Childermass can't help but think that it's all very dramatic. This show that she's putting on for Norrell. And there has to be something more to it than just the audience that she has managed to receive with the man now. There has to be something else. But he doesn't sense anything about her, and Nancy isn't strong enough on her own to be able to take on the both of them. So why this? Why all of this?

"Do you have proof of this?" Childermass cannot help but ask. "What has he done to lead you to believe such things?" Certainly, her Faigin has treated her poorly in the past and it's never sent her scrambling into the protective arms of Norrell, of all people.