The Garies and Their Friends

The narrative resumes many years later. Chapter 30 opens on Mr. Stevens in his apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York. Mr. Stevens is elderly and unwell, and he has an alcohol addiction. He is being cared for by his daughter Lizzy. A servant announces that McCloskey is there to see Mr. Stevens. McCloskey comes in and Lizzy is sent away, although she continues to listen at the drawing room door. McCloskey tells Mr. Stevens that he needs a further $5,000-6,000 to keep quiet about his role in the murder of Mr. Garie. Lizzy sneaks into the room. She hears McCloskey tell Mr. Stevens that Whitticar is dead and therefore that Mr. Stevens no longer has any leverage over him. McCloskey recounts how Mr. Stevens killed Mr. Garie. Mr. Stevens agrees to pay McCloskey $4,000. Hearing this, Lizzy faints.

Miss Ada Bell greets Clarence at the train station in Sudbury. He is unwell. They go to her house. He tells Miss Bell that he doesn’t see his sister, Emily, very often because he has to pretend to be a white man. Then, he tells Miss Bell that he is engaged to a Miss “Birdie” Bates but that he has not yet had the courage to tell his fiancée that he is half Black for fear of rejection.