Caribe [antikvár]

r The dwarf, it was told, had been condemned centuries ago with an unspeakable curse for an unknowable cause. Winter—1976 I n Port-au-Grasse, that turbulent port in the Caribbean, Latour was known as le gnome. A dwarf of unknown origin, Latour was distinguished from others of his kind by a bulbous nose and a potbelly of sorts. He had a grayish, crinkly skin and outsized ears. His ears, he liked to think, indicated great keenness of mind—a correlation, he was grieved to admit, that had escaped the notice of researchers into such matters. In the afternoons, on time off from his duties at the palace, the dwarf would tend his garden inside the massive walls surrounding