Back in London, Tara Burgess realizes the address Mr. Barris gave her leads not to a residence but to the Midland Grand Hotel at St. Pancras. Months pass with Tara listless and unsettled: she declines invitations from Mme. Padva, resists her sister Lainie’s plans for Italy and talk of moving, abandons books half-read, turns mirrors to the wall or covers them, and struggles to sleep.

On impulse, Tara finally takes the dusty card and goes to the hotel, which feels to her like a “temporary place,” full of travelers passing through. At the desk, no guest matches the smudged name on her card; Tara cannot even remember how to pronounce it, and she refuses to leave a note.

The man in the grey suit appears beside her and confirms she was looking for him. Tara tries to explain that the circus has impossible elements and that her own life feels unreal and stagnant, but she can barely articulate it. When she asks for an explanation, the man coolly insists the circus is “simply a circus,” and Tara finds herself agreeing before she can think.

The man in the grey suit escorts Tara to the station, making small talk and advising her to occupy herself with something other than the circus; again, Tara reflexively agrees. After he vanishes into the crowd, Tara realizes she cannot recall much of what was said, only a vague conviction that she should focus on something else.

Waiting on the platform, Tara spots a flash of grey across the tracks: the man in the grey suit is arguing with another figure who looks like an unsteady, darker “reflection,” with longer hair and dark eyes that come in and out of focus as the light shifts. Tara steps forward, staring at the apparition—then she does not see the train.