Nevertheless, Connie had the child at the back of her mind. Wait! wait! She would sift the generations of men through her sieve, and see if she couldn’t find one who would do.⁠—“Go ye into the streets and byways of Jerusalem, and see if ye can find a man .” It had been impossible to find a man in the Jerusalem of the prophet, though there were thousands of male humans. But a man ! C’est une autre chose!

She had an idea that he would have to be a foreigner: not an Englishman, still less an Irishman. A real foreigner.