The Maidens

Mariana takes Zoe for a drink with Veronica and Serena. They claim that Tara and Edward were not close; he “was kind to [her]—but she just used him” (145). Both women corroborate Edward’s alibi, saying they were with him the whole night except for a 10-minute cigarette break that he took alone. Neither is friendly toward Zoe. Mariana is convinced they are lying but is unsure about what specifically.

A first-person narrator describes sifting through a basket of personal letters, which he describes as a “Pandora’s box” (148). He is seeking an explanation and answers from his past.

Mariana meets Fred at the Eagle, “the oldest pub in Cambridge” (150). Clumsy and eager, he invites her to team up with him to solve the murder; he does not believe Conrad is guilty. Mariana is tempted but declines. He gives her his number in case she changes her mind. As they leave, he asks if she has been to Naxos, saying he visited the previous year and enjoyed diving there. Shocked, she walks away in tears, leaving him confused.

Walking back from the pub, Mariana is sure that a man is following her through the dark, foggy night, but after she makes it back to campus, she begins to doubt herself. Once inside, a portrait of Tennyson in his youth, a few years after Hallam’s death but a decade before completing In Memoriam, catches Mariana’s eye. Its “stillness, and glacial beauty” mesmerize and disappoint her (160), providing none of the comfort she seeks. Returning to her room, she finds an invitation from Edward to meet for a chat.

The first-person narrator describes his childhood, wondering if his fate was written even then. His mother, who had him when she was 19, would dismiss these thoughts on the grounds that life had no meaning, but he knows there was “more than one of her” (162)—she wasn’t always so nihilistic. She had once written poetry and pressed flowers, but marriage to a man she barely knew changed her. Their life on a farm was hard work; the ceaseless butchering of animals distressed her, but her husband seemed to “relish it.” When the narrator misbehaved, his father threatened to bury him in a pit of leftover animal parts, filling him with terror.

When Edward and Mariana meet, he attempts to identify with her and is annoyed when he fails to charm her. Switching tactics, he informs her that he checked with the dean and knows that she lied about working at his request. Mariana challenges his relationship with the Maidens, and Edward becomes defensive, asking her why she is “determined to dislike” him (168). She feels anger and is unsure whether it is his or hers. He invites her out again and then kisses her on the lips before walking away, leaving her furious.

After her meeting with Edward, Mariana impulsively phones Fred, and they meet. He apologizes for seemingly having upset her, and Mariana reveals that her husband died on Naxos. Fred appears shocked, though Mariana is unsure whether to believe him. The topic moves to Edward, whose parties, Fred says, are “infamous” for being “pretty wild” and restricted to his students only (173).

They visit Tara’s room and find a white-filtered cigarette—the kind Edward smokes—outside her window. Mariana notes that Edward’s alibi only leaves 10 minutes unaccounted for: not enough to commit the murder and return. Fred muses that he could have used a punt to travel quickly by river. As they ponder trying and timing the route, Zoe calls: Another body has been found.