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Sybil found Lucius in a boathouse, free of his bindings, wearing the crude, colourful garb of a navvy, his wet clothes in a pile on the floor He sat before a brazier, staring into the flames Sybil thanked the two men who had pulled him from the river

“Don’t scare ain” She touched his shoulder and drew her hand through his wet hair When he ht I’d lost you”

“Forgiveclearly”

“No, you were not” Upon hearing her raised voice, the boatmen made themselves scarce “What if you haven’t been as careful as you claim? We’ve made love many times What if I am with child? I don’t want to raise your son on my own”

Her father once said that to live for the future was to live for a fantasy Yet one could not underestimate the power of optimism

The blue flecks in his eyes sparked to life

“The reckless man in s, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his cheek to her abdomen

She hoped he’d been careless, too A perfect fantasy appeared in her arth with a rabble of reckless children

“I’m sorry, sorry that’s how your motherevent” Sybil suppressed her anger by running her hands through his hair as he hugged her Julia Dunwoody was a selfish wous said she’d seeights into the hem of her cloak, that she had but a feeeks left to live”

A brief silence ensued

“It’s strange,” he said, led with the thought she was dead, buried at Bideford Park And yet now I feel oddly at peace”

“Perhaps because she’s not the helpless ined She could have contacted you, could have eased your fears It seems she had her own demons to battle”

“Yes” The word escaped hih

“Mr Wycliff will be here in a ht, that we explain everything”

“I’ll not tell Peel about the Order”