(If I am the youngest stirs any sympathy in her, it doesn't show on her face at all.)

"I know," she says -- leaning forward, lowering her voice, speaking almost gently -- "a great deal about the things one can't afford, sometimes. About what it can cost to try to help the powerless, even a little, when one's place with the strong is all that keeps one safe. You must have run the figures so many times, over the years."