t is notin the interests of the Nation that books of magic should be in any one'spossession but your own, Mr Norrell. Yes, but who are they? They are craftsmen who creep into mills at dead of night and destroyproperty. Africa! Your ancestral soil, my dear Stephen! But, thought Stephen, my ancestors did not live here, I am sure. Strange sniffed.
Nothing would have pleased Mr Segundus better than to work forJonathan Strange, but his natural modesty would not allow him to proposeit. The Erquistounes maintainedthat in accordance with the terms of the marriage settlement a large part ofMrs Strange's fortune must now be put aside for her son for him to inherit athis majority. The game had come to an impasse as SirWalter had begun, as usual, to accuse Strange of transporting billiard ballsabout the table by magic. But that is all over now.
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