Contents
Part I The Basement & the Parlor — Chapter Nine
Overview
Senlin is pulled into the Parlor’s play, only to see it turn lethally real. Mr. Mayfair smashes a decanter over Edsel Pining’s head and then kills him with a saber. Realizing the performance has become murder, Senlin confronts Mayfair, who levels the bloody blade at him, escalating the danger.
Summary
Awakened by a bell in the Parlor’s service kitchen, Thomas Senlin, posing as the butler “Isaac,” enters a grand but windowless dining hall. A distressed Mrs. Mayfair demands tea, then urges Senlin to the study to provide a calming presence as raised voices argue nearby.
In the trophy-filled study, Senlin finds Edsel Pining cast as Oscar Shaw debating with the drunken, red-faced Mr. Mayfair. Their argument over love versus business intensifies while Mrs. Mayfair hovers by the fire. Senlin tends the hearth, hoping to remain unobtrusive as tensions rise.
Mayfair suddenly hurls a crystal decanter into the back of Pining’s head, dropping him to the floor, blood spattering Mrs. Mayfair’s dress. As Pining barely stirs, Mayfair, enraged and possessive, seizes a wall saber and, despite the theatrical setting, drives it through Pining’s back, pinning him to the floor. Pining’s rattling breath fades; he does not move again.
Stunned, Senlin recognizes that the play has turned real and lethal. He rebukes Mayfair, insisting this is only theater and that the man has ended it with murder. Mayfair, unmoved and intoxicated, demands “Isaac” step away from his wife, then levels the gore-dark blade at Senlin, leaving him in immediate peril.
Who Appears
- Thomas SenlinProtagonist posing as butler “Isaac”; witnesses Pining’s murder and confronts Mr. Mayfair.
- Mr. MayfairDrunken host; assaults Pining with a decanter, then kills him with a saber; threatens Senlin.
- Edsel PiningCast as Oscar Shaw; argues romantically with Mayfair before being bludgeoned and fatally stabbed.
- Mrs. MayfairAnxious and conflicted; summons Senlin to the study and recoils as violence erupts.