[the phantom]

Oh, and the Lover ploy- I had no choice but to be slightly less bold than I wished. After I set out my bait (I said something like "Is anyone here named Christine?" or something like that), Sally was the one who bit on it, and thus became my pretend Lover.

But naturally I was aware that it was possible that Sally was a Critic. And so if I had treated her as if she was for certain my Lover, it would be obvious to the Critics that I was bluffing (if Sally was one of them, that is). So to take care of that possibility, I hinted to Fea that what she had spotted was at least half right. In other words, I was certainly a Lover, but Sally may not actually be my partner.

That way if Sally turned out to be a Critic, I would still possibly look like a Lover.

I did the same to Mac after he showed he had reason to trust me. I assumed he had spotted the Lover thing, but warned him that, though he was right about me, he may have something slightly wrong.