"Were you a Jawbone Man," replied Agnes to Lettie, "You would know to take care in associating yourself with Wickwright Finch," she shot a look at Hopkin, "And anything which a Finch produces." The truth in her words was evident by Hopkin's reaction, who could not deny the legends he had memorized so neatly in his head. Against Armaud, he was fortitude itself. Against Agnes, he quivered like a leaf in the wind, although his fists were still clenched in quiet protest.

"It is traditional," he said feebly, "That Yawley and Yates be with each other."

"My brother broke the match," Agnes retorted simply. "Your argument is not with Yawley or my father, but with him."

After Marian's subsequent outburst and then removal to a hiding place, Agnes was preoccupied with the visitor, identified as Tadhg O'Neill, who did not so much stand in the doorway of Yates's humble dwelling, but loom. Like his father, Cathal, Tadhg was healthy and tall, the ideal Jawbone heir, some men said, usually while comparing him to the unfortunate heirs of Imisus, Whitney Yawley (too young), Yves Yates (a traitor), and Feilim Finch (O'Neill's poorly educated pawn). By comparison, Tadhg, the eldest son of a noble line, with his strong features, easy manner, and ruddy, healthy complexion, was a prince among men, though in reality he was merely the son of a minor lord, and some, such as Yawley, scoffed that he was a fool to boot. Certainly, he was perhaps overimpressed by Finch wit, and slow with his own retorts, but he was earnest, and what better quality could be manifest in a society that idolized the truth? Hopkin did his best to explain all this to Lettie, who he had taken to explaining everything he could to, as she was a better study than Chayele had proved to be.

"That is Tadhg O'Neill!" he whispered. "He is O'Neill's heir, and he has promised to help me if Wickwright helps Feilim Finch, whose company I enjoy, but who is a somewhat poor Finch in comparison with Wickwright. Wickwright and Yawley say Tadhg O'Neill is too blunt to be a good heir to O'Neill, but he is willing to see the truth in me, Wickwright says he is a useful boy, and that is good."

Agnes, who did not so much care about the truth as she cared about her father, and perhaps Yawley, was not overly taken with Tadhg O'Neill, but as he was the son of the leader that the Society did not officially have, and of higher social status in lay society to boot, she treated him with due deference, though distracted by her other three guests' sudden relocation to the darkest corner of her kitchen. She curtsied, saying "Tadhg O'Neill," but it was not enough to draw his attention from Hopkin's outburst, and when his eyes were drawn to the corner Marian had wedged herself into, his eyes widened in considerable shock. "Dame Launcelyn?" he asked, quite distracted from greeting Agnes in return.

"No, Hopkin, Lettie Arelgren, and Marian," replied Hopkin, oblivious. Tadhg's eyes were then drawn to him and Lettie, and he looked back up at Marian, then at Lettie specifically.

"We thought you had died in the village," he choked. "Had we known you were a Grimm--" Apparently he was under the impression that Lettie was Marian's Plague, as well as the impression that her name was not Marian, but Dame Launcelyn. All these mistakes could not put him in good sitting with Hopkin, nor Agnes, who grew impatient.