Just then, a heavy-shouldered woman with a red bonnet wanders into the room. From her gait and her gray she has about five years on either of the musicians. You must seem a swaddled babe to them….
"Millicent, there," says Joan, pointing appreciatively with her pipe. "Can give a speech like to set your bones afire, that one."
"We dug up another new one today, old Millicent," Gilbert calls out, pointing his chin at you.
Millicent blinks at you, bows her head slightly, and turns away, murmuring sotto voce.
"Practicing, you know," explains Joan, wetting her reed with her lips.
Onward