“The driver yelling at those odious horses. Ooldra’s right, you know. Yes. She’s right.” The Dictatress sighed heavily and twisted her body deep into the soft unresilient cushions. “The world is perilous.”

“Oh, yes, I know that,” I said. “There are diseases. And wild animals. And wars and all sorts of terrible things.”

“No, most people are never really touched by those things —but the world is really perilous in far bigger ways.”

“But it’s all fore-ordained, isn’t it? All foreseen and expected? Perils are never really unexpected,” I said. “A good seer knows all that will happen and doesn’t allow herself or those she serves to be taken by surprise.”

Ooldra smiled her slow sidelong lilting smile. It looked even more enigmatic than usual in the glancing sphere-light from outside the carriage window.

“No, that’s just the trouble—only too often the destiny of~a nation for thousands of years to come is changed, by the action of one person, from that which was foreseen for it.” “Another thing, dear, you will find,” said the Dictatress, “is that, in the world, just as you have gained self-confidence after a number of weeks doing the right things and never being contradicted by people or made to look a fool—suddenly it will all be shaken away and you will be small and frightened and hurt and unsure of yourself once more as someone ticks you off about something or as you commit an embarrassing solecism. It sounds little enough, just said like that. But it’s really the worst part of life. Life means that sort of loss of self-confidence over and over again, consistent and never really expected, till you’ve reached the age of fifty at the very least.” “You will make your daughter nervous.”

“Oh, no, I’m not nervous. Not—not—you know, not— conclusively. I’m terribly nervous because this is such a—such an incredible adventure, all of it, even though you have been preparing me for it for weeks now, but—well, shall I ever get any wonderful man to marry me when I have murdered my first husband?”