‘In six days’ time, your Ladyships,’ he said, fingering his gold chain – ‘on the evening before the Great Gathering to which you have not been invited – the library will be empty and you may burn it to the ground. I shall prepare the incendiaries and will school you in all the details later; but on the great night itself when you see me give the signal you will set fire at once to the fuel and will make your way immediately to this room.’

‘Can’t we watch it burn?’ said Cora.

‘Yes,’ said Clarice, ‘can’t we?’

‘From your Tree,’ said Steerpike. ‘Do you want to be found out?’

‘No!’ they said. ‘No! No!’

‘Then you can watch it from your Tree and be quite safe. I will remain in the wood so that I can see that nothing goes wrong. Do you understand?’

‘Yes,’ they said. ‘Then we’ll have Power, won’t we?’

The unconscious irony of this caused Steerpike’s lip to lift, but he said:

‘Your Ladyships will then have Power.’ And approaching them in turn he kissed the tips of their fingers. Picking up his swordstick from the table he walked swiftly to the door, where he bowed.

Before he opened it he said: ‘We are the only ones who know. The only ones who will ever know, aren’t we?’

‘Yes,’ they said. ‘Only us.’

‘I will return within a day or two,’ said Steerpike, ‘and give you the details. Your honour must be saved.’

He did not say good night, but opened the door and disappeared into the darkness.

‘Preparations for Arson’

‘PREPARATIONS FOR ARSON’

On one excuse or another Steerpike absented himself from the Prunesquallors’ during the major part of the next two days. Although he accomplished many things during this short period, the three stealthy expeditions which he made to the library were the core of his activities. The difficulty lay in crossing, unobserved, the open ground to the conifer wood. Once in the wood and among the pines there was less danger. He realized how fatal it might prove to be seen in the neighbourhood of the library, so shortly before the burning. On the first of the reconnaissances, after waiting in the shadows of the Southern wing before scudding across the overgrown gardens to the fields that bordered the conifers, he gathered the information which he needed. He had managed after an hour’s patient concentration to work the lock of the library door with a piece of wire, and then he had entered the silent room, to investigate the structure of the building. There was a remoteness about the deserted room. Shadowy and sinister though it was by night, it was free of the vacancy which haunted its daylight hours. Steerpike felt the insistent silence of the place as he moved to and fro, glancing over his high shoulder more than once as he took note of the possibilities for conflagration.