“That is indeed the general opinion, yes,” agreed Strange, “but I am almost certain that I was in company with one in November 1814, a month or two before Norrell and I parted.”

“Were you indeed!” exclaimed Lord Portishead.

“You never mentioned this before,” said Sir Walter.

“I was quite unable to mention it before,” said Strange. “My position as Norrell’s pupil depended upon my never breathing a word of it. Norrell would have fallen over in a blue fit at the least suggestion of such a thing.”

“What did he look like, Mr Strange?” asked Lord Portishead.

“The fairy? I do not know. I did not see him. I heard him. He played music. There was someone else present who, I believe, both heard and saw him. Now, consider the advantages of dealing with such a person! No magician, living or dead, could teach me as much. Fairies are the source of everything we magicians desire. Magic is their native condition! As for the disadvantages, well, there is only the usual one – that I have almost no idea how to accomplish it. I have cast spells by the dozen, done everything I ever heard or read of, to try and get this fairy back again, but it has all been to no avail. I cannot for the life of me tell why Norrell expends so much energy in proscribing what no one can achieve. My lord, I don’t suppose you know any spells for raising fairies?”

“Many,” said Lord Portishead, “but I am sure you will have tried them all already, Mr Strange. We look to you, sir, to reconstruct for us all that has been lost.”

“Oh!” sighed Strange. “Sometimes I think that nothing has been lost. The truth is that it is all at the library at Hurtfew.”

“You said there was another person present who both saw and heard the fairy?” said Sir Walter.

“Yes.”

“And I take it that this other person was not Norrell?”

“No.”

“Very well then. What did this other person say?”

“He was … confused. He believed he was seeing an angel, but owing to his general style of living and habits of mind he did not find this quite as extraordinary as you might think. I beg your pardon but discretion forbids me to say any thing more of the circumstances.”

“Yes, yes! Very well! But your companion saw the fairy. Why?”

“Oh, I know why. There was something very particular about him which enabled him to see fairies.”

“Well, can you not use that somehow?”