But Mr. Yates was not done. In the next breath, he coughed up another beetle. And then another. With each breath he took, they seemed to pop out of him, and went rushing down his clothing and onto the floor. It was one, two, five, twelve—an endless array of green beetles. . . .

Maria began to shriek.

“Ye gads!” cried Tom, rising up from his chair, as one beetle made directly for him and climbed up his pant leg. “What in bl—”

“Oh—oh dear,” mumbled Lady Bertram. “What pretty scarabs, Mr. Yates. But, how odd of you.”

“Mr. Yates!” said Sir Thomas in a loud command voice. “Pray, what is happening? Someone, get Baddeley! What is this? What strange terrible thing—fetch a physician!”

Mr. Yates had risen from his seat, and was now turning purple with choking, while the beetles were rushing forth in a pearly-green stream and filling the parlor, climbing up chair legs and table legs and curtains and walls and people, while everyone else too had gotten up and was backing away in terrible alarm, accompanied by the screams of the two Miss Bertrams.

There was quite an upheaval. “This is not natural!” Edmund exclaimed. “It is, by Heaven, surely the Curse come upon us!” He grabbed a nearby piece of sewing that Mrs. Norris had abandoned, and used the long fabric to swat at the insects and at Mr. Yates, attempting to squelch the flow of the creatures issuing out of Mr. Yates’s mouth. “If at all capable, get a hold of yourself, Yates! Fight it!”

Mrs. Norris herself was meanwhile stunned, and had acquired the look of a hungry wolfhound who had just sighted prey. Good thing no one was looking, because Mrs. Norris, moving faster than an Oriental acrobat, grabbed one green squirming thing and popped it in her mouth. The same condition was to be observed in Mr. Rushworth, and he began to make minor yelping noises and move in on the beetles.

“What is going on?” exclaimed Sir Thomas, batting at his chest to throw off the insects, and nearly overturning a chair, as the flow of beetles continued.

Fanny was breathing fast, and she too had jumped out of her seat. But she had a very sinking suspicion, and immediately addressed Lord Eastwind.

“Sir,” she said with quiet urgency amid the mayhem, bravely ignoring the three large horrid things crawling up her legs and skirts. “If you are in any way responsible for this, I beg you to stop it immediately!”

Lord Eastwind was the only one sitting quietly and deeply in his chair, leaning back in relaxation. “But you desired a distraction,” he said with faint sarcasm.

“Not like this! What kind of abomination is this? And what kind of powers do you seem to have? I promise you, I have no desire to see any more of it!”

“As you wish.”