The Magus

Nick wakes up to find the paintings and books being packed, confirming the play is ending. Conchis appears for breakfast, dressed in a businessman’s suit. He tells Nick that he and “the girls”—Julie and June—are soon leaving for Paris. Conchis refers to them as Lily and “Rose.” When Nick shows Conchis the letter confirming Julie’s identity, Conchis tells him it was forged: Nick’s letters never left the island. Agitated, Nick demands to see the young women.

Just then, Maria appears on the scene, also dressed in a business suit. Conchis introduces her as the seasoned actress Madame Catherine Athanasoulis. Joe is Joe Harrison, an American actor. A frustrated Nick goes to the beach. He sees the Poseidon statue, spotting a cloth hanging from its arm, a sign from Julie.

As Nick approaches the statue, Julie beckons to him from behind a hillock. Nick walks in her direction and comes across an incongruous sight: Julie in a vertical iron tube from the chest down, her elbows resting on the ground in front. Julie climbs out and tells Nick the tube was a spy station built by the Germans during the war. According to Julie, now that Conchis’s masque is concluded, she and June have been staying in the village at Hermes’s cottage.