The Chosen and the Beautiful

Jordan not only spends her summer in the hedonistic attendance of parties, but also campaigns against the dress-down trade in the garment district, fighting for the rights of working-class women. She loses sight of Nick for a while, until she finds him at the Bijoux night club. He tells her that he does not understand her, and Jordan replies that she likes him. He says that he does not know her well enough to know whether he likes her. She asks him to sleep over at Aunt Justine’s where she will furnish him with a pajama set and his own room.

When Jordan kisses him goodnight, he jokes that she might not always be “a very nice girl” (69). She replies that she has greater virtues than being nice and realizes that she is truly falling for Nick and even goes to check on what he looks like asleep.

Aunt Justine warns that she hopes that Jordan knows what she is doing. The next morning, Jordan goes to find Nick and invites him to cheer her on at a tennis match in East Hills. He tries to get her to come to his house that evening, but she rebuffs him.