McHale and Graham were playing. James came over. They nodded to him. He sat. It was soon clear that they were both very skillful. The first man had not been lying about James having a miserable standing in the house. The whole thing was very surprising. He hadn't even met anyone in years who knew what the game was, and now he was in the midst of a slew of experts. Had they all been playing together for years? He supposed that it was so, and lost himself in the game, watching as move by move they interlaced their objectives, their assaults, defenses. Clearly McHale was the better of the two, but Graham was allowing nothing. There was a knock at the door, three knocks.
— Come in, said Graham.
The door opened. Grieve was standing there. Her face was covered in tears.
— James, she said. Come talk with me.
James turned his back on her.
— James, she said.
Graham and McHale had turned to stare at them.
— Come with me. Come talk with me.
— I won't, said James. Leave me alone.
Grieve burst out crying again and ran out of the room.
Graham and McHale exchanged glances. McHale got up.
— We can finish later, he said.
He gave James a disapproving look, and hurried off after Grieve.
Graham and James were left then together in the room.
— What was that? asked Graham.
James rubbed his forehead.
— I caught her cheating on me this morning, in bed with some man, someone from the hospital.
Graham's face had a puzzled look.
— I saw Carlyle earlier, he said carefully. He told me about this. He said he'd told you it wasn't Grieve; it was her sister.
He too seemed disapproving.
— You have to be gentle with Grieve, he said. She's very attached to you. You can't go doing this to her.
— It wasn't her sister, said James. Her sister is six years older and looks nothing like her; that's what Stark said.
Graham narrowed his eyes.
— Stark said that to you?
— Yes, said James. He also told me you've all been trying to trick me into thinking you're part of the conspiracy Estrainger was part of.
Graham drummed his fingers on the table and thought for a moment.
— James, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but. .
At that moment, a maid poked her head through the open door.
— Sir, she said to Graham. There's a man at the door, says he's a detective.
— Oh, dear, said Graham. This again.
He got up and left without a word.
An Addition to the Record
They permit me, these wards of mine, to go out where I will. They do not require school of me. They give me things, a butcher knife, a javelin, the poems of Keats in leather miniature. I say these to myself, my feet in water off the old dock. Grandfather says it was once an ocean, that all the plains and this were once beneath water. I look upward then through the water to the sky beyond. The only safety, I suppose, is to build one's house upon a mountaintop.
Do people who live on mountaintops live forever? Or only nearly so?
James returned to his room. Grieve had gone. Some of her things were still there, however, a dress laid over the back of a chair, a handbag, a notebook.
He picked up the notebook and opened it.
It had just been begun the day before. There was only one entry.
I can't believe how wonderful he is. The others like him, and it seems even he and my father get along. I'm looking forward so much now to this life. I have so many things to tell him. He doesn't mind my odd habits, my lying. I knew when I saw him in the diner. I knew we would be right.
James put the notebook down. There was more, but he didn't read on. He felt awful. Could it have been true? Graham seemed like he had been about to tell James that Stark was lying to him. But then he had gone.
James saw that a note had been slipped underneath the door. He must have walked over it when he came in.
He went over and picked up the note.
Three days ago, Estrainger came to the house. I was told to go and tell Stark that he was here. I did. Then Stark gave me a note to bring to Estrainger. It was a strange note. I copied it down to show you. It said:
Overthrows that are necessary cannot occur easily; secret plots must unfold of themselves, unconscious, like the multitudinous fan of a peacock. And like the peacock, it is never certain of the toll its passing has taken in the world. We must all die unconscious of the good, the evil we have done. That's why there's only hope, hope beyond good and evil.
When I gave it to Estrainger, he went away. I thought nothing of it, and decided not to show you this. But then Estrainger killed himself. And now, Stark has tricked you again. You can't believe them. Do you know the story of the kingdom of foxes? A man goes to live in the kingdom of foxes and he survives only by believing that which is not told him.
Stark had been lying! The police were downstairs. James could go there now. He could alert them. Even if he were dragged away too, there would at least be a chance that the plot could be stopped.
He ran out of his room and down the stairs. As he drew closer to the front entrance, he could hear through the foyer door the sound of voices.
He peeked through.
Stark was standing talking to a man in a suit. There was a bulge under the man's left armpit — that must be the detective, thought James.
— Yes, Stark was saying, Estrainger was a patient here. But we released him due to an overwhelming belief in his capability to live an independent life. We have a very strict system here, a very strict system. He had to pass three different boards of evaluation before he was released. What happened since then, whom he met, et cetera, I can't say. But when he left here, he was perfectly sane.
The detective said something that James didn't hear.
James pressed back against the wall. The man was so close. All James had to do was jump out and speak. Then he thought of Grieve. If Stark had been lying about Estrainger, he must have been lying about Grieve and her sister. They were twins. Why would he lie about that?
James thought of Grieve's face, of how wronged she looked. At the time it had filled him with hate, but now he was overcome by remorse. He thought of her crying, of her standing outside the rovnin room, calling to him. And him with his back turned. . It was more than bore thinking of.
He went back into the hall. He realized he could not give up Grieve's father, Grieve's family. By doing so, he would be betraying her. And he had hurt her so much already.
I have to find her and apologize, he thought.
An Item in the News
On the table in the hall, he saw the newspaper. He picked it up and glanced over the front page.