at the gray abode, Antho­ny’s ven­er­a­ble Har­vard mate, Fred­er­ick E. Paramore, makes an appear­ance. Ini­tial­ly reluc­tant to par­tic­i­pate, he is per­suad­ed by Glo­ria, ele­vat­ing the fes­tiv­i­ty. Antho­ny flirts with Mrs. Barnes, Glo­ri­a’s com­pan­ion. How­ev­er, the cel­e­bra­tion abrupt­ly ceas­es with the unfore­seen arrival of Antho­ny’s grand­fa­ther, old Patch. Ret­ro­spec­tion Antho­ny and Glo­ria con­front the harsh real­i­ty of their lav­ish exis­tence. The mirage of opu­lence they’ve har­bored is shat­tered by the real­iza­tion of their finan­cial turmoil.

Trep­i­da­tion In a bid to rec­ti­fy the con­se­quences of his par­ty, Antho­ny con­tem­plates apol­o­giz­ing to Patch, only to dis­cov­er from Shut­tle­worth that Patch is ail­ing. Despite their writ­ten apol­o­gy, they receive no response. Antho­ny and Glo­ria relo­cate to the city, tra­vers­ing famil­iar locales steeped in mem­o­ries of their romance. The Abode Antho­ny feels dis­il­lu­sioned with his cir­cum­stances as he reads about the suc­cess of his peers from Har­vard. Spi­ral­ing rent com­pels them to down­size to a small­er apart­ment. News of Patch’s grave ill­ness reach­es them via news­pa­pers. The Feline Antho­ny’s futile attempts to ren­dezvous with his ail­ing grand­fa­ther lead him to recount a dis­turb­ing child­hood tale to Glo­ria, deeply dis­tress­ing her. His efforts to con­vince her of the tale’s fab­ri­ca­tion fall short.

The Demise of a Moral Cru­sad­er Patch pass­es away, with Antho­ny pur­port­ed as the inher­i­tor; how­ev­er, he is bequeathed noth­ing. The rev­e­la­tion of his dis­in­her­i­tance comes to light upon con­tact­ing Patch’s legal rep­re­sen­ta­tives. The sub­se­quent Day Antho­ny con­tem­plates chal­leng­ing the will based on Mr.Haight pro­pos­es impli­cat­ing Shut­tle­worth and Patch’s physi­cian in tam­per­ing with the will, as they were the pri­ma­ry ben­e­fi­cia­ries. In “The Win­ter of Dis­con­tent,” Antho­ny and Glo­ria immerse them­selves in relent­less rev­el­ry. Spec­u­la­tion spreads about Antho­ny’s involve­ment in Patch’s demise. Antho­ny’s efforts to gen­er­ate income through writ­ing are fruit­less. Glo­ria pon­ders Bloeck­man’s film pro­pos­al, much to Antho­ny’s dis­plea­sure. The US enters a con­flict, and Antho­ny, due to his ele­vat­ed blood pres­sure, is reject­ed for offi­cers’ training.

In “The Bro­ken Lute,” despite their cir­cum­stances, Antho­ny and Glo­ria cling to their fan­ta­sy of win­ning their law­suit. In a sur­pris­ing turn of events, Antho­ny is draft­ed, and his blood pres­sure issues mirac­u­lous­ly dis­ap­pear. He embarks on a jour­ney south, leav­ing Glo­ria in charge of their legal bat­tle in New York.

book 3 chapter 1

Antho­ny trav­els south in a packed troop train endur­ing the smoky envi­ron­ment and sub­par meals. Upon arriv­ing at Camp Hook­er, his days are filled with end­less drills and spo­radic lec­tures by offi­cers. He seizes the first chance to explore the near­by town, where he encoun­ters unex­pect­ed charm and meets two young women, one of them being Dorothy “Dot” Ray­croft. Before long, Antho­ny forms a bond with Dot, a nine­teen-year-old who is known in her town and has had mul­ti­ple pri­or rela­tion­ships. As their con­nec­tion deep­ens, Antho­ny becomes less com­mu­nica­tive with Glo­ria, his spouse, and spends more time with the local work­ing-class com­mu­ni­ty, with whom he feels a stronger con­nec­tion. Antho­ny earns a pro­mo­tion to cor­po­ral by Cap­tain Dun­ning, who deems him a reli­able judge of char­ac­ter. As troops are sent to the Euro­pean trench­es, Antho­ny notices famil­iar names on the casu­al­ty lists. Glo­ria, his wife, ceas­es men­tion­ing her inten­tions to join him. A tran­quil spring is spent with Dot, but news of his reg­i­men­t’s relo­ca­tion dis­rupts their peace. Dis­tressed, Dot threat­ens to end her life with­out him, yet Antho­ny reas­sures her, promis­ing that she will soon for­get him. His cal­lous­ness wounds Dot, but she for­gives him. In Camp Boone, Mis­sis­sip­pi, Antho­ny strug­gles to reach out to Glo­ria. While resid­ing with Dot in a board­ing­house, her pres­ence begins to wear on him. A false sui­cide threat from Dot lands him in trou­ble — he breach­es cur­few to be with her, lead­ing to his arrest and demo­tion. The con­se­quences involve ardu­ous tasks, and Antho­ny starts feel­ing like he is under con­stant sur­veil­lance. Upon his release, he falls ill with influen­za but recu­per­ates in time for his reg­i­men­t’s trans­fer to Long Island, New York. The news of Ger­many’s sur­ren­der reach­es him. Evad­ing mil­i­tary author­i­ties, Antho­ny makes his way to New York City. He enters his vacant apart­ment and receives news that Glo­ria is at the Armistice Ball at the Astor. He rush­es to meet her, and they reunite in a pas­sion­ate embrace.

book 3 chapter 2

Being Left Behind With Antho­ny serv­ing in the mil­i­tary, Glo­ria is despon­dent, real­iz­ing she lacks com­pan­ions. She encoun­ters Rachael Barnes, who invites her to dine with two affa­ble offi­cers set for deploy­ment. Unwant­ed Advances Glo­ria rel­ish­es the atten­tion of Cap­tain Collins dur­ing Rachael’s din­ner. They dance and indulge in drinks, with Collins attempt­ing to kiss Glo­ria. Despite being offered a spare room, Glo­ria declines and departs for home. Love Res­ur­rect­ed Glo­ria recon­nects with her for­mer flame, Tudor Baird, who falls for her once more. A trag­ic plane crash claims Tudor’s life, leav­ing Glo­ria cher­ish­ing their last moments togeth­er. Lone­ly Glo­ria Through Antho­ny’s let­ters, Glo­ria sens­es his hes­i­tance about her join­ing him at the mil­i­tary base. She goes on dates with oth­er men but clar­i­fies her mar­i­tal sta­tus. After receiv­ing fran­tic let­ters from Antho­ny fol­lowed by silence, she learns of his ill­ness and immi­nent return to New York. At a ball, they reunite, and she expe­ri­ences a fleet­ing sense of joy and secu­ri­ty. War is Over Antho­ny is dis­charged and relieved to find Dot, his lover, absent.

His cap­tain’s part­ing words deep­en his aver­sion towards the mil­i­tary. He reunites with Glo­ria in New York. Finan­cial Strug­gles Grap­pling with dwin­dling finances and ongo­ing legal bat­tles, Glo­ria and Antho­ny cast blame on each oth­er’s spend­ing habits. Antho­ny reach­es a low point and takes on a sales role, pro­mot­ing a book titled ‘Heart Talks’. Short-lived Sales Career Antho­ny’s stint in sales is brief. Despite Pro­hi­bi­tion, he man­ages to secure alco­hol and clash­es with Mau­ry over his drink­ing habits. Mean­while, their law­suit per­sists. Glo­ria plans to ven­ture into act­ing but falls ill, yearn­ing for her moth­er’s care. Hal­lu­ci­na­tions Glo­ri­a’s nurse wit­ness­es her fever-induced delu­sions — she feels besieged by insects and dreams of opu­lent palaces. A Shot at Star­dom Approach­ing her 29th birth­day, Glo­ria con­tacts Joseph Bloeck­man about pur­su­ing an act­ing career. The fol­low­ing day, she receives an oppor­tu­ni­ty for a screen test. She vis­its the stu­dio with­out inform­ing Antho­ny. Failed Audi­tion Glo­ri­a’s screen test under Mr. Debris’s guid­ance dis­ap­points. In the ensu­ing days, she obsess­es over her lack­lus­ter per­for­mance. Bloeck­man reveals that Mr. Debris sought a younger actress. Real­iz­ing her fad­ing beau­ty, Glo­ria breaks down in tears.

book 3 chapter 3

With­in a year, Antho­ny and Glo­ria have moved to an uptown apart­ment, sur­viv­ing on a mod­est income. Glo­ri­a’s old friend Muriel pays a vis­it, crit­i­ciz­ing Antho­ny for his lack of employ­ment. Glo­ria con­fides in Muriel that Antho­ny has turned to alco­hol. After Muriel’s depar­ture, Glo­ria wal­lows in self-pity, drink­ing alone. Antho­ny resigns from his last club and spends most of his days drink­ing at Sam­my’s, a local speakeasy, find­ing solace in the anonymi­ty. Dur­ing a rare encounter with Richard Caramel, Antho­ny glimpses Richard’s flour­ish­ing writ­ing career. He arrives home in a drunk­en stu­por in a taxi. The cou­ple’s intox­i­cat­ed argu­ments per­sist. The bank clos­es Antho­ny’s account, leav­ing them with scant cash and a few bonds. A des­per­ate Antho­ny attempts to bor­row mon­ey from Mau­ry Noble and Bloeck­man, result­ing in a con­fronta­tion with Bloeckman.

A stranger cov­ers his cab fare home. A few weeks lat­er, the pro­tract­ed law­suit con­cludes. Mean­while, Dot learns of the law­suit through the news­pa­per and reveals her love for Antho­ny at his doorstep. In a drunk­en state, Antho­ny threat­ens her before suc­cumb­ing to a fit of rage. Upon Glo­ria and Richard’s return with news of their legal vic­to­ry, they find Antho­ny sprawled on the floor, inco­her­ent­ly mak­ing threats. Onboard The Beren­garia, fel­low trav­el­ers dis­cuss Antho­ny’s con­di­tion — now a wheel­chair user with declin­ing men­tal health after inher­it­ing his for­tune. They men­tion his per­son­al physi­cian and Glo­ri­a’s expen­sive coat. While spec­u­la­tions about his state abound, Antho­ny reflects on his past tribu­la­tions and tri­umphs, includ­ing Glo­ri­a’s aban­don­ment and his new­found self-respect.