"How do you know all this, Mrs. Jones?" asked Emma.
"Your aunt called me just before you got here. I asked her if she wanted to speak to Paton, but she gave me a definite no."
"She's given up on him," said Emma.
"Given up?" Charlie looked anxious. "She can't have. I think Uncle Paton wants to marry her."
"He should have thought of that before." Emma sounded very cold and practical. It was almost as if Uncle Paton had upset her personally.
To make matters worse, at that moment, Uncle Paton walked into the kitchen.
He had obviously overheard Emma's remarks and no one could fail to notice that he appeared to be very upset. Without a word, he walked over to the counter, put on the kettle, and got a bottle of milk from the fridge.
Even Maisie was lost for words. Emma, however, was indifferent to Uncle Paton's feelings. "So is Tancred all right?" she asked. "Where is he now?"
"They're all at the bookstore." Maisie glanced uneasily at Paton. "Mrs.
Kettle and Tancred are there, trying to put things right, Julia said"—she gave Paton another quick glance—"whatever that means. But she called because Dagbert will only speak to you, Charlie. He says he doesn't trust anyone else."
"Me?" Charlie swallowed a large piece of scone and washed it down with a mug of tea. "I'd better get over there, then." He jumped up and going to his uncle, tapped his arm, saying, "Hi, Uncle P., I'm glad you're here."
Uncle Paton gave Charlie a half smile and said, "We'll talk later, Charlie."
All this time Alice had been quietly contemplating Emma's drawing. Although she hadn't spoken, she had been listening intently to the conversation and now, all at once, she looked keenly at Charlie and said, "Go with the dog, Charlie. Things are not right out there." She nodded at the window.
Charlie was about to ask her what she meant by the dog when the doorbell rang, and running to open the front door, Charlie found Benjamin and Runner Bean on the doorstep.
"That's odd," said Charlie. "Someone else was thinking about you before I was."
"Eh?" Benjamin wrinkled his nose. "You all right, Charlie?"
"Mmmm." Charlie managed to swallow the last piece of scone that had lodged in his throat. "I was just going to the bookstore. Want to come?"
"That's why I'm here," said Benjamin. "I think."
Emma appeared in the hall behind Charlie, and when they had both flung on jackets and scarves, they joined Benjamin on the sidewalk and all three began to walk up Filbert Street, preceded by a very energetic dog.
"Have you noticed?" said Benjamin. "Lots of cars have gone from the road."
"People, too," Charlie observed. On his way down from the school bus, he hadn't noticed how empty the street had become because he was thinking of tea, but now he saw the big gaps between cars that were normally parked bumper to bumper, all along the road. "Where's everyone gone?"
"It's the fog," said Benjamin. "Our neighbors on both sides have left the city. They said on the radio that it's going to be so thick, it won't be safe to travel in or out. But we're not going. Dad says if everyone leaves, the villains will have a free hand."
"A free hand for what?" asked Emma.
Benjamin shrugged. "Looting and pillaging I expect."
This sounded rather too medieval. Charlie had never heard of a fog so thick it couldn't be penetrated. Surely there would always be at least one way in or out of a city. He was relieved to see a police car cruising down the deserted High Street.
As they approached Cathedral Close, they could hear snatches of music drifting toward them. The music grew louder and when they passed the end of Piminy Street, they saw that a party seemed to be in full swing. People were dancing in the middle of the road while a group of musicians in velvet coats and tall stovepipe hats played wild jigs and polkas. Some sawed at the strings of small violins, while one beat a drum and others played pipes adorned with colored ribbons that fluttered in the air as the players swayed to the rhythm and tapped the ground with their pointed boots.
Charlie and Benjamin watched openmouthed as the dancing grew faster and wilder. And then Runner Bean barked, and heads were turned in their direction. The dancers' faces were distorted with malice, and Emma plucked Charlie's sleeve, saying, "Come on, quick!" They ran for the bookstore.
Tancred, looking quite himself again, was restacking some of the books Miss Ingledew's customers had taken out during the day but not replaced. It was the end of the week and Miss Ingledew was doing her accounts beside the register.
Emma ran down the steps, crying, "Tancred, you're safe. I heard about your mustache and everything."
"Well, they all know I'm alive, so there's no point in hiding any longer." He gave Emma an especially welcoming smile.
"Where's... ?" Charlie looked around the store.
"Dagbert?" said Miss Ingledew. "He was exhausted, so I put him in Emma's room for a little nap."
"Oh!" Emma wasn't quite sure how to take this news.
The curtain behind the counter billowed alarmingly and Runner Bean gave a howl of anxiety as Mrs. Kettle pushed her way into the store. "Ah, Charlie, there you are," she said. "You'd better go and have a word with that poor boy upstairs. He's in quite a state."
"Poor?" said Emma indignantly. "He's not poor. He tried to drown Tancred."
"He seems pretty harmless now," said Tancred, fitting the last book into place. He turned to the others. "I think he's changed. There's nothing weird about him now. He doesn't even smell fishy."
"Have a word with him, Charlie," said Mrs. Kettle. "Just calm him down.
There's enough trouble in this city already. We need all hands on deck."
A funny way of putting things, thought Charlie as he walked around the counter and into Miss Lngledew's living room. He was surprised to see Dagbert standing on the other side of the room. He was clutching the glass sea storm, and Tancred was right, he looked quite ordinary, just a boy who was scared and worn out. He gave Charlie a weak smile and said, "I heard a dog. What are they going to do to me, Charlie? I know Tancred's alive. I thought I was seeing a ghost."
Charlie took a few steps toward Dagbert and said quietly, "They're not going to do anything, Dagbert. You're safe here. Tancred didn't drown, as you've seen. And he's forgiven what you did. There's no point in being angry with someone who doesn't exist."
Panic showed in Dagbert's blue-green eyes. "But I do exist. Don't I?"
"Of course," said Charlie emphatically. "But that other boy, the mean, drowning, selfish boy that was you, is gone. Isn't he?"
Dagbert turned the sea storm over and over in his hands. "Seems to be gone,"
he murmured. "I'm not frightened that my life is going to end anymore." He held up the sea storm and watched the silvery shower of foam fall from top to bottom. And then he gave Charlie a very ordinary, happy grin.
"You're one of us now, Dag," Charlie said. "And you'll be needed. Things are happening in this city."
Charlie was aware that a small tide of people had begun to fill the room.
First came Mrs. Kettle, then Emma and Miss Ingledew, Benjamin and Runner Bean, and last, Tancred. They eased themselves into seats around the room and, trying not to be too obvious, watched Dagbert to see if Charlie was having an effect. Runner Bean, sensing the gravity of the situation, did not bark once.
"Charlie's right," said Miss Ingledew. "Something is happening. I think we shall all be tested in the next few hours. You must have noticed that half the inhabitants of this city have left. I predict that, over the next few days, even more will go, until only a few remain. It will be tempting to leave before the fog finally encloses us."