Grey shadows stretched longer until they all melted into one dark blue black mass ..... And it was night. Stars progressively replaced the earlier display of colour and the sky dissolved into one with earth. As if in competition, artificial lights sprung up to illuminate the more prosaic works of man.

Left alone to wander at will within the large boundaries of the ranch, a lone horse galloped in short energetic bursts discovering new patches of dark, not yet moist grass.

Other larger patches of water-logged ground in the low areas surrounding the stud enclosures occasionally caught the reflection of the half moon. Low in the darkening clear skies it looked lonely of the friendly company provided by the stars.

At the age of twenty-eight, many of his friends knew little of his past. Beyond doubt, they could make a reasonable guess at his future. In fact, Mark himself did not often recall his past even though he had a good retentive memory which came to his aid on many occasions. Although, the achievements of his younger days were enviable. However, he was not wholly committed to the past anyway, since his thoughts were for now and the future. The future itself was a little doubtful for the moment - so much was happening right now, the objective was temporarily out of sight.

Were it not for his grandfather, the Marquis Luis Monte de Castagna, now deceased, Mark would have had no real prospective to look forward to with regard to his future. But this venerable gentleman had taken him under his wing as often as he could and stretched and pulled at the mould that was intended to create an image after himself - with appropriate polishes.

On many occasions during his early youth, Mark and his grandfather spent a lot of time together with the elder’s friends who, between them shared much valuable experience. They sat in private coffee lounges, in members’ clubs and other dignified establishments. To the young inquisitive mind, always in search of new knowledge, these were cherished and valuable moments.

Although Mark was born in St Clair, his ancestors were Spaniards. Like Christopher Columbus, the urge to discover new experiences, affected the start of a new dynasty in the Monte de Castagna family. In the late 1800’s, his grandfather decided that he was dissatisfied with established society in his native Castile and, with his small family voyaged across the ocean and settled on a large estate on the shores of Lake St Clair in Michigan. He had three sons of whom Mark’s father was the eldest.

The old Marquis was an intelligent and resourceful character. Even at eighty-three he was exceptionally active. He was involved in practically anything that concerned the running of the large estate and personally attended and chaired meetings which generated major policies of the family finances. He had a colourful past as heir to his father’s title although he never gave the appearance of being directly involved in political manoeuvres. It was suspected however that his obscure involvement, although uncharacteristic of politicians, accomplished major achievements in Spain’s international operations.

When he married the Marquesa Isabella whom he adored with typical European devotion, the union was seen as a foundation stone for the inauguration of a great dynasty. Although wealthy by inheritance, the family further increased their wealth by investing and participating in the industrial prominence of Detroit brought about by the automobile industry in the early 20th century.

His grandmother, a dark eyed proud and beautiful Castilian, true to the predictions that were made at her marriage to the Marquis was a major contributor to the family’s success through her active secular involvement. The parties that she gave always included prominent politicians, industrialists and distinguished members of the judiciary. All were always gratified to be included in the list of invitations personally signed by the Marquess herself. She was as perspicacious as she was beautiful, but above all, despite her forceful individuality, she always respected the opinions of her beloved husband the Marquis.

Mark could only remember his grandmother through reading the family autobiography and standing in awe in front of the larger than life oil painting of her which stood above the enormous fireplace in the main Library of their ancestral home. Because of a lung infection, she had pre-deceased her husband two years after her third son was born, much to the lamentation of her family and their friends.

A large part of his early teenage years Mark had spent discovering the local environment to satisfy his youthful adventurous appetite. This he was only able to do throughout his school holidays. During the winter months at the Jesuit college not far from the estate, he was only able to make infrequent contact with his family due to the nature of his enrolment at St.Jude’s, which was eminently strict and academic intensive. Also, he had few close friends at college since the policy of the school did not encourage close relationships.

The Principal, the Rev. Dr Gunther Aretz, the only son of a German Jew was to be a turning point in Mark’s life.

To all casual observers of his character Dr Aretz was an intellectual who shared remarkably little, if anything of verbal value with anyone. If the truth be known however, despite his aggressive non-smiling expression and formidable manner, he was literally alarmed at any level of human contact and timidly avoided all forms of confrontation that was not well thought out and invariably committed to paper.

He was lightly built with rounded shoulders. A contemptuous reddish nose nestled uncomfortably in the middle of a tidy and prolific beard which in itself was perhaps grown as a class of camouflage for a weak mouth. The clerical frock he wore was neat although inelegant and acted as a type of apology for the trim and yet flabby white flesh it covered. The white starched collar which adorned his skinny neck, stood like a gate to a portico of a unique self-styled intellectual mansion high on a hill which, with mathematical precision he had built successfully to a formula for many years. Or so he thought.

The carefully constructed intellectual appearance however did not expose the true pernicious and malevolent nature of his character. Evidence of being an only child whose every whim had obviously been granted, manifested itself in the occasional uncontrolled tantrum which consoled the unrequited concessions of adulthood and which would have been made by his parents in his early childhood. The colour of his face on these occasions matched the porous nose.

As well as the earlier accurate though uncomplimentary comments made about Dr Aretz, one could effortlessly observe some other coincidental points about him which for the sake of entirety are worth mentioning. Common with most men, Gunther had a weakness. Perhaps by some it may not be so considered, and yet, Gunther occasionally sought out selected company with whom he sparingly shared some private information and thoughts. With these selected few he would debate, amongst other things, such subjects as the analysis and the solution of personal problems.

He did not hold out himself to be an expert in the area of conversation other than Religious Philosophy but only expressed opinions as deduced by his sense of logic.

Nevertheless, his aura of academic cohesion was weakened although not readily apparent. Unlike most men however this semi-hidden frailty in a man who occupied a responsible position as head of a boys school was, to say the least, intolerable. The Principal of St.Jude’s was a homosexual. It was the effect of this, the life of Mark Monte de Castagna was to be completely altered as will be disclosed later.

Mark remembered well the memorable times he had with his cousins during the summer holidays. "Uncle Fred", or more formally, Uncle Ferdinand, the youngest of his father’s brothers, used to take the children to a log cabin he had, high in the hills overlooking Lake St.Clair. The ‘cabin’, so called because of its remote location was in reality a three-level complex built completely out of logs cut from the surrounding area. Sergeant Martin Singleton, late of the R.C.M.P., a widower and Grandfather’s chauffeur, a strong quiet man in his early forties with a lame leg suffered during World War I, became genuinely enthusiastic on every occasion "Uncle Fred" asked him to prepare for the outing. He came along for the trip, usually with his daughter Mona whom he was allowed to bring along.

On these occasions there was no formality. Mona, a exceedingly attractive teenager, was regarded as one of the family children and most of the de Castagna boys vied for her attention without the animosity usually found in adults.

Mark also remembered the day when at seventeen he was admitted to Harvard Law School and the years that followed at the University. Life at the University was an entirely different environment to St. Jude’s. Here he was regarded as a young man, fully recognised for his talents and master of his own destiny.

At eighteen he was a tall young man with handsome features that demonstrated his heredity to Spanish nobility. The friends he made at Harvard were many, although one could always sense a symbolic amount of competitiveness for distinctions in academic achievements. Here there was no favouritism other than recognition of accomplishment.

After a hard year’s work, Mark used to look forward to holidays on the estate at St. Claire’s where on one or two occasions he dated Mona. She also had completed high school and was an undergraduate at Detroit University where she was hoping to complete her degree in Science.

After graduating from Harvard, Mark’s father suggested a trip to Europe and a year’s relaxation on the continent. He became excited about visiting his grandfather’s birthplace in the Castilian Province where, the beginnings of modern Spain were established through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Although he had never studied Spanish, he had learned enough from the Marquis and private lessons to feel almost at home. His native looks and the family name, easily recognised by young and old, also helped him to become readily accepted during his short stay in the city of Ciudad Real, the official residency of the Monte de Castagna.

After doing the rounds of the major capital cities of central Europe, like most of his Anglo Saxon compatriots, Mark went to London where the practicality of language came into effect.