January 19 + 

My Aunt, aged seventy-five, who has apparently concluded from my constant absences from Church that my spiritual life is in a parlous way, today read me her portion from a large book with a broad purple-tasseled bookmark. I looked up from “I Promessi Sposi” and said “Very nice.” It was about someone whose soul was not saved and who would not answer the door when it was knocked. It is jolly to be regarded as a wicked, libidinous youth by an aged maiden Aunt. + 