"Uncle Tar became quite a hermit, after he was sent down from Oxford," Flavia explains. It feels almost disloyal, sharing the story of Tar's disgrace with someone not a de Luce, or even from Bishop's Lacey. Though in a world where Hinley doesn't even show up in an atlas, should it really matter? "He had loads of time to spend on experiments, after that."

After Sybil's confession, Flavia looks sympathetically over at her. "I did the same thing when I started my explorations of the chemical world," she admits. "You feel a bit like a wizard, don't you?"