José Gives Frank the Manifesto in Madrid

José gives Frank the manifesto in Madrid by handing him a bundle of photographs inscribed on their backs. The transfer turns the photographs into a text, delivers the missing piece of Frank’s account, and sets in motion his decision to send Vera the story in full.

The Madrid Encounters

After seeing Ana and José in Salamanca, Frank meets José roughly ten days later in the Prado Museum. José appears to be searching the large galleries for him. They meet again the following day in Retiro Park, where Frank is sitting on a bench and mentally reviewing what José has told him. Although Frank still lacks part of the picture, the conversation lasts several hours. He then accompanies José across the park to Atocha station.

The Handoff

As José runs to catch his train, he gives Frank a bundle of photographs. Back at his hotel, Frank discovers writing on the reverse of every photograph: together, the inscriptions make up the manifesto. He recognizes that he now has the complete set, describing it as having the entire solitaire in his hands. The delivery is hurried, but its contents transform the encounter from a long conversation into a tangible disclosure Frank can examine and pass on.

Frank’s Response

Frank decides he cannot leave Madrid without sending Vera the whole story. At two in the afternoon, he is having coffee and something to eat in his room and expects to spend the night writing; he plans to send the letter before packing for his Friday morning departure to Seville. He considers sending the account in installments, but settles on sending it all at once: everything or nothing. The manifesto is therefore not merely a document he has received. Its arrival gives him both the impetus and the material for a complete account addressed to Vera.

The Letter and Its Afterlife

Frank’s account is framed as a letter written weeks after the pair last met, after he has had time to tie together what happened. He recalls that he stayed in Salamanca because he was certain that the couple he had seen beneath the bridge over the Tormes were Ana and José; after finding them again in the city, he followed the trail that led to the Madrid meetings and the photographs. The letter also includes episodes from Fiji and private conversations between Frank and its recipient, although its main concern is Ana and José.

The narrator explains that he has chosen to present Frank’s letter in full rather than interrupt it with his own commentary, and to add an extensive epilogue. He is glad to possess the epistle because it has allowed him to study the manifesto’s 52 maxims, while insisting that he did not take a personal letter. Thus the Madrid handoff has a second consequence beyond Frank’s immediate decision to write: the photographs and the account they prompt become part of a larger act of transmission, in which the manifesto is read, preserved, and reconsidered.