Rules of Civility

Mason’s drive to complete the first issue of Gotham continues. Katey likens them to a demolition crew, prepared to dismantle the complacency and secrets of New York Society. Everyone has to be at their best or Mason will demolish them. One day, he asks Katey her opinion on a humdrum (in his opinion) photo of Bette Davis that’s been chosen for the magazine. She chooses one of the others, a photo where Bette is feeding cake to a young gentleman. The gentleman’s wife looks on in jealousy. Mason explains how amazing photography is in that it can make a moment static and reveal more than imagined. She drafts a letter for Mason that is too wordy, then she and Alley leave. She goes home and changes to meet with Wallace.

The night Katey and Wallace first played cards, he told her that he had put his affairs in order because he was going to join the Republican forces on August 27. He, like many other men who went off to Spain to fight in their Civil War, had felt like they were given too much and wanted to make a difference. This was the case with Wallace, even though he had inherited his father’s business and made it into a thriving enterprise by increasing profit.