I hadn’t believed it possible, I said, when Iris told me, shortly after the Center announced the presence of Paul Himmell among the dead for that week (regular lists were published of those who had used the Center’s facilities to take Cavesway); in fact, so quietly was it handled that very little was made of it in the press which did not even report the event until ten days after it had taken place. “We may have misunderstood Paul,” Iris was serene. Her figure had become in the last year thick and maternal while her hair was streaked with premature white. We were alone in the Committee Room, waiting for our fellow committeemen who were not due for another half hour. The August sun shone gold upon the mahogany table, illuminating warmly, like a Byzantine mosaic, the painting of Cave which hung behind her chair. “He really did do it himself?” I looked at her suspiciously. She smiled softly, with amusement. “He was persuaded,” she said. “But he did it himself, of his own free will.” “Not forced?” “I swear not. He was more sincere than I’d ever thought. He believed in Cavesway.” How naturally she said that word which she had so desperately tried to keep from ever existing. We had not once alone referred to the murder of Cave, both acting, for different reasons, as though his death had been, as the world now thought, his own doing. “You had really planned to go away?” I asked. She looked at me, suddenly alert, impersonal: “That’s all finished, Gene. We must keep on in the present. I never think now of anything but Cavesword and Cavesway. It does no good to think of what might have been.” And that was the most we were ever to say to one another about the crisis in our lives. We talked of the present; we made plans. Stokharin had disappeared at the same time Paul flew to Dallas and we both decided it was wisest to forget him: certainly he would not trouble us again. There was no talk of vengeance. The committee members, important and proud, joined us and we took up the day’s problem which was, by some irony, the standardization of facilities for Cavesway in the different Centers. Quietly, without raising our voices, in a most good-humored way, we broke neatly in half on Cavesway. I and one other Resident objected to the emphasis on death. Dallas and the fourth member were in favor of expanding the facilities, both physically and psychologically, until every Cavite at the moment when he felt his social usefulness ebbing could take Cavesway. We argued reasonably with one another until it became apparent that there was no possible ground for compromise. It was put to a vote and Iris broke the tie by endorsing Cavesway. 4