Part 1 (Pages 1-22) Summary

The book opens with a meeting of the trustees of the Cornish Foundation for Promotion of the Arts and Humane Scholarship. Arthur Cornish, his wife Maria and the Reverend Simon Darcourt make up the members of the board. Arthur, as Chairman of the Board, wants Simon to stop writing his book about the life of Francis Cornish. Arthur's concern is that the book would be embarrassing, since it would reveal a member of a leading Canadian financial family as an art forger. Simon, however, has different concerns about the book. The subject of his book was a very private individual, and Simon is having problems producing facts for his book. He produces two separate obituaries that summarize the life of Mr. Francis Chegwidden Cornish, neither of which seem able to provide an accurate rendition of the man's life. Simon...