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questions. "I'm retiring to my rooms to continue with my work. Hannah, you look somewhat pale. Perhaps you ought to rest until dinner."
    I was taken aback by his observation. Unless he was asking me something specific about my training with Jack, he usually ignored me. I wasn't used to him noticing my health. "I'm quite all right. Thank you."
    "He's right," Jack said, crouching at my feet. "The events of today seem to have taken their toll on you. Or is it something else? Are you worried about the trial?"
    The pending trial of Reuben Tate was certainly on my mind, but it didn't keep me awake at night. Whenever I thought about him in prison, the overwhelming emotion was one of relief. The madman had tried to kill my friends and abduct me in order to use me in his experiments. I was glad he was locked away.
    "It's not that," I assured him.  
    "There'll be no training for a few days," he said. "We don't seem to be making progress anyway."
    "That's precisely why she should continue," Langley said. "She needs to take control of her ability. The sooner the better." His vehemence alarmed me. Why was he so adamant?
    "She's tired, August," Jack said. "Let her rest."
    "I am," Langley growled. "Did I not just order her to her room?"
    Order me? I thought it was a suggestion, a kindness even. I should have known August Langley was quite without that commodity.
    "Let me escort you," Jack said quietly. He offered a smile, but not his hand. That would have been foolish.
    "No." Langley rolled himself a few paces forward until he'd wedged himself between us. "Samuel will do it."
    Samuel frowned. "Why?" He caught sight of Langley's narrowed glare and muttered, "Of course. Hannah, would you care to take my arm?"
    Jack scowled first at Samuel then at Langley. He stormed out of the parlor ahead of us. Samuel and I found him waiting in the corridor near my bedroom door. I went to him and put my hand on the doorknob. He leaned against the wall, very close.
    "Get some rest, Hannah." He folded his arms and tucked his hands away as if he were smothering them. Was he hot just being near me? I certainly felt warmer from head to toe. His presence had a profound effect.
    "Are you going to Harborough now?" I asked, pulling away from Samuel, but not venturing any closer to Jack.
    "I'll be back in an hour."
    "Be careful."
    The corner of his mouth lifted. "Always."
    He didn't leave until I was inside. I heard him and Samuel walking back along the corridor together. "I didn't have a choice," Samuel said.
    "There is always a choice," Jack said. "Even with him."
    ***
    By the time I woke up an hour later, Jack had returned with the police, a doctor and undertaker. The doctor and undertaker took the remains of the body away in their cart while the police searched the woods. They were gone until dusk, but of course found no traces of a wild dog. Jack itched to join them, but they forbade it. He did encourage them to take burning torches to ward off the animal. Some listened. Others armed themselves with guns. All returned unharmed, thank God.
    "They'll look again in the morning," Jack said when he returned to the parlor after speaking to the detective inspector.
    Samuel set down the notebook he'd been reading. "Hopefully it's long gone."
    "To terrorize elsewhere?" I shook my head. "Let's hope not."
    We moved into the dining room where Tommy served us. As usual, Langley ate in his rooms, attended by Bollard. It was a bleak affair with the events of the day hanging heavily over us.
    "We ought to pay for the builder's funeral at the very least," Sylvia said.
    Jack agreed. "I'll speak to August after dinner. We should set up a fund for the widow."
    I pushed my food around my plate as the others discussed arrangements. It kept their fear away, I suppose, but I couldn't join in. I couldn't stop thinking about what Langley had said—that the invisible creature had been a demon, and it had consumed the souls of the poor Frakingham children.
    "What do we know of the dungeon