Atdtda26: Lovely to see you, 728-730

[Paul Nightingale]

Dally transformed by experience, integrated. Perhaps surprised to see the
same reflection in the mirror: her appearance "the same American mask with
the same American eyes looking through". The previous section had Scarsdale
Vibe and Foley Walker; and then Reef and Kit. In each case the relationship
was problematised in terms of similarity and difference. According to
Scarsdale Vibe, Foley is "a full partner"; he "see[s] the same set of books"
(725). Similarly, Reef wonders if Kit is sufficiently a vengeful Traverse
(727). Perhaps indirectly he asks if Kit is Frank: cf. Reef speaking to
mother and sister on 216. Also Reef on Kit as a 'born-again' "bloodthirsty
customer" on 669.

So now there are two Dallys, the Italian transformation of the American
'original'; however the transition, cannot be dated (eg, "... one day the
bobwire was down ..." etc, 728), and the two 'versions' peacefully co-exist.
Subsequently, Hunter will insist his drawing is the real Dally (730); and
Algernon will wonder if Hunter himself is "some sort of twin or something"
(729).

Kit's appearance in the market reminds us of Cyprian meeting Yashmeen by
chance on 716; here, the passage in question drifts from Merle's recipe to
the Stupendica. Merle as both father and not-father; the ship as both
passenger vessel and warship. Hence her instant recognition of "a face you
couldn't miss the family resemblance in" (728), a moment that replays Reef's
own questioning of family resemblance on the previous page (or, as Dally
herself puts it a moment later, top of 729, "family trait[s]"). Also cf.
Yashmeen's take on Kit's "somehow aged or gravely assaulted double" on 667.

Dally was last seen visiting Tancredi minus Hunter on 587, Ch41 ending with
a suggestion of some kind of relationship. Here, on 729, Hunter is still in
attendance; perhaps the reader wonders what has happened to Tancredi, not
least since we have been playing catch-up with Dally herself. By the end of
the section Hunter has set up a meeting with Ruperta; so Dally-Tancredi is
replaced by Hunter-Ruperta. In turn, Hunter is recognised by the "beefy
individual" identified as Algernon, whom the reader, momentarily distracted
from Dally's personal career, might consider a successor to Rodolfo (657).
Given that Hunter addresses "'Pert" (729), one might wonder about that
unwritten history; subsequently, he is "more anxious than Dally had seen him
lately" when asking how long Ruperta will be in town (730). And then there
is Hunter's past life as a cricketer. Here, Algernon refers to the
unscheduled end to a day's play: "... offer old Barkie the light", the game
not continuing as expected when Hunter disappears. Cf. Hunter's personal
transformation as a painter on 580, "switching to nocturnes".

Dally re-establishes herself as central to the narrative, binding the reader
to her in their shared knowledge of her subterfuge: she presents Beppo to
Ruperta, then claims to be Eleanora Duse. Whether Ruperta believes any of
this is beside the point, of course: she is "a bit puzzled" to find an
Italian with clean hands, her expectations, and therefore her sense of
superiority, confounded. She doesn't know the correct answer to the question
she asks, one posed implicitly at the outset; as the two women confront each
other Reef "[finds] some way to keep inside his own shadow". Cf. Cyprian on
shadowing on 708: "So close in fact as to begin to lose oneself."