“ ‘For years,’ she said, ‘it was a dreadful ghost, just as Jasmine described. He did a lot more than push people off ladders. But he’s gone now, this illustrious ghost. And what surrounds them is talk of genetic mutations.’

“I had to be quiet. But it didn’t work. She went quiet too.

“ ‘What happened to the dreadful ghost?’ I asked.

“ ‘Nobody knows except that something violent occurred. Dr. Rowan Mayfair almost lost her life, as I mentioned. But somehow or other the family got through it. Now Mona, Mona came down from an intensely inbred line of the family. That’s why she’s been named the Designée of the Legacy. Can you imagine? Being chosen because you are inbred? If there are genetic problems, you might guess that Mona has them.’

“ ‘I don’t care,’ I said. ‘I adore her.’

“ ‘Mona didn’t grow up at the house at First and Chestnut. She grew up on St. Charles Avenue, not very far from Ruthie’s house, and her people went back to a plantation house in the country. There was a murder. Mona wasn’t a rich little girl, by any means.’

“ ‘Mona told me all this. So she wasn’t rich. Do I have to love somebody rich? Besides—’

“ ‘You keep missing the point. The child is now in line to inherit the Mayfair fortune.’

“ ‘She told me that, herself.’

“ ‘But Quinn, don’t you see?’ she persisted. ‘This child is under intense scrutiny. The Mayfair Legacy involves billions. It’s like the capital of a small country. And here she’s gone from an unstable family to inherit an unimaginable fortune. Nash, you explain it. The girl’s rather like an heir to the throne of England.’

“ ‘Exactly,’ said Nash in a very mild professorial manner. ‘In the sixteenth century it was an act of treason to court young Elizabeth or Mary Tudor because they were in line for the royal crown. When Elizabeth finally became queen, the men who had dallied with her were executed.’

“ ‘You’re implying the Mayfairs might kill me?’ I asked.

“ ‘No, indeed not, what I’m trying to say,’ Aunt Queen returned, ‘is that they will reclaim Mona no matter where she goes or how. You saw for yourself. They were quite prepared to pick her up bodily and carry her to that limo.’

“ ‘We should never have let her go,’ I said. ‘I have a terrible feeling about it.’

“I glanced at Goblin. He looked solemn and remote, his eyes on those opposite me.

“ ‘When you see her tomorrow . . .’ Aunt Queen began, but then she broke off.

“ ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,’ I murmured. ‘How long must I endure until I see her? I want to go to the house now and climb the vines to her window.’