Of Love and Other Demons (1994)

"Ideas do not belong to anyone," he said. With his index finger he sketched a series of continuous circles in the air and concluded: "They fly around up there like the angels."

What did seem inconceivable to him was subjecting one's child to the castigation of exorcism. "There is not much difference between that and the witchcraft of the blacks," he said. "In fact, it is even worse, because the blacks only sacrifice roosters to their gods, while the Holy Office is happy to break innocents on the rack or burn them alive in a public spectacle."

Delaura was aware of his own awkwardness with women. To him they seemed endowed with an untransferable use of reason that allowed them to navigate without difficulty among the hazards of reality.

In the rear was a rustic work table with an inkwell, penknife, turkey quills for writing, sand to dry the ink, and a withered carnation in a vase. The entire room was in shadow and had the odor of paper at rest and the coolness and peace of a forest glade.

Abrenuncio brought him a gift of the volume of the Lettres philosophiques in Latin. Cayetano leafed through it, smelled its pages, calculated its value.