Danby's Tavern serves as Will Robie's short-lived refuge in Cantrell and as the place where his attempt to remain anonymous collides with the town's attention. Above its public bar is not the set of rooms Robie was promised but a single room; below, a confrontation with Pete Clancy and two companions turns the tavern into a space where his presence is both recognized and unwelcome. The contrast between the locked room and the watched common floor shapes his brief stay and ends with his departure.

Setting and Lodging

Eugenia Tussle directs Robie to rooms over Danby's Tavern on Muley Road, and he reaches the road five minutes later. The description proves inaccurate: there is only one room above the tavern, empty until Robie rents it. The distinction is modest but consequential. This is not a hotel offering a choice of accommodations; it is a single available space over a working public room, making the tavern both his shelter and his immediate exposure to the town.

Robie pays in cash so that he need not disclose his name. The precaution gives him a limited kind of privacy, though he doubts it can conceal his identity: by then, he is sure that pretty much everyone in Cantrell knows who he is. The tavern therefore offers no real anonymity beyond the transaction itself. Its owner, described as large, rough-bearded, and thick-handed, passes him the key and asks how long he intends to stay. Robie cannot say. His uncertainty is practical as well as personal: part of him wants to drive to Jackson, board a plane, and return to Washington, but he stays despite believing his father does not want to see him and seeing no reason to be there.

The Public Room and the Confrontation

Near five, Robie washes in the room's small bathroom, changes clothes, locks the door, and comes downstairs. The change in space is immediate. Three young men occupy the tavern, their nearly empty beer bottles clasped in thick hands and their eyes reddened. A young woman behind the counter looks from them to Robie; her expression tells him she is afraid for him. The owner is absent. Robie reads the scene as a threat before anyone blocks his way.

As he heads for the door, the three men rise together and cut off his exit. They are in their early twenties, about his size or larger, broadly muscular, and smell of sweat and beer. Robie calculates that he had probably left Cantrell before they were born. The man positioned slightly ahead of the other two appears to be their leader. In this crowded, ordinary tavern, a route to the door becomes the immediate stake: the men control it, and Robie must respond before he can leave.

The confrontation escalates when Pete Clancy breaks a beer bottle against a table edge and brandishes it. Robie moves aside, drops low, lifts the inside leg of the man beside Pete, and propels him into the other two. As they fall, Robie seizes the hand holding the bottle and bends it back until Pete cries out and releases it. Robie throws the bottle away, steps back, and prepares for another attack. When Pete gets up and charges him, Robie identifies the tactical error: the men should have regrouped and come at him from different sides, but they cannot fight effectively. The brief violence is not presented as a prolonged battle; its immediate consequence is that Robie remains standing and believes he will still make his meeting with Taggert on time.

Return and Departure

When Robie returns to Danby's Tavern, Pete and his companion have woken and left. The room below is now fairly full, and everyone turns to look at him. Robie is certain that the people there know exactly what happened. The young woman behind the bar will not meet his eyes. The tavern's public character, which had made the confrontation visible, now makes its aftermath equally visible: even without the two men present, the incident has altered how Robie's return is received.

Upstairs, Robie unlocks his room expecting that he may find evidence of another intrusion, but nothing has been disturbed yet. He does not intend to give anyone a second chance. The room can still be locked, but its separation from the tavern has not made the lodging secure or sustainable. The manager follows him up the stairs, tells him that he should leave because the tavern does not want trouble, and returns the money Robie paid. Robie does not argue. He has already decided to go, so the refund confirms rather than causes his departure.

Robie carries his duffel to the car and decides to find another place, preferably outside town. Before setting off, he checks the pair of Glock nine-millimeters secured beneath the dashboard with Velcro he brought himself. The weapons are in his car, not in the room; their placement marks the practical precautions he takes as he leaves. His drive to The Willows takes about half an hour along winding macadam, gravel, and dirt roads.

Narrative Function

Danby's Tavern links Robie's return to Cantrell with his move to a more distant place to stay. At first it seems to offer a useful combination: a room, a key, and a cash payment that avoids giving his name. Yet the facts of the stay repeatedly narrow that promise. There is only one room; the town already knows who he is; the tavern's patrons recognize him; and the manager returns his rent after a violent encounter. The lodging is temporary not simply because Robie cannot name a departure date, but because the public space below his room makes remaining there untenable.

The tavern also stages a sharp contrast between privacy and exposure. Robie can lock his door and find the room untouched, but he cannot keep the confrontation within it or prevent the whole room from watching him return. His departure is consequently a small but decisive turn in his stay: he accepts no argument with the manager and seeks lodging outside Cantrell instead. Danby's Tavern provides a key and a room, then gives way to the road.