“But tell me, what is all this about, Mr. Spencer? Julius. You are most unlike yourself!”

“Am I? Well, all it is, I ran out of sweets. Ah, watch you blush with indignation! My family holds the monopoly now. We make the bloody things. Did you really think I would be ignorant of my own affairs?”

“By rights you should be! You are a minor.”

“I am nineteen next month and my grandfather’s sole heir. He’s been ailing of late, a growth in his bowels. He won’t see the spring. I think you will see me take my role as head of the household sooner rather than later.”

There is a pause into which Renfrew interjects something inaudible, the tone low and warning. Julius’s voice, by contrast, is rich with the volume of his arrogance.

“I believe you are mistaking the situation, Master Renfrew. I am not here as a schoolboy who can be ordered about. I need to know what Cooper has told you; what he has seen. And where he is headed.

“Have I introduced you to Nótt, Master Renfrew? Isn’t she a beauty? She is out of sorts, I’m afraid. Grouchy. Hasn’t eaten a bite since yesterday. Look at her sniffing around. It’s Cooper’s stink, she’s been primed to it. There, it must be on you, too. Hold still, will you? I’d hate for there to be an accident.

“Ah, Master Renfrew, don’t clamp up now. You don’t look well, if you don’t mind my saying. All dried up somehow. And don’t worry about your shirt — what of it, a bit of drool amongst friends, it’ll wash out. She has a good nose, though. I bet you she can smell what you had for lunch, all the way through your skin and your intestines. Meat pie, was it? Or perhaps something more frugal. Porridge? God, you really are the most disgusting prude.

“Cooper, Master Renfrew. Charlie Cooper. What did he tell you, and whom have you told? I warn you. I am not myself these days. Look here, I have acquired a second face. I swear just now, as I was coming in, I could not remember whether I was wearing it or not.

“You see, Master Renfrew, I find myself at a threshold. No longer one thing, nor yet another. A door has been opened in me, a hole, an abyss. It scared me at first, but I have been sneaking up to its ledge, taking peeks. And what horror, what wonder waits in its depth!

“But all the same I am afraid, Master Renfrew. Afraid of what lies in wait. Help me tonight. Help me remain myself. For another hour, another day. Of all your grim-faced talk of charity, this might prove your one good deed.”