"A freelance job," Aldous pointed out. "Surely Canada has an abundance of Indian curses to break? And I'm given to believe that the Canadian west is quite wild still—an adventure if ever I did hear of one!"

He did his best to sound enthusiastic. It fell slightly flat.

"You needn't worry about supporting yourself whilst away, so long as you don't turn into some sort of rake. It would just be a matter of keeping a low enough profile to stop Mrs. Abercrombie from sounding any alarms—half her family work in the Ministry with Roman and I."

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