“IF EVER ANYBODY WAS more in love than me that day I should like to speak to that person and hear it proved from his or her lips. I was floating with happiness. I parked half a block away, so as not to be espied by an evil opposing Mayfair, and then, bouquet in hand (I had pushed back the florist paper to make a mere cuff of it) I approached the gate, coming along the fence beneath a great shrub of crape myrtles that were already wildly and beautifully in bloom.

“In fact, the entire Garden District seemed fragrantly blooming and the streets so utterly deserted that I did not have to be subjected to ordinary individuals who weren’t in love.

“As for Goblin, when he appeared beside me I told him firmly that I had to complete this mission alone, and he was to leave me now if he ever wanted a civil word from me again.

“ ‘I love you, I’ve told you that. Now give me my time with Mona,’ I said crossly.

“To my astonishment he gave me loving kisses on my cheek and whispered ‘Au revoir’ to me and obediently disappeared. An aftertaste lingered, a shimmering feeling of good will and deliberate generosity that was as palpable as the breeze.

“Of course I had hoped that Mona would be waiting for me with backpack, suitcase and passport in hand.

“But soon as I reached the wrought-iron gate a tall, elegant individual came to meet me, shattering my hope of escape with Mona utterly, though he had a most compassionate look on his vibrant face.

“He was svelte, if not downright swanky, with prematurely white curly hair and quick inquisitive eyes. His clothes were positively dashing. They looked old-fashioned in cut, like something from a drama about the nineteenth century, but what part of that century I didn’t know.

“ ‘Come in, Tarquin,’ he said with a French accent. He turned the brass knob, whereas Mona had used a key. ‘I’ve been waiting for you. You’re most welcome. Come in. Please. I want to talk with you. Follow me into the garden, if you will.’

“ ‘But where’s Mona?’ I asked, being as civil as I knew how.

“ ‘Oh, no doubt combing her long red hair,’ he said with the most exquisite intonation, ‘so that she can throw it over yonder balcony,’ he pointed upwards to the iron railings, ‘and lure you like Rapunzel did her forbidden prince.’

“ ‘Am I forbidden?’ I asked. I tried to resist his beguiling manner but it was difficult.