"But there,s so much you don,t know!" Reuben confessed. "There,s this boy here, Stuart - ."
"I know," said Felix comfortingly. "I know everything." His face softened with a protective smile. He clamped a firm hand on Reuben,s shoulder. "I am going upstairs to get Stuart now, and bring him down here. Now you light the fires. Turn on the lamps. And as soon as Stuart is ready for them, I want you to let them in."
Margon was already attending to these things, turning on one lamp after another. And the room was springing to life out of the gloom.
Reuben didn,t think twice about obeying. He felt the spasms loosening, and the sweat flooding his chest under his shirt.
He quickly lighted the oak fire.
Margon moved as if he knew the place. Soon fires were going in the library, and the dining room and the conservatory as well.
Margon,s hair was long, as it had been in the picture, only tied back with a leather thong. There were leather patches on the elbows of his jacket, and his boots looked ancient, heavily creased and crazed over the toes. His face was weathered, but youthful. He appeared to be a man of forty at most.
Finishing with the lamps of the conservatory, he drew up beside Reuben and looked into his eyes. There was an arresting warmth emanating from him, the same kind of warmth Reuben had sensed from Felix when first they met. And there was a hint of good humor in Margon as well.
"We,ve been waiting for this for a long time," said Margon. His voice was easy, smooth. "I wish we could have made all this easier for you. But that wasn,t possible."
"What do you mean?"
"You,ll understand all in time. Now, listen, as soon as Stuart gets here, I want you to step out under the arch, and welcome the doctors inside, and ask that the lawmen remain where they are for the time being. Offer to talk. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yes," said Reuben.
The argument outside was going fast and furious. Grace,s voice rang out over the imbroglio. "Not valid, not valid. You paid for this! Either produce the paramedic who signed it or it,s not valid - ."
Something quickened in Margon,s face. He reached out and placed his hands on Reuben,s shoulders.
"You have it in check?" he asked. There was no hint of judgment, only the simple question.
"Yes," said Reuben. "I can keep it down."
"Good," he said.
"But I don,t know about Stuart."
"If he starts to change, we,ll get him out of sight," he explained. "It is important that he be here. You leave matters to us."
Stuart appeared, suitably dressed now in polo shirt and jeans. He was clearly alarmed and looked to Reuben silently but desperately. Laura, too, was now dressed in her usual sweater and slacks and took her place resolutely by Reuben,s side.
Felix motioned for Margon to draw back, and the two moved closer to the dining room, signaling to Reuben to go ahead.
He snapped on the switch for the outside lights, turned off the burglar alarm, and opened the door.
It was a sea of wet angry people in glistening raincoats with glistening umbrellas, and a good many more enforcement personnel than he had realized. At once the female Russian doctor - middle-aged, thick-bodied, with a short tight cap of gray hair - advanced, beckoning for Jaska and her squadron of supporters to follow, but Grace barred her way.
Phil came up the steps and slipped into the house, with Jim right behind him.
"If you would all please listen," said Reuben. He raised his hands for patience and quiet. "I understand how cold it is out here, and I,m sorry I,ve kept you waiting."
Grace was backing up the steps with Simon Oliver and trying to keep the Russian doctors at bay. The scent of malice rose decisively from the two Russians, and Jaska,s cold eyes fixed Reuben harshly, as if they were beams that could somehow paralyze a victim as he pushed relentlessly closer.
The female doctor was powerfully excited by the sight of Reuben, eyeing him arrogantly with small milky-blue eyes.
"Doctors, please," said Reuben. Grace was now at his elbow. "Do come in, and you too, Dr. Cutler - ." (He hoped and prayed Felix and Margon knew what they were doing, that they were the beings he believed them to be, but suddenly it seemed a slender and fantastical faith!) "We need to talk inside, you and