"Well," said I, for I was afraid of irritating her, "if it must be so,
demand an introduction." Assuming her most gracious manner,
my Wife advanced towards the Stranger, "Permit me, Madam,
to feel and be felt by ----" then, suddenly recoiling, "Oh!
it is not a Woman, and there are no angles either, not a trace of one.
Can it be that I have so misbehaved to a perfect Circle?"
"I am indeed, in a certain sense a Circle," replied the Voice,
"and a more perfect Circle than any in Flatland; but to speak
more accurately, I am many Circles in one." Then he added
more mildly, "I have a message, dear Madam, to your husband,
which I must not deliver in your presence; and, if you would suffer us
to retire for a few minutes ----" But my Wife would not listen
to the proposal that our august Visitor should so incommode himself,
and assuring the Circle that the hour of her own retirement
had long passed, with many reiterated apologies for her
recent indiscretion, she at last retreated to her apartment.
I glanced at the half-hour glass. The last sands had fallen.
The third Millennium had begun.
Section 16.
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