Gleneagles

Gleneagles, an old bar on the hill above the harbor at Mġarr, serves as one of the principal meeting places in Creasy’s life on Gozo. Its cool, high-ceilinged room and narrow balcony frame a gradual change in his relation to the island: he arrives as an outsider seeking directions, becomes part of the locals’ daily company, and later leaves behind a community that continues to watch the harbor and follow the consequences of his mission.

Setting and Arrival

The bar stands up the hill from Mġarr’s small harbor, in an old, oblong building with a narrow balcony facing the water. Inside, the room is high-ceilinged and cool, likened to a barn; paintings of local landscapes hang on its walls, while locals prop themselves along the bar. The contrast between the open view of the harbor and the crowded interior gives Gleneagles both a vantage over the island’s arrivals and the feel of a familiar neighborhood room.

Creasy first goes there with his suitcase after walking up from the harbor. Guido Arrellio has instructed him to phone Julia’s parents from the bar so they can collect him. Before making the call, Creasy orders a pint, prompted by the sight of the beer mugs and his thirst. The ordinary transaction—choosing a drink, paying a pound, and asking for Paul Schembri’s number—places his arrival within the bar’s everyday routine, while his need to find a host marks him as a newcomer dependent on local connections.

Local Reserve and the Stranger

When Creasy asks for Paul Schembri, the bartender replies that Schembri is a common name and that Gozo has many farmers. Creasy is not irritated by the refusal to help immediately; he understands that the island protects its privacy. In his experience, Gozitans may be friendly once they know someone but withhold information until they know who is asking and why. Even a person asking after a neighbor may meet a deliberate refusal to recognize the connection until the purpose of the question is clear.

The bar therefore introduces a social boundary as well as a setting. Creasy waits, drinks his beer, and tries again, this time explaining that Guido Arrellio sent him and that he is to stay with Paul Schembri. The bartender’s understanding follows. Gleneagles makes trust visible as a small change in the exchange: the name alone does not open the way, but an account of who has vouched for Creasy does. The scene also establishes that the island’s friendliness is not indiscriminate openness; belonging depends on being legible to the people who live there.

A Daily Gathering Place

On a later return to Gozo, Creasy is the last passenger off the ferry, and Victor drives him the short distance to Gleneagles. The bar is busy and noisy, with the crowd making room for them. Shreik is buying a round and passes Creasy a pint; Joey waves from across the room. It is the heavy drinking hour after work, and the bar’s crowded welcome gives Creasy an immediate place in the island’s evening rhythm. Nadia Schembri sits at one of the few tables with Victor’s wife, smiles, and raises her glass. Their growing, uncomfortable attraction is present within the public room rather than apart from it.

Gleneagles also gathers people around local concerns. During the lampuki season, Creasy drives Nadia to Mġarr to buy the first catch directly from the fishermen, then leaves her at the quay and goes into the bar for a drink. A small group of regulars opens to let him in; Sam pours him a beer, and the conversation resumes. Its unusual seriousness draws his attention. The topic is Benny, a heavily tattooed Gozitan known as Tattoo, whose past includes a dispute with a politician who, after using Benny’s help during an election, denied promising him a job. At Gleneagles, a drink and a place at the bar lead Creasy into the talk through which the community circulates its own stories.

Farewell and News of the Mission

Before Creasy leaves, Gleneagles becomes the setting for a farewell that he had not expected to experience. He plans to take Nadia to dinner at Ta Cenc, but the crowded bar makes clear that he will spend at least an hour there first. Fishermen and farmers, Shreik and Benny, the Mizzi brothers, and Paul, Laura, and Joey are present. Victor hands him a drink; Nadia comes to his side and gives him a cable that arrived that morning, confirming that the general in Paris has honored Creasy’s request.

The room’s noise and affection sharpen the significance of the gathering: Creasy recognizes that he has made friends, something he says he has never done before. He feels warmth and belonging, and he has found happiness on Gozo, yet he does not question his decision to leave in the morning. Remaining there would mean turning away from the purpose he has not forgotten. The bar thus holds both the possibility of a settled life and the limit Creasy places on it; community offers him a real attachment, but not a replacement for the mission that takes him away.

Later, news of the killings reaches the bar in print. In Grozo, Shreik brings a copy of Il Tempo and the regulars gather around to discuss whether Creasy has completed his mission. Their question shows that Gleneagles remains connected to events beyond the island: the people who had welcomed him now follow the violence associated with his name. The report suggests an ending to his campaign, but Guido Arrellio in Naples and Leclerc in Marseilles know that it has only begun.

The Harbor Watch

In the new year, after midnight, Gleneagles and its surrounding harbor appear in a scene of collective vigilance. A cold pre-gale wind sweeps across Gozo; Mġarr is dark and quiet, though not asleep. On the bar’s balcony, Benny rests a heavily tattooed arm on the rail and watches the bay and the steep hills. Tony joins him with brandy. At the jetty, the Melitaland strains against the gusts, while Victor and Michele watch from the bridge wing, also drinking brandy. High on the hill, the Mizzi brothers and Shreik are the first to see a slim gray shape approach the harbor entrance.

The scene links Gleneagles’ familiar social life to the island’s alertness. Its balcony is no longer only a place facing the water: it is a position from which Benny watches alongside other people stationed around the harbor. George Zammit steadies himself in the wheelhouse of the police launch and sends two seamen with boathooks onto the wet deck, while, behind the bar, someone releases a Land Rover’s handbrake and lets it roll down to the end of the jetty. The narrative does not reduce the gathering place to scenery; its balcony and its closeness to the harbor make it part of a network of watching, waiting, and response. Across Creasy’s time on Gozo, Gleneagles is where local trust is tested, friendship becomes tangible, news is debated, and the harbor’s nighttime movements draw the community into attention.