Mark’s accuser. This girl must know her name. She had announced her to Ms. Estavez and she had chatted with her. Again I was tempted to go back into the building. But if I nosed around too much it could only hurt Mark. I restrained my impulse for the second time.

As I strolled among the students I thought about what she had told me-that she had heard me mention Dr. Pappas. I tried to reconstruct the sequence of events and was positive that I hadn’t mentioned Mark until after she had passed on her message and left the office. That meant she had been listening outside the door.

I pondered what to tell Mark about my activities as we drove back to Chapel Hill late that afternoon. I hadn’t seen him since the morning class. He had been tied up with office hours and other appointments. He had also started a research project and had been busy at lunch.

After leaving the Administration Building I had strolled around the campus for a while, nostalgically remembering my days in academia and wondering whether I still had the stamina to teach. I didn’t see any more demonstrations against Mark, for which I was thankful.

When I became tired of walking I repaired to the library and found a book on chess to while away the time. I had started to carry a miniature chess set in my purse because it bugged me that Wesley played a better game than I did. I used my set to work through some problems in the book.

I ate lunch in a cafeteria full of laughing and shouting students and remembered that one of the reasons I had retired was to gain some peace and quiet. I did one more thing: I found a telephone book and looked up the address of Club Cavalier.

“I hoped you weren’t bored out of your mind all day,” Mark said, interrupting my reverie.

Some of his normal good spirits seemed to have returned. I envied him because he never stayed depressed for very long.