A Perfect Spy

In his letter to Tom, Pym describes Lippsie, a Jewish German woman. She was a teacher and general assistant at the boarding school Pym attended as a student. One day, she was found dead at the foot of a tower on school property. Her death greatly shook Pym, who then was “ten years and three terms of boarding-school old” (65). Lippsie was friends with Pym’s parents, Rick and Dot. Pym remembers how Rick drew Lippsie into his various schemes even though she shouted at him that she’d “rather die than be a thief” (66). Pym recalls that Rick accumulated a large amount of money and spent it on “a string of shiny racehorses” (67) and fast cars. The family lived in numerous places across Europe, and Lippsie often went with them, as though she were trapped in Rick’s “gilded prison.” Although Pym didn’t know it then, Lippsie was one of many women with whom Rick manipulated for his own benefit. Like many other women, Lippsie conducted an affair with Rick. Pym recalls one night when the police cut the electricity to the house and raided Rick’s paperwork and files, which Rick blamed on "a temporary problem of liquidity" (71). Rick used Pym to hide his important papers and was then arrested and taken to prison.