34 - At Home

Hwybren Masterson is not a lady to make definite stands. One day she will agree, the next she... Well the next she might disagree. So it transpires that, despite her friendship with Dido Doolittle, she is today at the reception that Samuel Quinine has prepared to welcome neighbours to the newly refurbished Shambhala, the house where he lives with the changing population of his household. Now the residents include Leporello Swinson, the infant, Kolya, and Kolya's preoccupied father, Lustral. Other visitors include the Rev. Lanzarotte, on holiday visiting Oud Ramonides, and Alphonse Callooh, the taxidermist, wearing a chic blue frock with a lace collar and black and white chiffon scarf.