First published in 1922 as part of Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age, this short story calls upon the author's innate sense to focus on the sense of disaster and is often regarded as one of his best short story works. Fitzgerald himself comments, Of this story I can say that it came to me in an irresistible form, crying to be written. It will be accused perhaps of being a mere piece of sentimentality, but, as I saw it, it was a great deal more. If, therefore, it lacks the ring of sincerity, or even, of tragedy, the fault rests not with the theme but with my handling of it.
