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.“Can you bring tea for Sir James and Doctor Norwell too? He’ll be along in a moment.”Doctor Norwell bustled around the corner.“I thought that there was no such thing as precognition,” Sir James muttered in her ear.“How did you.?”“Lord Mycroft will have told him to talk to me,” Gwen said, ruefully.“And you might as well hear it too.”She raised her voice.“Come into my office,” she added, as she opened the door.“We can talk inside.”Martha returned moments later with cups of hot sweet tea.Gwen sipped hers gratefully, silently relieved that the two men were allowing her a chance to gather herself and get her thoughts in order after her ordeal.She didn’t want to have to tell them anything, but there was no choice.Doctor Norwell, at least, had to know about the existence of magic-draining magicians.There had to be others out there, perhaps among the farm children who had been believed to be without magic.The normal tests, she suspected, wouldn’t work on a null.Perhaps we should call them leeches, she said, remembering the medical leeches a doctor had offered David, when an illness had left him bedridden for a week.The other magicians would probably call them worse.Necromancers were executed upon discovery –Gwen had adopted Olivia to save her from certain death – and she suspected that there would be demands that leeches be killed too.“Sir Charles Bellingham killed Sir Travis,” she said.Neither of them showed any surprise, confirming her suspicion that Lord Mycroft had shared the contents of her note with them.“And he had a very unusual talent.”She ran through the whole story, sparing nothing, not even herself.Sir James looked impassive as she confessed to being attracted to Sir Charles, even though she’d missed something that – in hindsight – should have alerted her to the truth.But who would have suspected a known hero of being a murderer? She scowled as she realised that she owed Lestrade an apology as well.The Inspector had seemed concerned about Sir Charles from the start.Or maybe he was just jealous, she thought, grimly.Sir Charles’s jabs must have rankled.“A null,” Doctor Norwell mused, when she had finished.“I don’t think that our tests would have found someone with a power to absorb magic.They might well escape detection.”Gwen nodded, impatiently.She’d already concluded as much.“The talent might not be an easy one to fine-tune,” she said, tiredly.There were a handful of people who registered as magicians, but had no discernible talent.Sometimes, it took years for their talent to emerge, if it ever did.Master Thomas’s notes had included details of several magicians who had never identified their talents.He’d wondered if their talents were completely unknown – or simply useless.“He didn’t seem aware of it until he encountered Sir Travis.”“At least we’re not looking at another Isabella Thompson,” Sir James said.“Hell, we could use a null in dealing with such a person.”Gwen winced.Isabella Thompson had been the wife of a British officer in America; utterly unremarkable until she’d fallen and hit her head.She hadn’t known that she was an undiscovered Talker; the fall had jarred something loose in her brain and she’d started broadcasting her feelings at everyone within range.The mental broadcasts had caused absolute panic in New York, forcing the magicians on the spot to shoot her from a distance.There had been no other choice, they’d said at the time.They might well have been right.“True,” Gwen agreed.“But we should still take every precaution.”“We will,” Doctor Norwell said.Pedantic he might be, and given to repeating himself, but he knew the dangers.“Besides, such a talent will come in handy.”“Let us hope so,” Gwen said.She looked down at the papers on her desk, then back up at them.“I have to face the Privy Council tomorrow.They’ll want to know everything that happened since the investigation began.”“Ouch,” Sir James said.“Do you want me to come with you?”“There’ll be enough blame to go around if you do,” Gwen said, sardonically.She shook her head, although she was grateful for the offer.“You don’t want any of it on you.”She waited until they’d both gone, then stood up and walked out of the office, heading up towards Olivia’s rooms.The girl was somewhat isolated from the rest of the students, but there was no choice [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“Can you bring tea for Sir James and Doctor Norwell too? He’ll be along in a moment.”Doctor Norwell bustled around the corner.“I thought that there was no such thing as precognition,” Sir James muttered in her ear.“How did you.?”“Lord Mycroft will have told him to talk to me,” Gwen said, ruefully.“And you might as well hear it too.”She raised her voice.“Come into my office,” she added, as she opened the door.“We can talk inside.”Martha returned moments later with cups of hot sweet tea.Gwen sipped hers gratefully, silently relieved that the two men were allowing her a chance to gather herself and get her thoughts in order after her ordeal.She didn’t want to have to tell them anything, but there was no choice.Doctor Norwell, at least, had to know about the existence of magic-draining magicians.There had to be others out there, perhaps among the farm children who had been believed to be without magic.The normal tests, she suspected, wouldn’t work on a null.Perhaps we should call them leeches, she said, remembering the medical leeches a doctor had offered David, when an illness had left him bedridden for a week.The other magicians would probably call them worse.Necromancers were executed upon discovery –Gwen had adopted Olivia to save her from certain death – and she suspected that there would be demands that leeches be killed too.“Sir Charles Bellingham killed Sir Travis,” she said.Neither of them showed any surprise, confirming her suspicion that Lord Mycroft had shared the contents of her note with them.“And he had a very unusual talent.”She ran through the whole story, sparing nothing, not even herself.Sir James looked impassive as she confessed to being attracted to Sir Charles, even though she’d missed something that – in hindsight – should have alerted her to the truth.But who would have suspected a known hero of being a murderer? She scowled as she realised that she owed Lestrade an apology as well.The Inspector had seemed concerned about Sir Charles from the start.Or maybe he was just jealous, she thought, grimly.Sir Charles’s jabs must have rankled.“A null,” Doctor Norwell mused, when she had finished.“I don’t think that our tests would have found someone with a power to absorb magic.They might well escape detection.”Gwen nodded, impatiently.She’d already concluded as much.“The talent might not be an easy one to fine-tune,” she said, tiredly.There were a handful of people who registered as magicians, but had no discernible talent.Sometimes, it took years for their talent to emerge, if it ever did.Master Thomas’s notes had included details of several magicians who had never identified their talents.He’d wondered if their talents were completely unknown – or simply useless.“He didn’t seem aware of it until he encountered Sir Travis.”“At least we’re not looking at another Isabella Thompson,” Sir James said.“Hell, we could use a null in dealing with such a person.”Gwen winced.Isabella Thompson had been the wife of a British officer in America; utterly unremarkable until she’d fallen and hit her head.She hadn’t known that she was an undiscovered Talker; the fall had jarred something loose in her brain and she’d started broadcasting her feelings at everyone within range.The mental broadcasts had caused absolute panic in New York, forcing the magicians on the spot to shoot her from a distance.There had been no other choice, they’d said at the time.They might well have been right.“True,” Gwen agreed.“But we should still take every precaution.”“We will,” Doctor Norwell said.Pedantic he might be, and given to repeating himself, but he knew the dangers.“Besides, such a talent will come in handy.”“Let us hope so,” Gwen said.She looked down at the papers on her desk, then back up at them.“I have to face the Privy Council tomorrow.They’ll want to know everything that happened since the investigation began.”“Ouch,” Sir James said.“Do you want me to come with you?”“There’ll be enough blame to go around if you do,” Gwen said, sardonically.She shook her head, although she was grateful for the offer.“You don’t want any of it on you.”She waited until they’d both gone, then stood up and walked out of the office, heading up towards Olivia’s rooms.The girl was somewhat isolated from the rest of the students, but there was no choice [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]