This is Jack's story, even though he does not want to tell anyone his story. "[Jack] is a man who stands apart," William notes, "always one step aside from the crowd, an island distanced from the archipelago, spirit individual as much as the flesh." Several of the characters carry heavy burdens from their past, and Jack's burden turns out to be especially heavy, when he finally gets around to telling Malicorne his secret. That he thinks very little of himself comes from his one, great evil misdeed, combined with his belief that, as he says to William, "What you've done is who you are." This implies that Jack views himself as a murderer.

Jack is a particularly observant man. Of the other characters in "Seven for a Secret," only Staley matches him in understanding fully who and what Malicorne is. When he looks at...