'I put on a good act,' Hale said lifelessly. 'I have to. I'm a dandy little old liar. It's a government of liars and you get plenty of practice. Happy civil servant, happy husband, happy son-in-law, happy father of two.... Ah, Christ, why am I letting it all out on you? I imagine you have troubles enough of your own.'

'Not at the moment,' I said. 'If it's so bad, why don't you quit? Go into something else?'

'Into what?' he said. 'Selling neckties?'

'Something would be bound to turn up.' I didn't tell him that there might be a job open as a night clerk in New York. Take a few months off and look around and...'

'On what?' He made a derisive sound. 'I haven't a penny. You saw how we live. My salary's just about half of it. My sainted father-in-law kicks in the rest. He nearly had apoplexy when I got sent home from Asia. He'd burn the house down over my head if I told him I was quitting. He'd have my wife and the kids back living with him in two months after I went out the door.... Ah, forget it, forget it, I don't know why I suddenly went off the handle like this. That sonofabitch Benson. I see him multiplied by a thousand every time I come to work in the morning. What the hell - I don't have to play in that poker game anymore. At least that'll be one Benson I won't have to talk to.' He laughed softly. 'Maybe if I'd won tonight, I'd be telling you what a great life it is right this minute in this dandy little old town of Washington.' He was driving more and more slowly, as though he didn't want to be left alone or have to go home and face the concrete facts of his wife, his children, his career, his father-in-law. I wasn't so anxious to get to my hotel room either. I didn't want to put on the light and look at the telephone on the bedside table and fight down the temptation to pick it up and ask for Evelyn Coates's number.

'I wonder if you'd do me a favor, Doug?' he said, as we neared my hotel.

'Of course.' But even as I said it, I made strong mental reservations. After the conversation in the car, I didn't have any inclination to get mixed up more than was absolutely necessary with the life and problems of my old college buddy, Jeremy Hale.

'Come out to dinner tomorrow night,' he said, 'and somehow get onto the subject of skiing and say you're thinking of going skiing in Vermont the first two weeks next month and why don't I join you?'

'I don't think I'll even be in the country by then,' I said.

'That makes no difference,' he said calmly. 'Just say it. Where my wife can hear it. I have some time coming to me and I can get away then.'

'You mean you have to make excuses to your wife if you want to...?'

'Not really.' He sighed, at the wheel. 'It's more complicated than that. There's a girl...'

'Oh.'

That's it.' He laughed uneasily. 'Oh. That doesn't sound like me either, does it?' He said it pugnaciously, as though somehow he was accusing me of something.

'Frankly, no,' I said.

'It isn't like me. This is the first time since I've been married ... I never thought it would happen. But it did happen and it's driving me crazy. We've just had a few times ... a few minutes, an hour, here and there. Sneaking around. It's killing both of us. In a town like this, with people snooping around like bird dogs after everybody. We need some time together - real time. God knows what my wife would do if anybody ever said anything to her. I didn't want it to happen, I swear to God, but it happened. I feel as though the top of my head is going to blow off. I can't talk to anyone in this town. It's like living with a stone on my chest, day in, day out. I never knew I could feel like this about any woman.... You might as well know who it is....'

I waited. I had the terrible feeling that the name he was going to come out with would be Evelyn Coates.

'It's that girl in my office,' he said, whispering. 'Miss Schwartz. Miss Melanie Schwartz. God, what a name! '

'Name or no name,' I said, 'I can understand. She's beautiful.'

'She's a lot more than that. I'm going to tell you something, Doug - if it keeps going on the way it's been going - I don't know what I'm liable to do. We've got to get out of this town together ... a week, two weeks, a night ... But we've got to ... I don't want a divorce. I've been married ten years, I don't want ... Oh, hell, I don't know why I should drag you into it.'

'Ill come to dinner tomorrow night,' I said.

Hale didn't say anything. He stopped in front of the hotel. TU expect you around seven,' he said calmly, as I got out of the car.

In the elevator on the way up to my floor, I thought, Scranton isn't all that far from Washington after all.

As I got ready for bed I kept away from the telephone in my room. I took a long time getting to sleep. I guess I was waiting for the phone to ring. It didn't ring.

I couldn't tell whether it was the telephone that awoke me or if I had opened my eyes just before it began to ring. I had had a nasty, jumbled dream in which I was hiding out, running, from unseen and unknown pursuers, through dark, forested country, then suddenly in glaring sunlight between rows of ruined houses. I was glad to be awake and I reached over gratefully for the telephone.

It was Hale. I didn't get you up, did I?' he asked.

'No.'

Listen,' he said, 'I'm afraid I have to cancel the dinner tonight. My wife says we're invited out.' He sounded offhand and untroubled.

'That's okay,' I said, trying not to let my relief show in my voice.

'Besides,' he said. 'I talked to the lady in question and — 'The rest of the sentence was muffled by a deep crescendo of sound.

'What's that noise?' I asked. I remembered what he had said about phones being tapped in Washington.

'It's a lion roaring,' be said. 'I'm in the zoo with my kid». Want to join us?'

'Some other time. Jerry,' I said. 'I'm still in bed.' After the outburst in the car after the poker game, I didn't relish the idea of watching him play the role of the dutiful father devoting his Sunday morning to his children. I have never been expert at complicity and didn't relish the thought of being used to deceive infants.

'See you in the office tomorrow,' he said. 'Remember to bring your birth certificate.'

'I'll remember,' I said.

The L'on was roaring as I hung up,

I was in the shower when the phone rang again. Streaming and soapy, grabbing a towel to wrap around my middle, I picked up the phone.

'Hello,' the voice said. 'I waited as long as I could.' It was Evelyn Coates. Her voice was half an octave lower on the phone. 'I have to leave the house. I thought you might have been tempted to call last night, after the game. Or this morning.' Her self-confidence was irritating.

'No,' I said, leaning back. trying to keep the water from dripping onto the bed. 'It didn't occur to me,' I lied. 'Anyway, you seemed somewhat preoccupied.'

'What are you doing today?' she asked, ignoring my complaint.

'At the moment I'm taking a shower.' I felt at a disadvantage trying to cope with that low, bantering voice, the water dripping coldly down my back from my wet hair and my eyes beginning to smart because I had gotten some soap in them.

She laughed. 'Aren't you polite?' she said. 'Getting out of a shower to answer the phone. You knew it was me, didn't you?'

The thought may have crossed my mind.'

'Can I take you to lunch?'

I hesitated, but not for long. After all, I had nothing better to do that afternoon in Washington. That would be fine,' I said.

'I'll meet you at Trader Vic's,' she said. 'It's a Polynesian place in the Mayflower. It's nice and dark, so you won't see the poker-rings under my eyes. One o'clock?'

'One o'clock,' I said. I sneezed. I heard her laugh.

'Go back to your shower and then dry yourself thoroughly, like a good boy. We don't want you spreading cold germs among the Republicans.'