The Secret History

Richard Papen narrates retrospectively, saying that his desire for beautiful and unusual surroundings led him to revise the story of his own life. He grew up in Plano, California, where his father ran a gas station and his family expected him to help with the business. Unhappy at home, Richard entered a nearby college as a pre-med student. He chose ancient Greek almost by accident, excelled at it, and later switched his major to English literature when he found that he disliked his science courses. After rediscovering a brochure for Hampden College in Vermont, he applied despite his father's refusal to assist with tuition paperwork. Richard obtained the necessary tax returns himself and eventually arrived at Hampden on substantial financial aid, carrying very little money.

Richard is attracted to Hampden's landscape and old buildings. His academic counselor, Georges Laforgue, warns that Julian Morrow's ancient Greek classes are effectively closed to outsiders. Julian, a wealthy teacher who accepts only five students, initially turns Richard away. Richard becomes interested in the five students he sees together around campus: Henry Winter, Bunny Corcoran, Francis Abernathy, and the twins Charles and Camilla Macaulay. Richard knows little about them firsthand and hears contradictory reports about Julian. In the library, he overhears Bunny and the twins struggling with a Greek grammar problem. He suggests an archaic locative form, which Henry later says is grammatically possible but contextually awkward. Bunny is welcoming; the others are more reserved, and Henry questions Richard's knowledge.

Short of money, Richard falsely tells his work-study employer, Dr. Roland, that he needs an advance to repair a car he does not own. Roland writes him a two-hundred-dollar check. Richard buys clothes, partly to cultivate the appearance he admires in Julian's students. When he visits Julian again, he embellishes his California upbringing with an invented account of affluent, glamorous family life. Julian listens closely and unexpectedly offers him a place in the class, provided Richard makes Julian his academic counselor and drops his other courses except French. Julian intends to teach most of Richard's classes himself. Laforgue warns that the arrangement will isolate Richard from other faculty and questions Julian's elitism, particularly given Richard's financial aid. Richard proceeds.

Before his first class, Francis greets Richard, while Henry interrogates him about the Greek texts he has read; Richard exaggerates his familiarity with several authors. Julian leads the class through questions about the loss of self, the attraction of violence in art, beauty and terror, and the possibility of Dionysian religious ecstasy. When Julian jokes about military tactics, Henry offers a detailed hypothetical plan for taking control of the nearby town. Richard is captivated by Julian's discussion of ancient ritual and records its effect in his journal. After class, Bunny leaves an invitation in Richard's mailbox asking him to lunch on Saturday. Richard then encounters Dr. Roland again and sustains his invented story about the car.

On the morning of his lunch with Bunny, Richard meets Judy Poovey, a student from Los Angeles who lives near him. She tells him about a fight at a party in which, according to her account, Henry and Charles severely injured a man named Spike Romney after Judy threw beer at Camilla. Judy gives Richard a lightweight silk jacket from the theater wardrobe, which he wears to lunch. Richard falsely tells Bunny it belonged to his grandfather.

Bunny takes Richard to an expensive restaurant and spends the afternoon drinking, ordering costly food, making offensive comments about the waiter, and talking about his family, girlfriend Marion, and friends. He mentions an unpaid bill he once left at the Oak Bar with Cloke Rayburn. Bunny describes Henry as exceptionally wealthy and academically gifted, and says that a childhood accident left Henry scarred and walking stiffly. He is uncertain about the cause of the accident, and his account of Henry's family and history is not independently verified here. Richard contributes to the deception by claiming that his own father made money in oil. Although Bunny had promised to treat him, he eventually says he has forgotten his wallet and asks Richard to cover the $287.59 bill. Richard has no way to pay. Bunny summons Henry, who pays and drives them home. Henry is visibly angry and apologizes to Richard; he tells him that Bunny has a habit of leaving his companions to pay and doubts that this was a genuine mistake.

The following day Charles and Camilla invite Richard on a walk. They say Bunny and Henry are close friends despite their disputes, and they eventually invite Richard to dinner at their apartment. At dinner he is uncomfortable, hungover, and largely excluded from the others' conversations. He leaves feeling that his attempt to join their circle has failed. After a difficult class the next morning, he considers whether studying almost exclusively with Julian was a mistake. Going to Julian's office, Richard overhears Henry ask whether he should do what is necessary, to which Julian replies that he should only do what is necessary. Henry kisses Julian on the cheek before leaving. Richard does not learn what they are discussing and withdraws without speaking to Julian.

Richard spends the next week isolated, studying Greek and sleeping badly. At a college party, a student repeats a rumor that Julian's students worship the devil, citing campus gossip rather than evidence. Camilla unexpectedly invites Richard to spend the weekend at a country house with the others. Francis drives Richard and Camilla there. The large house belongs to Francis's aunt, and Charles, Henry, and Bunny are already staying there. Richard's time at the house marks a change in his relationship with the group. He comes to know them through shared weekends, conversations, walks, and dinners. He admires the house and begins to imagine belonging permanently to the life they have built around it. Julian sometimes joins them for elaborate dinners at which the group repeatedly toasts living forever.

Richard's retrospective account also identifies things he noticed but did not understand at the time. The original five sometimes disappear together without inviting him and later give coordinated, evasive answers. They acquire small cuts and bruises; Henry follows weather forecasts closely; Richard notices muddy bed sheets, late-night activity, and leaves boiling in a pot that Francis says are for his bath. Bunny's repeated singing of a children's song seems to unsettle the others. Richard does not yet know what these details mean, and he largely disregards them. He also describes the group's routine and his developing friendships, including Henry's serious conversation with him on a quiet morning, his own growing feelings for Camilla, and Bunny's Sunday walks.

On a warm autumn afternoon at the country house, Camilla cuts her foot on a piece of glass while wading in the lake with Richard. Her foot bleeds heavily. Henry carries her back, tells Richard to tie a sock around her ankle, and removes the glass after Charles is unable to do so. Francis bandages the wound and takes her to the emergency room, where she receives six stitches. Later, Richard and Charles sit on the porch watching the others play croquet. They discuss the possibility of all living at the house after college. Richard wishes their present life could continue indefinitely. The chapter ends as Charles asks about his future and Richard remembers the distant sound of Bunny's laughter.

As the first term ends, Richard dreads returning to Plano for the winter. His parents have converted his former bedroom into a sewing room, and his father has previously driven him out after arguments. The college will close for January and February. Henry and Bunny plan to visit Rome, Francis invites Richard to Boston and New York, and the twins offer to take him to their grandmother's house in Virginia. Richard declines because he needs money to return to school and is unwilling to reveal his circumstances. Dr. Roland can employ him during the break, but not at a wage that will cover ordinary rent. Richard arranges to stay in a warehouse in East Hampden in exchange for occasional work on musical instruments. He tells his friends he prefers the solitude for his Greek studies, continuing to pretend that his parents are wealthy and willing to support him.

The warehouse, run by a man named Leo, is unheated, dirty, and partly exposed to the weather through a hole in the roof. Richard sleeps on the floor beneath blankets and several layers of clothing. He spends as much time as he can in Dr. Roland's heated office or other public buildings, and Roland mistakes his unusually long work hours for improved diligence. Richard's attempt to repair the warehouse roof nearly ends in a fall into the river dam. As the winter worsens, he becomes increasingly isolated, loses sleep, and experiences disturbing thoughts and hallucinations. His friends send letters and packages, but Richard declines to provide his actual address. He tries to call his parents one freezing night but hangs up when his father answers. Doctors later identify chronic hypothermia, poor nutrition, and pneumonia. Richard still does not tell anyone how he is living.

During an exceptionally severe storm, Richard tries to call a taxi so he can stay somewhere warm. He drops his final coin and falls against the pay phone, cutting his forehead. He makes his way back to the warehouse and finds Henry standing in his room. Henry says he left Italy early and is shocked by Richard's condition. When Richard collapses, Henry catches him and takes him to a hospital in Montpelier. Richard receives stitches and treatment for pneumonia and remains there for four nights. Henry stays for most of the hospitalization, brings him necessities, and intervenes when a nurse is late with medicine. An emergency-room doctor tells Richard that Henry saved his life. Richard initially thinks this may be an exaggeration, but later considers it plausible and describes continuing problems from that winter.

When Richard is discharged, Henry refuses to let him return to his previous living arrangements and brings him to his spacious but sparsely furnished apartment in North Hampden. Henry gives Richard his own bedroom, sleeps in a fold-out bed, and moves Richard's possessions out of the warehouse. Richard stays until school resumes. He finds Henry a considerate roommate despite his privacy and frequent unexplained absences. Henry tells Richard that Bunny and his family have far less money than they appear to, that he paid for Bunny's accommodation in Rome, and that Bunny's spending troubles him. These are Henry's assessments, not independently established financial facts.

Just before the new term begins, Bunny returns in an expensive new suit and is surprised to discover Richard living with Henry. The meeting between Bunny and Henry is tense. Henry falsely says he has been shopping and invents an appointment with an optometrist to get away, then tells Richard to keep driving when they reach the office. Someone pounds on Henry's door late that night; Henry and Richard wait silently until the visitor leaves. The following afternoon Francis arrives, speaks privately with Henry, and becomes audibly upset, but Richard hears only fragments and cannot identify what they are discussing. As Richard prepares to return to his dormitory, Henry asks him to call Bunny and invite him over. Richard agrees, leaves with his belongings, and makes the call from Monmouth House rather than from Henry's apartment.

When classes resume at Hampden, Richard expects his friendships to return to their former routine, but Charles, Camilla, Francis, and Henry seem to have disappeared. Julian says Henry has told him about Richard's recovery and reports that Henry himself had been ill in Italy. Julian has not heard from most of his students and needs their registration paperwork. Richard finds the twins' apartment empty and fails to reach the others at their usual numbers. Late at night he calls Francis's country house and hears Francis answer in an artificially deep voice. Rather than identify himself, Richard hangs up. Later he encounters a drunken Bunny watching television in an almost empty Commons. Bunny warns that Henry is not the person Richard thinks he is, but refuses to explain. Richard invents possible explanations for the estrangement without evidence.

Needing the Greek lexicon he left at Henry's apartment, Richard goes there with a key Henry gave him. He finds the rooms unusually dirty and abandoned, a note bearing a flight reference and a Boston telephone number, empty closets, and packed suitcases. The telephone number belongs to a law office. Pretending to be Henry, Richard calls the airline and learns that Henry has purchased four nonrefundable one-way tickets for a flight from Boston to Buenos Aires, scheduled for the following night. Richard is alarmed but says nothing to Bunny, Julian, or anyone else. He spends the next days speculating about why the others might leave. Bunny asks pointed questions about Henry's absence, and Richard notices that Bunny is apparently unaware of the ticket details. Bunny also disputes Henry's explanation for his early departure from Rome without providing his own account.

At the next Greek class, the five other students are present. Bunny tells a series of jokes about criminals facing execution while Henry, Francis, and the twins appear tense. Charles and Camilla claim that they were stranded at Francis's country house because of a missing apartment key and car trouble. They repeat the explanation to Julian, but Richard finds it difficult to reconcile with the evidence at Henry's apartment. After class Henry visits Richard and invites him on a drive. They actually stop at an estate sale and later eat at a diner. Over coffee, Henry reveals that he knows Richard called the airline because he contacted it to cancel the tickets. Richard learns that the escape plan was abandoned. Henry explains that he deliberately left Richard an apartment key so Richard could deal with the property if they went abroad.

At Francis's apartment, Henry describes the plan as he understands it. Henry, Francis, Charles, and Camilla intended to leave the United States without returning. Buenos Aires would have been only an intermediate stop before Uruguay, where Henry's father had a business interest. Henry says his personal funds were too limited to support the four indefinitely and that Francis had expected to withdraw money from a family trust. According to Henry, Francis discovered that his mother had already taken the available distribution, leaving the four with too little cash to carry out the plan. They returned to Hampden. Bunny was not one of the four travelers.

When Richard asks what could require them to flee, Henry acknowledges that someone has died and recounts earlier efforts by himself and the twins and Francis to experience the Dionysian frenzy they had studied with Julian. They tried drink, drugs, fasting, ritual clothing, hymns, and other practices, repeatedly without success. Henry says their final attempt was undertaken without Bunny, whose jokes, eating, and unwillingness to follow the fast made him seem likely to disrupt it. Henry claims that the four experienced an extraordinary altered state and describes images and sensations that Richard cannot verify. He says he remembers striking an indistinct figure in the dark and later discovering the body of a man in a yellow plaid shirt, roughly forty years old, with severe head injuries and a broken neck. Henry's memories are incomplete; he reports conflicting or uncertain recollections from Charles and Francis and says Camilla was found separately by a stream with blood in her hair. The exact sequence of the man's death, who inflicted which injuries, and the cause of their altered perceptions remain unresolved.

Henry says they searched the dead man's pockets but did not know what to do with the body. They left him in the woods, found their car, and returned home. Henry portrays the death as unintentional and says he believed they had escaped further consequences. His account is not an independent reconstruction of events. At the end of the chapter, he says Bunny has since become a serious problem for the four, without yet explaining precisely what Bunny knows or how he learned it. Francis arrives as Henry finishes speaking.

Immediately after Henry reveals the man's death, Francis comes into his apartment and is shocked that Richard has been told. Henry insists that Richard had already worked out what happened. Richard presses Henry and Francis about their failure to inform the police. They maintain that their unusual appearance, intoxication, unauthorized presence on the dead man's land, and the incompleteness of their recollections would have made them vulnerable to serious charges. They also describe continuing physical and cognitive effects after their ritual, including several days when Camilla could barely speak. Neither Henry nor Francis is willing to risk prosecution for a death they characterize as accidental. Their most immediate concern is Bunny, who knows enough to expose them and has been behaving unpredictably.

Henry and Francis explain how Bunny learned of the killing. On the night of the ritual, Bunny attended a screening of The Thirty-Nine Steps with Richard, then went without invitation to Henry's apartment, where he let himself in and fell asleep. When the four returned at dawn, covered in blood and dressed in damaged ritual clothing, Bunny awoke and was frightened. Henry told him they had struck a deer with the car. The four hurried to wash and dispose of evidence while Bunny watched some of the commotion. At first they believed he accepted the deer explanation. Their behavior at dinner later that day, which Richard now remembers, seemed to him at the time like an ordinary severe hangover. Subsequently, Bunny read a newspaper report of the death of a local farmer, observed that its date was the same night as the group's outing, and began making supposedly humorous remarks about their possible involvement. Henry and the others feared that he was testing their reactions, although they initially believed he had no definite knowledge. Henry says he chose to take Bunny to Rome over winter break partly to supervise and placate him.

Henry recounts the Rome trip as a prolonged dispute over accommodations, expenses, and Bunny's demands. He developed a severe headache and spent days incapacitated in his room. While Henry was ill, Bunny searched his belongings and found his private diary, written in Latin. By working with a dictionary, Bunny translated recent entries and discovered Henry's account of the death and his disparaging comments about Bunny. Henry says Bunny loudly accused the group of murder and threatened to go to the American consulate. Henry slapped him and burned the diary and translation. Bunny did not immediately report the incident, but Henry says he began speaking about it repeatedly in public and extracting increasingly expensive favors. Henry also tells Richard of an unidentified German man who appeared to follow them through Rome, but neither his intentions nor any connection to the killing is established. Eventually Henry left Bunny in Rome with money and a return ticket, hoping to arrange an escape plan with Francis and the twins. Henry and Francis describe the resulting payments to Bunny as financial coercion, though they say Bunny may not regard his conduct as blackmail. They tell Richard not to reveal what he knows because Bunny already resents Richard's place in the group.

Richard spends the night with Francis and Henry and reflects that he has an opportunity to withdraw from them or intervene, but does neither. His attachment to his friends remains strong. At school the next morning, he finds Bunny demanding attention from Charles and Camilla and proposing a costly luxury holiday in France with Henry. Charles privately apologizes to Richard for what Henry has disclosed; Camilla is upset as well. The five who know the story continue trying to maintain their normal academic life while Bunny publicly insults and intimidates them. He frequently demeans Francis's sexuality and religion, mocks Charles's drinking, questions Camilla's intelligence and her closeness to Charles, and repeatedly exposes Richard's fabricated claims about wealth and schooling. Richard recounts a confrontation in which Bunny challenges his invented attendance at Renfrew Hall before the others. Under the pressure, Richard burns the only photograph he has of his mother to prevent Bunny finding evidence of his actual background. The chapter also recalls occasions when Bunny was affectionate and companionable. Richard acknowledges that the accumulated petty humiliations contributed to his own willingness to participate in Bunny's death. In a retrospective passage, he explicitly recalls watching Bunny fall from the cliff; the detailed account of that afternoon is still to come in the narrative.

As April approaches, Richard notices that Henry is pursuing some new idea. Henry consults unfamiliar books, visits an herbal shop and eventually asks Richard to examine an unreliable calculation involving poisonous mushrooms. Henry indicates that he is considering a meal in which Bunny would receive a lethal amount while Henry became ill himself, creating the appearance of an accidental poisoning. He also admits having tested poisonous mushrooms on two dogs belonging to neighbors, one of which died. Richard is appalled and argues that the doses cannot be calculated safely or reliably and that the method could expose them. Henry leaves without settling the matter. Charles later confirms that the others know of the mushroom idea. At a private lunch with Julian, Richard is disturbed to be served mushrooms that Henry collected. Julian says Henry has supplied edible mushrooms before and speaks admiringly of his knowledge. Julian also expresses concern about Bunny, who has been asking him questions about sin and forgiveness. Henry claims that Julian knew and approved of the group's effort to conduct a Bacchic ritual, but says he withheld details of the resulting death; Julian's lunch conversation does not establish that he knows about the killing.

Late one Friday night, a drunken Bunny arrives at Richard's room. After vomiting in a service closet, he becomes emotional and spends hours telling Richard the story of the killing, not knowing Richard has already heard it from Henry. Bunny says Richard may tell anyone he likes. Shaken but not uncertain where his loyalties lie, Richard tries and fails to telephone Henry and instead contacts Charles and Camilla. Camilla uses a private signal to reach Henry, who summons Richard to his apartment. Richard recounts Bunny's visit. Henry admits that the mushroom scheme is impractical, particularly because of its unpredictability and the time it would allow Bunny to talk. After discussing possibilities, Henry sends Richard home and begins investigating an alternative. Richard later receives a coded telephone message inviting him to Henry's apartment, where Henry, Charles, and Francis discuss a plan for the next day. Camilla is out with Cloke Rayburn in an arrangement intended to keep her near Bunny and Marion.

Henry proposes that, if Bunny takes his habitual Sunday hike, they should wait near the ravine on Mount Cataract and push him over the edge, leaving his death to appear accidental. The route and timing are uncertain, and Henry emphasizes that they can abandon the attempt if Bunny does not come or another witness appears. Charles and Francis express distress and practical objections. Henry rejects another effort to flee, saying they lack money. Richard challenges Henry's certainty that Bunny has not confided in others, but Henry argues that the disclosure to Richard makes a further disclosure more likely. Henry asks Richard to leave if he wishes; Richard does not try to prevent the plan. On his walk home Richard meets a drunken Camilla, who kisses him but declines his request to accompany him home.

The following afternoon Richard learns from Judy Poovey that Bunny was seen in the library rather than on his usual walk. He finds a note Bunny has left for Marion saying he has gone to the campus party. Unable to reach Henry or the twins by telephone, Richard walks to the ravine to warn them that Bunny will not arrive. He finds Henry, Francis, Charles, and Camilla concealed in the surrounding woods and tells them about the party. They prepare to leave, briefly discussing their customary Sunday dinner with Bunny. Henry insists on collecting ferns to explain their presence if seen. Before they can depart, someone approaches along the path. The newcomer is Bunny, carrying a beer and wearing a yellow raincoat. He asks why they are there, and Henry says they are looking for ferns. Henry steps toward him, and the chapter ends before the fall shown earlier in Richard's retrospective account.

Immediately after Bunny falls into the ravine, Richard remembers scattered details of the scene, including Bunny attempting to catch himself and Henry stepping back from the edge. Richard says he was strangely detached at the time and remains unsure how to explain his participation in the killing. The five walk back to Henry's car and return to town as snow begins to fall. Henry instructs them to separate and behave normally. Before going into the woods, he, Francis and the twins had purchased memorable tickets for an Orpheum double feature, then left the theater soon after it began. They intend to use the show as their alibi. Richard was not at the ticket counter or the movies, so Henry devises a more limited account for him. Henry also warns everyone not to make unnecessary contact that evening. Richard goes back to his room, struggles with anxiety and calls Francis despite that warning.

Unable to sleep, Richard obtains pills from Judy Poovey that he later identifies as Demerol, drinks and attends a party with her. He spends part of the night with another student, Mona Beale, and becomes alarmed when he realizes she lives in Bunny's dormitory. Francis visits Richard afterward, and Charles brings him Greek work to copy at Henry's request. The students attend Julian's class, where Bunny's first absence draws little concern. Richard experiences increasingly distressing memories and dreams. Meanwhile the unexpected snow continues to conceal Bunny's body. Henry later sends Richard to see the Orpheum films so he can describe them if questioned, while Charles finishes Richard's assignment.

As the days pass, Julian wonders why Bunny is absent. Marion initially seems annoyed rather than frightened and says that Rika Thalheim reported seeing Bunny at a bank after his death. The apparent sighting temporarily complicates the group's efforts to make a missing-person report seem natural. When Henry and Francis learn that Marion and Cloke Rayburn have spoken to campus Security, they seek out Cloke. He believes Bunny might have taken money to New York to contact someone involved in Cloke's drug business, but he has no confirmation. Henry encourages Cloke to check Bunny's room, and Charles accompanies him. Inside they find Bunny's possessions, identification and wallet, suggesting he did not pack for a trip. Charles also recovers a copy of the newspaper article about the earlier farmer's death and gives it to Henry, who burns it. After Marion and another student arrive, the residence hall chairperson, Briony Dillard, contacts campus officials and the police. Bunny's family is notified. Charles returns shaken after speaking with Bunny's father.

Bunny's family arrives at Hampden, and a large reward draws townspeople to the search. Police, volunteers, campus staff, television reporters and eventually federal investigators become involved. Richard notices inaccuracies in the reports, including a claim that Cloke was the person who alerted police. Henry and Charles answer questions from the local authorities, and the group joins the search parties to avoid attracting attention by staying away. The snow remains deep. A mechanic named William Hundy, whom Henry knows through an auto repair shop, claims he saw Bunny on Sunday with three men in a light-colored Pontiac. Richard recognizes that the car and passengers do not match the actual group, and no independent support for the sighting emerges. Hundy later identifies the supposed abductors as Arabs without credible evidence. The group initially fears that his account may expand the investigation, while Henry worries that investigators could discover their financial transactions and abandoned travel arrangements.

Cloke contacts his New York associates and says they have not seen Bunny. Federal agents Harvey Davenport and Sciola question Charles, check his account of entering Bunny's room and take his fingerprints. They also ask about Bunny and Henry's trip to Italy. Charles is frightened by their methods and warns that they are more skeptical than the local police. Henry concludes that the agents are interested in Cloke's drug associations. During his own interview he supplies details Cloke had disclosed about a New York contact. Subsequent reporting suggests that investigators are examining Bunny's possible drug use after finding a mirror associated with cocaine in his room. Judy tells Richard conflicting campus stories about the mirror and Cloke's growing fear of questioning. Those accounts do not establish whether Bunny used drugs or whether investigators planted anything. Cloke eventually retains a lawyer after further questioning. Julian tells Richard that the investigators have asked him about drug use, which he considers inconsistent with Bunny's character.

The continuing search leaves the group physically exhausted. Charles drinks heavily, Richard has periods of panic and insomnia, and Francis becomes increasingly agitated. Richard receives a black eye from a student who objects to his contact with Mona; the injury is unrelated to the missing-person investigation. Camilla privately tells Richard that her memories of the earlier ritual remain incomplete. She recalls disturbing perceptions and the injured farmer, and describes a later purification ceremony that Henry organized. Her account is presented as recollection, not independent proof of the extraordinary experiences Henry has described. As the search continues, the mechanic Hundy becomes a local media figure; at a televised appearance Richard witnesses him make prejudiced claims that are challenged by Adnan Nassar. That evening Richard and Charles hear thunder, followed by warm rain.

The rain continues overnight and melts the snow. On Tuesday Richard is eating with Henry and Camilla in Commons when they see an ambulance below the dining-room windows. Attendants carry a covered body, and Richard catches sight of part of Bunny's yellow raincoat. He then recounts what Holly Goldsmith reportedly told authorities: while walking her golden retriever Milo near the ravine, she found the dog investigating the partly uncovered body and recognized Bunny's glasses. Downstairs, the three students are surrounded by reporters. Henry forces his way through the crowd and damages a camera that is pushed into his face.

Outside the building Davenport and Sciola confirm that Bunny is dead. They say he was found beneath a drop-off with a broken neck and describe disturbed ground and signs he tried to stop his fall. When Henry asks about suicide, Sciola says he knows of no evidence supporting it, but neither agent makes a final finding about how the death occurred. They say local authorities have jurisdiction and are seeking permission from Bunny's family for additional testing. Davenport regards Hundy's alleged kidnapping as unconvincing. Camilla begins crying, and Sciola offers to take her home. The chapter ends with Richard looking at an old tennis shoe on the pavement near the departed ambulance. It is not Bunny's, and Richard cannot explain why the otherwise unremarkable object has stayed in his memory.

After Bunny's death becomes public, Hampden College organizes memorials, fundraising events and communal expressions of grief. Richard is disturbed by the sudden volume of public mourning, particularly from people who scarcely knew Bunny. Students who disliked him stage commemorative rituals, while the college makes a donation in his name to an organization he would have opposed. Yet Richard corrects his own initial dismissal: Bunny was widely recognized and genuinely liked, and for some students the limited encounters they remember are sufficient grounds for grief. The absence of his familiar voice remains painful to Richard.

Before the funeral, Henry stays with Bunny's family in Connecticut, and Cloke moves into Charles and Camilla's apartment. Richard spends time with Judy Poovey and her friends Tracy and Beth, who assume he is grieving and try to keep him occupied. Francis visits Richard when he can. The students are alarmed when they hear Bunny's parents have requested an autopsy, fearing that forensic tests could expose the manner of death. Henry later learns that Mrs. Corcoran is particularly concerned about rumors that Bunny was intoxicated. The autopsy, Richard reports, finds only a very small amount of alcohol and no drugs. Nevertheless, news coverage and campus stories continue to depict Bunny as a troubled young drug user. The facts established by the autopsy do not displace the rumor.

Henry writes to invite Richard and the other friends to stay at the Corcoran house the night before the Wednesday funeral. Richard travels with Francis and another student, Sophie Dearbold, while Charles, Camilla and Cloke have already arrived. At the family's modern house in Shady Brook, Mr. Corcoran greets them warmly, then suddenly breaks down while speaking about Bunny. Francis and Richard help him into a chair. When Bunny's father looks at Richard and speaks of losing his youngest son, Richard is struck by the reality of what they have done and begins an apology; Francis discreetly kicks him to stop him speaking further. Mr. Corcoran soon recovers his composure. Mrs. Corcoran, preoccupied with deliveries, guests and appearances, asks Henry to attend to more household arrangements. Bunny's father praises Henry as an exceptionally loyal friend, recounting Bunny's enthusiasm about their time together. Henry looks physically unwell, but remains responsible for helping the family.

The visiting students are assigned beds in the basement. Francis complains about the accommodations, while Camilla tells Richard that Henry's severe recurring headaches have returned and that he is running out of medication. The crowded household, Bunny's resemblance to his brothers, and the succession of grieving relatives make the evening difficult for Richard. He finds Henry pale and withdrawn and offers to help. Richard and Camilla search a bathroom cabinet for pain medication, finding little that seems useful. Cloke, who discovers them there and misinterprets their privacy, tells Richard that Mrs. Corcoran keeps additional prescriptions in a dressing room. Later he accompanies Richard to the room, where they take several kinds of medicine without permission. Cloke takes substantially more than Richard does. Richard finds Henry alone downstairs and gives him Nembutal from the collection. Henry takes two capsules, keeps additional ones, and asks for a strong drink despite Richard's warning. Richard reluctantly brings him one. Meanwhile an intoxicated Charles takes Francis's convertible without permission in the rain, provoking a serious confrontation when he returns. Richard also hears from Cloke that Camilla has been holding late-night telephone conversations, but neither the callers nor the subjects are established.

The morning of the funeral is wet and tense. Henry has been selected as one of the pallbearers. Charles, Francis and other guests are irritable and exhausted; Marion is grieving and withdrawn. Just before leaving, Richard sees Charles, Cloke, Bram and Rooney smoking marijuana on the terrace. Mrs. Corcoran nearly discovers them, and Camilla quietly warns them to stop. Everyone proceeds to the old church, which is crowded with relatives, acquaintances and people from Hampden. Charles appears particularly anxious during the service.

A minister speaks, followed by Bunny's brother Hugh and Bunny's former football coach, whose tribute visibly moves the congregation. Henry then reads A. E. Housman's 'With Rue My Heart Is Laden' quietly and without introduction. The poem was one Bunny himself had memorized and often recited. Hearing its words in Henry's voice is especially painful for Richard. After the service, the mourners form a procession to a cemetery beside a busy highway. Richard notices the family's social preoccupations even in the churchyard, but these observations give way to his direct apprehension of the burial.

At the graveside, Richard is disturbed by the open grave and the impending permanence of Bunny's death. His recollection includes fragments of the events immediately after the fall: Henry and Camilla went down into the ravine, Henry checked Bunny's pulse and physical condition, and Camilla returned before Henry. Richard remembers Bunny's unnatural position and the final involuntary movements of his body. The recollection is interwoven with the minister's burial words, rather than presented as a new event occurring at the funeral. Richard thinks of Bunny as a person who could not have anticipated what the group intended and feels an explicit need to apologize to him. The pallbearers lower the coffin, and the minister blesses the grave. Mrs. Corcoran drops a small bouquet of roses. Henry bends to take a handful of earth and lets it fall into the grave, then wipes his muddy hand across his own immaculate shirt and lapel as if unaware of the gesture. Richard, Julian, Francis and the twins watch him with alarm. The chapter ends at the grave, before the gathering afterward.

At the gathering after Bunny's funeral, Richard is heavily affected by painkillers and remembers the Corcorans' chaotic hospitality only in fragments. Julian is present and handles the family diplomatically. Mrs. Corcoran notices medicine missing from her bedroom and tells the guests that someone has stolen small items; Cloke soon leaves. Henry has already departed, physically exhausted and unwilling to speak to Julian. Returning to Hampden, Richard notices that Charles and Camilla are quarreling. He dreams of Bunny's damaged body but then begins to feel unexpectedly free. As the search and funeral recede, he spends time alone, drinks, works in Dr. Roland's deserted office and briefly imagines that the future is open again.

Charles's drinking increases and his arguments with Camilla continue. Francis tells Richard little about them. Richard encounters a drunken Charles at the Rathskeller, lends him money and unsuccessfully tries to contact Camilla before Charles leaves. Henry returns to Julian's class apparently recovered from his headache, and Richard finds him cultivating vegetables and roses at home, including ferns collected at the ravine. Richard is considering spending the summer in Brooklyn as a professor's apartment sitter. One night Francis wakes him fearing a heart attack. Richard drives him to the emergency room, but Francis refuses to cooperate with tests; a doctor suggests a possible panic disorder, without making a definitive diagnosis, and recommends further care. On the way home, Francis and Richard glimpse an unidentified large animal on the road. Later Charles warns Richard that Henry has been criticizing both of their drinking.

Richard learns that Charles has resumed sleeping with Francis on occasion, according to Francis, who describes Charles as possessive toward Camilla. After witnessing Charles kiss his sister in a manner Richard considers sexual, Richard asks Francis whether the twins are intimate. Francis suspects they sometimes are and says Bunny once claimed to have encountered them together. Richard has no independent confirmation of that allegation. Francis also acknowledges his own sexual relationship with Charles, describes Charles's jealous response to Francis once kissing Camilla, and criticizes both twins' treatment of others. Richard sees the twins apparently reconciled for an evening but notices fragments of a smashed drinking glass near a cracked mirror, undermining Charles's innocent explanation for the damage. Richard increasingly experiences the group's continued association as an obligation rather than a comfort.

Charles is arrested for impaired driving in Henry's car. Henry wakes Richard and asks him to arrange Charles's release, giving him a signed blank check while avoiding the police himself. Richard goes to the jail, learns that Charles cannot be released until morning and waits for his court appearance. A judge sets bail at five hundred dollars, suspends Charles's driving privileges pending resolution and orders Henry, as vehicle owner, to appear later. Charles asks Richard not to take him home; with no car available, they eventually walk back. During the walk Charles tells Richard that the FBI had been interested in Henry's unexplained spending, his Rome visit and his four one-way tickets to South America. Charles claims federal agents considered a drug-related conspiracy involving Cloke and suspected Henry of withholding information; he also says Henry had warned him that arrests might follow before Bunny's body was found. This is Charles's account of confidential questioning, not a finding independently known to Richard. Charles resents having handled many of the police interviews and believes Henry exposed the group to scrutiny through his decisions.

Back at the twins' apartment, Richard sees Charles kiss Camilla intimately while she remains outwardly composed. Richard confides his concerns to Francis. Cloke later tells Richard that Camilla has moved away. Francis establishes that Henry has arranged expensive accommodation for her at the Albemarle Inn, apparently under another name, and that Charles cannot reach her. Francis suspects that Henry and Camilla have been involved romantically, but much of his explanation is conjecture. Henry does not explain the move. Richard, who is drinking and taking increasing quantities of pills, begins to fear that Henry deliberately allowed him to discover the earlier killing and calculated his participation in the plot against Bunny. He wonders whether Henry intended to use him as a scapegoat if anything went wrong. These are Richard's suspicions, not established facts.

During a night walk Richard finds Charles heavily intoxicated and asleep inside a fiberglass playground snail. He brings Charles to his dormitory, where Charles develops a high fever, recalls seeing Bunny in the room, and becomes confused. Henry initially advises Richard to give the illness time to pass. When Charles remains ill, Judy Poovey lends Richard her car, and Richard takes Charles to the hospital. A doctor suspects bronchitis along with significant dehydration and nutritional deficiencies and orders inpatient care with intravenous fluids and antibiotics. Charles asks Richard to bring personal items and a bottle of Scotch. Henry and Francis argue that abrupt cessation of alcohol could be dangerous; Richard resists bringing alcohol into a hospital, but the two persuade him, and they purchase whiskey and other gifts for Charles. Francis says he has seen Camilla at Henry's but cannot persuade her to return to Charles.

Camilla visits Richard and shows him injuries she attributes to Charles, including a scalp injury and a burn on her arm. She says Charles has threatened her life and that remaining apart is safer. She confirms that Henry chose the Albemarle Inn and argues that Charles fears Henry, whereas Francis could not protect her effectively. Richard is both alarmed on her behalf and jealous of her reliance on Henry. He voices doubts about Henry's intentions and finally asks her to leave. His distress deepens; his medication no longer reliably helps him sleep, and he recalls his own complicity in telling Henry that Bunny had disclosed the earlier death to him. He considers whether to end his own life but recoils from the thought. The events are recounted as Richard's inner crisis, not an action he takes. Meanwhile Julian believes Charles is merely upset by Bunny's death, without understanding the immediate conflict.

Richard visits Henry while Henry is carefully washing and pruning a rosebush. Henry says that the night of the earlier killing changed his life: he had previously felt emotionally inert and unable to act, but afterward felt capable of deciding and doing as he pleased. He suggests that Richard has also experienced an intensified sense of possibility since Bunny's death, and Richard privately recognizes some truth in this. Richard tries to discuss Charles's illness and Camilla's precarious situation, but Henry refuses to engage and goes inside. Richard then finds Francis unusually depressed, and they postpone a planned hospital visit.

When Francis and Richard visit Julian's office before seeing Charles, Julian shows them an unsigned, typed letter he believes is a crude forgery from someone pretending to be Bunny. Richard recognizes Bunny's distinctive spelling and disjointed voice. The letter accuses Henry and the others of killing a man and threatening Bunny, asks Julian for help and does not name Richard. Neither the date of its composition nor the method by which it reached the misdirected faculty mailbox is established. Crucially, Francis turns over a sheet and discovers that Bunny used stationery from the Excelsior hotel in Rome, where Henry and Bunny stayed. Julian knows this detail, which could authenticate the letter. Francis and Richard attempt unsuccessfully to remove the revealing sheet, then endure lunch with Julian while worrying that he will examine it or show it to college administrators.

After lunch the two try to locate Henry, hoping he can retrieve the letter. At the Albemarle, Richard finds Camilla and learns that Henry has gone to Julian's office. Richard rushes there, but as he struggles to get Henry to speak privately, Henry turns over the sheet bearing the Excelsior letterhead where Julian can see it. Julian examines the letter and realizes the accusations cannot be dismissed so readily. Henry attempts to justify the first death and their treatment of Bunny, but Julian cuts him off, returns the letter to Henry and ends the conversation. Richard says it is the last time he ever sees Julian. Francis is initially relieved that the letter has been returned, but Richard understands the encounter as a profound rejection. Reflecting on Julian, he distinguishes the teacher's charm and selective admiration from moral courage and acknowledges his own tendency to idealize Julian.

Julian abruptly takes indefinite leave from Hampden. The Dean of Studies says the college may discontinue the Classics degree and offers inadequate ways for the students to complete their work, potentially adding an extra year. Richard, dependent on scholarship support and his family's small contribution, is alarmed in a way his wealthier classmates are not. He prepares to ask for additional financial aid and learns that he has secured the summer apartment-sitting position in Brooklyn. Henry, devastated by Julian's departure, visits his empty home and tells Richard he believes Julian fled because he did not want his name associated with the deaths. Henry says he loved Julian more than his own father; his assessment of Julian's reasons is his interpretation. A temporary instructor from Hackett, Dick Spence, proves unprepared for the advanced Greek students. Charles arrives intoxicated and openly taunts Henry about Camilla, increasing concern that they cannot appear together safely at the upcoming court hearing.

A lawyer hired for Charles's driving case is unable to manage an acrimonious meeting between Henry and Charles. Camilla reports that Charles wishes Henry dead and that the lawyer is worried about a serious sentence or treatment order. Francis proposes taking Charles temporarily to the country house to keep him from the hearing. Francis and Richard persuade Charles to come by assuring him they are not acting for Henry. Charles says he fears Henry will kill him and shows them sleeping capsules he claims Henry gave him. Richard recognizes them as medication he had earlier obtained at the Corcoran house. Henry later denies giving the capsules to Charles and says Charles must have taken them without his knowledge; neither explanation is independently established. At the country house Charles remains isolated, drinks heavily and brings along a stray cat. During a phone call, Henry learns where he is. Charles overhears part of the conversation and believes Richard has betrayed him. He subsequently borrows Mr. Hatch's truck and leaves without telling the others.

Francis and Richard search unsuccessfully for Charles, then go to the Albemarle Inn to tell Henry and Camilla what has happened. While they discuss the possibility that Charles will be arrested again, he suddenly enters their room with a pistol belonging to Francis's aunt. Charles points it at Henry, accuses him of ruining his life and says he intends to kill him. Camilla tries to intervene. When Charles turns his anger toward Richard, Henry says he already knew where Charles had been. Francis throws wine in Charles's face, Henry moves to disarm him and Charles fires several shots. One hits Richard in the abdomen. Henry takes the gun and restrains Charles as the innkeeper demands entry after hearing the disturbance. With the others looking on, Henry calls Camilla to him, kisses her and whispers words Richard cannot hear. He tells her he loves her and invites the innkeeper inside. As the door opens, Henry turns the pistol on himself and fires twice, although Richard can only speculate about the mechanics of the second discharge. The chapter ends with Henry falling to the floor. Richard's medical outcome and the subsequent aftermath belong to the Epilogue, not this chapter.