“Nothing happened, Jack. Nothing,” she said, growing anxious. “I was only trifling with the implications of having an affair. I am proud of my fidelity to you.”

“Did you fuck with him, whoever he was?”

“I was happy to feel that I was not open to a sexual invitation. A man asked me the other night to go to bed with him, but I did not.”

“And the next night?”

“Last night I began to entertain a romantic notion of him. It’s because of all this uncertainty. I wanted company. We had arranged to meet for drinks. We drank too much. I was trying to skim over the squalor of the situation by flirting with him. I told him I had sworn a vow of fidelity to you. He said that was very old-fashioned.”

“Did he now!” he spat.

“He wanted me to go to bed with him. I said it would be on his terms, in that I would keep it a secret from you. Therefore I would only be using him.”

“That would not come as something new to you.”

“I can see no point in continuing this conversation!” Then she screamed: “And how about that bitch you were with?”

“Jesus Christ, you’re not going to start that again.”

“Start what!” she hissed. “Start what!”

“Keep your voice down,” he said.

“Well then, stop interrogating me. I would have left,” said Catherine, “but I couldn’t drive back drunk. So I fell asleep there on a mattress on the floor. It was as simple as that. He went to his bed and I fell asleep in mine.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have to know?”

“Yes.”

“I fell asleep on the floor,” said Catherine, “and woke to find him moving against me. We started moving, then we stopped.”

“Did you come?” he said in a dry, even voice.

“Stop interrogating me, Jack.”

“Did you come with him?”

“Stop it,” she called.

She hit him. He kept his face exactly where it was and she hit him again. Then all of a sudden he bounced his forehead lightly off hers. It happened so suddenly that for a moment she did not respond. Then she opened her mouth to scream. He put his hand tightly over her mouth till the scream passed. Her eyes widened in terror. Then the terror passed. Jack went outside and sat on the step of the house. She opened the door and stood behind him.

She said: “There were no orgasms. Nobody came, I swear that. I told him I loved you. That we had made a vow.”

She started to move towards him, crying. “You’ve asked me,” she said, “and I’ve been honest. I’ve told you everything.”

“I need to get out of here,” said Jack. “I need to walk.”

“Can I go with you?” she asked timidly.

A fog had settled on the shore.