Mr Norrell looked more alarmed than ever. “Oh! But I must tell you that I no longer regard myself as your superior. My reading has been a great deal more extensive than yours, it is true, and I will give you what help I can, but I can offer you no security that I will be any more successful than you.”

Strange frowned. “What? What are you talking about? I do not mean you! I mean John Uskglass. I want your help in summoning John Uskglass.”

Mr Norrell breathed hard. The very air seemed to quiver as if a deep note had been sounded. He was aware, to an almost painful degree, of the darkness surrounding them, of the new stars above them and of the silence of the stopt clocks. It was one Great Black Moment going on for ever, pressing down upon him, suffocating him. And in that Moment it cost no effort to believe that John Uskglass was near – a mere spell away; the deep shadows in the far corners of the room were the folds of his robe; the smoke from the guttering candles was the raven mantling of his helm.

Strange, however, seemed oppressed by no such immortal fears. He leant forward a little, with an eager half-smile. “Come, Mr Norrell,” he whispered. “It is very dull working for Lord Liverpool. You must feel it so? Let other magicians cast protection spells over cliffs and beaches. There will be plenty of them to do it soon! Let you and me do something extraordinary!”

Another silence.

“You are afraid,” said Strange, drawing back displeased.

“Afraid!” burst out Norrell. “Of course I am afraid! It would be madness – absolute madness – to be any thing else! But that is not my objection. It will not work. Whatever you hope to gain by it, it will not work. Even if we succeeded in bringing him forth – which we might very well do, you and I together – he will not help you in the way you imagine. Kings do not satisfy idle curiosity – this King least of all.”

“You call it idle curiosity …?” began Strange.

“No, no!” said Norrell, interrupting hastily. “I do not. I merely represent to you how it will appear to him. What will he care about two lost women? You are thinking of John Uskglass as if he were an ordinary man. I mean a man like you or me. He was brought up and educated in Faerie. The ways of the brugh were natural to him – and most brughs contained captive Christians – he was one himself. It will not seem so extraordinary to him. He will not understand.”

“Then I will explain it to him. Mr Norrell, I have changed England to save my wife. I have changed the world. I shall not flinch from summoning up one man; let him be as tremendous as he may. Come, sir! There is very little sense in arguing about it. The first thing is to bring him here. How do we begin?”