Atdtda25: Hand on knee, 701-703

[Paul Nightingale]

At the end of 49.2 Cyprian tells Ratty he "could seduce any of that manly
brigade you'd care to choose"; as the new section begins, "Ratty had set him
up an appointment with Derrick Theign". At the outset the narrative adopts
Cyprian's pov to establish Derrick as, eg, "a tall and careworn
functionary". Cyprian playfully asks if he can use Derrick's first name, and
imagines himself in the role of sexual predator, eg: "... I'm not giving you
'nerves'? Little nondescript, unthreatening me ..." etc. Following the scene
with Ratty, he does seem to be trying to make good his boast. 

If recently Cyprian has been returning to his childhood, what he notices
about Derrick is his speech, "from his accent stationed out here, perhaps,
actually, for a while now" (701). Cf. his own "false utterings in a number
of hands" (697).Derrick, for his part, notes Cyprian's appearance (his
"maquillage", 702); although he cannot bring himself to refer to it openly,
Cyprian supplying the explanation himself. He says he has spent "most of
this afternoon" (702) in preparation for the meeting. Cf. the prelude to his
meetings with the Colonel on 700: "Cyprian experimented with costume,
maquillage, and hairstyles in an attempt to provoke some comment ..." etc.
This links Derrick to the Colonel; however, in this instance, Cyprian seems
to be adopting a more active role, a kind of secondary revision.

Seen from Cyprian's pov, Derrick is flustered, perhaps embarrassed.
Immediately, Derrick ("that's the smile I want, exactly") reminds Cyprian
and the reader of a wider audience: "... we are not, at the moment,
unobserved". Any intimate relationship we--and indeed Cyprian himself--might
have suspected here is brought into question when Derrick refers to Cyprian
by his last name, following Cyprian's own coy request to use Derrick's first
name: "... if I may so address you--I'm not giving you nerves ..." etc
(701). Hence: "... I'd better have my hand on your leg ..." etc (702) is
businesslike and far from intimate. At this stage it is apparent that, far
from being a victim, Derrick might well be manipulating Cyprian by playing
on his fears: "... unless I'm mistaken, they're out of Misha and Grisha's
atelier. You have got in with a colorful crowd ..." etc.

The text has juxtaposed Cyprian's self-serving take on Derrick to the
latter's speech; just as it juxtaposes Derrick's spoken discourse to the
Colonel's silence. By the time Derrick says he appreciates the hotel's "most
useful A.M.E. ..." etc, then, he has been transformed from the fumbling,
semi-articulate seducee that Cyprian imagined he was dealing with at the
outset.