But she remembers how frightened Miss West looked when Ned manifested himself: her expressions were a little too good, even for an accomplished actress. And she was not present at the private séances. Miss West could have no influence upon the sights and sounds that reached Agnes then. She could not have staged the disturbing, incoherent exchange with Montague, or made the picture frames fall down at Orange Grove.

A memory of Pearl flashes through her mind. The child gesturing towards the fireplace upstairs in Walcot Street and saying, I can’t do that alone.

‘You are sure,’ she asks cautiously, ‘that the Mesmerism was the only viable power at play? Pearl’s gift was all an utter humbug?’

Simon bends down to scratch behind Morpheus’s ear. ‘I would stake my honour on it. Pearl’s colouration was albino and she suffered acutely from photosensitivity – but that is all. She was no different in any other respect from her peers.’

Agnes frowns. There was definitely something in that upstairs room, and in the parlour at Orange Grove.

If Pearl was not channelling the spirits … then who was?

‘This is the reason I did not reject the message outright,’ Simon goes on. ‘Speaking to Miss West may be your last chance to obtain the information you seek before she is hanged and takes her secrets with her.’

‘You believe she will be found guilty, then?’

‘Undoubtedly. And if you visit, you might take the opportunity to urge her towards confession of her other crimes. There can be little dispute that she was responsible for the deaths of your two unfortunate sitters.’

So the paper inferred, but Agnes is not convinced. Miss West could have no agenda against her at the time Mr Boyle and Ned died. She could not have set out to entrap Agnes: the animosity the newspaper wrote about came afterwards.

‘As a matter of fact,’ Simon continues, ‘I would like to consult Miss West myself.’

‘Oh?’

‘I consider it only right to apprise her of an arrangement I have made. I hope you shall approve of it, also. I have paid for Pearl to be simply interred at Walcot Gate. She deserves a dignified resting place. There will be a modest remembrance with her name and the date of her birth, if I can obtain that from her sister.’

He is a good, good man. Her ribcage swells with the consciousness of it. ‘Oh Simon, that is exactly what I would wish. I did so worry about what would become of her.’

‘I am glad to have your approbation. Of course I shall attend the service myself, but I wonder …’ He gives her a long assessment. ‘I should never ask a lady of your constitution to witness a funeral. But I would welcome your company on a visit to the grave, if you think you would be equal to it. The unfortunate girl will have so few mourners …’