Jack spoke slowly. ‘That is all for today. I will show you more tomorrow.’ He dismissed Tom with a brusque wave of his hand.

Tom wanted more. The need for it coursed through him. He saw the look of sly delight in Jack’s expression. He could see anything, go anywhere. The whole of history was in his grasp.

‘Thank you,’ said Tom, not really knowing what else to say. The words seemed inadequate.

‘Go now.’ Jack turned his attention to some papers and began leafing through them.

Dismissed, and feeling as if he had done something wrong, Tom left the room and went to find Kit. He grasped the banister more tightly than usual and stared in wonder at the hall, its once familiar objects now rendered strange, as if a veil had been placed over them. He wondered if he could ever look at things in the same way again. Even the sun outside seemed older, more weary. He understood what Jack wanted. The hunger to know, to see. It filled him with awe. And also, somewhere, terror. He found himself glancing behind, in case Jack had followed him down. But he hadn’t.

Kit was in the kitchen, scrubbing the table.

‘He showed you, didn’ he?’

‘He did, Kit. He did. He showed me the house, as it was when it was built, I think. And he showed me something else. He showed me you.’

Carefully, as if he were afraid he might do harm with it, Kit placed the knife down and looked away from Tom.

‘What happened?’ Tom grabbed Kit by the shoulders, staring at him deep in his silver eyes. ‘What did he do to you?’

Kit shook his head and pointed at his mouth.

‘You can’t say. You can’t say because he’s put some glamour on you.’

‘We maun do the wards.’

‘It’s impossible!’ Tom released him and put his hands over his face for a minute or two, breathing deeply. When he looked again, Kit was getting ready to go out.

So they set off to do the wards, the summer sun beating down mercilessly. Jack, presumably, was holed up in his rooms, moving through time and space.

The clocks in Mundham Farm chimed throughout the night. Zita had been quiet during their supper of tinned soup, tinned tuna, bread and boiled potatoes with the skin still on, and Kit had done all the clearing away whilst Leana dozed on her bed by the oil-fired range.