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"But you love this man, don't you?" Lestat asked He followed me into the bedroom He politely inspected the shelves of books

"Of course I love hi with ood luck "

"These things depend a lot on nerve," said Lestat "You'd be amazed what mortals will accept if you simply behave as if you're human But then you know this, don't you?"

He returned to the bookshelves respectfully, re

"Dickens, Dickens and raphy of the man ever written, it seems "

"Yes," I said, "and I read hiht there by the fireplace We read theh, and then I would just dip down into any book -- The Old Curiosity Shop or Little Dorrit or Great Expectations -- and the language, it was delicious, it would dazzle me, it was like you said to Aunt Queen You said it so very right It was like dipping into a universe, yes, you had it " I broke off I realized I was still giddy fro with Aunt Queen, from the way he had been in attendance on her; and as for Nash, I missed him and wanted him so to come back

"He was a superb teacher," ventured Lestat gently

"He was my tutor in every subject," I confessed "If I can be called a learned man, and I don't know that I can, it's on account of three teachers I've had -- a woht me how to really read, and how to see films, and how to see a certain wonder even in science, which I in fact fear and detest We seduced hirand tour of Europe, and we're much better off for it He used to read to Aunt Queen, which she just loved "

I went to the hich looked out on the flagstone terrace behind the house and the distant two-story building that ran so the upper story of the building, with broadly positioned colonettes supporting it froround floor

"Out there's the shed, as we call it," I explained, "and we call our beloved farmhands the Shed Men They're the handymen and the errandout back there in their own den

"There's Aunt Queen's big car, and my car -- which I don't use anymore I can hear the Shed Men now I'm sure you can There're always two on the property They'll do anything in this world for Aunt Queen They'll do anything in this world for me "

I continued:

"Upstairs, you see the doors, those are sh just as well furnished with the four-poster beds and antique chests and Aunt Queen's adored satin chairs Guests used to stay out there too in the old days, for less of course than they paid to stay in the big house

"And that's whereup Patsy lived out there ever since I could remember Down belohere she first practiced her e -- Patsy's studio -- but she doesn't practice anymore and she's in the front bedroom now just down the hall She's rather sick these days "

"You don't love her, do you?" Lestat asked