parts, his jaw trembling, his eyes tearing. 'Abomination!' he roared.
"The black one tried to calm him. 'Now, let this matter be in my hands,' he said. 'We have an order here of authority.'
" 'Do you see what she means to do?' the Old Man shouted. His jowls trembled. All of him trembled. His eyes were inflamed as he gazed at me. 'Who told you about Julien?' he demanded, as if such a thing were important now.
" 'Julien himself told me. I'm a seer of spirits,' I retorted. 'But what does it matter? Get me out of this place. Your granddaughter Lorraine needs me. Blackwood Farm needs me. I have flesh and blood that need me.'
"Suddenly Petronia herself appeared. Clad in a black velvet tunic and pants with a belt of cameos, she came striding across the long room and up to the two men, declaring as she did:
" 'What is this, the convocation of the cage?'
"As Manfred tried to seize her by the throat she threw him backwards, so that his body went yards across the marble floor and slammed into the wall, his head snapped back in a blow that would have killed an ordinary human and out of his throat came a deep and terrible roar.
" 'Don't dare to question me,' she said.
"The black one, as though nothing could perturb him, reached out for her and slipped his arm around her neck. He was taller than her by some inches. Probably he was my height. He brought her head down onto his shoulder and I saw her hand tremble as she let him do it, and he whispered to her,
" 'Petronia, my dearest, why, why always the rage?'
"He held her and she allowed herself to be held, and the Old Man wept as he collected himself, came forward, wounded, furious, helpless, shaking his head.
" 'My own,' wept the Old Man, 'and your pledges to me are worthless, your bond is worthless --.'
" 'Leave me alone, you fool,' she said, raising her eyes and turning her head to look at him. 'I've kept my pledges to you ten times over. I've given you immortality! What in hell do you want? And then on top of it riches undreamt of. This boy is nothing to you but something sentimental, like the photographs you keep of your precious Virginia Lee and your son William and your daughter Camille, as if these people were anything to you in the dust of time. They are not.'
"The Old Man sobbed. Then he spoke, blubbering.
" 'Stop her, Arion,' he said. 'Don't let her go on. Stop her.'
" 'Wretched, miserable, old man,' Petronia said. 'Old forever. Nothing could give you youth. I despise you.'
" 'And that's your reason for what you've done to me?' I asked. It would have been wiser perhaps to say nothing, but in some way this case was being tried before Arion, the black one, and I had to make some effort or die full of regret.
"Petronia looked at me, and, as if seeing me for the first time, she smiled. And as always happened when she smiled, she looked serene and lovely. She was still in the arms of Arion, and Arion was stroking her loose full hair. It was utterly loving the way that Arion held her. Her breasts were against him, and he seemed to adore her.
" 'Don't you want to live forever, Quinn?' she asked me.
"She slipped gently out of the embrace of Arion, and she took from underneath her black velvet tunic a gold chain, and on the end of this chain was a key, and with this she unlocked my handsome prison.
"She opened the door. With the meanest fingers imaginable she grabbed my left arm and yanked me from the couch and out into the room, slamming me up against the bars. It sent a shudder of pain through me.
"Arion remained close, staring at me, and the Old Man was some distance away. He had taken a small picture from his coat and he looked at it piteously. I wondered if it was of Virginia Lee. He was whispering to himself insanely.
" 'Are you prepared to fight for immortality?' Petronia asked of me.
" 'Not at all, not one wit,' I said, 'nor for my life. Not against the bully that I know you to be.'
" 'Bully!' She mocked me. 'You call me that? After you had your familiar attack me with flying shards of glass?'
" 'He did what he could to protect me. You were in