Being invited into a lady's room is slightly embarassing. I can't remember the last time this happened; but I suspect that I have never been exactly a suave ladies' man. I look around the slightly lugubrious bedroom and I shiver picturing this lady's husband entering here and... no, better not go there.

"Spells, uh, right," I stammer. I'll never get used to all this. "Well, I'll try to make a long story short." I adjust my glasses and sit on the dressing table's chair. "I'm a... failed scientist and physician. I can't keep a job, due to my amnesia. I left London to get some fresh air and rest. Or so I thought."

I shake my head. "my coach broke just outside Drakesheath and I was forced to find a place to stay here. That's when you met me at the Cross and Cowl."

I sigh. "But the truth is that somehow I was drawn here. Things have been happening to me and I doubt it's coincidence. I met Edmund Folcwalding, who was convinced he had met me previously under the name of Dr. Blayze. Which of course is impossible, because I've never even heard this name. But then I discovered I had with me a parcel that was meant for Folcwalding. I didn't even know what it was!"

I get up again and start pacing the room, tormenting my hair. "Then there was the dinner at the manor, of course. So many weird things happened here... I'm sure you know. But I also found a parcel addressed to me by a dead man!"

I notice Artemis' curious gaze. "I had thought that Desmond, my old chum at medical school, had found a potion to cure my amnesia." I shrug. "It was just a sleeping potion, nothing more. I followed Edmund here in the hope that he could find a way of getting back to the manor... I need to have a good look at that laboratory, maybe there's more that could help me! But... I'm not sure I agree with their methods."

I turn to the lady. "That's all... more questions than answers, really. But what about you, ma'am? Why on earth did you get involved with that... being?"