The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, a regular tough

Could you please tell me the precise meaning of "a regular tough underneath it all" in the following excerpt from chapter four of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby?

“Did I have to know all this before he could ask such a little thing?”

“He’s afraid. He’s waited so long. He thought you might be offended. You see, he’s a regular tough underneath it all.”

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Here Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway are discussing Gatsby. Here Jordan describes Gatsby as a "tough" in the sense of a noun and not a verb. She means that Gatsby isn't the stylish icon or enigma people think he is. Really Gatsby is a violent man underneath.

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