She listens attentively, pleased but also saddened to learn there are people trapped here, as she is, from England, from anywhere, really, but fellow countrymen - and women - are natural closest to her heart.

"I see," she says, tilting her head slightly to one side as she regards his face with no criticism but an inkling of comprehension. "I thought, perhaps, there was something exotic about your features, but I have not met anyone from your countries other than through books and what conversation passes for knowledge in Meryton."