“Your chocolate, ma’am, and a happy Boxing Day. No, ma’am, I did not put any poison in it. I presumed that was your . . . holiday indisposition talking. No, ma’am, I’m not saying you were drunk, though Sir Rodney was shocked to find you in the ostler’s bed this morning. I explained to him that it was the ostler who was drunk and mistook you for one of his horses after you fainted from the heat last night. He accepted my explanation without demur. No, ma’am, the rest of the household (saving the servants) doesn’t know. Why, thank you, ma’am, that would be a wonderful present on Boxing Day!” Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-89), “The Chocolate Girl” (circa 1745)

When you understand that suicidal thoughts among the Children of the New Revelation are considered signs of demonic possession, you can understand how shocking it is for Hannah Priest Wyatt, an Instrument of the Divine, to be having such thoughts. Yet she is indeed contemplating suicide.

Emily Fisher has decided it is her responsibility to save Hannah. Though Emily is not one of the Children herself, she is their Prophesied One, and she’s willing to use that status in speaking to Hannah. And in so doing, Emily must carve out her own path to “Salvation” in chapter 45 of Prophecies and Penalties.

Next week I expect to be posting the final chapter on Boxing Day. (That’s December 26, the day on which you give your servants their annual gift. Don’t have any servants? How about about treating your nice friendly household computer to an upgrade? C’mon, you know I deserve it, the way I look after you. I even promise to not tell the authorities about your downloads. Well, fine, if that’s how you feel, I was going to say that memory is cheap, but not as cheap as you!) And I thank you all for reading along on what had been the longest story on this blog.