In memory of Chawa Nowik, in hopes that someday I'll be ready to write her book.

The day was unseasonably warm for November, but in some misguided deference to the Chinese embassy, the fire in the Admiralty boardroom had been heaped excessively high, and Laurence was standing directly before it.

"My dear, if it will make you happy he shall make you a dozen," Laurence said, and leaned against him, full of gratitude despite his concerns, to calculate by the moon when the tide should turn again for England for home.