Now that he was alone he tried to discover some key to all that Jean had said to him.

After all, his first guess had not been so far out of the way: it was a physical force that was Josephine's deadliest menace.

What was this force?
How could he associate it with the baby back in Adare House?
Unconsciously his mind leaped to Thoreau, the Free Trader, as a possible solution, but in the same breath he discarded that as unreasonable.

Such a force as Thoreau and his gang would be dealt with by Adare himself, or the forest people.

There was something more.