Strange made a small sound of exasperation as if this were a most unreasonable request. Nevertheless he moved the books and only once became distracted in the process and fell to reading one of them. As soon as he had read through the passage twice and made a note of it upon the wallpaper he was able to attend to his guests again.

“I am very pleased to see you here again, my lord,” he said to Portishead. “I have been asking everyone about Norrell – as much, I believe, as he has been asking about me. I hope you have a great deal to tell me.”

“I thought I had already told you all about that,” said Sir Walter, plaintively.

“Yes, yes. You told me where Norrell has been and whom he has been speaking to and how he is regarded by all the Ministers, but I am asking his lordship about magic and what you understand about magic would barely …”

“… fill a square inch of wallpaper?” offered Sir Walter.

“Quite. Come, my lord. Tell me. What has Mr Norrell been doing lately?”

“Well,” said Lord Portishead, “at the request of Lord Liverpool he has been working on some magic to help guard against Napoleon Buonaparte ever escaping again – and he has been studying the Discourses upon the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. He believes he has made some discoveries.”

“What is this?” cried Strange in alarm. “Something new in the Discourses?”1

“It is something he has found on page 72 of Cromford’s edition. A new application of the Spell to Conjure Death. I do not understand it very well.2 Mr Norrell seems to think that the principle might be adapted to cure diseases in men and animals – by conjuring the disease to come forth out of the body as if it were a demon.”

“Oh, that!” exclaimed Strange in relief. “Yes, yes! I know what you mean now. I made the connexion last June. So Norrell has only just arrived there, has he? Oh, excellent!”

“Many people were surprized that he did not take another pupil after you,” continued Lord Portishead, “and I know that he has received a number of applications. But he has taken none of them. Indeed I do not believe he even spoke to the young men in question or answered their letters. His standards are so very exacting and no one comes up to you, sir.”