"That, mademoiselle Mary," said a pleasant, butter-on-tongue voice, "is a surgeon's presentation sword. By Tiffany." Hands clasped behind her back, Sato leaned down face to face with the girl. Her eyes, however, were on the blade. "Notice the silver initials on the cross guard and the etching on the blade itself? It was presented to Dr. John Dwyer in 1862. During the war there were written regulations specifying for the Medical Corps' surgeons and assistant surgeons to own and wear dress swords. This model, the M 1840, was patterned more than twenty years prior to the conflict. A bizarre pretension, in my opinion, but then those were quite bizarre times."
Without looking up, she said: "Hello, Mr. James. How are you enjoying the show tonight?"