We had drunk two martinis. Donald did most of the talking. He told me about the property, and the garden; we arranged to have a game of tennis sometime, but he warned me that he was out of practice. He spoke for a while about food. The talk was lazy; I could not understand where it was leading.

When Susan came into the room she stood in front of me inclining her cheek to be kissed. It was a custom, she said, that she had learned in Kansas City. She laughed. She was wearing a black dress. The material was thick with patterns; I could not tell what it was. She smiled again as she told us that dinner was ready and we walked down a wide corridor toward a dining room where there was a roast chicken and various plates of vegetables on a hotplate on a side table. Susan seemed to behave as if this were an important occasion. The long table had been set for three. She announced that Donald would sit at the head of the table while she and I would sit on his left and right respectively. No servants or waiters appeared and the two doors into the room were kept closed. As soon as we began to eat, Donald changed his tone. He became direct and businesslike and sharp.

“Who are the main players now in with a chance in the next elections?” he asked and looked up from his food. Susan listened and said nothing.

“You must remember that the fears which people have now are not about abstract notions like democracy and dictatorship,” I said. “Most people are concerned about the disappearances and the stupidity of the war, but they are more concerned about employment prospects, inflation, social welfare, and foreign investment. These come first and whoever runs a credible campaign on these issues will win.” I had prepared none of this, but for some reason I was confident when I spoke, as though I knew things about the future of Argentina which were in the possession of very few. Almost every phrase in what I told them, I had heard first, or used myself, at the Canettos’ house in the years after the war. But now there was no one to interrupt me, or disagree with me.