Hearing the door slam below she took a deep breath and headed downstairs to meet them, Sonia came to a stop midway on the stairs, Karl looking up ste...ped to the side and with a proud look presented Bailey to Sonia who was confronted by a vision of youthful beauty. Bailey was tall like her father but her coloring must take after her mother's being brunette rather than blonde, eyes and hair both shinning with vitality everything about her glowed, and damn the girl if she didn't have one of the. Simone was awake.She repeated, "He can't tell you. He has integrity."She said that last word as if it were the most important thing in the world that a man could have. She may be right."Damn, Lar, who is the beautiful woman who uses big words with such a lovely accent?" Excuse my manners. Mac, this is Simone. Simone, Mac," I said in introduction.He stuck out his hand, "Hi, Simone." His trademark grin that had won him more than one fair maiden lit up his face."Pleased to meet you, Monsieur. That the little girl that he loved so deeplycould go through life without the need to learn to hide how she feltbehind a mask, but for her sake he hoped that day could be forestalledas long as possible.He hoped that she would never have her mother's smile; the one thatMartina was wearing in the picture, the same one that she wore whenevershe had to smile. That bare hint of teeth peeking out from under thefake crumple of lips at the edge of her normally hard set mouth. Thatsmile that had never,. He had indeed heard of me and of my activities and said he would be pleased to have a meeting to discuss the future of slavery in Capitallia.The meeting was set for a restaurant he favored on the Upper East Side.I had an hour or so before the meeting and it was a beautiful fall day so I fancied a walk from my West Side office through Central Park to our appointed rendezvous. After a time I was approaching a large open meadow where there was an amphitheater. I could hear the sounds of maybe a.