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into
Snow-White’s cottage.’
    ‘I
thought we could have pheasant with the trimmings, then salad, cheese and crème
brûlée.’
    ‘That
sounds delicious. I only think it’s not original enough since we do have Corby
in the kitchen, and everyone knows it.’
    ‘I’ll
think it over,’ she said. ‘If you have any ideas let me know.’
    ‘Do you
know about the philosophy of Les Autres?’ said Hurley.
    ‘No,’
said Chris. ‘What does it involve?’
    ‘Well,
according to Margaret Damien it’s a new French movement based on, I think,
consideration for others. Like, I suppose: others first, me second.’
    ‘I’ve
been practising that all my life,’ said Chris. ‘Haven’t you?’
    ‘I
guess so,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I’ve expressed it in too elementary a way. Maybe
there’s more to it than one might think.’
    ‘Les
Autres,’ mused Chris. ‘Something new.
    ‘You
could ask her about it,’ Hurley said, ‘on the 18th. She says that Hilda Damien
is immersed in it.‘
    ‘Hilda?’
    ‘Yes,
she said Hilda’s taken it up.’
    ‘What
absolute rot. Hilda doesn’t take up philosophies and ideas. She’s a very busy
active woman. The girl must be mad.’
     
     
    It is the 18th and it
seems to Hurley Reed that the dinner is going well. Pheasant seems to have been
a good idea, after all, although Hurley had feared it would be boring. Chris
had pointed out that it all depended on the quality of the pheasant, and how it
was cooked.
    Many
were the ideas for this course put forth by Hurley and Chris on those evenings,
in those few weeks, before the party, when they customarily discussed whatever
concerned their ordinary lives. They could have been eating aiguillette de
canard, consisting of long, very thin slices of duck in red berry sauce,
with peas and braised celery. Served with Côtes du Rhône.
    But
they are eating pheasant, and Hurley notes that the party is going well. For an
artist (or possibly this is an integral part of his special type of artistic
nature), he is scrupulous about the treatment of his guests when he entertains
them to dinner. He dresses well on such occasions: a velvet coat and dark
trousers. Chris Donovan loves entertaining with all her heart. It isn’t often
that Hurley can spare the time but, once he has put aside an evening, he plans
it well in advance. They talk about it, over and over, the two of them, till
they get all the details right. And so there is always a special sort of lustre
— it is not quite an honour, indeed it is almost something finer and sweeter
—attached to an invitation to dinner with Hurley and Chris.
    Chris
Donovan says to Ernst Untzinger, on her left, ‘Ask Margaret about the new
philosophy of Les Autres that she’s keen about.’ It is a good excuse to
get Ernst to talk to Margaret Damien, his other neighbour.
    Hurley
now is involved with Ella Untzinger, on his left, whom he suddenly finds is
charming. She has that upside-down type of mouth, so that if you were to
picture it the other way up, the lower lip would smoothly smile upward, while
the upper would wavily fit in place: with Ella, all is reversed, and Hurley,
like many others, finds it enchanting. Helen Suzy, on his right, is now
chatting merrily to her neighbour Roland Sykes, not that that will get her
anywhere, Hurley imagines. However Hurley continues, with fascinating Ella, the
conversation already inaugurated with Helen Suzy.
    The
subject is marriage. Forget St Uncumber. Go on to something else, on the same
lines, for Ella has been following the talk between Hurley and Helen Suzy about
marriage in general, and, in fact, Hurley can’t very well change the topic.
    ‘And
you,’ he says to Ella while the pheasant once more goes on its rounds, ‘what
are your views on marriage?’
    ‘Well,’
says Ella, ‘I’m a Catholic.’
    ‘Which
means that marriage is final?’ says Hurley.
    ‘I’m
afraid so.’
    ‘Why
are you afraid?’ Hurley enquires. ‘You should fear nothing if you’re a