Mark brings the employment contract form back to Withers (the Deputy Director of the NICE). But Withers looks back at Mark with a blank stare - saying he understood Mark refused the job, and that he could not offer it again (shocking Mark). He belittled Mark by referring to the many quarrels Mark had in his first week. Only after Mark showed dejection did Withers suggest a probationary appointed at a significantly reduced salary. Mark accepted immediately. However, Withers strongly resisted any questions from Mark about whom he should report to. Instead, Withers emphasizes elasticity.
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| Pince-nez glasses |
Meanwhile, Jane started feeling better about her dreams, viewing them as news reports, as Mr. Denniston suggested. In one recurring dream, she lied in her bed, with someone sitting next to her bed with a notebook, where he made entries,
sitting perfectly still and patiently attentive. He had pince-nez (glasses), well chiseled features, and a little pointed beard. She said nothing about this to the Dennistons' in the hope her silence would result in a visit from them, bringing hope without having to go to St. Anne's with getting drawn into the orbit of the Fisher-King (the head of St. Anne's).
At the same time, Mark went back to the Fairy (the NICE police woman chief), who encouraged him to take up the assignment she originally suggested - the rehabilitation of Alcasan (the man who murdered his wife). Mark did so, and found success as a journalist, with the thrill of knowing his writing appeared in several newspaper read by millions (instead of the limited audience in academic writing). He also found relief in discovering that if he needed money, all he need do was inquire of the Steward, and funds would be supplied, since the NICE "make the money," and would be taking over the whole currency.
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| An inner circle |
The inner circle informs Mark they plan to cause a riot (which will appear instigated by others) in Edgestow the next day, so they want him to start writing about it all night long so the articles will be ready to be distributed to the papers quickly after the event. They planned this in order to gain emergency powers to do what they wish, without government interference, and with ready acceptance by the populace. Mark reacts astonished. However, the inner circle treats his astonishment with jocularity and intimacy, and so Mark agrees, thereby never noticing he has agreed to something both immoral and illegal - writing about an event before it occurs, participating in the conspiracy of planning a riot, planning to write a false narrative about it before it occurs, and covering up the true nature and source of the "news item." Mark, enamored with being intimately included in the inner circle, obscures (fogs) his moral sensibilities.
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| False newspaper story |
Mark writes two articles about the riots: one aimed at an educated (academic) audience, and one aimed at the common people. Both praise the response of the NICE police to riots (though, in reality, the NICE caused the riots), and urge the granting of immediate emergency power to the NICE police. Mark, who felt as though he wrote with tongue in cheek (in order to overlook the falsehoods he wrote), feels very satisfied with his writing. He justifies it as a temporary stage the NICE must go through.
Meanwhile, Jane had a different dream about a very large corpse she couldn't see in the dark, and so she had to feel him to find out anything about him (which she almost recoiled at). He wore a very coarse, heavily embroidered, robe. He had a beard. She felt she should courtesy to him, at which point she woke up.
Jane went down to Edgestow seeking a replacement for Ivy Maggs (her part-time servant). She saw a man with pince-nez glasses, a pointed beard, and a waxwork face, who passed by her quite closely on his way to a NICE car, which she recognized from her dream. She made an immediate decision to go to St. Anne's-on-the-Hill, not so much from fear, but from "a total rejection, or revulsion from, this man on all levels of her being at once."
Ch. 5 - Elasticity
Ch. 7 - The Pendragon
Overview of the Book
List of Characters
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