"Very well," she said finally, "I accept the fact that the child is of fully endowed blood. He will be treated accordingly."

Except for the actual handing over of the infant, their business was concluded. All of the permissible questions had been asked and answered, and the necessary documents provided.

The young mother trembled, clearly torn.

The drops from the sky combined with those from her eyes to run down her reddened cheeks. The baby had fallen asleep; the only sound was the cold rain splattering down on the street and the unassuming house that hid so many secrets.

Turning, the young mother looked hesitantly to the rain-soaked carriage-of-four that had brought her here. She saw the kind, elderly faces of her parents as they sat inside, waiting for her to decide.

She thought back to when she had first met Eric. He had swept her off her feet, and she had fallen madly in love. At first her parents-simple commoners-had approved of him: handsome, charming, and of fully endowed blood, just as she was.

But then he had shown his true colors. Upon learning of her pregnancy he had abandoned her, never to be heard from again. Despite his cruel treatment, she still missed him, and feared she always would.

That had been the first time her young heart had been truly broken. Standing here, on this anonymous stoop in the rain, trying to make her fateful decision, was the second.

The voices had come just after she had discovered she was pregnant.

You must abort the child, they had said.

But she had defied them, carrying the baby to term and then giving birth despite the terrifying warnings searing through her mind. The voices had grown stronger and more insistent, continuing to demand the death of the infant. They had finally become so resonant and powerful that she thought she would go irretrievably mad if the child stayed with her; she was terrified that such madness would cause her to harm the baby, despite her love for him. And so she had come here-to this place many knew about but few talked of-to give her firstborn away.