It has to be said that I may not have mentioned Anald in these jottings of mine. Indeed until Sue Vincent jogged my memory I’d entirely forgotten the incident. Anald was perhaps one of the finest cozeners I have ever had dealings with. A person of immense charm, he had spent nearly twenty years separating the folk of Port Naain and the more civilised parts of Partaan from their hard earned silver. This he did by getting them to purchase elixirs that would leave them younger, more beautiful, more charming, or just richer. Admittedly in the case of the last proud boast it is difficult to see how merely drinking a potion could achieve this, but when Anald explained it, it made perfect sense.

But two decades of this lifestyle had tired him. I remember bumping into him in ‘The Wallop’ on Rotten Staithe where the old canal runs into…