from Euclid himself. Count Lecter improved his tutors then—within six weeks arrived Mr. Jakov, a penniless scholar from Leipzig.
Count Lecter introduced Mr. Jakov to his pupil in the library and left them. The library in warm weather had a cold-smoked aroma that was ingrained in the castle’s stone.
“My father says you will teach me many things.”
“If you wish to learn many things, I can help you.”
“He tells me you are a great scholar.”
“I am a student.”
“He told my mother you were expelled from the university.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I am a Jew, an Ashkenazi Jew to be precise.”
“I see. Are you unhappy?”
“To be a Jew? No, I’m glad.”
“I meant are you unhappy to be out of school?”
“I am glad to be here.”
“Do you wonder if I am worth your time?”
“Every person is worth your time, Hannibal. If at first appearance a person seems dull, then look harder, look into him.”
“Did they put you in the room with an iron grate over the door?”
“Yes, they did.”
“It doesn’t lock anymore.”
“I was pleased to see that.”
“That’s where they kept Uncle Elgar,” Hannibal said, aligning his pens in a row before him. “It was in the 1880s, before my time. Look at the windowpane in your room. It has a date he scratched with a diamond into the glass. These are his books.”
A row of immense leather tomes occupied an entire shelf. The last one was charred.
“The room will have a smoky smell when it rains. The walls were lined with hay bales to muffle his utterances.”
“Did you say his utterances?”
“They were about religion, but—do you know the meaning of ‘lewd’ or ‘lewdness’?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not clear on it myself, but I believe it means the sort of thing one wouldn’t say in front of Mother.”
“That’s my understanding of it as well,” Mr. Jakov said.
“If you’ll look at the date on the glass, it’s exactly the day direct sunlight reaches his window every year.”
“He was waiting for the sun.”