He stood there grinning defiantly. His face seemed dirty and I noticed that his beard was beginning to grow. Although he had been wearing his hair long for some time, it now seemed lank and greasy. To me his whole appearance was one of deliberate sloppiness, in spite of the fact that his clothes were what he usually wore—jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers.

“Go to your room, Duff,” his father told him quietly.

He stared at Jack for a moment, still grinning, then turned and obeyed. Or at least he went upstairs.

“That’s something different,” Jack said ruefully. “That’s never happened before.”

It was almost incredible conduct. Duff had never defied us. “It’s this place,” I said. I didn’t really believe that—intending the remark only as comfort for Jack—but then I remembered what Stephanie had said. Coincidentally, or maybe not, she came in then, bringing him some vitamin tablets, and I wondered if she had heard the conversation with Duff. She had certainly heard my remark to Jack, because she glanced at me briefly, then blushed and looked away.

I wish now I had followed her out of the room and insisted that she tell me more of what she had talked about the night before. At that time, if I had been aware of what I was facing, I think I still might have been able to manage Duff. If I had known then what I know now, I would have cajoled him, bribed him, drugged and bound him, if necessary, in order to get him away from the Caine farm.

For the next couple of weeks however, we were in a period of relative calm. There were no more episodes of defiance from Duff and indeed his whole manner seemed to change again. He was the mannerly, quiet and neat-­appearing boy he had been of old. And his relationship with Franny became what it had always been, not exactly idyllic, but a normal brother-­sister thing in which he put her down occasionally, but was still loving and protective toward her.

With Stephanie he was respectful but subdued. They had little to say to each other, but they didn’t appear to be trying to avoid each other either. Duff didn’t seem to be embarrassed by her presence and she didn’t seem to be afraid of him. Dr. Fowler came to see Jack every few days. (“Try to get service like that in Scarsdale,” said Jack.) The cast was off now and he was getting around very well on crutches.

I then suggested to Stephanie that we could get along without her help. She reacted by beginning to weep.

“Please don’t make me go home,” she sobbed.

“No one is making you go anywhere,” I said. “As I recall, you wanted us to leave a while ago. What if we had gone back East immediately, as it seems to me you suggested we do?”