“We are too hard-up for such a thing, sir, you must understand. Nor do we require it for our kind of modest living. Would it add to our contentment? Not a jot. What the rest of the world does is no business of ours.” She searched his face for some kind of approval. He in his turn studied her old worn countenance, brown and wrinkled, from which brown eyes stared.

“You say you’re content?” He spoke incredulously, as though the idea was new to him.

She gave no answer, continuing to gaze at him with an expression between contempt and curiosity, as if Anstruther had arrived from another planet.

Resenting her probing regard, he turned and commenced to walk back the way we had come.

“You aren’t accustomed to gardens, I perceive, senor.” There was pride in her voice. “Do you shut yourself in rooms, then? We don’t ask for much. For us, ours is a little paradise, don’t you see? The soil’s so rich in worms, that’s the secret. We’re almost self-sufficient here, Andy and me. We don’t ask for much.”

He said, half joking, “But you enjoy moralising. As we all do.”

“I only tell you the truth, sir, since you invited yourself in here.”

“I was curious to see how you people lived,” he told her. “Today, I’m off to discuss the future of the planet Mars—which you’ve probably never heard of.”

She had heard of Mars. She considered it uninteresting, since there was no life there.

“No worms, eh, my good woman? Couldn’t you do something better with your life than growing vegetables in your own excreta?”

She followed us up the winding path, brushing away a tendril of honeysuckle from her face, amused and explaining, “It’s healthy, my good sir, you see. They call it recycling. I’ve lived in this garden nigh on seventy years and I want nothing else. This little plot was my mother’s idea. She said, ‘Cultivate your garden. Don’t disturb the work of the worms. Be content with your lot.’ And that’s what Andy and I have done. We don’t wish for Mars. The vegetables and fruits we sell keep us going well enough. We’re vegetarian, you see. You two gentlemen aren’t from the council, are you?”