He kept company with an ivory decoy, a mock queen.

Punctiliously she maintained the figure of the hours. She

presided in the refectory over a still life of blood oranges,

crocus shoots and pomegranate seeds. Iced water filled a

clear glass upon the mahogany table. Corydon scattered a

flock in the vale below. High above a chamois hunter

wielded an alpine blunderbuss on Mt. Blanc. In the library

a lepidopterist slunk through the stacks twitching his net

like a squirrel's tail. Visitation hours occurred nightly.

Caryatids would hoist cornucopias laden with poppies.

Stray strands from their napes would form beds of straw,

upon which he would lose himself in reverie.