Cordelia hurried along the hall to find the drawing room door flung open. Inside, a fire was roaring in the grate. Lucie sat in a velvet armchair, and sprawled on the rug were the Merry Thieves—James with his long legs stretched in front of him, Thomas spooning porridge from a bowl, Christopher munching blissfully on a lemon tart, and Matthew sunk into a massive pile of cushions.

James looked up as she came in, his golden eyes sleepy. “Daisy,” he said, waving an empty coffee cup in her direction. “Please don’t blame me—these young roustabouts appeared at an unseemly hour and refused to leave without infesting our house.”

Cordelia felt a flush of pleasure. Our house. Risa had come in after her, and the boys—overjoyed to see coffee—burst into a rousing rendition of “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Matthew leaped up from the cushions to cajole Risa to dance, but she simply smacked him smartly on the wrist with a spoon and withdrew from the room, dignity intact.

“In case you are curious,” James said, as the other boys fought over the coffeepot, “Christopher is utterly furious to have been left out of the goings-on yesterday and has decided to have revenge upon us with a large pile of books.”

“If he wishes to revenge himself with books, he has picked the wrong audience,” said Cordelia, taking a seat on an ottoman beside Lucie. “Where’s Anna, by the by?”

“On patrol,” said Lucie. “We elected her to tell Aunt Charlotte exactly what happened at the factory yesterday—and Aunt and Uncle, too, since they have charge of the Institute while Mama and Papa are in Paris.”

“Exactly what happened?” Cordelia raised an eyebrow. “Every bit of it?”

Lucie smiled primly. “Quite. She told them she was wandering in Limehouse yesterday, when her necklace alerted her to demons nearby. She followed its warning to the abandoned sailcloth factory. Upon entering, she was accosted by an Ourobas demon, which she destroyed. Further investigation revealed Filomena’s shawl, and the bloody cloak.”

“Quite a coincidence,” said Cordelia, accepting a cup of coffee from James. He had put milk into it, no sugar, as she liked. She smiled at him, a little surprised.

“Chance is a fine thing,” said Lucie, her eyes sparkling.

“I assume she didn’t say anything about the—about Filomena’s ghost? Either of the ghosts, in fact?”

“It would have strained credibility, I think, to try to explain that Anna had happened on the demon, the cloak, and Filomena’s ghost,” said Thomas.

“What about the factory?” said Cordelia. “Has the Enclave searched it?”

“Yes—there was a meeting last night, and then a group went over to Limehouse,” said Thomas.