“Certainly,” said Quince, and that same afternoon he helped Pollenport compose a suitable letter.
All that had happened more than two years before and Prospero’s reply to Pollenport’s letter had led to a regular correspondence. The sage’s interest in the Earth was detailed and comprehensive, and it was clear, from the questions he posed, that he was far from being in his dotage, which made his refusal to meet Pollenport more inexplicable than ever.
“Why do you think he’s suddenly changed his mind?” Pollenport asked, soon after he, accompanied by Quince and Regan, set out for Prospero’s home.
“It’s impossible to say,” Quince told him. “But certainly the reasons for his decision are public ones, otherwise the news of the invitation would not have come over the disseminator. Probably he wa
