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" 'Are you sure of the Light yourself, Mona?' I asked her.

" 'Well, you see, that's the very problem,' she answered. 'When these people die they aren't sure of it, and they may not recognize the Light for what it is. They may not trust it. They cling to the Earth; they

cling to mortals whom they can still see and hear. ¡¯

" 'And so we have this theoretical spirit whose nucleus doesn't go into the Light,' I said, 'this soul that drifts --. ¡¯

" 'Yes,' she said, 'and it can start a whole adventure for itself, especially if it finds a receptive person like you or me, somebody who can see it even when its organizing powers are still weak. Then of course we help it focus by noticing it and talking to it, and paying attention to it, and its organization becomes stronger and stronger. ¡¯

" 'But what about a spirit like Goblin? He's not a ghost. He doesn't know where he came from. ¡¯

"She shot me a meaningful glance that said: Be careful. 'Goblin is pure spirit then,' she replied, 'but spirits are probably organized in exactly the same way -- they have the nucleus and then a kind of loose body, a force field of a body, and it's this force field they use, just like a ghost, to gather particles to appear to someone. ¡¯

"We walked on out of the cemetery and towards the landing. The swamp looked dark and treacherous already -- full of deadly things that want to kill. An evening song came from it that meant death. I tried to ignore it. Mona seemed to like it, to like the evening.

" 'Quinn, if only you could talk to Stirling,' she said. 'I think he would have so much to tell you. You know, it's so easy with Stirling. For centuries the Talamasca has given shelter to people who see ghosts. They welcome people like you and me, and not for selfish reasons. When I was in England I went to their Motherhouse there, and I even visited the Motherhouse in Rome. ¡¯

" 'Sounds religious, rather like the Trappist monks or the Carmelites. ¡¯

" 'Well, they are sort of that way,' she answered, 'but they aren't religious. They're good without being religious. Sometimes it's hard for Fr. Kevin to accept but he's getting used to it. You know how it is with us Catholics. Anything supernatural that isn't from God just has to be evil. And here you have the Talamasca studying the supernatural. But even Fr. Kevin is coming to like Stirling. Nobody could fail to be disarmed by Stirling. ¡¯

" 'Tell me about Fr. Kevin,' I said. 'What's his story?¡¯

" 'He's a good priest,' she said. 'I ought to know. I tried hard to get him into bed, as I told you, but couldn't do it. He was born here in a big house on Magazine Street, the last of eight children. His eldest sister is a whole nother generation. We call them the Stainless Mayfairs because they are all very good and never get into any trouble. When he went into the priesthood they sent him up North, and now he's come back, principally because the family needs its own priest and also because he can teach here. He's quite the theologian when he wants to be. ¡¯

" 'Mona, why do you try to go to bed with so many people?' I asked. I knew that I sounded naive and childlike, but I had to ask her.

" 'Why do you do the same thing, Tarquin?¡¯

" 'But I don't, not really. Aside from you, I've been to bed with one of the women on the property and that's all. ¡¯

" 'I know,' she said smiling. 'It's the gorgeous blond-haired quadroon, Jasmine. ¡¯

" 'How did you know?¡¯

" 'We witches have a little bit of telepathic power,' she said with the same generous smile. 'I picked up on it, you might say. Didn't you feel that that was a road you had to travel?¡¯

" 'Yeah, I guess I did. But compared to you, I'm kind of retarded. I'm almost nineteen and I've slept with one spirit, one ghost and two real women, you being the one with whom I am in love. ¡¯

" 'I can guess about the spirit,' she said, 'but tell me about the ghost. ¡¯

" 'I can't, not now. We're too near her grave. ' I pointed to the little headstone in the cemetery. 'But let me say her name's Rebecca and she's beautiful, and she met her end in a cruel, unjust way and I lost my virginity with her. She has great charm when she comes. . .

" '. . . And speaking of charm,' I said, 'I have a tutor who is like that and he's coming right towards us. ¡¯

"It was Nash come down from the house to invite us to supper. He looked elegant and handsome in his sharply cut blue denim three-piece suit and a white shirt open at the collar.

"Now, I have to achieve that style, I thought, and he comes by it so daringly and so naturally.

"At once I introduced him to Mona and told him I was going to marry her. He was faintly amazed but accepted it totally seriously.

" 'Congratulations, Quinn, and my dear' -- he took her hand -- 'it's a pleasure. ¡¯

"I felt his mellow voice could level mountains. And his face was truly enhanced by its lines and its folds. It gave him the look of wisdom.

" 'Of course, we're still going to Europe, Nash,' I said. 'We're all going. We're stealing Mona. ¡¯

" 'Well, that makes things doubly exciting,' said Nash with just a twinge of a smile and a touch of gentle irony. He gave his arm to Mona graciously to help her up to the high ground, and I felt ashamed that I hadn't thought to do it.