Chapter 20 Summary

Tom/ Dickie spends five calm, solitary days wandering in Palermo. When he first became Dickie Greenleaf, Tom imagined a new circle of friends. Instead, he has become lonely, avoiding anyone who could possibly know Dickie.

As if things were not bad enough, Dickie receives letters from his banks in Naples and New York. An expert at the New York bank suspects the signature on Dickie's January check to have been forged. Tom is furious. It should take months for them to uncover the forgery, and it has only been four weeks. Tom immediately writes both banks as Dickie, and insists the signatures are genuine. He carefully forges the signatures on the letters, making sure they are perfect. The Naples bank demands that Dickie appear in person to verify the signatures. This especially frightens Tom, as Dickie was at the bank in Naples many...