Synopsis: As often with Marc Agapit, things are more complex than they seem. In a structure reminiscent of William Golding's Pincher Martin with a fantasy twist, the novel bites its own tail around a mysterious mansion, a puppet-show and a no less mysterious puppeteer. The hero, whose only ambition, after failing his exams, is to live off a rich wife, eventually finds a position as a butler in a manor house where everyone seems to act and speak according to the incomprehensible wishes of "the Old One". The latter, remaining forever unseen, pulls all the strings of his obedient guests. The story unfolds under Agapit's wryly humorous pen, with occasional whiffs of Blue Beard, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and other folk-tales, as well as Gaston Leroux's The Kiss that Killed, or Jean Ray's Malpertuis. These references are not gratuitous but partake in the general atmosphere, and turn out to be eventually meaningful.