The couple had come to the city because Caspar regarded the city as a supra-state, beyond nationality. It was the type of place they wanted to bring up their daughter, to teach her to be citizen of the world, fluent in languages, used to seeing headscarves and skullcaps and saris and other signifiers of different races. They felt that the point of London was its capacity to stretch your imagination, even to snapping point. There was nothing one could do that would provoke its surprise.