who had knocked down his wife, killing her. As Nick walked away, Tom grabbed his arm and confessed to what Nick suspected:

“I told him the truth,” he said. “He came to the door while we were getting ready to leave, and when I sent down word that we weren’t in he tried to force his way up-stairs. He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house ——”

What makes this revelation shocking is not only the fact that Tom acknowledged that he was indirectly responsible for Jay's death by implicating him, but also that firstly, Daisy seemed to have lied to him about who had been driving the car at the time and, secondly, that he assumed an attitude of righteous indignation for Nick's resentment, for he says:

“What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s, but he was a tough one. He ran over Myrtle like you’d run over a dog and never even stopped his car.”

Nick then told him the truth. Tom further displays his lack of remorse and self-absorption by trying to glean some sympathy from Nick. He tells him:

 “And if you think I didn’t have my share of suffering — look here, when I went to give up that flat and saw that damn box of dog biscuits sitting there on the sideboard, I sat down and cried like a baby. By God it was awful ——”

Nick was unforgiving and felt that Tom believed that his actions were justified. He concluded that Tom and Daisy were careless people who made a mess and expected others to clean up after them so that they could return to the comfort of their wealth and their careless lives. Nick felt as if he was talking to a child, alluding to Tom's utter inability to even realize the wrongfulness of his actions. 

Nick's sentiments in this instance echo what he had previously told Jay about the Buchanan's and their sort:

“They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

It is a pity that our hopeful idealist never saw it that way and paid for his folly with his life.

In Chapter Nine, Tom and Nick run into each other in late October on Fifth Avenue. This is after the events of the summer that culminated in Wilson murdering Gatsby and then committing suicide. In the rising action, Nick sees Tom, observes his aggressive movements, and slows down so he won't overtake him. Tom, however, glimpses Nick's reflection in a shop window and comes toward him, his hand held out. Nick refuses to shake hands, saying "you know what I think of you." Tom tells him Nick is crazy, and Nick asks him what he said to Wilson that caused Wilson to shoot Gatsby.

In the climax of the scene, Tom tells Nick that Wilson arrived at his door with a revolver and demanded to know who ran over Myrtle. Tom told Wilson it was Gatsby. Tom speaks defensively, implying he feared Wilson would shoot him and saying Gatsby had it coming for running Myrtle over like "a dog."

In the falling action, Nick realizes that Tom believes this version of the story; he doesn't know Daisy was the one driving the car. Nick understands there is nothing he can say, as he won't expose Daisy by telling Tom that his wife killed his lover. Nick recognizes, too, that Tom feels he was victimized by events and believes he was justified in sending Wilson after Gatsby. Tom talks about how sad he felt after Myrtle's death, crying over the box of dog biscuits he found in her apartment. 

As Nick comes to have some sympathy for Tom, he ruminates on Tom and Daisy, deciding, in a famous passage, that they were "careless people... they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money..." At this point, as Nick's anger fades, although he never actually comes to like Tom. Nick decides Tom is childlike and shakes his hand, deciding it would be silly not to shake hands with someone so childlike.