The House of Doors

Penang, 1921

One morning on the beach, Willie considers his writing. He knows Lesley’s story will earn him a significant sum, yet recognizes that her marriage will end if he publishes it, even with personal details altered. He finds Lesley collecting horseshoe crabs with Ah Peng. He is unable to describe their nighttime swim, which he thinks of as “one of the most transcendent experiences of his life” (274). Lesley confesses that she was happy that Robert went to fight in World War I, though she knows the admission seems cruel, as it relieved her of the burden of feigning happiness. Willie asks why she lied at Ethel’s trial, and Lesley cites their similar circumstances, both embroiled in affairs. He asks about Ethel’s parting words that her husband forced her to kill her lover, but Lesley doesn’t know more. Willie asks to see the reading club and the House of Doors.

They travel to Armenian Street, where Willie is struck first by the many European businesses and then by the many nationalities represented in the Asian neighborhoods. They reach Tong Meng Hui headquarters, which Willie finds unremarkable from the outside; he consults his experience in the Secret Service to commend Sun on his choice of location.