"I'm sure he will flourish and become great man he's meant to be," she says with a smile. "Even in such strange surroundings." But they would never yet be strange to Albinius, a though she'd had many times before now. He could grow up among the cars and buildings, the telephones and magazines, all things Ilithyia pretended didn't bother her, but things she finds strange all the same.

"And what is your home like?" she asks. "I fear our first meeting left little time for such questions."