In the Skin of a Lion

Patrick reappears as the protagonist and viewpoint character. As a 21-year-old man, he moves from his rural hometown to seek employment in Toronto, which appears to him “as if it were land after years at sea” (53). Because of his rural roots, he feels foreign in the city even though he is a native Canadian, and he feels “new even to himself” (54).

The narrative shifts to the 1919 disappearance of Ambrose Small, a millionaire real estate tycoon. There is a brief discussion of the Bertillon identification system (the leading model before the advent of fingerprinting), which “was used to locate criminals and missing persons” based on “the measurement of certain parts of the body: the length of head, width of head, length of right ear, length of left foot, length of left middle finger, length of left forearm” (55). This will become significant as the importance of physical characteristics as markers of identity is emphasized throughout the novel.

Ambrose is described as a cunning, manipulative, and deceitful figure who dominated business interactions and was a serial adulterer. He seduced Clara Dickens, an actress and one of the novel’s heroines, and “charmed her with his variousness” (57). He, along with Commissioner Harris, represents the face of the bourgeoisie in the novel. It is emphasized that “Small’s blatant capitalism […] clarified the gulf between the rich and the starving” (59).

In 1924, Patrick finds employment as a “searcher,” an independent, amateur detective paid to help find Ambrose Small. He follows a lead out to Paris, Ontario, to find Clara Dickens, Ambrose’s lover, and pry for information. He is instantly struck by her beauty, and she seduces him. She manipulates him so easily that he quickly forgets his purpose and wishes only to remain with her. She hints that Ambrose is still alive and that one day soon she will escape to join him.

A few days later (presumably—the passage of time is conspicuously vague in this chapter), Clara and Patrick leave to visit Clara’s friend Alice Gull, also an actress, at her farmhouse, and there the three enjoy a period of idyllic, ambiguously romantic leisure together. Clara is loquacious and shares her past unreservedly; Alice is reticent and “reveals no past, remains sourceless” (74). One night, Clara and Alice frolic after Patrick has gone to sleep, and they paint a portrait of him. The next morning Patrick has to return to his hotel. Clara is asleep, so he gives his goodbye through Alice, and the two share an intimate moment.

There are numerous vignettes of Patrick and Clara in postcoital conversation. In one such scene, Patrick demonstrates that he knows the layout of his room so well that he can thrash around it in complete darkness and never hit an object. He asks her not to move while he demonstrates. She moves nonetheless, and he crashes into her, painfully injuring both of them.

The scene jumps back to Toronto. Clara is leaving Patrick, disappearing forever to join Ambrose in hiding. At Union Station they say goodbye, and Clara gives him her iguana.

The next section consists of unfinished letters that Patrick writes to Clara in a state of anguish and despondency after losing her. Many of them recount dreams of her and his imagination of Ambrose.

Some time later, Alice appears unexpectedly at his apartment. Her presence draws Patrick out of his deep depression and loneliness. They become lovers, but their relationship seems less sexual and more platonic than his relationship with Clara. Alice helps Patrick recover from the pain of his loss.

After speaking to Clara’s mother, Patrick suddenly realizes that Clara and Ambrose must have escaped to Patrick’s rural hometown, Bellrock. Patrick travels there and confronts Ambrose, who attempts to kill Patrick by pouring kerosene on him and setting him on fire. Patrick survives by running into the river. Ambrose throws explosives at Patrick, blinding him in one eye. Patrick emerges from the water, stabs Ambrose with a knife (not fatally), and runs away.

Clara finds Patrick in his hotel room. She helps dress his many wounds, but then the two make love, which causes the wounds to weep again. Patrick seems unconcerned with the pain—another instance of his ability to transcend physical discomfort. The two spend the night together before Clara returns to Ambrose.