“Off we went.

“Of course it was too late to make the passport office in New Orleans, but I did get the birth certificate from the courthouse in Ruby River City.

“Then it was back to the house where I sat down with Allen and went over all the renovations that would be done to the Hermitage while I was gone. There was no doubt in my mind that I was doing this for myself. I loathed and despised the mysterious stranger! The vision of the Hermitage was mine.

“Thanks to last night’s written request, Allen had already gotten me paint chips and samples of marble, and I was able to choose the most appealing colors and tile for the new floors. As to the bronze stairs, I drew pictures, and we agreed on a ‘baroque’ look to things and that he would call the local architects Busby, Bagot and Greene, who presided over all the antebellum restorations, and they could advise on the design of the windows and the construction of the bathroom, which was something I really couldn’t do.

“ ‘Be fearless,’ I said. ‘You know my tastes, you see my drawings and my requests. Don’t wait for my approval. It’s more important to complete the task. And remember I’ll be calling to talk to you. Forge ahead.’

“I could see that he was delighted to have something so interesting to do. Nevertheless, he shook his head and said it would be difficult, he wanted me to know that, hauling all that marble out there, but he did know how to lay it and he wouldn’t trust anybody but himself. As to painting, well, the hard work was the preparation, and again, that was hard, really hard, but he didn’t trust anybody but himself.

“ ‘You’re my hero,’ I said. ‘You can get it done. Now comes the final warning: Never be there after dark.’

“ ‘Oh, you don’t have to tell me that,’ he said. ‘We’ll be out of there by three o’clock.’

“ ‘Promise me,’ I said.

“ ‘You’ve got my promise.’

“ ‘All right, you’ll get your first call from me next week.’

“And so the tasks of Manhood were done.

“Around four o’clock the twilight anxiety came over me with unprecedented ferocity. I thought that the swamp was creeping up towards the house—Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane—and my desire to see Mona became absolutely uncontrollable.

“In all this time I had never for one second forgotten about her, and how agonizing it would be to tell her good-bye. Why, I had not even told her I was going. Such pain lay ahead.

“I tried to call her at Mayfair Medical but I couldn’t get through. The switchboard said she couldn’t take any calls, and my lack of knowledge of where she was and what was being done to her was unbearable.