A Sorceress Comes to Call

The wedding day arrives. They still don’t know how to thwart Evangeline, and Imogene suggests that they kill her, but both Hester and Richard disagree. Hester is worried that Evangeline has spells in place that will cause harm if she is killed. Richard argues that if Evangeline were a man, he could duel her, but Cordelia counters that Evangeline would simply make Richard obedient. The wedding takes place as a quick ceremony, and Penelope briefly talks to Cordelia, saying that she can see everything in the church clearly. When Penelope falls silent, Cordelia worries that Evangeline noticed the ghost.

Later, Evangeline confronts Cordelia. Cordelia says that she felt something strange happen during the ceremony, but she didn’t know what it was—maybe someone talking, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. Evangeline accuses Cordelia of trying to take the cup from her hands, but Cordelia adamantly denies the accusation, arguing that she was nowhere near her mother during the ceremony. Suddenly, Evangeline hits Cordelia with magic to see if the girl is hiding magical powers, but she is not.

Alice packs for Cordelia, and Cordelia struggles to eat. Once Alice leaves, Penelope talks to Cordelia, startling her so that she drops her mug. Penelope says that she tried to take the cup from Evangeline during the ceremony, but she fled when Evangeline talked to her. Penelope could hear the water, wine, and salt used during the ceremony; they sounded like they were ringing. Cordelia sips some water, and Penelope experiences the ringing again. Penelope says that if she wanders too far, things get dark, and she is scared that she will get lost. Cordelia promises not to forget that Penelope is there after they leave for Richard’s.

Hester, Imogene, and Cordelia ride to Richard’s together in a coach, while Evangeline rides Falada alongside the Squire and Richard. The coach stops near Richard’s, and the women switch to riding horseback because the lane is full of potholes. Cordelia likes the property, which is thick with foliage. Hester’s favorite part of the Evermore House is the flock of geese, which quickly approach, encircling Falada and hissing at him. Hester notes a shorter goose that will likely need to be culled.

Cordelia likes the Evermore House, which is smaller and more modest than the Chatham House. Her room, unlike her room at the Squire’s house, does not make her feel like a charity case. Evangeline comes into Cordelia’s room and talks about how Cordelia will have to redecorate the entire house. She warns her daughter to not be caught alone with Richard, and she says that she will leave Falada to keep an eye on Cordelia.

Everyone has breakfast together, and Hester hits Imogene with her cane when she notices that Imogene is about to say something snarky. The Squire and Evangeline say their goodbyes and leave for their honeymoon, and Cordelia cries with relief.

Richard has a large, disorganized collection of books. They spend hours looking through the books but find nothing useful. Tom arrives and offers his organizational services. Evangeline had fired him from the Chatham House before everyone departed for Richard’s. He has come to ask Richard if he can work at the Evermore House; Richard wants to find him a place, but not at the expense of his own butler, Jack.

The others tell Tom that Evangeline is a sorcerer, and he takes it well. He makes a plan to organize the books into piles based on their potential usefulness. Hester, since her knees are bad, is to sit and read through the most promising books.

They work for a week, going through books until they are exhausted and irritable with each other. On the eighth day, Imogene finds a ritual using wine, water, and salt to remove magical powers. The ritual requires them to draw a circle around the sorcerer and a triangle around three people, each representing one of the reagents. A fourth person is to be in the circle chanting. Imogene suggests that if the ritual works, they could kill Evangeline, and Cordelia agrees that it might be the best idea—“We can’t just let her keep going just because we don’t want to kill her. It’s not fair to anyone else she might hurt” (249). Then, Cordelia suggests that they test the ritual on Falada.

Falada paces around the property at night, but he is followed constantly by the geese, led by the short one that Hester suggested needed to be culled. The group discusses their plan, realizing that they will have to kill Falada if the ritual doesn’t work. They don’t know if they can kill a familiar, but Imogene argues that cutting off something’s head will certainly kill it.

Cordelia says that she must be the one in the circle with Falada because she is the only one he is not allowed to hurt, and the others reluctantly agree. Hester will invoke water and Imogene will invoke salt, leaving Richard with wine. Tom will draw the chalk circle and triangle.

Richard asks a few of his employees to stay behind and help with Falada. To his dismay, Bernard, an elderly man who works with the horses, refuses to leave. He scolds Richard for planning to harm Falada, and he argues that he will be the one to lead Falada out of the stable. Bernard soothes Falada as he leads him out of the stable, but once Falada sees the people outside, he refuses to budge. Bernard tries to get him to move forward, but Falada bites off his ear.

Cordelia, filled with hate, jumps between Falada and Bernard. Someone gets a rope around Falada’s neck, and then Cordelia wraps herself around the horse’s leg and asks for a rope so that she can tie his legs together. She covers Bernard, and the two of them crawl out from under Falada. Falada starts fighting, and they hold him tight, adding another rope so that if Falada kicks, he will break his neck. Bernard now agrees with the plan to kill Falada, realizing that the beast is not a horse.

They prepare for the ritual, with Tom drawing the chalk outlines and the geese watching the scene. Cordelia chants the spell while the others activate the reagents. The water and salt ring as expected, hurting Falada, but the wine does not. Falada calms down and starts laughing.