“My father. His family invested all its hopes and savings when they sent him to America to medical school. He met my mother when she interviewed him for her sociology term paper.” He glanced at her. “Don’t look for a childhood trauma to explain my compassion. I had an uneventful upbringing among people in academia who made tolerance their religion.”

How conventional he made it all sound. Her curiosity to know intimately what it was like to grow up among ordinary people would never be satisfied. Nola brought her fingers to her nose and sniffed the traces of anise and thyme. “Is there a woman in your life?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “In a way.”

If he were gay, Leslie would have detected it. “Where is she?” Nola asked.

“It’s a long story; I’ll tell you when we have time.”

How long could a story be? On the other hand, if he asked her to explain her relationship with Wade, she’d describe a marriage made of gray layers of admiration, mutual interest, ambition and gratitude. If only she could also list the absolute premise of passionate love.

Daniel turned left off the market’s main alley onto a narrower one and stopped in front of a three-story structure with the large industrial windows of a sweatshop. A single light bulb burned in a fringed paper lantern hung over the double metal door.

Nola pointed to a small plaque written in Chinese. “What does it say?”

“‘Large, happy door,’ ” he read. “Human-rights watchers call it, more appropriately, ‘the Dying Rooms.’ ” He pressed down on the handle, and the door opened with a squeak.

In the foyer, Nola's eyes adjusted to the darkness while her nostrils contracted against the onslaught of urine, disinfectant and mildew. Somewhere, a baby’s cry was answered by a chorus of others. The canned laughter of a TV audience echoed down the stairwell.

“Anyone can walk right in,” she said, surprised. “No one steals unwanted babies.”

“It’s part of the tragedy. They are sold for their organs, or kept alive to become beggars and prostitutes.”

“Prostitutes? I thought this was a babies’ orphanage.”

“Many Asians infected with venereal diseases, including HIV, believe that having intercourse with a child cleanses them, that a child’s virgin body soaks up all the impurities. The age of that ‘child’ has become younger and younger.”

Disposable babies. Good for one-time use. Nausea churned Nola's stomach and sent a clammy sensation through her body. She peeked through the glass of a door on their right. Lit by an occasional dimmed electric lantern, a huge room stretched out. About twenty cribs were lined up against each wall, while dozens more made a double center row, leaving two wide aisles on either side.