“ ‘Stop fighting me and listen,’ he said in the same calm near-caressing voice. ‘I’ll leave you like a broken dove on the ground here for your Aunt Queen to find in the morning.’ He went on in his reasonable way, just above a whisper. ‘You know she comes out for a stroll before dawn, don’t you? Old people don’t sleep well. They don’t need the full hours of the night. She comes with Jasmine and Jasmine is still dopey, but they make their little constitutional while the stars are still clear.’

“ ‘And you’re watching,’ I said. I was horrified. ‘What do you want of us?’

“ ‘You’re going to be enormously impressed with my generosity, but I have been eternally known for my generosity and my cleverness.’

“ ‘Try me,’ I said. I was almost too angry to talk sense.

“ ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I’ve done a great deal of thinking about you, and this island which we both claim. I’ve come to the conclusion that I want to share the Hermitage with you. That is, I’ll allow you to use it by day and I shall use it by night as has been my custom.’

“ ‘By night? You come there only by night?’ This was almost unendurable.

“ ‘Of course. Why do you think you found the candles, and the ashes in the fireplace? I have no use for it by day, but I don’t want others troubling it ever. I’m to find no evidence of others when I come. Except for evidence of you. Your books, your papers, things like that. Now for the most important part of the bargain. You’re to improve the Hermitage. You’re to take it to a new level of excellence. Do you follow me?’

“He had loosened the grip just a little. I could breathe without it hurting. But he had me as firmly as ever, and my left arm, my good arm, was aching. I was paralyzed with fury.

“ ‘The improvements are key,’ he said. ‘You’re to take care of them, and then we will both enjoy it happily. You’ll never know I’m there perhaps. Oh we can share the books we read. We can grow to know each other. Who knows, we may come to be friends.’

“ ‘What improvements?’ I said. Obviously the creature was insane.

“ ‘First off I want it thoroughly cleaned,’ he said, ‘and the gold on the sarcophagus, it has to be cleaned and polished.’

“ ‘Then it is gold,’ I said.

“ ‘Most assuredly,’ he responded. ‘But you may tell your workmen it’s brass if you like. Indeed, tell them anything about the entire island which will keep them away.’

“ ‘But who was the grave intended for?’

“ ‘You need never concern yourself with that, and never open it again either.’ The voice came soft as breath. ‘Now let’s return to the Hermitage. You’re to have electric wiring installed throughout the place.’