“ ‘No, darling, don’t even contemplate such a thing. Oh, we never should have gone to Mayfair Medical, but how did I know that the little heiress would be in the Grand Luminière Café?’

“Jasmine refilled my plate with plenty more of the chicken and rice. I started eating again.

“ ‘I don’t trust anybody now except Mona,’ I said. ‘I love you, you know that, but I’m in love with her, and I know, positively know, that I will never love anyone as I do her. I know it!’

“ ‘Quinn, dear, it’s time for the worst tidbit of gossip.’

“ ‘I can take anything,’ I said between forkfuls.

“ ‘They’ve already arranged a husband for Mona,’ said Aunt Queen gently. ‘It’s her cousin Pierce.’

“ ‘She told me that, too,’ I said, fudging just a little. I gestured to Jasmine for more wine.

“ ‘Did she tell you that Pierce is her first cousin?’

“Even I was shocked by that. But I didn’t answer.

“ ‘Oh, darling,’ Aunt Queen said with a sigh, ‘I want to set our course for Europe right away, but we’re not going to be able to take Mona Mayfair.’

“ ‘Well, I can assure you,’ I said, ‘I’m not getting on any plane for anywhere without her.’ ”

CHAPTER 28

28

“THE NIGHT HAD too many hours, and surely the following morning would be an agony, or so I thought. Aunt Queen, Nash and I parted at about ten o’clock—after more insubstantial and agonizing conversation about the Mayfairs—with my promising to consider the European trip even if Mona’s family wouldn’t allow her to go, and my promising that if I remained behind, I would accept Nash as a new teacher.

“That part was easy for me. I liked Nash completely, and I believed his firm assurances that he would be entirely happy at Blackwood Manor if we were meant to stay there.

“When I went upstairs I found Big Ramona awake and the window open near the fireplace and a brisk breeze blowing through the room. Now, it was our custom to sleep with the air-conditioning on during warm nights such as these, so I was a bit surprised by this, and by the fact that Big Ramona climbed out of bed and came a-whispering to me as soon as I closed the door.

“ ‘It’s Goblin!’ she said. ‘He opened that window! I’m telling you, it’s the God’s truth. I shut it twice and he opened it twice. He’s down there! Look at the screen on your computer. See what he wrote!’

“ ‘You saw the keys move?’ I asked her.

“The words were ‘COME DOWN.’

“ ‘The keys move! Boy, I saw the window open and shut, are you listening to me! Do you see what’s happening to you with Goblin? He’s getting stronger and stronger, Quinn.’