Patrick begins Tom's portrait

Patrick begins a portrait of Tom Burgess during an evening sitting that gives their growing closeness a practical form: Tom comes to Patrick’s flat, and Patrick works while they talk. The session begins amid ordinary conversation, including a reference to Icarus (Alfred Gilbert’s sculpture), but its ending reveals that the portrait project is also a way of arranging further meetings and managing feelings Patrick is not ready to disclose.

The sitting and its setting

The scene is marked with unusual precision: it is Tuesday at half past seven in the evening. Patrick identifies a cast of Icarus by Alfred Gilbert as being on loan to the place where they are speaking. This exchange about an artwork establishes the sort of subject on which the two men can converse while the portrait begins; art provides a socially legible frame for their time together.

The conversation also touches on a woman in Tom’s life. Rather than discourage the subject or conceal his response, Patrick urges Tom to bring her to the flat. The invitation gives the exchange an outwardly welcoming tone, while also placing Patrick in the position of inviting a person connected to Tom into the space where their own meetings take place. The evidence does not specify what follows from the invitation at this moment; its importance here is that Patrick voices it brightly instead of saying what he feels.

Beginning the portrait

The work begins during the scheduled evening visit. Patrick’s pencil is the concrete instrument of the new arrangement: Tom is no longer present only for conversation, since the sitting gives him a defined place in Patrick’s work. The passage records the start of the project but does not describe the finished portrait, the pose, or any progress beyond the session itself.

After working for a time, Patrick puts down the pencil and decides that the day’s sitting should end. The gesture brings the activity to a pause without resolving the feeling that has gathered around it. His decision is followed not by a discussion of the portrait but by a request to meet again the next week. That quick move from stopping work to fixing another appointment makes the project recurring rather than a single encounter.

A practical arrangement under strain

Patrick’s outward conversation has covered art, schooling, and the difficulties of being a young police officer. These subjects let the visit proceed as ordinary talk, but Patrick recognizes that he cannot continue to rely on them indefinitely. His account of the moment links the prospect of another visit to his fear that his feelings will become harder to hide, and to his apprehension that Tom might turn away if Patrick reaches for greater intimacy.

Instead of testing that possibility, Patrick ends the sitting and proposes a definite time the following week. The words come out hurriedly, and he cannot meet Tom’s eyes. In this contrast between a composed invitation and a strained farewell, the portrait project takes on its emotional significance: it offers Patrick a reason to keep Tom close, while also postponing a more direct encounter with the risk of rejection. The scene establishes repetition as both promise and protection; the next sitting is arranged, but what Patrick wants from Tom remains unspoken.