Summary

(Untitled Chapter) – Mr. St. John Fox is at home in his study writing while his wife, Daphne, is upstairs painting. Mary Foxe, Fox’s muse, enters the study for the first time in seven years. Fox throws a telephone at her. He then declares that he still loves her. Mary asks if Fox would love her if she were someone else. Fox responds that he would. Mary thinks Fox only loves her for her body. She tells Fox he must change because he is a villain. She explains that Fox is a villain because he murders all the women in his books, from Roberta bleeding to death to Louise being shot to death to Mrs. McGuire hanging herself. Fox contends that fiction is all games. Mary disagrees, but she argues that if they are playing, they should play “shriek." Fox takes the bait...