* If you guessed, Readers, that Harold’s interest in Libbie’s child—in other words, his interest in obtaining a child (or vessel) that could be reared in exactly the manner he prescribed—had something to do with these beliefs, you’d be right. I won’t attempt, here, to summarize his complicated thinking about the insignificance of corporeal death when compared to the realms one’s spirit might live on in, but you can read it in Harold’s own words if you can track down copies of the letters he left for Ava.