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" 'Those are for you, King Tarquin,' she said. She gestured for me to walk about more if I wanted to. I did so.

" 'Ah, you know the derivation of my name,' I said. 'Not many people do. ' Clumsily I tried to match her eloquence.

" 'King Tarquin of ancient Rome,' she said, smiling. 'He ruled before the beginning of the Republic. ¡¯

" 'And do you think he was real or merely a legend?' I asked.

" 'Oh, most real in old poetry,' she replied, 'and most real in my mind in that over these three years I have so often thought of you. You have done well by my fantasies. I don't entirely know why I crave this remote paradise, but crave it I do, and you have restored my little house and made it splendid. I slip away from other palaces where I'm too uncomfortably known and come here with no loss of comfort. Why, your men even come to clean this house by day. They mop the marble and polish it afterwards. They clean the windows. I never expected this much attention. ¡¯

" 'Yes, I told them to do these things. They think me quite the madman, I must tell you. ' Was this me talking?

" 'I'm sure they do, but that's the common price of all wild eccentricity, and small eccentricity isn't worth a damn, is it?¡¯

" 'I don't know,' I said, laughing. 'I haven't settled that one yet. ¡¯

"I saw a big long heap of dark mink thrown over one of the couches -- a bedspread, a wrap, something like that it had to be.

" 'Is that for cold nights?' I asked.

" 'Oh, yes,' she said, 'and also for flying. It's fiercely cold in the clouds. ¡¯

" 'You fly?' I asked, wanting to play along.

" 'Indeed, I do,' she responded with a straight face. 'How do you think I get here?¡¯

"I laughed but not too loudly. It seemed an absurd fantasy to espouse.

"She was distractingly beautiful now, with the light of the torch¨¨res making a soft wreath of illumination behind us. Her breasts were prominent under the soft red velvet tunic, and there was something positively unsettling about her gorgeous bare feet with her golden toenails. As I looked down at them, indeed I couldn't stop myself from looking at them, I saw they were small feet, and that I found rather fetching. Also she wore a gold ring on her left big toe, and there seemed something deliciously evil about singling out that toe for this adornment.

"My three and one-half years of Catholic abstinence weighed heavily upon me suddenly, especially since there seemed something 'makeable' about her, maybe the fact that she seemed genuinely wild.

"I also found it beguiling that she was shorter than me now -- no longer the six-foot devil who had borne down on me in the shower so long ago, fiercely threatening my life until Goblin had sent the shower of glass at her.

" 'And while we're on the subject of Goblin,' she said in the most agreeable tone, 'I can tell that the demon isn't with you. What a loss. Do you expect him to return and proffer his affections soon enough like a loyal dog, or do you think he's gone forever?¡¯

" 'You puzzle me,' I said, 'taking such a sweet voice to speak such a hostile thing. I don't know whether or not I've lost him forever. Could be. Could be that he's found another soul with whom he's made a better communion. I gave him eighteen years of my life. Then distance divided us. I don't claim anymore to understand his nature. ¡¯

" 'I didn't mean to sound hostile,' she said. 'The truth is, and I do like to speak the truth when I can, that I never expected to find you so sanguine. ¡¯

"I didn't know what 'sanguine' meant. She moved towards the table, uncorked one of the bottles and filled the ciborium.

" 'Three and a half years has mellowed me, somewhat,' I said. 'And I never expected you to invite me in tonight. On the contrary, I expected to find you jealous of your nighttime hours. I thought you'd turn me away. ¡¯

" 'And why would that be,

do you think?' she asked. She brought the cup to me and extended it. And only then did I see the giant sapphire carbuncle on her finger. 'Oh yes, this,' she said as I took the cup. 'I carved this likeness of the god Mars. I was consecrated to him once, but it was in jest. I've been the victim of so many jests. ¡¯

" 'I can't imagine why,' I said. I looked at the wine. 'Am I to drink alone?¡¯

"She laughed softly. 'For the moment,' she said. 'Please go ahead. You'll make me unhappy if you don't. ¡¯

"My breeding was such that I couldn't refuse the drink on that account, and so I drank, noticing a strange flavoring in the wine, though it wasn't unpleasant. I drank deeply again. I was excited.

" 'You really mean what you say, don't you?' she asked. 'You don't see why people laugh at me. Or ever have, do you?¡¯

" 'No,' I said. In my typical fashion I drank even more of the wine, loving the taste of it suddenly and letting it hit my hungry heart immediately. Nothing for lunch. Nothing for supper. Awake on the plane. Awake round the clock. I had to watch myself.

" 'They laughed and they still laugh,' she said, 'because I'm both man and woman. But you see nothing to jest at there, do you?¡¯