George looked at Gurdy. “When you were describing finding me in the tree house you mentioned a friend.”

          “Yes, you remind me of him.”

          “Was your father arranging for him to work at the Art School?  Master Flemmings mentioned that the father of one of the American students had arranged someone to work as his assistant and then I didn’t hear anything else about it.”

          “I don’t think so. My father hadn’t mention anything like that to me. He must have been talking about the father of one of the other students.”

          “The other American at the school is a male.  Unless I misunderstood, I think he must have been talking about your father.”

          “My father didn’t like Steve Hannery.”

          “Then maybe I am mistaken. Wait a second; you say his last name is Hannery. Where have I heard that name before?  Master Flemmings didn’t mention that name, but I know I heard it somewhere. I know.  I think I know.  The maiden name of Millicent Hinitikief was Hannery.”

          As they continued following George and Gurdy and listening to their conversation, Magadelion stared at Steve.  “Was Millicent related to you?”

          “Hannery was not her maiden name.  It was the last name of her first husband, my father. He married her soon after my mother died. She was beautiful. And when she played the piano it was almost hypnotic the way she played.”     

          “So you liked her.”

          “I hated her.”

          “Why?”

          “Don’t get me wrong.  She never did anything to hurt me and she did her best to be a good stepmother, but she wasn’t my mother and I just couldn’t deal with the situation. When she left my father for another man, I was actually glad. I shouldn’t have been glad. I guess I deserve to be in the lower realms.  I deserve to be in the bowels of hell.”

          “So you weren’t perfect. At least you didn’t curse a son to be a werewolf as part of some twisted plan.  What the hell was I thinking?”

          “No, but when I was eight years old I caused my father to fight a duel. Looking back, I can’t believe some of the things I did.” Steve stated, “But I don’t think I deserved to die before my time and I am sure that you didn’t either.”

          “Deserve, no, but there is a reason for everything. I think it odd that you should now find yourself watching over a friend who knows the man who was married to your stepmother.”

          “It is not so odd. I knew him when I was alive. He actually visited with me a couple of days before I died.”

          “Do you think Ralph Hinitikief might be the one who killed you?”

          “The visit was odd, but no. Surely he wouldn’t blame me for what happened when I was eight years old.”

          “How did you first come to know Ralph Hinitikief?”

          “Millicent and Mr. Hinitikief came to my mother’s funeral. Mr. Hinitikief’s half brother, Jay’s father, Mr. Dubois was also at the funeral. My memory is kind of hazy, but I remember that my father had a fight with Mr. Dubois right after the funeral. I remember Mr. Hinitikief broke the fight up and told his brother that Millicent had agreed to stay behind and help take care of me. I guess at that point it did appear I had been being neglected, but who could blame father. God, I don’t like to think about those days.”

          Steve and Magadelion turned their ears back to the conversation of Gurdy and George. George asked, “What are you so deep in thought about?”

          Gurdy said, “I was just thinking about what I should tell you. See, Hannery was not Millicent’s maiden name.  Hannery was the last name of Millicent’s first husband; Steve’s pretend father.”

          “Pretend father?”

           Gurdy’s voice strained, sounding nervous with emotion as she explained, “The man Steve thought was his real father wasn’t. I was sworn to never tell anyone but I guess now it doesn’t much matter if I tell you. I wish I had told Steve.” Gurdy started to cry.

          “What? Why are you crying?”

          “I shouldn’t have kept the secret. See, Mr. Dubois was Steve’s real father but Mr. Dubois had a wife and son here in France so it was kept secret. Mr. Dubois confided to my father because he wanted my father to help watch out for Steve and I just happened to over hear one of the conversations between my father and Mr. Dubois. I should have told Steve.”

          Steve walked in front of Gurdy and tried to hug her, but she stepped right through him. Steve turned and held his arms out toward her as she continued walking, “I don’t blame you.”

          Gurdy turned to glance back over her shoulder and then looked at George. She wiped the tears from her face and then smiled. “I don’t know why I am crying.  Steve wouldn’t have blamed me.  He was a good person.”

          Magadelion’s ghost put her arm across the shoulder of Steve’s ghost and smiled.  Then as they continued following George and Gurdy, Magadelion said, “Not just was, but is a good person.”

          Gurdy told George, “When Steve’s mother died, Mr. Dubois insisted that Steve’s adopted father allow Millicent to help take care of Steve.  Steve’s adopted father resented the interference at first, but then he fell in love with Millicent. When Millicent left Mr. Hannery for Mr. Hinitikief, she planned to gain custody of Steve and bring him back to France with her. Mr. Hannery actually fought a duel with Mr. Hinitikief because of Steve. Everyone thought the duel was over Millicent, but it was over Steve. You might notice that Mr. Hinitikief is missing just a small bit of his ear lobe.”

          George asked, “Mr. Hannery shot the ear lobe off?”

          “No.  See, Mr. Hannery missed and Mr. Hinitikief still had a shot. Steve and I were hiding and watching in our tree house.  When Steve saw what was about to happen to his father Steve swung down and out of the tree house and attacked Mr. Hinitikief so as to protect his father; that is to protect the man he thought was his father.  Steve bit the section of Mr. Hinitikief’s ear lobe off and then took the pistol from Mr. Hinitikief.  Steve fired the pistol up in the air so it would no longer be loaded and then he threw it into the bushes. Steve then told my father that if he were smart, he would get Mr. Hinitikief the hell off the property.  Now understand, Steve and his father lived on our property.  They didn’t own it.  But that day my father took orders from Steve.  I was amazed.”

          George laughed. “I think I would have liked Steve.  But you say your father didn’t like him.”

          “God no! I don’t know how many times my father ordered me to stay away from him.”

          “But your father allowed him and his adopted father to live on the plantation.”

          “Because of Mr. Dubois. Over half our cotton is sold in Britain and France. Even sitting in prison, Mr. Dubois could ruin my father financially.”

          “I should think it would be to your father’s advantage if you and Steve had fallen in love and got married.”

          “Now if you had daughter, who would you prefer she fell in love with?  Would you prefer she fall in love with the legitimate son of a wealthy man or the illegitimate son of that wealthy man?”

          “So you think it is not just Mr. Hinitikief who would like to fix you up with Jay?”

          “I don’t know.  I’d never even heard of Jay until I found him at the farm and then I didn’t know who he was.”

          George said, “I think I like Jay.”

          “So do I. And I like Kitty.”

          George laughed.  “So I should seduce Kitty and you should seduce Jay.”

          Gurdy giggled.  “The first time I laid eyes on you I knew you were a rascal. But I didn’t suspect you were so popular with the rich and infamous. Do you think you will be able to get Victor Hugo to attend the party?”

          “Can I tell you a little secret?”

          “Sure, I’ve been sharing all sorts of secrets with you. Course, I will try to keep your secret, secret.”

          “Sure you will, but I will tell you anyway. I am in love with Victor Hugo’s wife. We had an affair but we decided it was best to end things.”

          “But you still love her?”

          “I will always love her.”

          “So I guess your asking Victor Hugo to come to the party is out of the question.”

          “Adele will get him to come to the party.”

          “What is having sex with the wife of a famous person like?”

          “Well, so long as it doesn’t make the newspapers it really isn’t much different than making love to anyone else.”

          “Now be honest, the first time you got into bed with her didn’t you think to yourself something like holy crap, I’m in the bed with Victor Hugo’s wife.”

          George grinned at Gurdy. “No, the first time I got into bed with her I thought how much more fun we would be having if we were back in the boat where we did it the first time.  I mean that boat was rocking back and forth and waves were splashing. Just when I was about to, you know, she stopped me and we changed positions.  She had me lay on my back and then I was the one looking up at the stars while she rode me. It was amazing. Course later, getting the splinters out of my ass wasn’t too amazing.”

          Gurdy laughed.  “Sounds kind of painful.  I want my first time to be in a large canopy bed.”

          George said, “My first time ever actually was in a large canopy bed and it had some kind of netting all around it. The woman’s husband walked in on us and I got caught in all that netting. Let me tell you, getting buckshot out of the ass is even less fun then getting splinters out.”

          “Don’t you feel guilty sleeping with the wives of other men? I mean, coming between a husband and wife is just wrong.”

          “Their husbands cheated first. So no, I don’t feel guilty. And for the record I’ve only had affairs with three married women.”

          “Only three and I would guess you are around my age, seventeen.”

          “I am a little older than that, but so what if in the last two years I have had affairs with five different women.”

          “So by the time you are thirty you will probably have some social disease and end up in a mental institution with your thingy falling off.”

          “Aren’t you the romantic?”

          “Romantic is only wanting to be with one person.”

          “I was romantic when I was sixteen. When you lose that one person because you weren’t able to protect them, you get over it.”

          “What happened?”

          “I was in love with the daughter of Master Flemming. We were picking flowers after a heavy rain and there was a rockslide. It all happened so fast.  I picked her up in my arms and I started running. Then I tripped and fell. Afterwards, I picked her back up in my arms for one last kiss but it was too late.”

          “She died in your arms.”

          “Nah, she bit my lip, she called me a stupid klutz, and screamed for me to put her down. You wouldn’t believe the cuss words that girl knew. She cussed me with every word she could think of for my having tripped and fell. She demanded I gently put her down before I cause her to get killed. She also started calling me stupid for dragging her out to the hillside to pick flowers. I thought I was doing some romantic. I mean what a…” George stopped what he had been about to say.  Then he whispered almost as though he were talking to himself, “I can’t believe I almost called her that. It wasn’t her fault.” George coughed and turned his head so that Gurdy wouldn’t notice what he was sure the expression on his face might reveal. George stated, “Sometimes that first love defines who you will be for the rest of your life.”

          Gurdy stared at George. “You were serious when you spoke of losing that one person because you weren’t able to protect them. To start with you weren’t talking about that day of the rockslide, were you?”

          George smiled. “Let us not talk about me and Sally. Let us talk about you and Steve.”

          Gurdy nodded to George with a solemn smile. “Steve and I would fight, but I mean we could say anything and the anger wouldn’t last. I could talk to him kind of like I am talking with you now. It was nice.  It is nice. You know what I mean?”

          “I’ve never had that before, but yeah, I know what you mean. I hope that is what we will have.” George thought a second.  “I’m not saying that I can replace what you had with Steve, but it would be nice if we could talk like this whenever.”

          “Yeah, whenever you want.”

          “And whenever you want.” Then George asked, “Are you going to tell Jay that he had a brother in America?”

          “I will suggest to Mr. Hinitikief that Jay should be told, but I don’t think I should tell him.”

          “I think you should tell Jay and not mention it to Mr. Hinitikief. I think maybe you should be afraid of Mr. Hinitikief.”

          “He has always been kind to me. Yes, it was wrong for him to fight a duel with Steve’s father. But later, both Steve and Mr. Hannery forgave him and Millicent. Up until Millicent was killed in Transylvania by angry villagers, they would always come around Christmas to visit Steve.”

          “Wait a second, wait one second, back up. Millicent was killed by angry villagers in Transylvania?”

          “Louis Napoleon had people there spreading rumors about her and they worked the people up into a frenzy.”

          “Why?”

          “Some say she had been blackmailing the Bonaparte family. I don’t really know the details.”

          “What were the rumors that would cause the people to want to kill her?”

          “Witchcraft. They said that she used a voodoo doll to kill a Priest in the village. I once saw a drawing of how the Priest looked when they found him. His arms and legs were all twisted and his tongue was swollen and hanging out of his mouth. I mean I kind of understand why the villagers reacted the way they did.  Father said that there are poisons that can cause convulsions and would explain the way he looked.”

          “How did the villagers kill her?”

          “They lynched her. I felt so bad for Steve when I heard. Steve always said that he hated her, but I don’t think he really did.”

          Steve looked at Magadelion as they continued to eavesdrop. “No, I really did hate her.”

          “No you didn’t.  I can see it in your aura. You just hated the way she used your father. I bet you cried when you heard what happened to her.”

          “I did, but it was because I felt guilty that I had not been a better person toward her.”

           “I wish she would come to us. She might know why you were killed.”