1
A few days after our disastrous dinner, Clarissa came to me in my
office. It was our first real meeting since her return from Europe. It
was also my first meeting with any one of the directors for, since the
scene on the penthouse terrace, none had come near me, not even Paul
whom I usually saw at least once a day.
Clarissa seemed tired but fashionable in summer lace. She sat
down heavily in the chair beside my desk and looked at me oddly.
“Recriminations?” I asked cheerfully: the recent outburst had restored
me to perfect health and equanimity. I was prepared for anything,
especially battle.
“You’re an absolute fool and you know it,” she said at last. “I suppose
there are wires in here, recording everything we say.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised. Fortunately, I have no secrets.”
“There’s no doubt of that,” she glared at me. “There was no need to
rush things.”
“You mean you anticipated this?”
“What else? Where else could it lead? The same thing happened to
Christ, you know. They kept pushing him to claim the kingdom. Finally,
they pushed too hard and he was killed. It was the killing which
perpetuated the legend.”
“And a number of other things.”
“In any case, it’s all gone too far. Also, I don’t think you even begin
to see what you’ve done.”
“Done? I’ve merely brought the whole thing into the open ... as well
as put myself on record as being opposed to this ... this passion for
death.”
“That of course is nonsense. Just because a few nitwits....”
“A few? Have you seen the statistics? Every month there are a few
hundred more and as soon as Stokharin gets his damned roadhouses for
would-be suicides going we may find that....”
“I always assumed Paul made up the statistics. But even if they _are_
true, even if a few hundred thousand people decide to slip away every
year, I am in favor of it. There are too many people as it is and most
of them aren’t worth the room they take up. I suspect all this is
just one of nature’s little devices to reduce the population ... like
pederasty on those Greek islands.”
“You’re outrageous.”
“I’m perfectly rational which is more than I can say for you. Anyway,
the reason I’ve come to see you today is, first, to warn you and,
second, to say good-by.”
“Good-by? You’re not....”
“Going to kill myself?” she laughed. “Not in a hundred years ... though
I must say lately I’ve begun to feel old. No, I’m going away. I’ve told
Paul that I’ve had my fun, that you’re all on your own and that I want
no part of what’s to come.”
“Where will you go?”
“Who knows? Now for the warning: Paul of course is furious at you and
so is Iris.”
“Perfectly understandable. What did he say?”
“Nothing good. I talked to him this morning. I won’t enrage you by
repeating all the expletives; it’s enough to say he’s eager to get you
out of the way. He feels you’ve been a malcontent all along.”
“He’ll have trouble getting me to take Stokharin’s magic pill.”
“He may not leave it up to you,” said Clarissa significantly, and,
inadvertently, I shuddered. I had of course wondered if they would dare
go so far. I had doubted it but the matter-of-fact Clarissa enlightened
me. “Watch out for him, especially if he becomes friendly. You must
remember that with the country Cavite and with Paul in charge of the
organization you haven’t much chance.”
“I’ll take what I have.”
Clarissa looked at me without, I could see, much hope; it was
disagreeable. “What you don’t know, and this is my last good deed for
in a sense I’m responsible for getting you into this, is that you
accidentally gave the game away.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Paul has been planning for over a year to do away with
Cave. He feels that Cave’s usefulness is over; he’s also uneasy
about letting him loose in the world. Paul wants full control of the
establishment and he can’t have it while Cave lives. Paul also realizes
... he’s much cleverer than you’ve ever thought, by the way ... that
the Cavites need a symbol, some great sacrifice and obviously Cave’s
suicide is the answer. It is Paul’s intention either to get Cave to
kill himself or else to do it for him and then announce that Cave, of
his own free will, chose to die.”