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They stood far away on the close-clipped grass, beneath what Aaron called a magnolia. It had no blossoms, this tree. Too early. But it had the largest shiniest green leaves.

On and on Stolov talked, in his quiet persuasive entirely sympathetic manner. And Aaron's eyes were two pieces of cold gray stone. Reflecting nothing. Revealing nothing except the anger. Aaron looked at Yuri. What did he see? Yuri shot a meaningful glance towards Stolov, but this was as narrow and quick as a splinter of light, a spark.

Aaron's eyes moved back to Stolov. Stolov had not glanced at Yuri. Stolov's attentions were entirely fixed upon Aaron, as if this was a victory he must have.

"If you won't leave tonight, then surely tomorrow," said Stolov.

Aaron said nothing.

Stolov had poured out everything now, at least two complete times. A beautiful elderly woman with dark smooth gray hair stood at the end of the wooden porch and called to Aaron. He waved and gestured that he would be coming. He looked at Stolov.

"Good God, man, say something," said Stolov. "We know how hard this has been for you. Go on home to London. Take a well-deserved rest."

Just wrong. Everything the man was saying, his manner, his words.

"Right you are," said Aaron softly.

"What?" said Stolov.

"I'm not leaving, Erich. It's been a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, and I know better than to try to deter you from obeying your orders. You're here to do something. You will try to do it. But I'm not leaving. Yuri, will you stay with me?"

"Now, Aaron," said Stolov, "that is very simply out of the question for Yuri. He is already..."

"Of course I will stay," said Yuri. "It was for you that I came."

"Where are your lodgings, Erich? Are you at the Pontchartrain with the rest of us?" Aaron asked.

"Downtown," said Stolov. He was getting impatient again, flustered. "Aaron, you are no help to the Talamasca now."

"I'm sorry," said Aaron. "But I must confess, Erich, that the Talamasca--at this moment--is no help to me. These are my people now, Erich. Glad to have met you."

This was dismissal. Aaron extended his hand. The tall blond one looked for one moment as if he would lose his temper, then he cooled, and drew himself up. "I'll contact you in the morning. Where will you be?"

"I don't know," said Aaron. "Probably here...with all these people," he said. "My people. I think it's the safest place for us now, don't you?"

"I don't know how you could take this attitude, Aaron. We need your cooperation. As soon as possible, I want to make contact, speak with Michael Curry..."

"No. That is not going to happen, Erich. You do what the Elders told you to do, as I'm sure you will. But you will not bother this family, at least not with my permission or with my introduction."

"Aaron, we want to help! That's why I am here."

"Good-night, Erich."

In sheer consternation, the blond one stood there silently, and then he turned on his heel and walked away. The big black car was waiting for him as it had been for two hours, during which this act had been played and replayed.

"He's lying," said Aaron.

"He's not Talamasca," said Yuri, though it was more a suggestion than a statement.

"Oh, yes, he is. He's one of us, and he's lying. Don't turn your back on him for an instant."

"No, I wouldn't. But Aaron, how can this be? How can such a thing..."

"I don't know. I've heard of him. He's been with us for three years. I've heard of his work in Italy and in Russia. He's very much respected. David Talbot thought highly of him. If only we hadn't lost David. But Stolov's not so very clever. He can't read minds that well. He could perhaps if he himself weren't putting on such an act. But the facade requires all his cunning. And so he's not very good."

The black car had silently slithered away from the curb.

"God, Yuri," Aaron suddenly whispered. "I'm glad you're here."

"I am too, Aaron. I don't understand it. I want to contact the Elders. I want to speak directly to someone, to hear a voice."

"That will never happen, my boy," said Aaron.

"Aaron, in the years before the computer, what did you do?"

"It was always typewritten. All communications went to the Motherhouse in Amsterdam, and the replies came by mail. Communication took greater time; less was said, I suspect. But there was never a voice attached to it, Yuri, or a face. In the days before the typewriter, a scribe wrote the letters for the Elders. No one knew who this was."

"Aaron, let me tell you something."

"I know what you're going to say," said Aaron calmly, thoughtfully. "You knew the Amsterdam Motherhouse well before you ever left it--every nook and cranny. You cannot imagine where the Elders came together, where they received their communications. Nobody knows."

"Aaron, you have been in the Order for decades. You can appeal to the Elders. Surely there is some way under such circumstances..."

Aaron smiled in a cold, knowing way. "Your expectations are higher than mine, Yuri," he said.

The pretty gray-haired woman had left the porch and was coming towards them. Small-boned, with delicate wrists, she wore her simple flaring silk dress with grace. Her ankles were as slender and well-shaped as those of a girl.

"Aaron," she said in a soft scolding whisper. Her hands flew out, youthful, dainty, covered with rings, and clasped Aaron by the shoulders, and then she gently kissed his cheek. Aaron nodded to her in quiet understanding.

"Come inside with us," said Aaron to Yuri. "They need us now. We'll talk later on." His face had changed dramatically. Now that Stolov was gone, he appeared more serene, more like himself.

The house was filled with good rich cooking smells, and a high tempestuous mingle of voices. The laughter was loud, bursting, the merry ecstatic kind of laughter of people at a wake. One could hear others crying. Women and men crying. An old man sat with his arms folded before him on a table, crying. A young girl with soft brown hair patted his shoulder over and over, her own face evincing only fear.

Upstairs, Yuri was shown to a rear bedroom, small, faded, but quite appealing to him, with a narrow single four-poster bed, and a dark golden satin bedspread that had seen better days. There were dusty curtains on the windows. But he liked the warmth, the coziness, even the faded flowers on the wall. He glimpsed himself in the mirrored door of the chifforobe--dark hair, dark skin, too thin.

"I am grateful," he said to the gray-haired woman, Beatrice, "but don't you think I should go to the hotel, that I should look out for myself?"

"No," said Aaron. "Don't go anywhere. I want you here with me."

Yuri was prepared to protest further. The hou

se was needed for the family. But he could see simply that Aaron meant for him to stay here.

"Oh, now, don't start being sad again," said the woman. "I won't have it. Come on, now, we're going to have something to eat and some wine. Aaron, I want you to sit down and drink a nice cool glass of wine. You too, Yuri. Now, both of you come."

They went down the rear stairs, into the warmer air, and the misty white layers of cigarette smoke. Around a breakfast table, near a bright fire, sat several people crying and laughing simultaneously. And one solemn man who merely stared morosely into the flames. Yuri could not actually see the fire. He stood behind the chimney, but he saw the flicker and he heard the crackle and he felt the warmth.

He was distracted suddenly by a wraith of a female creature in a small back room, looking out the rear window into the night. She was very old, fragile; she wore gabardine and withered lace, and a heavy golden pin that was a hand with diamonds for nails. Her fine-spun white hair was soft around her face, nested in the old-fashioned way, with pins against the back of her head. Another woman, younger yet still impossibly old, held the hand of this very old one as if she would protect her from something, though how, one could not tell.

"Come on, Ancient Evelyn, come with us," said Beatrice. "Come on, darling Viv. Let's go near the fire."

The very old woman, Ancient Evelyn, whispered something softly under her breath. She pointed to the window, her finger dropping as if she hadn't strength to keep it aloft. Again she pointed; again the finger dropped.

"Come on, now, dear, you're doing it again," said the woman addressed as Darling Viv. She was kind. "I can't hear you. Now, Ancient Evelyn, you can talk." She sounded as if she were coaxing a baby. "You know you can. You were talking words all day yesterday. Talk, dear, talk so I can hear."

The ancient one murmured again indistinctly. She continued to point. All Yuri saw was the dark street, the neighboring houses, the lights, the dark heavy soaring trees.

Aaron took his arm.