two components in her life, treasure and the theater, and her knowledge of each was encyclopedic. Nick had not called first because he didn't want to discuss the trident unless she was willing to see him. So it was with some trepidation that he rang the doorbell on the front porch of her magnificent home.
A young woman in her early twenties came to the door and opened it just a bit. 'Yes?' she said, her face wedging into the crack, her expression wary.
'My name's Nick Williams,' he said. 'I would like to see Mrs. Winchester if possible. Is she in?' There was a pause. 'I'm an old — '
'My grandmother is very busy this morning,' the girl curtly interrupted him. 'Perhaps you can call and make an appointment.' She started to close the door and leave Nick standing on the porch next to his exercise bag. Then Nick heard another voice, a muffled exchange, and the door swung open.
'Well, for goodness sake,' Amanda said with her arms outstretched, 'I have a young gentleman caller. Come here, Nikki, and give me a kiss.' Nick was embarrassed. He walked forward and gave the elderly woman a perfunctory hug.
As he withdrew from the embrace, he started to apologize. 'I'm sorry I haven't been by to see you. I mean to, but somehow my schedule — '
'It's all right, Nikki, I understand.' Amanda interrupted him pleasantly. Her eyes were so sharp they belied her age. 'Come in and tell me what you've been up to. I haven't seen you since, goodness, has it been a couple of years already since we shared that cognac after Streetcar?' She led him into a combination study and living room and sat him down next to her on the couch. 'You know, Nikki, I thought your comments about the actress playing Blanche DuBois were the most observant ones I heard during the entire run. You were right about her. She couldn't have played Blanche except as a total mental case. The woman simply had no concept of a feminine sexual appetite.'
Nick looked around him. The room had hardly changed in the eight years since he had last visited it. The ceiling was very high, maybe fifteen feet. The walls were lined with bookcases whose full shelves extended all the way to the ceiling. Opposite the door a huge canvas painting of Amanda and her husband standing outside their home on Cape Cod dominated the room. A new 1955 Ford was partially visible in the background of the painting. She was radiantly beautiful in the picture, in her early thirties, dressed in a white evening gown with daring red trim both around the wrists and along the collar of the neck. Her husband was in a black tux. He was mostly bald, with short blond hair graying at the temples. His eyes were warm and kindly.
Amanda asked Nick if he wanted tea and he nodded. The granddaughter Jennifer disappeared into the hallway. Amanda turned and took Nick's hands in hers. 'I am glad you came, Nikki, I have missed you. From time to time I hear a snippet here or there about you or your boat, but often second-hand information is altogether wrong. What have you been doing? Still reading all the time? Do you have a girlfriend?'
Nick laughed. Amanda had not changed. She had never been one for small talk. 'No girlfriend,' Nick said, 'same problem as always. The ones that are intelligent turn out to be either arrogant or emotionally inept or both; the ones that are sensitive and affectionate have never read a book. 'For some reason Carol Dawson jumped into Nick's mind and he almost said, without thinking, 'except for, maybe,' but he stopped himself. 'What I need,' he said instead, 'is someone like you.'
'No, Nikki,' Amanda replied, suddenly serious. She folded her hands in her lap and stared momentarily across the room. 'No,' she repeated softly, her voice then gathering intensity as she turned back to look at him, 'even I am not perfect enough for you. I remember well all your fantasy visions of gracious young goddesses. Somehow you had mixed the best parts of all the women in your favorite novels together with your teenage dreams. It always seemed to me that you had put women up on a pedestal; they had to be queens or princesses. But in the girls you actually dated, you looked for weaknesses, signs of ordinariness, and indications of common behavior. It was almost as if you