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She remembered sneaking into Magnusson's room and being frightened by his sepulchral tone, and she was beginning to be frightened now. By his voice, the storm, and especially by the story. Fabulous balls and masques had been weekly occurrences at Maravillosa, said Papa; but despite his largesse, Valcours had gained an evil reputation. Tales were borne of sexual perversion and unholy rites; people vanished and were never seen again; zombies were reputed to work his fields, and after his death his body was hacked apart and buried in seven coffins to prevent his return. The story and the storm came to be of a piece in Jocundra's head, the words howling, the wind drawling, nature and legend joined in the telling, and she had a feeling the walls of the cabin were being squeezed together and they would be crushed, their faces added to the collection of pasted-up images.

'Valcours' children spent most of their lives tryin' to repair the family name,' said Papa. 'They founded orphanages, established charities. Maravillosa became a factory of good works. But ol' Valcours' spirit seemed to have been reborn in his granddaughter Clothilde. Folks told the same stories 'bout her they had 'bout him. And more. Under her stewardship the family fortune grew into an empire, and them-that-knowed said this new money come from gun-runnin', from white slavery and worse. She was rumored to own opium hells in New Orleans and to hang around the waterfront disguised as a man, a cutthroat by the name of Johnny Perla. It's a matter of record that she was partners with Abraham Levine. You know. The Parrot King. The ol' boy who brought in all them Central American birds and set off the epidemic of parrot fever. Thousands of kids dead. But then, right in the prime of life, at the height of her evil doin's, Clothilde disappeared.'

Papa heaved another sigh, recrossed his legs, and went on to tell how Clothilde's son, Otille's father, had followed the example of his grandparents and attempted to restore the family honor through his work on behalf of international Jewry during World War II and his establishment of the Rigaud Foundation for scientific research; how Otille's childhood had been scandal after scandal capped by the affair of Senator Millman, a weekend guest at Maravillosa, who had been found in bed with Otille, then twelve years old. Donnell leaned against the stove, unreadable behind his mirrored lenses. The storm was lessening, but Jocundra knew it would be a temporary lull. July storms lingered for days. The damp air chilled her, breaking a film of feverish sweat from her brow.

'The next few years Otille was off at private schools and college, and she don't talk much 'bout them days. But around the time she was twenty, twenty-one, she got bitten by the actin' bug and headed for New York. Wasn't long before she landed what was held to be the choicest role in many a season. Mirielle in the play Danse Calinda. 'Course there was talk 'bout how she landed the part, seein' as she'd been the playwright's lover. But couldn't nobody else but her play it, 'cause it had been written special for her. The critics were unanimous. They said the play expanded the occult genre, said she incarnated the role. Them damn fools woulda said anything, I expect. Otille probably had 'em all thinkin' slow and nasty 'bout her. She'll do that to a man, I'll guarantee you.' He smirked. 'But the character, Mirielle, she was a strong, talented woman, good-hearted but doomed to do evil, bound by the ties of a black tradition to a few acres of the dismal truth, and ol' Otille didn't have no trouble relatin' to that. Then, just when it looked like she was gonna be a star, she went after her leadin' man with a piece of broken mirror. Cut him up severe!' Papa snapped his fingers. 'She'd gone right over the edge. They shut her away in a sanatorium someplace in upstate New York, and the doctors said it was the strenuousness of the role that had done her. But Otille would tell you it was 'cause she'd arrived at certain conclusions 'bout herself durin' the run of the play, that she'd been tryin' to escape somethin' inescapable. That the shadowy essence of Valcours and Clothilde pervaded her soul. Soon as they let her loose, she beelined for Maravillosa and there she's been for these last twelve or thirteen years.' He puffed out his