Early on Wednesday, Jane and Vincent went to the workshop of M. La Pierre and laid forth the plans that they had for creating a glamour in glass. Across a scarred wood desk, the grizzled man chewed on his thumbnail while studying their drawings. The papers described the path a fold of glamour must travel in order to create a simple red cone, one of the first glamours a child might learn. They thought it was simple enough to be manageable and the finished prototype could serve as a building block from which they could create more complicated glamours. Their plan was to use the glass as a sort of lens, which would twist the light in the same manner as a glamourist’s hands would. In this way they hoped to create a path for the glamour to follow once it entered the glass that would cause it to twist in such a way that it produced a red cone upon exiting.

M. La Pierre cleared his throat once and slid the papers back to them. ‘Don’t know as that’s possible.’

‘This seems to me to be a simple shape.’ Vincent traced a broad finger across the page. ‘I have seen glass blown with more complexity.’

‘Yes. But is the more complex glass blown with the specificiality you want? I can create a swan inside a glass ball, but ask me to make five swans and you will find none of them exactly alike. Glass is like water when you are working it.’

‘May we watch you blow glass?’ Jane asked. ‘That might give us a better understanding of the process.’

He rubbed his chin, his rough hand making a scratching noise against the stubble there. Nodding, he shoved himself back from his desk and led the way to the furnace. Pausing at the door, he took down heavy leather aprons from a hook and handed them to each. To Jane, he said, ‘You stay well back from the fire. Wouldn’t want your finery to catch.’