Martins took his pen and wrote: ‘From B. Dexter, author of The Lone Rider of Santa Fé’ and the young man read the sentence and blotted it with a puzzled expression. As Martins sat down and started signing Benjamin Dexter’s title pages, he could see in a mirror the young man showing the inscription to Crabbin. Crabbin smiled weakly and stroked his chin, up and down, up and down. ‘B. Dexter, B. Dexter, B. Dexter,’ Martins wrote rapidly – it was not, after all, a lie. One by one the books were collected by their owners; little half-sentences of delight and compliment were dropped like curtsies – was this what it was to be a writer? Martins began to feel distinct irritation towards Benjamin Dexter. The complacent, tiring, pompous ass, he thought, signing the twenty-seventh copy of The Curved Prow. Every time he looked up and took another book he saw Crabbin’s worried speculative gaze. The members of the Institute were beginning to go home with their spoils: the room was emptying. Suddenly in the mirror Martins saw a military policeman. He seemed to be having an argument with one of Crabbin’s young henchmen. Martins thought he caught the sound of his own name. It was then he lost his nerve and with it any relic of common sense. There was only one book left to sign; he dashed off a last ‘B. Dexter’ and made for the door. The young man, Crabbin, and the policeman stood together at the entrance.

‘And this gentleman?’ the policeman asked.

‘It’s Mr Benjamin Dexter,’ the young man said.

‘Lavatory. Is there a lavatory?’ Martins said.

‘I understood a Mr Rollo Martins came here in one of your cars.’

‘A mistake. An obvious mistake.’

‘Second door on the left,’ the young man said.

Martins grabbed his coat from the cloakroom as he went and made down the stairs. On the first-floor landing he heard someone mounting the stairs and, looking over, saw Paine, whom I had sent to identify him. He opened a door at random and shut it behind him. He could hear Paine going by. The room where he stood was in darkness; a curious moaning sound made him turn and face whatever room it was.