by Gene Wolfe
From what you said on the telephone, Bax must have mentioned the duel I proposed in one of his letters. You will certainly want to know the outcome; but I can offer only anticlimax, and not much of that. We did not fight. Neither of us really wanted to, and when the moment arrived that became very clear.
Let me see . . . What else? Have I said that I love you very, very much? Let me say it again: I adore you, Millie, and I cannot possibly say it too often. You are surely the kindest woman in the world, as well as the most beautiful.
I will be bringing home Bax's Japanese sword, by the way. He gave it to me to remember him by. It is ancient, quite lovely in its deadly way, and very valuable.
Will it upset you to learn that I may bring home an animal, too? Bax's pet fox seems to have attached herself to me. I do not confine her, you understand. She is free to roam the woods whenever she chooses. But I could not find it in my heart to abandon her. I shall take her to our summer place on the lake and leave her there, unless you have a better suggestion. You will rarely see her, and are quite certain to be pleased when you do. Someone once said that all animals are beautiful, each in its own way. I find I cannot agree, but one sleek red fox more than makes up for half a dozen hogs and a team of mules.
Europe is another possibility. We might start with Moscow, go on to Krakow, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. You would love to shop in Paris, I know; and I would love to watch you do it. Then Rome, Florence, Venice, Barcelona, and London. And so home. You will notice that I have said nothing about Athens. That is because I see Greece and the Mediterranean as a separate trip. What do you think?
Soon--very soon--I will be in your arms.
Your adoring husband,
George
COMPILER'S NOTE
The vast majority of the letters that make up this book were loaned to me by Mrs. Millicent Kay Dunn. Some had been the property of her husband, George J. Dunn, who vanished two years ago. (Her brother-in-law, Baxter Dunn, the author of the majority of these letters, had vanished still earlier and is legally dead.) I cannot adequately express my gratitude to Mrs. Dunn.
I also wish to thank Mrs. Orizia Pogach, who turned over to me the letters she had received from Baxter Dunn.
Finally, thanks are due to Mrs. Tina Hawes Kojac, who answered one of my advertisements and very graciously agreed to sell me the letters her late father, "Shotgun" Sheldon Hawes, had received from his former cellmate.
Baxter Dunn's letters are given here almost word for word. Some of the other letters in this book have required extensive corrections as to spelling, syntax, and grammar. Footnotes indicating these would be bothersome and of small or no real value. I have tried to retain the native flavor (if it may be described in that way) of the originals, the naivete and tenderness of Mrs. Dunn's, for example.
After a prolonged period of soul-searching, I have chosen to omit dates. Baxter Dunn dated his letters only rarely, and at least half the dates he provided were clearly incorrect. Sheldon Hawes never dated his. In short, I have disregarded such dates as I had, and have tried to arrange these letters in a (not the) logical order.
I have made strenuous efforts to locate the Japanese sword mentioned by George J. Dunn, without result. To the best of Mrs. Dunn's recollection her husband kept it in a metal chest (or locker) in the basement of their summer home. There I discovered a vertical storage cabinet with a combination lock. It was, alas, quite empty. Collectors of such weapons have been unable to assist me, although I have made extensive inquiries. It would seem to have been a Japanese sword of the earliest type, a ken, having a straight, single-edged blade. Mr. Kisho Kurofuji, an acknowledged expert on early Japanese swords, tells me that this one (as described by Mrs. Dunn and others) can hardly date later than the twelfth century.
The Black House still stands, but it is a private residence not open to visitors. The Skotos Strip has become the suburb of Riverscene. In a few cases I have changed names to protect innocent persons.
Baxter Dunn was unquestionably a most imaginative and picturesque liar, but all that he tells us cannot be false. By some means he came into possession of Riverscene, the Black House, and the house that had been Mrs. Martha Murrey's. The back files of the Sentinel fairly bristle with Hound of Horror stories.
How much is true? How much fabrication? Perhaps we shall never know.
SIGNIFICANT NAMES
All persons of importance mentioned in these letters are listed here, with some of lesser significance.
Ambrosius A murdered sorcerer.
Black, Emlyn The sorcerer's son who dropped his father's triannulus.
Black, Ieuan Emlyn Black's identical twin brother.
Black, Zwart A previous owner of the Black House.
Dunn, Baxter A scholar whose career has been blighted by a conviction for fraud. He is the author of the majority of these letters.
Dunn, George J. Baxter Dunn's identical twin brother.
Dunn, Millicent Kay George J. Dunn's wife.
Finn, Biddy A police widow.
Finn, Kate A policewoman, Biddy Finn's daughter.
Goldwurm A warlock.
Griffin, Doris Rose A real-estate agent.
Griffin, Ted Doris Griffin's late husband.
Hardaway, Jim The head of the Country Hill Real-Estate Agency.
Hawes, Sheldon "Shotgun" Baxter Dunn's former cellmate.
Jacobs, Jake A real-estate agent.
Kiki An elderly woman befriended by Baxter Dunn and Doris Griffin.
King, Mary A hitchhiker.
Lupine A werewolf.
Manjushri A personification of wisdom.
Miyamoto Musashi A great samurai, the author of A Book of Five Rings.
Murrey, Martha The operator of a one-woman real-estate agency. (Murrey is a dark purple, very close to black.)
Mutazz The operator of the Riverman Motel.
Naber, Thelma Baxter Dunn's nearest neighbor.
Nick The old man who becomes Baxter Dunn's butler.
Nilsen, Les A locksmith.
Paxton, Star The first victim of the Hound of Horror.
Perrotta, Dominick A policeman, Kate Finn's partner.
Pogach, Orizia "Madame Orizia," a psychic.
Quist, Dick A jeweler.
Quorn A malevolent dwarf.
Ruth, Cathy A newspaper reporter.
Skotos, Alexander An eccentric gun collector.
Toby Nick's dog.
Trelawny, Urban The attorney for the Skotos Estate.
Winker Baxter Dunn's name for a friendly Japanese girl.
Winkle Baxter Dunn's pet fox.