Page 101 - 139 Summary

This section begins with Captain Vimes returning morose after having to tell the dwarf family of Bjorn Hammerhock that their relative had died, and the man is strangled by his own feelings of uselessness. Knowing that he is about to resign and that he made a promise to the Patrician, Captain Vimes feels like he has hit rock bottom, and so he turns to his old poison; alcohol. He arrives desultorily home to find his wife to be Lady Sybil Ramkin worried and upset with him - not only that he has been drinking again, but that he seems to have forgotten that tonight was the night that they were throwing a Ball for all of the friends of the Ramkin family.

Elsewhere in the city, Angua is on patrol with Carrot, and the two are having an argument. Carrot mistakenly...