‘It was Eliza who chose to retire after her accident. I thought she was living happily in Great Grindle with her sister,’ Edith lamented. ‘Oh, Gina, dear, it seems as if she might somehow have held a grudge against us – or her family did, to cut us out of their lives so completely – and I can’t think why.’

‘There’s no knowing …’ said Gina vaguely. ‘I’ll bring you up a pot of tea, Mrs Stellion. Try not to be upset.’

‘Oh dear, I fear there’s been a dreadful misunderstanding,’ Edith went on, tears in her eyes. ‘Perhaps I should write to her sister.’

‘Why don’t you leave it until after Mr Stellion’s birthday celebrations?’ Gina suggested. ‘I’ll find out what I can and then we’ll decide what’s the best thing to do.’

‘Oh, Gina, you’re right, of course. Thank you, dear.’

Edith leaned back in her chair, patting her forehead as if she felt a headache coming on, and Gina went to make the tea.

It was, she decided that night, tucked up in her bed above the boxes of stolen goods, extraordinary how everything had worked out so well. The book of spells was gathering dust on her shelf these days. It had proved so effective that she was wary of it, and had long since decided to consult it only in emergencies. The spells were both extremely powerful but also far-reaching. Who’d have thought that it would take so long to get rid of her father, from the little cursed bottle hidden in the wall last spring to his being incarcerated in the asylum at the end of summer? And now Eliza Thwaite was not only out of Gina’s way, which had proved to be sufficient, but out of the way of everyone!

Gina turned over in bed, laughing quietly. James had telephoned his parents to say he’d be here ‘at some point’ for his father’s birthday, so there was much to look forward to. Gina remembered that she’d recited one of the incantations and performed a little ritual in connection with James, too. Well, she now knew better than to be impatient: these magic spells didn’t necessarily bring instant results, but they certainly were effective in the end.

James slouched into the house late on the Saturday morning, just as the mist was lifting from the fells. Gina had been looking out for him from an upstairs window, and her heart fluttered with excitement when the little car, the top up this morning against the damp, crunched up the drive. Always one to announce his presence, James parked prominently at the foot of the front steps and unfolded himself from the driver’s seat.