Atdtda31: It did not take nearly as long, 881-883 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

Cyprian and Reef, their rapport interrupted by Yashmeen. On 875 she insisted
that Reef would have no interest in Cyprian; here, they are soon improvising
a threesome in which Cyprian features, twice, as "a little go-between"
(882).

At the outset, Cyprian's ambiguous appearance is, it seems, correctly read
by Reef: "It was Cyprian all right ..." (881). In the first paragraph the
care that has gone into composing Cyprian's appearance is set against Reef's
less thoughtful, or considered, response: "... finding himself with an
erection ..." etc. If Cyprian is a work of art, or an artful work, then Reef
is an undiscriminating reader, perhaps. On 860, we left Signor Fabrizio
cutting off Yashmeen's hair, or about to do so: "It was to be bleached
gently, re-curled, and fashioned into an elaborate wig ..." etc, all in
anticipation of "a fateful masked ball". Currently absent, then, Yashmeen
has been the author of Cyprian's appearance and his eventual clash with
Reef.

To see where Reef/Cyprian comes from we might go back to 59.7, Yashmeen
"continu[ing] to whisper the lesson to him, as if choosing to believe he had
only fallen into a light hypnosis" (863). Further down the page: "Her
irresistibility filled the day, leaving little time for thought." Go back a
couple of pages and we find their first sex, with Yashmeen's hair playing
some part in the scene: "Reef got back to find Yashmeen fallen asleep on the
divan, having spread her wet hair out behind her" (858). On that occasion
Reef imagined himself in control, until Yashmeen's gaze was turned upon him
(as on Cyprian subsequently, of course): "As he was hitting the run-up to
his grand finale, she rolled over and regarded him with shining, enormous
eyes, which had been open for some time it seemed". And then, in a move that
prefigures his approach to Cyprian in the current scene: "Before he
understood this was not a request for information, he had taken the two or
three paces that mattered ...". Following sex Reef refers to her appearance:
"... if they also have a description on you ..." (859). Yashmeen "examine[s]
her hair in the mirror" and evidently decides it should be cut off,
prefiguring the visit to Signor Fabrizio over the page. On 863: "... the
thud of Reef's head on the table ..." etc. On 859: "Reef had already fallen
into snoring oblivion." On 863: "Why Reef would find her this irresistible
... was not a question he lost much recreational time over."