How Like an Angel Read Free Page B

black wavy hair, but her skin was blotched with pimples.
    â€œSister Karma,” Sister Blessing said. “The poor girl has acne, no amount of prayer seems to help. Come along, and I’ll show you where you’re to sleep. You won’t be comfort­able but then neither are we. Indulge the flesh, weaken the spirit. That’s what you’ve always done, no doubt?”
    â€œNo doubt at all.”
    â€œDoesn’t it worry you? Aren’t you afraid of what’s com­ing?”
    Quinn was more afraid of what might not be coming, money and a job. But all he said was, “I try not to worry about it.”
    â€œYou must worry, Mr. Quinn.”
    â€œVery well, Sister, I will begin now.”
    â€œYou’re joking again, aren’t you? You’re a very peculiar young man.” She looked down at her gray robe and at her bare feet, wide and flat and calloused. “I suppose I must seem peculiar to you, too. Be that as it may. I would rather seem peculiar in this world than in the next.” She added, “Amen,” as if to close the subject.
    From the outside the storage room appeared to be a small replica of the other building. But inside, it was divided into compartments, each of them padlocked. One of the compart­ments had a small window and was furnished with a narrow iron cot with a thin gray mattress and a couple of blankets partially eaten by moths. Quinn felt the mattress with both hands. It was soft but without resilience.
    â€œHair,” Sister Blessing said. “The Brothers’ hair. It was an experiment on the part of Sister Glory of the Ascension, she’s very thrifty. Unfortunately, it attracts fleas. Are you sus­ceptible to fleas?”
    â€œI’m susceptible to a lot of things, fleas are probably in­cluded.”
    â€œThen I’ll have Brother Light of the Infinite dose the mat­tress with sheep dip. First, you’d better test your susceptibility, though.”
    â€œHow do I do that?”
    â€œSit down and stay still for a few minutes.”
    Quinn sat down on the cot and waited.
    â€œAre you being bitten?” Sister Blessing said, after a time.
    â€œI don’t think so.”
    â€œWell, do you feel anything?”
    â€œNot even a vibration.”
    â€œPerhaps we won’t bother with the sheep dip, then. You might not like the smell, and poor Brother Light of the Infinite has enough to do.”
    â€œAs a matter of curiosity,” Quinn said, “how many people live here at the Tower?”
    â€œTwenty-seven, right now. At one time there were nearly eighty, but some have strayed, some have died, some have lost faith. Now and then a new convert comes to us, perhaps just casually appears on the doorstep as you did. . . . Has it oc­curred to you that the Lord might have guided your footsteps here?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThink about it.”
    â€œI don’t have to. I know how I got here. This man, New­houser, picked me up in Reno, said he was going to San Felice. That’s what I understood anyway, but it turned out he meant —oh well, it doesn’t matter.”
    â€œIt matters to me,” Sister Blessing said.
    â€œHow?”
    â€œIt’s a very odd thing that you should turn out to have a detective’s license. I can’t believe it’s a coincidence. I have a feeling in my bones that it was the will of Lord.”
    â€œYour vibrations must be improving, Sister.”
    â€œYes, I think so,” she said earnestly. “I think they are.”
    â€œNow if you don’t mind telling me what my being a detec­tive has to do with—”
    â€œI haven’t time right now. I must go and inform the Master that you’re here. He doesn’t like surprises, especially at meal­times. He has a weak stomach.”
    â€œLet me go with you,” Quinn said, getting up from the cot.
    â€œOh no, I couldn’t. Strangers aren’t allowed in the