“I don’t think we need move the Porthavenentrance,” Howl said. He conjured himself a handkerchief out ofthe air and blew his nose with a hoot which made Calcifer flickeruneasily. “But I want the moving castle well away from anywhereit’s been before and the Kingsbury entrance shutdown.”

Someone knocked on the door then. Sophie noticed that Howl jumpedand looked round as nervously as Michael. Neither of them answeredthe door. Coward! Sophie thought scornfully. She wondered why she hadgone through all that trouble for Howl yesterday. “I must havebeen mad!” she muttered to the blue-and-silver suit.

“What about the black-down entrance?” Michael askedwhen the person knocking seemed to have gone away.

“That stays,” Howl said, and conjured himself anotherhandkerchief with a final sort of flick.

It would! Sophie thought. Miss Angorian is outside it. PoorLettie!

By the middle of the morning Howl was conjuring handkerchiefs intwos and threes. They were floppy squares of paper really, Sophiesaw. He kept sneezing. His voice grew hoarser. He was conjuringhandkerchiefs by the half-dozen soon. Ashes from the used ones werepiled all round Calcifer.

“Oh, why is that whenever I go to Wales I always come backwith a cold!” Howl croaked and conjured himself a whole wad oftissues.

Sophie snorted.

“Did you say something?” Howl croaked.

“No, but I was thinking that people who run away fromeverything deserve every cold they get,” Sophie said.“People who are appointed to do something by the King and gocourting in the rain instead have only themselves toblame.”

“You don’t know everything I do, Mrs.Moralizer,’ Howl said. “Want me to write out a listbefore I go out another time? I have looked for Prince Justin.Courting isn’t the only thing I do when I go out.”

“When have you looked?” said Sophie.

“Oh, how your ears flap and your long nose twitches!”Howl croaked. “I looked when he first disappeared, of course. Iwas curious to know what Prince Justin was doing up this way, wheneveryone knew Suliman had gone to the Waste. I think someone musthave sold him a dud finding spell, because he went right over intothe Folding Valley and bought another from Mrs. Fairfax. And thatfetched him back this way, fairly naturally, where he stopped at thecastle and Michael sold him another finding spell and a disguisespell—”

Michael’s hand went over his mouth. “Was that man inthe green uniform Prince Justin?”

“Yes, but I didn’t mention the matter before,”said Howl, “because the King might have thought you should havehad the sense to sell him another dud. I had a conscience about it.Conscience. Notice that word, Mrs. Longnose. I had aconscience.” Howl conjured another wad of handkerchiefs andglowered at Sophie over them out of eyes that were now red-rimmed andwatery. Then he stood up. “I feel ill,” he announced.“I’m going to bed, where I may die.” He totteredpiteously to the stairs. “Bury me beside Mrs.Pentstemmon,” he croaked as he went up them to bed.

Sophie applied herself to her sewing harder than ever. Here washer chance to get the gray-and-scarlet suit off Howl before it didmore damage to Miss Angorian’s heart-unless, of course, Howlwent to bed in his clothes, which she did not put past him. So Howlmust have been looking for Prince Justin when he went to Upperfolding and met Lettie. Poor Lettie! Sophie thought, putting brisk,tiny stitches round her fifty-seventh blue triangle. Only anotherforty or so to go.

Howl’s voice was presently heard shouting weakly,“Help me, someone! I’m dying from neglect uphere!”

Sophie snorted. Michael left off working on his new spell and ranup and downstairs. Things became very restless. In the time it tookSophie to sew ten more blue triangles Michael ran upstairs with lemonand honey, with a particular book, with cough mixture, with a spoonto take the cough mixture with, and then with nose drops, throatpastilles, gargle, pen, paper, three more books, and an infusion ofwillow bark. People kept knocking at the door too, making Sophie jumpand Calcifer flicker uneasily. When no one opened the door, some ofthe people went on hammering for five minutes or so, rightly thinkingthey were being ignored.

By this time, Sophie was becoming worried about theblue-and-silver suit. It was getting smaller and smaller. One cannotsew in that number of triangles without taking up quite a lot ofcloth in the seams. ‘Michael,” she said when Michael camerushing downstairs again because Howl fancied a bacon sandwich forlunch. “Michel, is there a way of making small clotheslarger?”

“Oh, yes,” said Michael. “That’s just whatmy new spell is—when I get the chance to work on it. He wants sixslices of bacon in the sandwich. Could you ask Calcifer?”

Sophie and Calcifer exchanged speaking looks. “I don’tthink he’s dying,” Calcifer said.

“I’ll give you the rinds to eat if you bend your headdown,” Sophie said, laying down her sewing. It was easier tobribe Calcifer than bully him.

They had bacon sandwiches for lunch, but Michel had to rushupstairs in the middle of eating his. He came down with the news thatHowl wanted him to go into Market Chipping now, to get some things heneeded for moving the castle.

“But the Witch—is it safe?” Sophie asked.

Michael licked bacon grease off his fingers and dived into thebroom cupboard. He came out with one of the dusty velvet cloaks slunground his shoulders. At least, the person who came out wearing thecloak was a burly man with a red beard. This person licked hisfingers and said with Michael’s voice, “Howl thinksI’ll be safe enough like this. It’s misdirection as wellas disguise. I wonder if Lettie will know me.” The burly manopened the door green-down and jumped out onto the slowly movinghills.

Peace descended. Calcifer settled and chinked. Howl had evidentlyrealized that Sophie was not going to run about after him. There wassilence upstairs. Sophie got up and cautiously hobbled to the broomcupboard. This was her chance to go and see Lettie. Lettie must bevery miserable by now. Sophie was fairly sure Howl had not been nearher since that day in the orchard. It might just do some good ifSophie were to tell her that her feelings were caused by a charmedsuit. Anyway, she owed it to Lettie to tell her.

The seven-league boots were not in the cupboard. Sophie could notbelieve it at first. She turned everything out. And there was nothingthere but ordinary buckets, brooms, and the other velvet cloak.“Drat the man!” Sophie exclaimed. Howl had obviously madesure she would not follow him anywhere.

She was putting everything back into the cupboard when someoneknocked at the door. Sophie, as usual, jumped and hoped they would goaway. But this person seemed more determined than most. Whoever it waswent on knocking—or perhaps hurling him or herself at the door, forthe sound was more a steady whump, whump, whump, than properknocking. After five minutes they were still doing it.

Sophie looked at the uneasy green flickers which were all shecould see of Calcifer. “Is it the Witch?”

“No,” said Calcifer, muffled among his logs.“It’s the castle door. Someone must be running alongbeside us. We’re going quite fast.”

“Is it the scarecrow?” Sophie asked, and her chestgave a tremor at the mere idea.

“It’s flesh and blood,” Calcifer sad. His blueface climbed up into the chimney, looking puzzled. “I’mnot sure what it is, except it wants to come in badly. I don’tthink it means any harm.”

Since the whump, whump just kept on, giving Sophie an irritablefeeling of urgency, she decided to open the door and put a stop toit. Besides, she was curious about what it was. She still had thesecond velvet cloak in her hand from turning out the broom cupboard,so she threw it round her shoulders as he went to the door. Calciferstared. Then, for the first time since she had known him, he bent hishead down voluntarily. Great cackles of laughter came from under thecurly green flames. Wondering what the cloak had turned her into,Sophie opened the door.