Mantis

Chapters

1. A Red-haired Fortune-telling Witch
2. A Horseless Night, a Mannered Squire,
3. A Threat, a Riddle, and a Sign,
4. The Picture of Aunt Alexia Was in Oil.
5. The Odds Are Chalked, the Hour Grows Late,
6. With Rheumy Eyes and Stoppled Breath,
7. To Follow Close, Behind, and Before,
8. The Change That Comes, the Person Hid
9. A Mad-man Ghost, a Voice That Cries
10. Should Horror Wrap You Like a Cloak
11. Of Stab and Slash, of Mind That Raved,
12. The Witch Is Held in Durance Vile.
13. Of Healing Hands and Gordian Knot,
14. Who Never Drew the Blood of Boar
15. The Hawk Has Caught the Fearful Grouse.
16. A Bitter Ending and Condign,

Characters

Chronology

Story chronology

Narrative chronology

Only two weekdays are named in the text: Tuesday (Angelie's visit, Ch.1) and Wednesday (the predicted suicide night, Ch.1). Subsequent days are referenced by "tonight" and "tomorrow."

Source discrepancies

Marriage duration: "twenty-two years" Chs.6, 12, "more than twenty years" Ch.13, "twenty-odd years" Chs.11, 12, "more than twenty years ago" Ch.15. Angelie's age: 22 per Correo Ch.6, ~21 per Alexia's count Ch.9. Both preserved.

Chapter Synopses

Ch.1 — A Red-haired Fortune-telling Witch

Virginia announces Angelie's arrival. Angelie reads Garrity cold, calling him "Garrison," and describes his embezzlements and conscience. She bets that Red Dog will win at 7–1. She delivers the prophecy that Matt's "son who is your brightest and most prospective son" will die the next night. Narrator: "the homocide index weng up nine points."

Ch.2 — A Horseless Night, a Mannered Squire,

Red Dog wins. Matt retains Curlee. Virginia: "There has always been something wrong with the McKays…." Curlee names Linus "the Lost Dauphin." Coralee gathers background. Curlee drives to the McKay house.

Ch.3 — A Threat, a Riddle, and a Sign,

Dinner. Cletus to Linus: "Are you going to kill yourself?" Linus: "I find it very unlikely." Alexia: "My premonition does not concern Linus"; she calls herself "the Duchess Joshua." Curlee takes Angelie to dinner at Keeleys. He invents "the Great Nogo" to test her; she claims Nogo existed. She reports her mother's threat to "do away with her."

Ch.4 — The Picture of Aunt Alexia Was in Oil.

Curlee reviews the seven family portraits. "Whatever havoc comes to them, it does not come to them from outside the family." Martha Anne: "Do I have a dragon's child?"; the name "Dragon's Child" follows. Matt worries about Linus. Curlee guards Linus at the office through the day.

Ch.5 — The Odds Are Chalked, the Hour Grows Late,

Matt locks the house; Cletus and Clementine are refused exit. Evarista shows Cletus's dark poetry, including "And slay the monster in his lair." The family gathers in the stripped parlor. Doctor Holland arrives; discusses suicide mechanisms. Matt: "This is still an apothecary's house even though it is a millionaire's mansion"; "Alexia knows all that is to be known about the history of venoms."

Ch.6 — With Rheumy Eyes and Stoppled Breath,

Correo arrives. Storm approaches. Alexia produces dire cards for all except Linus. Cletus returns "utterly crushed and despondent" from a date with Angelie; goes to his room. Holland finds Cletus sleeping. Cletus is found dying; Holland works on him for fifteen minutes without success.

Ch.7 — To Follow Close, Behind, and Before,

Forensic examination finds three pellets: two "of harmless, or almost harmless composition," the third "would have been mortal in quantity of one, and almost instantly." Angelie describes being attacked by a "monster" twice: "once when I wastoo small to remember it except in nightmare form; the other time when I was about ten years old."

Ch.8 — The Change That Comes, the Person Hid

Alexia begins her narration of the past. Basil Saint-Lambert and Thomas Christy are introduced as members of her earlier circle.

Ch.9 — A Mad-man Ghost, a Voice That Cries

"He married me under the name of Basil Saint-Lambert." Alexia describes Kirol possessing her during their honeymoon. She stabs him on the fifth day of marriage: "I have killed him, and the world is right again." Describes Angelie's birth in Greece. In her account, Kirol "tried to do four times to my knowledge" to kill Angelie.

Ch.10 — Should Horror Wrap You Like a Cloak

Another Cletus poem found. Evarista fears being "the next victim." Curlee tracks the Lazzaris by patteran signs. Evarista: "yag is a fire or a light or a match, and parrishan is hello or goodby either one, and dukkering is fortunes like your girl friend could tell. Reni is a lady." Angelie captured and jailed. Curlee researches the mantis insect.

Ch.11 — Of Stab and Slash, of Mind That Raved,

Evarista found stabbed "more than twenty times." Alexia says she saw Kirol do it. Pipe and matches found on the roof.

Ch.12 — The Witch Is Held in Durance Vile.

Evarista in the hospital: "Twenty-seven, besides a lot of livid bruises." She does not name her attacker. Garrity begins confessing: he has been moving money for Alexia, who is being blackmailed.

Ch.13 — Of Healing Hands and Gordian Knot,

Evarista: "he touched me with his hands, with his hands, his hands. And he healed me that way." Coralee identifies a sketch of young Kirol as resembling Cletus. Evarista reads from Fabre's Chez Les Insectes, quoting the footnote naming the mantis "Devil's Riding Horse," "Mule Killer," "Soothsayer." Evarista: "The victims are never alarmed at all when they're being killed." Angelie names Alexia as the "monster." Christy self-introduces to Curlee.

Ch.14 — Who Never Drew the Blood of Boar

Cletus poem about La Sorciere read aloud. Christy identifies handwriting as "the early hand of Kirol Lazzari." Christy confirms facts about Alexia. Alexia announces she will take Clementine upstairs.

Ch.15 — The Hawk Has Caught the Fearful Grouse.

Garrity: "Nineteen years ago I took a rather extended leave of absence from McKay Industries"; he attempted to kill Kirol on Alexia's orders. Curlee meets Kirol at a roadhouse. Alexia takes Clementine upstairs. Curlee, the police lieutenant, and Kirol burst in; Alexia is strangling Clementine; Kirol restrains her.

Ch.16 — A Bitter Ending and Condign,

Kirol is Matthew's third cousin. He recounts Alexia's first attempt on infant Angelie, the Messina asylum and escape, the second attempt six or seven years later, Garrity's attempt on him "close to nineteen years ago," and the poisoning of Cletus. Christy is named as blackmailer. Kirol on lavuta: "the heavy-toned Gypsy flute." Final line from Kirol to Curlee: "With a trickster like me, old Carl, old soft-nose, you can never be sure."

Key Quotations by Chapter

Glossary