"That's a rather handsome piece, there," Mr. Flowers declared. "'Functional art,' James Tommerty called it. Some of the first clockwork people ever made; you can tell these ones aren't real, of course, but I think that was part of the idea behind the piece. Man's own image and all that."

Sir Thomas frowned. "Why do you suppose that they have struck such a fearful pose?"

"Well," said Mr. Flowers, "I would say that she seems really more defiant than afraid. As for him, that looks like a bag of seeds. Perhaps he's trying for a new beginning. I say... is that a manuscript that he's unearthed?"