Summary

The narrator says that Coldbarrow is all over the television. The police have launched a murder inquiry and have taken two local men in for questioning. Newspapers show pictures of Thessaly tumbled to ruins. The narrator wonders how long it will be before Parkinson, Collier or Clement are pictured. He speculates that they are now in their seventies or eighties.

The narrator enters the museum where he works, mentioning that his coworkers think he is a recluse and that they are correct. The narrator retreats to his workspace and sits at the desk, which he has moved to the window in order to watch people's shoes as they walk by. The narrator begins rebinding and re-sewing an old encyclopedia of Scottish flora and fauna. One of his coworkers, Sarah, enters and tells him the museum is closing work early for the day because of...