Summary

In Part II, Sibylla and Ludo repeatedly ride the Circle Line (a part of the London Underground) because Sibylla cannot afford to heat their apartment. Many other riders comment on the dense books that Ludo reads, many of which are in foreign languages. Sibylla tallies these comments and notices that no one simply remarks, “Marvellous idea as Homer so marvellous in Greek” (98). Sibylla worries that she will harm Ludo by encouraging his genius. She considers the advice of J.S. Mill, who believed that any child could achieve intellectual prowess by consuming “an amount of knowledge in what are considered the higher branches of education” (101). She describes teaching Ludo the basics of Greek by encouraging him to highlight certain repeated words.

In a series of journal entries, Ludo counts down to his sixth birthday. He describes his mother arguing with riders on the...