A Marvellous Light

“None of these people looked back at George, or at Reggie, or at the other man; and even if they did, their gazes passed on without focus or concern. None of them had so much as glanced over when the screaming had started. Nor when it continued. Reggie could only just glimpse the pearly whisper of uneven air that signified the curtain-spell.”

The description here emphasizes Reggie’s desperation and loneliness—the crowds are indifferent to his plight. The reference to screaming is almost an afterthought, as if Reggie can barely focus from the pain of his torture. The revelation that Reggie’s tormentors have hidden his pain with magic introduces the role of magic in this world, not just as a source of wonder, but as a potential tool for cruelty.

“It was the resigned expression of someone on whom jokes were often played, and who knew he was expected to laugh afterwards even if they were more cruel than funny. Robin had seen the candle-flicker of this expression at his parents’ sumptuous dinner parties, when the person making the joke was most often Lady Blyth herself.”

This scene emphasizes that Robin is highly observant about people—he senses Edwin’s discomfort with jokes as a kind of deeper pain, merely from his expression. The description of Blyth family dinners underlines a connection between luxury and cruelty. Robin’s thoughts of his mother are clearly not warm, hinting that, like Edwin, he has personal experience with familial cruelty.

“Edwin’s collection of small enjoyments was carefully cultivated. When he exhaled his worry he imagined it going up in the snap of the fire. He thought about the meticulous cogs of the Gatlings’ clock, and the particular hazel of Sir Robert Blyth’s eyes.”

The narration here presents Edwin’s hobbies almost clinically, as a kind of museum exhibit or garden of his own choosing. The things he chooses to enjoy emphasize his love of order and mysteries—the “meticulous cogs” of a clock. The reference to Robin comes last, as if desire is a reluctant addition to an otherwise orderly universe.