Chapter 11
Two days passed, days that Michael spent reading about Lafcadio Hearn’s life in Matsue and other parts of Japan, and how he ended up in Tokyo, which Hearn had called “detestable” because of its size and modernization. Michael could well imagine what Hearn would say if he saw it today.
While Michael enjoyed learning about Hearn, his reasons for coming to Wintersgate had made no progress. Michael and his father had reached an impasse.
His father refused to talk about anything but the pearl and alchemy. And Michael refused to talk about them. He would have liked to know more about the connection between his mother’s death and Irina Petrescu, but William Claude refused to discuss it further.
It was time, Michael knew, to leave Wintersgate for good, and to accept there were some
