She smiled. ‘They want to check my table manners?’
‘I think you know what they want to check,’ Andrew said.
‘Very well,’ Lucy replied. ‘I suppose that’s fair. What exactly will I have to do?’
‘In the first place you will be sampled by one of the members, in my presence.’
‘Sampled?’
‘Do I need to spell it out?’
‘I suppose not,’ said Lucy.
‘After that, assuming his report is satisfactory, you will be sampled rather more cursorily by several men, one after another. This time not in my presence.’
‘I see,’ said Lucy. ‘I imagine I don’t have any say in who these men are, or what they are to do to me?’
‘No,’ said Andrew. ‘They will all be members of The Circle. If you come through these tests, you will be admitted.’
‘And then?’
‘Once you are a member, things will be very different. You
