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"So we spent our last hour at Blackwood Manor trying to convince Jasmine that she was up to the task and once she got hold of it -- she was already doing ninety-nine percent of the work -- she would do fine. As to her pay, it was to be tripled. And Aunt Queen would have worked out a percentage of the profits, except that the percentage system frightened Jasmine, who didn't want to have to figure it out.

"At last it was decided that our attorney Grady Breen would take over the bookkeeping and that Jasmine could devote herself entirely to supervising and to hostess work, and Jasmine seemed a good deal more calm. That way Jasmine could get her percentage without fearing she'd signed some sort of pact with the Devil. Meantime, all of us told her how beautiful she was, how polished she was and how overqualified she was, which did not help as much as we had hoped.

"Clem and Big Ramona promised to back her up completely, and with kisses and embraces, as well as Jasmine's tearful farewell, we hit the road for New Orleans in Aunt Queen's stretch limousine.

"When after a brief stop at the hotel to approve our fabulous digs we reached the Grand Lumini¨¨re Caf¨¦, Mona rose from the table and flew into my arms, making me the envy of every man in the place. She was wearing one of her big white shirts, complete with white ruffles and bows at her wrists, but I could see the intravenous port with its evil carbuncle of tubing and tape on the back of her inflamed right hand.

"I sat down at the Mayfair table with her, and in an intimate voice told her of what the doctor had said to Aunt Queen, that this might be her last trip to Europe.

" 'Oh, I approve utterly and totally of your going,' Mona said. 'You must, you absolutely must. I'm doing fine. My condition is stable. Look, I have to be wired up again tonight. ' She held up the bandaged hand. 'Do you want to come up to the room? It's not all that appetizing, I can assure you --. ¡¯

" 'I'm coming,' I said. 'I never made love to anybody who was wired up. ¡¯

" 'Good,' she said in a sweet whisper, 'because I have three or four baby quilts to ruin, and then we can read Hamlet to each other. I have a copy of Kenneth Branagh's version with all the screenplay directions, and we can pretend we're seeing it all over again. In fact, you can recite Gertrude's speech describing Ophelia's drowning, and I will lie as if dead on the pillow. I've already strewn flowers all over the bed. Oh, I am Ophelia forever,' she sighed.

" 'No, my Ophelia Immortal,' I said, 'and that's the name under which I'll write to you from Europe, and the name under which I'll E-mail you on the computer, my Ophelia Immortal. I think it is the most splendid name I ever heard. ¡¯

"I told her how that afternoon I'd put the film on the TV just to watch that scene of Ophelia underwater. 'I love you that you love it,' I said, 'but you'll be Ophelia Immortal because you'll never drown, you know that, don't you? We have to get that straight, don't we? That you're Ophelia in suspended animation, one most "capable of her own distress" and of her ecstasy, and born up forever on "her melodious lay. " ¡¯

"She laughed and kissed me warmly. 'You really do know the words, don't you?' she said. 'Oh, I love you for it. And E-mails, why didn't I think of it? Of course, we'll E-mail each other from Europe, and write also. We have to print out our letters. Our correspondence will be as famous as that of H¨¦lo?se and Abelard. ¡¯

" 'Absolutely,' I said with a little shudder. 'But nothing so long and chaste, my beloved; I'll be home and you'll be cured and we'll soon be in each other's arms. ' I laughed outright. 'By the way, you do know that for his love of H¨¦lo?se, Abelard was castrated, don't you? We don't want anything so dreadful to happen to me. ¡¯

" 'It's a metaphor for your restraint, Quinn, and that we can't merge into the same person as Ophelia would have done with Hamlet if only his father hadn't been killed. ¡¯

"I kissed her longingly and lovingly. ' "Oh, brave new world that hath such creatures in it," ' I quoted. 'What other fifteen-year-old in the world would know such things?¡¯

" 'You ought to talk to me about the stock market,' she returned, her green eyes firing beautifully. 'It's perfectly egregious that Mayfair and Mayfair insists on managing my billions. I know more about stocks and bonds than anybody in the firm. ¡¯

"Stirling had just come to join the table. I realized I hadn't said hello to the graceful Rowan and the stalwart Michael. I corrected all that, glorying in the warmth with which we all greeted each other, and I explained to Stirling hastily that the family had checked out of Blackwood Manor, that if Petronia wanted to find us she'd have to come looking at the Windsor Court Hotel.

" 'And the little gentleman with the black hair over there, that's Tommy?¡¯

" 'Precisely. Soon to become T

ommy Blackwood. We're leaving for Europe as soon as we get his passport. I'll have his name changed at the passport office if I can get away with it. We'll see what a little persuasion does. ¡¯

" 'Let me know if you have trouble with that,' he said. 'The Talamasca can help. ¡¯

"We didn't join tables for dinner. I felt it was best. I wanted Nash and Aunt Queen to continue to get to know Tommy, and Tommy was doing splendidly well. He wasn't shy or overexcited, and just as I had surmised when I met him, he was extremely bright. Literature and history were his loves, thank God. Math he couldn't understand very well but he inched along. He'd benefited tremendously from his Catholic education so far, and Nash and Aunt Queen were both finding him fascinating, which was what I had hoped.

"After we had all had our 'egregious' desserts, I took Tommy over to be presented to the Mayfairs and to Stirling, and he comported himself with manners in keeping with the occasion, and then it was agreed my beloved family members would return to the hotel and I would go up with Mona to her room.

"I threw my arm around Goblin and I said in his ear, 'Go back to the family. Stay close to them. And come to me if Petronia comes. ¡¯

"He was surprised. But at once he nodded and disappeared.

"Mona's room was a luxury suite just like the one which I had occupied, with a parlor adjacent to it and a big double hospital bed. Mona had covered the bed with white eyelet baby quilts, as she had described to me. Only now she gathered up all the wilted lilies and daisies, and, choosing great handfuls of fresh ones from the baskets all around the room, she covered the bed afresh.

"Then she hopped up on the bed and leaned back on a huge nest of pillows, smiling playfully at me. And we both went into gales of laughter.

"Dr. Winn Mayfair stood by solemnly watching all these proceedings, and then he said in his soft respecting voice, a voice that always commanded respect in return:

" 'Very well now, Ophelia, are you ready for me to insert the line?¡¯

" 'Go ahead, Doctor,' she answered. 'And be sure to understand, you can close that door afterwards. Quinn knows the line is the only thing that can be inserted, right, Quinn?¡¯

"I think I blushed. 'Yes, Doctor,' I said.