'I can do the arithmetic,' I said.

'That's without taking into account the options,' Henry said, continuing eating. Either the hot food or the chanting of enormous figures had made his face flush and he was sweating. 'Even with today's inflation and all that crap...'

I nodded. 'It's a nice bundle.'

'I promised you you'd never regret it, didn't I?' he said harshly.

'So you did.'

'No more other people's money,' he said. He stopped eating and put his knife and fork down. He looked at me soberly. His eyes, through the contact lenses, were deep and clear. The little red furrows on the side of his nose had disappeared. 'You saved me from drowning, Doug,' he said in a low voice. 'I can never thank you enough and I won't try.'

'Don't try,' I said.

'Are you all right?' he asked. 'I mean - well - about everything?'

'Couldn't be better.'

'You look good, kid, you really do.'

'And so do you,' I said.

'Well—' He shifted uneasily on the banquette. The decision is finally up to you. Is it yes or no?'

'Yes,' I said. 'Of course.'

He smiled widely and picked up his knife and fork again. He finished his steak and ordered blueberry pie à la mode for dessert. 'You'd better get some exercise, Hank,' I said, 'if you're going to eat like that.'

'I'm taking up tennis again.'

'Come on out here and play sometime,' I said. There're a thousand courts at this end of the island.'

That'd be nice. I'd like to meet your wife, too.'

'Anytime.' Then I began to laugh.

He looked at me suspiciously. 'What're you laughing

about?'

'On the way to town this morning,' I said, 'after you called, I made up my mind that when I saw you today I wasn't going to let you have one cent more than ten thousand dollars.'

For a moment he looked hurt. Then he began to laugh, too. We were both laughing, a little hysterically, when Madeleine came back to the restaurant to join us for coffee.

'What's the joke?' Madeleine asked as she sat down.

'A family affair,' I said. 'Brother stuff.'

'Henry will tell me later,' she said. 'He tells me everything. Don't you. Henry?'

'Everything,' he said. He took her hand and kissed it affectionately. He had never been an open or demonstrative man, but that, too, I saw had changed, along with the eyes, the teeth, the appetite. If stealing a hundred thousand dollars from a dead old man could put the expression that I saw now on Henry's face, felony became a virtue and I would steal ten times over from ten dead men.

When I took them to their car, Madeleine gave me their address. 'You must come and see us soon,' she said.

'I will,' I promised. None of us had any idea of how soon it was going to be.

The show. Fabian assured me, was a great success. At one time there must have been more than sixty cars parked outside the bam. The room remained crowded, as people came and went. The champagne got a good deal of serious attention, but so did the paintings. What comments I could overhear in the din of conversation were enthusiastic. 'All on the plus side,' Fabian whispered to me when we both found ourselves together for a moment at the bar. I didn't see the critic from The Times, but Fabian told me he liked the expression on the man's face. By eight o'clock, Dora had put red tabs on four of the big oils and six of the small ones. 'Phenomenal,' Fabian exulted as he passed me. 'And a lot of people have told me they're coming back. What a pity Lily couldn't be here. She'd adorn the room. And she loves parties.' His speech was a little thick. He hadn't eaten all day and he had a glass in his hand at all times. I had never seen him drunk before. I hadn't thought he could get drunk.

Evelyn seemed somewhat dazed by it all. Quite a few of the guests were theater and movie people, and there were four or five well-known writers whom she recognized but had never met. In Washington, she had never been impressed by the senators or ambassadors she had known, but this was a world that was new to her and she was almost tongue-tied when she had to talk to a man whose book she admired or an actress who had moved her on the stage. I found it an endearing weakness. 'Your friend. Miles,' she said to me, shaking her head. 'He knows everybody.' 'You don't know the half of it,' I said. Evelyn had to go home early, because she had promised Anna the night off. 'Congratulations, darling,' she said as I accompanied her outside to her car. "It's been splendid.' She kissed me and said. 'Ill be waiting up for you.'

The night air was cool after the heat of the crowded gallery and I stood outside for a few minutes, enjoying the clear, unsmoky evening air. I saw a big Lincoln Continental drive up and Priscilla Dean get out with two graceful young men. The men were in dinner jackets and Priscilla was wearing a long black dress, with a bright red cape thrown over her bare shoulders. She didn't see me and I didn't think I had to go over to say hello to her. I followed them warily into the gallery. There was a little hush as she entered the room, and eyes turned in her direction, but the conversation rose quickly to normal pitch. It was a polite and well-mannered group, and I guessed that most of the people there, like Dora, were not the sort who patronized the kind of theaters in which The Sleeping Prince was playing, or subscribed to the magazines in which Priscilla Dean, unclothed, was so prominently featured.

Fabian himself escorted her to the bar. I didn't see her look at a single painting. By the time all the other guests had left, it was past ten o'clock and she was alone at the bar. Drunk. Very drunk. When there had still been a dozen or so people in the room, the two young men had tried to persuade her to leave. 'We're expected for dinner, Prissy, darling,' one of them had said. 'We're way overdue. Come on. Please'

'Fuck dinner,' Priscilla said.

'We have to go,' the other young man had said.

'Go,' Priscilla said, steadying herself against the bar. Her cape had fallen to the floor and a generous portion of her excellent upper body was on view. 'And fuck you, too. Tonight I'm an art lover. Fags. My old friend from Paris, Miles Fabian, will take me home. won't you, Miles?'

'Of course, dear,' Fabian said, without enthusiasm.

'He's an old man,' Priscilla said, 'but oo la, la. Nadine Bonheur bas spread the word from Passy to Vincennes. A for effort. Très bien. That's French, you fags.'

By now, the last of the guests had vanished. I gave silent thanks that Priscilla had arrived on the scene late and that Evelyn had had to go home to mind the baby. Dora was Staring at Priscilla with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging Open. She had told us when we interviewed her that she was looking for a quiet, clean job where she could catch up on her reading. I avoided Fabian's eyes.

'Stop hanging around, for shit's sake,' Priscilla said to the two young men. 'One thing I can't stand is people hanging around.'

The two young men looked at each other and shrugged. They said good night civilly to Fabian and me and told us how much they had liked the paintings. 'Incidentally,' the older of the two said, 'we're not homosexual. We're brothers.' They made their exit with dignity, and a minute later I heard the Lincoln Continental start up and go off.

Fabian bent to pick Priscilla's cape from the floor. He staggered a little and almost fell, but recovered quickly. He put the cape over Priscilla's shoulders. Time to go beddy-bye, dear,' he said. I shouldn't drive m my condition—' At least, I realized gratefully, he wasn't that far gone. 'But Douglas will drive us nice and slowly.'

'Your condition.' Priscilla laughed raucously. 'I know what your condition is, you old goat. Give me a kiss, Daddy.' She held out her arms. 'In the car,' Fabian said.

Priscilla held onto the table. 'I won't budge until I get my kiss,' she said.