Chapter 7 Summary

Khan wonders when Polo has had time to travel. It seems to him that Polo has never moved from the garden. Polo responds that everything he sees and does assumes a meaning in a place like where they sit. When he concentrates and remembers he is always in this garden in the emperor's presence, even though he continues without pausing up a river. Khan is no longer sure if he is sitting in the garden or riding through the lands that Marco is describing. Polo suggests that the garden may only exist in their minds and that their travels have not yet ended. Each time they partially close their eyes they are allowed to return to the peace of the garden. Khan wonders if this dialogue is actually taking place between two beggars sifting through a rubbish heap. Polo says that perhaps the...