Well-Connected
by T.E.D. Klein

* * * *

His first mistake, Philip later realized, had been in choosing a room without a bath. Years before, honeymooning in England while still on a junior law clerk’s salary, he and his first wife had had great luck with such rooms, readily agreeing to “a bathroom down the hall” whenever the option was offered; they’d gotten unusual bargains that way, often finding themselves in the oldest, largest, and most charming room in the hotel for a third less than other guests were paying. Now, even though saving money was no longer an issue, some youthful habit had made him ask for just such a room, here in this rambling New England guesthouse. Or maybe his choice had been meant as a kind of test, one that might help determine if the young woman he’d brought with him this weekend was too intent on a luxury-class ride with him, or if she was the sort of person who remained un-fazed by life’s small inconveniences — the sort who might become, in the end, his second wife.

This time, however, it seemed he had guessed wrong; for here at The Birches, the rooms without a bath faced the front lawn, still pitted from last winter’s snows, a smooth expanse of newly tarred road that ended in a parking lot behind a line of shrubs, and a large, rather charmless white sign declaring VACANCY and SINCE 1810, beside which stood the woebegone little clump of birch trees that, presumably, had given the place its name; while it was the bigger, more expensive rooms just across the hall that looked out upon the wooded slopes of Romney Mountain, rising like a massive green wall somewhere beyond the back garden. Disappointingly, too, while their room boasted such amenities as genuine oak beams and a working fireplace, it had no telephone, at a time when, with young Tony precariously installed at a private school near Hanover less than thirty miles away, he’d have liked one handy. He envied whichever guest was staying in the room opposite theirs; when he and Margaret had passed it last night as they’d brought their bags upstairs, they’d heard its unseen occupant talking animatedly on the phone, embroiled in some urgent conversation.

It was the off-season, too late for even the most dedicated of skiers, too early for the annual onslaught of hikers, and the inn, from all appearances, was barely half full. It would have been a simple thing to request a different room. Still, some perverse sense of obligation to his youthful self kept Philip from speaking up. He had made his choice, and, vacancies or not, he was not about to pack up and move elsewhere. Anyway, it was only for two more nights.

Today was Friday, the first Friday all year that he’d taken off, though when he’d quit the firm last summer to set up his own practice, he’d vowed there’d be many such weekends. Maybe now, with Margaret, there would be. The two of them had driven from Boston last night, speeding up Route 93 past the brightly lit ring roads curving round the city like lines of defense, through the lowlands of southeastern New Hampshire, and finally, long after darkness had fallen, past the dim shapes of starlit hills and a range of distant mountains, Sunapee and the Monad-nocks looming far to the southwest. Their destination lay twelve miles off the highway, down a series of roads of ever-diminishing width, in a part of the state more settled a century ago than it was today, when men no longer worked the land and once-prosperous farms had been reclaimed by forest. The region around Romney Mountain, with its caves and scenic gorges, had known even grander days, having seen, in the century’s opening decades, the construction of at least two lavish hotels; a scattering of summer homes for the well-to-do of Boston; and, it was said, even one clandestine casino. The hotels and casino were long gone, and only recently had the effects of the postwar real estate boom been felt here. The glistening black road that wound through the valley to The Birches had been dirt less than a year ago.

They had spent most of the morning in the king-size fourposter that dominated their little room, snuggled under a patchwork quilt that made up in atmosphere what it lacked in warmth, and didn’t come down to the dining room till long after the tables had been cleared. Fortunately the proprietress, Mrs. Hartley, still had enough Westchester in her soul to sympathize with late risers; and she’d kept a pot of coffee warm for them, along with extra helpings of that morning’s blueberry pancakes. She and her husband had purchased The Birches only last spring; before that her only connection to hotelkeeping had been as a part-time pastry chef, and his as a salesman of advertising space to an occasional resort. It was obvious from the look of the place that, with more zeal than knowledge, the Hartleys were trying to restore the inn to something approximating its original appearance, or, failing that, to something approximating a house out of Currier and Ives — a row of whose prints, in matched maple frames, decorated the dining room wall.

While Margaret slipped back upstairs to change, Philip checked the time; Tony would already be finished with his morning classes. In the alcove off the bar he found an old-fashioned wall phone and, through the unit in the office, obtained an outside line. He dialed Tony’s school.

Summoned from lunch, the boy sounded distracted. “I didn’t think you’d call until tomorrow,” he said, breathless as if from running. “Braddon’s giving us a multiple-choice quiz in half an hour, and then I’ve got to try out for the play.”

Philip wished him good luck, pleased that the boy was keeping so busy, and asked what time tomorrow would be best to visit. Spending a day with his son was the primary purpose of his trip; relations between them had been strained these past years.

“Is somebody coming with you?” asked Tony warily.

“You know very well I’m here with Margaret,” said Philip. “I thought I explained all that in my letter.” He immediately regretted the impatience in his voice. “Look, son, if you’d rather I came alone, I’m sure she can find something to do for an hour or two.”

“Tomorrow’s no good anyway,” said Tony, having maneuvered his father into this concession. “We’re supposed to have a track meet with Cobb Hill, and it’s away. They told us last week, but I forgot.” He added, apologetically, “They’ll really be mad if I miss it. I’m one of the two best in the relay.”

“How would Sunday be then?” asked Philip. “I’d have to leave by three.”

“Sunday’d be great. You could take me into Hanover for a decent meal. And Dad . . .”

Philip waited. “Yes?”

“Do you think you’d have time to tell me a story?”

Philip felt an unexpected rush of affection so strong it embarrassed him. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll always have time for that.” It had been years since Tony had asked for a story; once it had been their favorite pastime.

The day passed quickly. It was too cold for swimming — the new semicircular pool at the end of the garden stood empty, in fact — but Margaret, it turned out, was a nature enthusiast, and one thing The Birches had aplenty was nature trails. It was all Philip could do to keep up with her. Still, this Girl Scout aspect appealed to him; till now he’d only seen Margaret’s urban side, the tall, studious-looking girl he’d secretly lusted after at his former office, and who’d seemed far too smart for the routine secretarial tasks required of her. Clutching glossy new guidebooks provided by the Hartleys, the two of them trudged along the base of the mountain, dutifully peering at fungi in their various disquieting shapes, admiring the newly blooming wildflow-ers, and searching — in vain, as it turned out — for identifiable animal tracks, all the while snacking on the sausage, bread, and cheese which Mrs. Hartley had packed for them. They discovered, nonetheless, that by dinner time their appetites were quite unimpaired; they shared a bottle of cabernet with their meal, chosen from the inn’s small but adequate wine list, and still found room for dessert. Glowing rosily, as much from the wine as from the bay-berry candles that flickered at each table, they staggered into the lounge.

The room, high-ceilinged and handsome, was already occupied by several guests, who themselves were occupied over after-dinner drinks and conversation. Flames danced and sizzled in the obligatory fieldstone fireplace covering most of one wall. Before it, taking up more than his share of a bench by the fire, sat a large, barrel-shaped man, his bald head gleaming in the firelight, eyes sunken in wrinkles like an elephant’s. He was wearing loose-fitting white pants and a somewhat threadbare cardigan. They had seen him in the other room, devouring Mrs. Hartley’s rack of lamb with considerable gusto. Aside from one wizened old lady who, from her own table, had stared at him throughout the meal with apparent fascination, he was the only guest who’d dined alone. It was impossible to tell his age.

“Am I blocking you from the fire?” he asked. He flashed a smile at Margaret. “Here, you young people, have a seat. April nights are chilly in this part of the world.” There was a trace of accent in his voice, a hint of Old World frost-fires and battlements. He eased himself sideways and patted the bench beside him. Margaret politely sat; Philip, with no room for himself, pulled up a wooden chair.

“I trust that you two are enjoying your stay.” He spoke as one who expected an answer.

“So far,” said Philip. “Actually, we came up to visit my son. He’s at prep school a bit north of here.”

“And, of course, to relax,” Margaret added.

“Of course!” The man grinned again. His teeth were long and widely spaced, like tree roots blanched by water. “And have you found your relaxation?”

Philip nodded. “Of a sort. Today we took a hike around the base of the mountain, and tomorrow we may go for a drive, maybe look for some antiques.”

“Ah, a fellow antique-lover!” He turned to Margaret. “And you?”

“I’m more of a swimmer myself. Unfortunately, this isn’t the weather for it.”

The other cocked his head and seemed to study her a moment. “Odd you should say that, because I happen to know where there’s an excellent heated pool not half an hour’s stroll from here. All indoors, with antique brass steps in each corner and a well-stocked bar right beside it, so close you can reach for your wine while standing in the water. The bar stools are covered in leather from, if the lady will pardon me —” He regarded her almost coyly for a moment. “— the testicles of a sperm whale.” Philip and Margaret exchanged a wary glance, then a smile. “It’s true,” the older man was saying, “I assure you! No expense was spared. The pool has its own underground oil tank which keeps it at exactly seventy degrees. You’ll find a painting of Bacchus on the ceiling, best appreciated while floating on your back, and heart-shaped tiles on the floor shipped specially from Florence.”

“I’ve never heard of such a place,” said Philip. “There’s certainly nothing like it listed in the guidebooks.”

“Oh, you won’t find it in a guidebook, my friend. It isn’t open to the public.” His voice was low, conspiratorial. “It’s in the private home of a certain Mr. Hagendorn, on the other side of the mountain.”

“Sounds like he must be worth a fortune.”

The other shrugged. “You’ve heard of the Great Northern Railroad? One of Mr. Hagendorn’s ancestors owned nine million shares. So as you might imagine, Mr. Hagendorn has always been accustomed to getting what he wants. The bed he sleeps in once belonged to an Italian prince, and the house itself is modeled on a Tuscan villa. It has its own greenhouse, a billiard room with six imported stained glass windows, and a sun porch with a magnificient view of the gorge.”

“You seem to know the place pretty well,” said Philip.

A shadow crossed the other’s face. “I used to live there,” he said softly.
“You mean you once owned it?”

“No, not at all. I merely worked there. I was young when I started, and new to this area, but by the time I was twenty I was Mr. Hagendorn’s personal aide. Wine for the cellar, an antique painting, a new maid — whatever he required, I obtained. I served him well for many years, and we remain in close touch. He asks me often to his home. I’m always welcome there.” He sighed. “So while I’m not a rich man, I suppose you’d have to say I’m well-connected.”

“It sounds,” said Margaret, “like a fabulous place.”

The old man brightened. “Would you care to see it? I’m sure Mr. Hagendorn would love to have you as his guests. You could come for a swim, say tomorrow afternoon. Stay for an early dinner, and I’d have you back here just after dark. I know the trail by heart.” Leaning toward them as if afraid the other guests would hear, he added, “You’ve never had dinner till you’ve had it in the great hall, overlooking the valley. The new people who’ve taken over this place —” His hand swept the room. “— they cook a meal fit for a peasant like me. But Mr. Hagendorn has employed the finest chefs in Europe.”

“But why,” said Philip, “would this fellow want to put himself out for two complete strangers?”

“The truth is, my friend, he’s somewhat lonely. He doesn’t get many visitors these days, and I know he’d want to make the acquaintance of two young people like you.”

“But we didn’t bring bathing suits,” said Philip, hoping, somehow, that the matter might rest there.

“Speak for yourself,” said Margaret brightly. “I brought mine.”

The man turned to Philip with what looked disconcertingly like a wink, but it may just have been smoke in his eyes. “I assure you Mr. Hagendorn has plenty —	for men, omen, boys, girls. Though you may find them a little out of style!”

Margaret clasped her hands. “Oh, I love old-fashioned things. It sounds like fun.” She turned to Philip. “Can we go, honey?”

He swallowed. “Well, I still don’t like just barging in on the man. I mean, what if he’s not in the mood for visitors?”

The older man stood, a surprisingly rapid movement for one so large and so seemingly advanced in years. “No need to worry,” he said. “I’ll simply ask him. I’ll be speaking with him tonight anyway.” Excusing himself with a courtly bow, he made his way from the room, picking his way among the other guests.

It was only after he’d left that Philip realized they had failed to exchange names, and that their entire conversation had been watched — with, it appeared, an almost indecent curiosity —	by the wizened old lady of the dining room, who now sat regarding him and Margaret from the depths of a wing-back chair in the corner, dark eyes glittering.

“Maybe she’s just got a crush on him,” said Margaret later, as they moved about the little room preparing for bed. “He looks like he’s nearly as old as she is, and men that age are scarce.”

“I’ll bet that by tomorrow he changes his mind about the pool,” said Philip, with a curious feeling of hope. “I’ll bet he was talking through his hat about how chummy he is with his boss. He probably won’t even bother to phone the guy.”

But shortly afterward, when Margaret returned from the bathroom at the end of the hall, she closed the door behind her and whispered, “You’re wrong, honey. He’s telling him about us right now — about how he met us in the lounge tonight.”

“How do you know?”

“I heard him,” said Margaret. “He has the room across from us.”

Gathering his toothbrush and towel, Philip stepped gingerly into the hall. Sure enough, he could hear a man’s low voice coming from the room opposite theirs, and recognized it now as belonging to their companion from the lounge. Still half turned toward the bathroom as if that innocent goal were all he had in mind, he tiptoed closer.

“Yes, they’re both coming . . . What’s that?” There was a pause. “No, not at all. They both seem quite well-bred. . . . Yes, she’s charming. You’re going to like her.” Another pause. “It’s agreed, then. Tomorrow, by three.”

A door rattled somewhere down the hall. Philip whirled and hurried to the bathroom. By the time he emerged, the hall was silent. He thought he could hear, faintly, a snoring from the old man’s room.

Margaret was already in bed when he returned. She looked up expectantly. “So? Hear anything?”

He planted a kiss on her lips. “He says you’re charming.”

She laughed and pulled him down beside her. “How in the world did he find out?”

Later, as they lay beside one another in the darkness, she stirred and said sleepily, “I hope I don’t dream again tonight.”

“Had a bad one last night? You didn’t tell me.”

“I can’t remember it.” She pressed her face deeper into the pillow. “All I know is, it was scary. Leave your arm around me, will you?”

“It’ll fall asleep in three minutes.”

“Leave it around me for three minutes.”

He himself was asleep in less than that. Some time later — it must have been near dawn, for beyond the lace curtains the sky had grown pale — he felt himself awakened by a tugging at his arm, and heard Margaret whisper his name.

“Whatsamatter?” he mumbled.

“Is it really you?”

The idiocy of her question seemed, to his sleep-befogged brain, too enormous to contemplate. “Yes,” he said, “it is.” In a moment he was once again asleep.

“I got frightened,” she explained the next morning, sunlight flooding the room. “I somehow got it into my head that there was someone else in bed with us.”

“You mean, like threezies?”

“Like another man lying between us, pressing up against us both. And you know, I think he was black — a little black man.”

“Maybe it was that guy from the mailroom.”

She seemed not to hear. “What’s so weird is, I’m sure it’s the same dream I had the night before.”

Philip yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Well, you know what they say about dreams. Wish-fulfillment.”

She poked him in the ribs. “Honestly, Philip, you’re so trite!” Frowning, she looked about the room — the cloud pattern in the wallpaper, a spiderlike crack in the ceiling, a row of dark pines in the painting above the dresser. “You don’t suppose this place is haunted, do you?”

“Talk about trite . ..”

“I mean,” she went on, “inns have been known to be haunted.”

“Sure,” he said, “they all are. Or claim to be. The ghost of some long-lost sea captain comes back every hundred and twelve years, or a serving wench who hanged herself appears at each full moon. Here it’s probably Daniel Webster’s brother-in-law. All part of the charm.”

“Just the same, will you ask the Hartleys? Ask them if there’s a ghost.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I’m too embarrassed.”

Embarrassed himself, Philip asked Mr. Hartley in the office downstairs while Margaret finished getting dressed.

“No ghosts that I know of,” the man said, scratching his thinning hair. Suddenly he grinned. “But golly, I sure would like to have one. It’d help business.”

Their stout companion was waiting for them in the lounge by the time they had finished breakfast. “It’s all agreed,” he said genially. “Mr. Hagendorn would love to meet you both.”

“It certainly looks like a beautiful day,” said Margaret.

He nodded, beaming. “Magnificent. You’ll be able to see clear to the Monadnocks.” He seemed, on this sunny morning, the soul of jollity. “By the way, I didn’t introduce myself last night. My name is Laszlo.” His grip was like iron as they shook hands and arranged to leave after lunch.

When lunchtime arrived, however, a call came for Philip on the phone by the bar. “Sorry, Dad,” said Tony, with a babble of youthful voices in the background. “I got it wrong. The track meet’s tomorrow. Can you come see me today?”

“Hell,” said Philip, “we’ve already made plans. I can’t just —” He caught himself. “Yeah, sure, I guess. No problem. What time’s good?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know yet. Jimmy and I are getting a lift into town, and we need you to pick us up.” There followed a dismayingly complicated series of adolescent proposals and provisos, the upshot of which was that Philip was to wait for Tony’s call “sometime in the early afternoon,” whereupon further directions would be supplied.

Dinner with the reclusive Mr. Hagendorn was clearly out of the question. Laszlo, waiting for them at the bottom of the garden where the trail began, agreed to take Margaret up to the villa for a swim alone, and promised he would have her back by nightfall, in time for Philip’s return. Far from being put out, he seemed to take the last-minute change of plans with surprising nonchalance.

“Mr. Hagendorn will of course be disappointed,” he said. “He told me how much he looked forward to meeting you both. But at least I am bringing the young lady.”

He was dressed in the same loose-fitting white pants, like some ancient man of medicine — they even had a drawstring, Philip noticed — but he’d added, over his white shirt, a warm alpine jacket, and his bald head was covered by an old-fashioned homburg. Far from being unfit for a protracted uphill walk, he looked younger and more powerful than he had by the fireside last night. It was clear he belonged on the mountain.

Margaret carried her bathing suit wrapped in a towel. A camera dangled from a strap around her neck. “I’ll bet the view’s wonderful from up there,” she said, kissing Philip goodbye. She blew him a second goodbye kiss as she and her companion started gaily up the trail.

The air had grown chillier as they climbed, but their exertions kept them warm. The walk was proving more arduous than Margaret had expected. “How in the world did your boss ever manage to build a house up here?” she had asked half an hour ago, as they’d pushed their way up a steep section of path near the foot of the mountain.

“There’s a narrow road that winds around the other side,” Laszlo had said, pausing to tilt back his hat and wipe the sweat from his bald head. “We’re going up the back way. You’ll find, however, that it’s faster.”

He had sounded friendly enough, but since then they’d exchanged barely a word. As the day had grown colder, so had his mood; he’d become silent, preoccupied, as if listening for voices from the mountain, and when she’d asked him how much farther it was, he’d simply nodded toward the north and said, “Soon.”

They had been on the trail for nearly an hour, following a zigzag course up the densely wooded slope. It was plain that Laszlo had misled her — or perhaps he had misled himself as well: though he continued, even now, to walk steadily and purposefully, with no sign of hesitation, she was beginning to wonder if he really knew the way as well as he’d claimed.

By the time the trail grew level, the trees had begun to thin out, and when she turned to look behind her she could see, in the spaces between them, the distance they had come. Below them spread the undulating green of the valley, though the inn and its grounds were lost from sight around the other side of the mountain. They were midway up the slope now, following a circular route toward the northern face. Ahead of her Laszlo paused, staring uphill past a faraway outcropping of rocks, and said, “We’re nearly there. It’s just past that curve of land.”

Shielding her eyes, she searched the horizon for a glimpse of rooftops. Suddenly she squinted. “Who’s that?”

“Where?”

“Up among those rocks.” She pointed, then felt foolish; for a second she’d thought she’d seen a small black figure merge with the shadow of a boulder as it fell upon the uneven ground. But now, as she looked more closely, she could see that the ground lay covered in ragged clumps of undergrowth, and that it was this, tossed by the wind, that had moved.

“Come,” said Laszlo, “the house is just ahead, and we will want to be back down before dark.”

Philip sat impatiently on the back porch, leafing through one of the previous winter’s ski magazines while waiting for the phone inside to ring. The potted geraniums blew softly in the breeze from off the mountain. He found it absurdly unnecessary to keep assuring himself that Margaret would be all right with Laszlo, but he continued to assure himself of that just the same.

He looked up to find himself no longer alone. The elderly woman from last night had seated herself in a chair nearby and had taken out some knitting. She nodded to him. “First time here?”

“Yes,” he said, automatically raising his voice on the assumption that she might be hard of hearing. “Just a weekend vacation.”

“I’ve been coming here for more than fifty years,” she said. “My husband and I first came here in the summer of 1935. He passed on in ‘64, but I keep coming back. I’ve seen this inn change hands seven times.” She gave a little cackle. “Seven times!”

Philip laid aside the magazine. “And does the place look different now?” he asked politely.

“The inn, no. The area is different. There’ve been a lot of new people coming in, and a lot of the old ones gone.” She looked as if she were about to enumerate them, but at that moment the screen door opened and Mrs. Hartley emerged, an account book in her hand. She saw Philip and smiled.

“Still waiting for your call?”

“Yes,” he said. “I don’t know what’s keeping that kid. I’ll hear the phone out here, won’t I?”

“Sure, but somebody’s on it now, and it looks like they may take a while. I’ll try to hurry ‘em up.”

Philip frowned. “How about the phone in the office?”

“Well, my husband’s using it right now. He’s going over the orders with our supplier down in Concord. But don’t worry, it won’t take long.”

“The problem is,” said Philip, with growing impatience, “my son may be trying to reach me at this very moment. Couldn’t you transfer his call to a phone upstairs? I could wait in one of the vacant rooms.”

She shook her head. “There aren’t any phones up there. The two down here are the only ones we’ve got.”

“But that’s impossible,” said Philip. He could feel his heart beginning to beat faster. “Impossible! That big fellow, Laszlo, has a phone in his room. I heard him just last night, and the night before. He was talking with someone named Hagendorn. I heard him.” Yet even as the words rushed from his lips, he knew that what he’d said was false; that it was not impossible at all; that the only voice he’d heard had been Laszlo’s. For all he knew, the man might have been speaking to the walls, the air, the empty room.

They had a word for people like that, people who talked to themselves. Psychos.

“That’s where I know him from!” the old woman was saying. “He was Hagendorn’s man. I knew I recognized him.” She turned to Philip. “The person you were talking to last night, he used to be a kind of— oh, I don’t know what you’d call him. A kind of valet. He worked for some dreadful man who lived up on the mountain. Bringing women up there for him, and I don’t know what else. There were all kinds of stories.”

“That’s right,” said Philip, eagerly grasping at any confirmation of the facts, however unsavory. “This guy Hagendorn. He’s apparently got some sort of opulent villa up there.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “But that house burned down in 1939. I remember it — some kind of terrible explosion. Something to do with an oil tank. That man Hagendorn was burned to death, I remember distinctly, and everyone said it was just as well.” She shook her head. “There’s nothing up there now. There hasn’t been a house there for years.”

“Honestly, Laszlo,” called Margaret, “are you sure we haven’t come too far? This can’t be the way.”

They had passed the outcropping of rocks and had wandered out onto a narrow tableland overgrown by scrub pine and weeds. Ahead of them, curving against the mountain’s face, stood what looked like a low broken-down stone wall half concealed by vegetation. Beyond it the pines appeared to be anchored in nothing but blue sky, for at their base the land dropped away into a haphazard tumble of boulders a thousand feet below, as if giant hands had sheared away part of the mountain.

Laszlo was well in front of her, his pace here grown more eager, while she, fearful of the drop, walked slowly now, eyes wary. With an impatient wave of his hand he motioned for her to join him.

“Laszlo,” she said breathlessly, as she caught up with him, “where are we? Where is Mr. Hagendorn’s house?”

“What’s that? The house?” He pursed his lips and looked blank for a moment. Absently he gazed around him, like one seeing this place for the first time. Suddenly his gaze grew fixed; she noticed that he was staring past her feet. “Why, here’s the house,” he said in a small voice, as if explaining to a child. “It’s right here.”

She followed his gaze. He was pointing directly into the gorge.

She stepped back in confusion. He’s only joking, she told herself, but her stomach refused to believe her. She felt his hand fall lightly on her shoulder.

“I suppose,” he said, “that first you’ll want to see the pool.”

“Oh, yes,” she said, trying vainly to twist away. “Yes, show me the pool, Laszlo.”

For a moment his arm dropped from her shoulder and she was free; but already he had seized her hand and was dragging her implacably forward.

“Come,” he said. “There’s so much to see.” Smiling, he gestured at what lay before them, a vast cavity in the rock, deep as a pit, cut sharply as the lip of a monstrous pitcher into the precipice’s edge. Laszlo tugged her closer. With a gasp she realized that its three stony sides were squared off, as regular as the walls of some enormous dungeon, but cracked and weathered now, patch-worked with lichen and moss — ancient. The bottom was a mass of weed-grown rubble opening onto the sky.

“And here,” he said, “we have the pool.”

Her wrist ached as he urged her to its brink. The ground seemed to shift beneath her as an edge of cloud swept past the sun. She took an unsteady step backward.

“No,” he said in a chiding voice, “you can’t leave now. You’ll have to stay the night.”

Drawn forward, she peered into the shadowy depths. Within them, as the light changed, something stirred, black as soot, like a stick of charred wood.

“The tiles are imported,” he was saying. “No expense was spared.”

She felt his free hand close tightly on her shoulder. The ground was spinning beneath her feet, the shadows rising to claim her.

“And now,” he said, “it is time to meet Mr. Hagendorn.”

Neither of the Hartleys had been of any help, beyond locating, in one of their local guidebooks, a map of the hiking trails that crisscrossed the mountain; but the old lady, lips quivering with concentration, had been able to make an educated guess where the villa had stood, just above a jagged grey line identified on the map as Romney Gorge. Judging by the map, it seemed, despite Laszlo’s claim, the climb of at least an hour; but Philip made it in half that — in time to see a burly figure in hospital whites struggling with a young woman at the top of the trail, by the edge of a cleft cut deep into the rock and opening onto the sky.

He raced toward them with what little strength remained, knowing that, days later and far away, he’d be able to tell his son the story of how one of the pair was snatched back from  the abyss, while the other went to meet his master alone.