“He was a silly man to build it, wasn't he, Ann? That's why they call it Ashman's Folly.”

“Is he alive?”

“Not quite—it's just a hundred years ago.”

“What made him build it here?”

“He hated women, and—the roof fell in on him.”

“Why did he hate women?”

“He was a crank.”

“What is a crank?”

“Ask Mr. Courtier.”

Under this girl's calm quizzical glance, Courtier endeavoured to find an answer to that question.