Childermass tips his head slightly to the side at that, not exactly a nod, not exactly a shrug, but somewhere in between the two. "They have certainly had their fun, to be sure," he says. After all, suggesting that Norrell read through a novel of bondage fiction is rather an amusing image. But making such an enemy of Norrell is not exactly wise.

"Might you be able to pick him out in a crowd? Can you describe this man? This fae?" Childermass asks. Perhaps Childermass has encountered him before. Perhaps he is the dangerous personage that Norrell believes him to be. Perhaps he may not even be fae at all, though he will at least give Norrell the benefit of the doubt on that for now.