"It would appear," said a lightly accented voice behind him, "that the little lamb has developed teeth."

"Welcome," the expectant woman said in lightly accented English, while gesturing toward the cushions waiting at opposite ends of the brass table.

"Now," said the creature in a lightly accented voice Joe had heard hundreds of times from St. Anthony's pulpit.

"I am excited at the opportunity to manage a $600 million research and development budget," he said in lightly accented English.

The memory of his deep, lightly accented voice sliddered along her nerves, setting her fingertips atingle.

"For me as well," the pope replied in lightly accented English.

"I had never seen ballet," she said in her soft, lightly accented voice.

Now just hold steady," he heard a lightly accented voice say, "and turn around slowly.

"O.K., let's have fun, everybody," he said in lightly accented English to no one in particular.

"I do most of the cooking, especially on the holidays," he told her in his lightly accented voice.