Atdtda29: Curiously silent, 812-813

[Paul Nightingale]

Above the section break Cyprian is "bound for Trieste"; and now he meets
Yashmeen there, recalling Cambridge as Ratty had on 810. He says too much
("You are the love of my life ..." followed by incredulous commentary, 813)
and also manages to hide his true feelings, "smil[ing] as blandly as he knew
how". And then: "... like watching each other from opposite sides of a deep
opening in the earth". Cf. Cyprian and Theign previously, "poised at
opposite ends of the Venice flat" (812). Cyprian's relationship with Theign
is marked by mutual loathing but a refusal quite to let go; here, when
Yashmeen refers to the strange intimacy between Cyprian and Theign, she is
offered as a substitute (ie: "Is he ... You are ..." etc, 813).

Having decided that Yashmeen must be protected against Theign he attempts
here to minimise the threat, to himself if not to her. She needs Vlado
Clissan, a Cyprian surrogate; whereas, for Cyprian himself, "[i]t's all
fairly straightforward". On 812 Yashmeen wonders if she will "run into this
Theign person"; on 813 Cyprian says he will "put [her] in touch with Vlado".

Communication, contact made and not made. Reference to Cambridge on 812 is
succeeded by reference to Chunxton Crescent on 813. According to Yashmeen
the T.W.I.T. "have been curiously silent". When Noellyn arrives wearing a
Silent Frock, Yashmeen wonders if Noellyn "[is] here at the behest of the
T.W.I.T." (803). Earlier, on 716, she wonders if "the hidden intercession of
the T.W.I.T." has been responsible for her employment "because one day on
the racks there has appeared a version of the Snazzbury's Silent Frock".