Part II The Baths — Chapter Ten

Amid crowded Customs corridors, Senlin collides with the Red Hand, who eerily profiles him before drifting away. Anxious about Kristof’s brief head start, Senlin races to meet Ogier by the reservoir.

At the promenade, he’s trapped by a crowd as Commissioner Pound conducts a public hod-making for a debtor. Pound notices Senlin and proposes an interview, but the spectacle turns personal when the shaved prisoner proves to be Tarrou. Tarrou, newly condemned, embraces Senlin, then launches a furious denunciation of the Tower and its empty diversions.

To protect Senlin, Tarrou theatrically insults him and shoves him away, severing any apparent link before agents beat Tarrou into submission. Pound coolly schedules the interview for eight and orders Tarrou walled.

Shaken, Senlin reaches Ogier on the bench and vents his anger over the risks taken for the painting. Realizing the forgery’s exposure is imminent, Ogier retrieves the rolled canvas from Senlin’s satchel via a bathhouse stall and returns, focused on escape.

Ogier explains the ports will soon be closed to catch Senlin and identifies a ferry leaving North Port at the hour. Dropping his prior suspicion, Ogier now trusts that Senlin is truly Marya’s husband and vows to tell all he knows, urging they hurry without drawing notice.