Chapter 4

Reeling from losing her library job, Sylvia spends a discouraging week pursuing any employment she can find, only to be rejected amid postwar competition. Over cocktails, Horatio suggests temporary work at the Royal Academy assisting with post-viewing adjustments to the exhibition. Desperate, Sylvia agrees to try.

On Monday she convinces the brusque exhibition manager, Mr. Bolton, to hire her despite scant references. He marches her through the galleries to verify works before after-hours removals and rotations begin. Sylvia is assigned to oversee the four-man moving crew, while Bolton supervises packing.

Among the movers, former soldier Tommy Allan proves insolent, littering cigarette ash and belittling Sylvia for taking “a man’s job.” To avoid escalation on her first night, she holds her tongue and focuses on accuracy and pace as the crews work late into the evening.

During packing, a village street scene catches Sylvia’s eye. As the men turn it, she notices a folded layer at the back: a second canvas concealed behind the painted surface. Startled and scolded by Bolton for lingering, she keeps the discovery to herself, suspecting it may link to Gabriel Glass’s investigation of stolen magical art.

Resolved to inform Gabriel, Sylvia phones him the next morning. An American woman at his address brusquely summons her to sixteen Park Street, Mayfair. At the stately house, after a butler seats her in a pristine drawing room, the same American woman—dressed in trousers and acting as gatekeeper—demands her information. Sylvia refuses to divulge anything without Gabriel present, and the uneasy standoff lingers as she waits.