He stopped her calling to the house. 'Inferior material' he called her. Inferior material."

"I was afraid he'd come down from the cross when I was sleeping. But I locked him up. Every night, before I went to bed, I locked him up. In his garret like Oscar Wilde."

"Who was that, Catherine, who were you afraid of?"

"Him. I was afraid of him."

"Was he ever violent to your mother?"

"He had no need to be. She was already terrified of him. Terrified of her love for him, terrified of his-"

"Craziness."

"She thought he was crazy?"

"He was. Icarus."

"Sorry, Catherine, I didn't catch that."

"Icarus."

"I don't understand."

"That was years later. We were on vacation in the Catskills. A colleague of his had a cabin there. Do you remember, Cathy? One morning, it was still dark, he woke us and said he wanted to show us something."

"He brought us to the edge of a cliff and made us look down."

"We were still half-asleep."

"'Why are you afraid? What have I always taught you? There is no such thing as.... Say it!'"

"'There is no such thing as useless information.'"

"'Every thought that passes.... Say it, say it!'"

"'Every thought that passes through my mind is sacred.'"

"'Nam et ipsa.... Say it! Say it!'"

"'You're hurting me, Daddy. Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.'"

"'With the gift of knowledge you can fly. On the wings of knowledge you are Icarus, borne above the ignorance of this world. You are Icarus, soaring from the snares of ignorance. Why are you afraid? Have I not given you the wings of knowledge?'"

"Please, Daddy."

"That's exactly how it was. But we never told anyone. Even when we were old enough to realise that there was something wrong with him. He was at his worst when we had examinations. If we didn't get the highest grades, he locked us in our rooms...."

"Wasn't there a teacher, a friend, anyone you could talk to?"

"We agreed not to." continue