‘How do you mean?’
‘It’s all a performance of one kind or another. We each live by pretending something’s true when we really know it isn’t, or not true when we know it is.’
A strange look came into his eyes, as though her words carried a particular resonance. He seemed about to say something, but then backed off. She had the impression that a corner of the curtain to his mind had been raised, then dropped hastily.
So there was more to him than the charming clown, she thought. He presented that aspect to the world, but behind it was another man who hid himself away and kept everyone else out. Intrigued, she wondered how easy it would be to reach behind his defences.
The next moment he gave her the answer.
Seeing her watching him, he closed his eyes, shutting her out completely.
CHAPTER TWO
SUDDENLY he opened his eyes again, revealing that the tension had gone. The dark moment might never have been. His next words were spoken lightly.
‘You’re getting very philosophical.’
‘Sorry,’ she said.
‘Were you talking about yourself when you said we each live by refusing to admit the truth?’
‘Well, I suppose I really knew that another woman had her eye on him, and I ought to have realised that he’d give in to flattery, no matter what he’d said to me hours before. But it was still a bit of a shock when I went to meet him at the theatre after the performance and found them together.’
‘What were they doing-or needn’t I ask?’
‘You needn’t ask. They were right there on the stage, stretched out on Cleopatra’s tomb, totally oblivious to anyone and anything. She was saying, “Oh, you really are Antony-a great hero!”’
‘And I suppose they were-’ Dante paused delicately ‘-in a state of undress?’
‘Well, he still had his little tunic on. Mind you, that was almost the same thing.’