The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage

The next day passes uneventfully. During lunch, Malcolm sees one of the patrons pinch Alice, the 16-year-old kitchen girl, on the bottom. Calmly, she slams a glass down on the bar, shattering it, and tosses the broken handle into one of the men’s laps, warning she will “glass the nearest” of them if it happens again. Malcolm watches this happen and listens to the men discuss the river level and precautions being taken against a possible flood.

At school, the children are restless from the endless rain. Malcolm’s friend Eric is the son of the county court’s clerk and shares a secret: the man who supposedly drowned in the canal was actually murdered. Eric explains that there were rope marks on his neck and no water in his lungs, and Malcolm files this information away to share with Hannah. When he visits the priory, Sister Benedicta insists that all is well, but Malcolm notices nuns “looking anxious” in the corridors, and the carpenter, Mr. Taphouse, is installing heavy shutters on all the priory windows.

Mr. Taphouse doesn’t know what the shutters are for, and Malcolm is shocked to think that the nuns might need protection from something. Mr. Taphouse tells the boy that it is better not to ask questions and insists on his help sweeping up.