"I am not wholly ignorant of the matter, and I do not think I am 
violating any trust when I say that you are not the only person who has been 
surprised by the duration of his absence," Lord Finkle-McGraw said. "Unless I 
am very much mistaken, those who conceived of his mission never imagined that 
it would last for so long. It may ease your suffering in some small degree to 
know that he is not thought to be in danger."