Chapter 5 Summary

The leather-clad woman directs Richard to the market and bids him farewell. Richard is mystified by the sights and sounds of the shanty-town marketplace, where people sell everything from garbage, to magical fetishes, to human slaves. Ravenously hungry, Richard manages to trade a ball-point pen for a sandwich and cookies. By chance, he runs into Old Bailey, who, in exchange for a ragged handkerchief, directs Richard to where Door is hosting bodyguard auditions.

Bodyguard applicants, using their various Knacks, battle in single combat in the hopes of proving their worth to Door and the marquis. Varney proves himself the fiercest and strongest of them all, greatly impressing the marquis, though frightening Door. Richard finds his way ringside and is nearly flattened by Varney's vanquished competitor. Door is furious to see Richard in London Below but is surprised to learn that a rat-speaker brought...