Reflections in a Golden Eye

On the morning after the blackjack game, Alison wakes up and discovers the Major chasing Anacleto around the kitchen with a shoe. Anacleto has poured flour and water on the Major’s shoes (presumably as punishment for the night before), which has made the Major late. Alison diffuses the situation by cleaning the boots and showing favor to neither the Major nor Anacleto, then she returns upstairs.

Later, Anacleto joins Alison in her room. Anacleto makes a fire and plays with some of Alison’s trinkets while Alison wonders about Anacleto’s future: “The two of them [...] could perhaps find a way to get along in the world together—but what would he do when she was gone?” (346). She then asks Anacleto if he’s happy, and he answers that he’s happy when she’s well.

Anacleto continues to chatter. He says he used to find it difficult to believe that she knows—he doesn’t specify what it is that Alison knows, but Alison waits patiently for him to finish his line of thought. He says he believes that everyone knows, except for the great Sergei Rachmaninoff (the Russian composer and pianist whose music he and Alison heard last at a concert). He finally explains what he means: “Madame Alison [.