"You’ve already thanked me enough, so stop it!" he said. He turned and led us across an expansive green lawn, toward his enormous house. "I can’t tell you how good it is to have visitors. Sad to say, I’ve been all alone here since Kira died." He was silent a moment; then he laughed. "Alone except for my cooks, maids, and gardeners, of course. But they all live here too, so they don’t really count as visitors."