“ ‘Oh, who knows?’ he said with a world-weary sigh, but his smile was brilliant. ‘Come with me, and call me Oncle Julien, if you will; I’m your Oncle Julien as surely as your Aunt Queen gave her embrace to Mona last night. And, by the way, that was a stunning gift, the cameo. Mona will always treasure it. May I call you Tarquin? I have already, haven’t I? Do I have that much of your trust?’

“ ‘You invited me in, didn’t you?’ I replied. ‘I thank you very much for that.’

“We were walking now on a flagstone path beside the house, and to our right lay a great garden with an octagonal pattern of boxwood around its lawn. There were Grecian marble statues here and there—a Hebe, I think, and a bathing Venus—and beds of exquisite spring flowers and some small citrus trees, and one bearing a single lemon of monstrous size. I paused to look at it.

“ ‘Isn’t it charming?’ he said. ‘The little tree puts all its heart into the one lemon. If it had many, no doubt they’d be of regular size. You might say the Mayfair clan does something very similar. Here, come let’s walk on.’

“ ‘You mean with regard to the Legacy,’ I said. ‘They put everything into one Designée,’ I continued, ‘and she has to be guarded from intrigues with those who aren’t marriageable and I’ve somehow been found wanting?’

“ ‘Mon fils,’ he said, ‘you have been found too young! There’s nothing in you that’s unworthy. It’s only that Mona is fifteen and you are not yet a man. And I must confess a little mystery surrounds you which I will explain.’

“We had gone up a few flagstone steps and were now walking past a huge octagonal swimming pool. Hadn’t Aunt Queen said something about Michael Curry almost drowning in this pool? I was befuddled. Everywhere there was beauty. And it was so very quiet.

“Oncle Julien drew my attention to the fact that the shape of the pool was the same as that of the lawn. And in each of the short pillars of the balustrade that octagon was repeated.

“ ‘Patterns on top of patterns,’ he said. ‘Patterns attract spirits, spirits who are lost can see patterns, that’s why they like old houses, grand houses, houses with big rooms filled with the touch of kindred spirits. I think sometimes that once a host of spirits have inhabited a house it’s easier for other spirits to get in. It’s an amazing thing. But come, let me take you into the rear garden. And we will escape the patterns to sit for a while beneath the trees.’