"Hmm, things that I can't enjoy. The bygone entertainments of yesteryears," she paraphrased his question, musingly. She only had to consider it for a beat with a thoughtful smile on her face.

An amusing thing: so many people claimed to be bored by history, and yet whenever they brushed up against a firsthand source, so many became newly fascinated. Maybe they just needed the extra incentive to make it come alive.

"Honestly, if there's one thing I really do miss," she answered, slouching in her chair elegantly with one arm over the back, "it's the days of the writers salons. All those creative intellectuals in one room, talking and laughing and making witty remarks at one another's expense. Sharing ideas and feeding off of each another's creative energy." She sighed with a note of wistful experience. "You don't get very much like it, nowadays. When you get intelligent people together it's either for a conference or they all want to show off."