Chapter 2, The Mansion of Midnight Summary

The Mansion of Midnight. Desiderio leaves the capital city and arrives in the seaside village where the mayor has gone missing. Desiderio walks along the promenade and finds it abandoned, as though everyone simply stood up and walked away. Desiderio happens upon a peepshow. There is a blind man there who demands a quarter before he will let Desiderio look at his displays. Although customers before him have left bits of trash rather than currency, Desiderio offers the appropriate amount of money. Desiderio peeks into the displays and finds himself looking at exceedingly sexual displays of wax figures and slides magnified by the machines. Afterward, Desiderio takes the peepshow proprietor for a drink and learns that he was once Dr. Hoffman's university professor. The two talk about the doctor and his research partner in school...