"I'm...quite sorry. It's a dreadful thing, to be remade against one's will." There's that old, bitter experience again. "Perhaps some practical advice, on the matter of demons. Do you know why it is said that the house always wins?"

Scrabbling, trying to make conversation, but the shadow over Deirdre's reputation that she hates so much has also set the tone for her social life. She's in unfamiliar waters.