Summary

Thirsk enters the manor house and notices that its smell has changed. He suspects that the Beldams are the ones who have packed his bag and readied him for travel. He notices that they also seem to have rummaged through everything in the manor house, in search of valuables. As he travels through the house, he discovers what appears to be furiously wrought damage all over it, and he sees that many of its valuable items are missing. "What isn't broken isn't breakable," Thirsk says. "What's in one piece has proved too tough to tear or snap" (227). On one mantle, he sees the bloody piece of square stone that was used to kill Willowjack. He suspects that the majority of the damage is the work of Mistress Beldam, rather than her husband.

Thirsk makes his way upstairs, toward the turret where he lived before...