He and Quirke had already known each other a little, professionally, in the outside world, but in here the convention was they should behave as cordial strangers. Quirke felt awkward, though; he had assumed that somehow St. John’s would afford anonymity, that it would be the least anyone consigning himself to the care of the place could expect, and he was grateful for Whitty’s studiedly remote cheerfulness and the scrupulous discretion of his pale gaze. He submitted meekly to the daily sessions on the couch- in fact, not a couch but a straight chair half turned towards the window, with the psychiatrist a largely unspeaking and heavily breathing presence behind it- and tried to say the things he thought would be expected of him. He knew what his troubles were, knew more or less the identity of the demons tormenting him, but at St. John’s everyone was called upon to clear the decks, wipe the slate clean, make a fresh start- clichй was another staple of the institutional life- and he was no exception. “It’s a long road, the road back,” Brother Anselm said. “The less baggage you take with you, the better.” As if, Quirke thought but did not say, I could unpack myself and walk away empty.

The inmates were urged to pair off, like shy dancers at a grotesque ball. The theory was that sustained daily contact with a designated fellow sufferer, entailing shared confidences and candid self-exposure, would restore a sense of what was called in here mutuality and inevitably speed the pro cess of rehabilitation. Thus Quirke found himself spending a great deal more time than he would have cared to with Harkness-last-name terms was the form at St. John’s- a hard-faced, grizzled man with the indignantly reprehending aspect of an eagle. Harkness had a keen sense of the bleak comedy of what he insisted on calling their captivity, and when he heard what Quirke’s profession was he produced a brief, loud laugh that was like the sound of something thick and resistant being ripped in half. “A pathologist!” he snarled in rancorous delight. “Welcome to the morgue.”