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"Olliei There&039; afor you"

He looked up fro the door to his workshop at the rear of the house; it was her way never to intrude upon him unless it was important, and he appreciated her value of his privacy Which meant concentration; which ress

Oliver set aside his tweezers and lifted the nification lenses clipped to his spectacles so he could see her clearly The lenses, ground to his exacting specifications by the optician Dr Seter Van Kanat appear elephantine and a tiny gearwheel gargantuan Not that he worked with gnats or elephants; he did not, though gearwheels of all sizes were commonplace on his desktop and now, indeed, were scattered there But what ht have been a disorderly scatter to any other es, or puzzle parts waiting to be put into their places

He was a man of many loves First of all, he loved his wife He loved the fact that she was five nant, loved her plumpness and her curly brown hair, the sparkle of her eyes, the way she called hiht, but truth be told at night she made the name sound a little wicked, indecent even, and thus the blessed event approaching-and he loved the fact that she granted him such privacy to do his work, here in the sun-splashed rooht on tweezers and calipers, metal-shears, pincers, the delicate miniature pliers, wire snippers, files, the little haht and feel of brass, the grain of wood, the pungent seoear-teeth, the confidence of screws and the jollity of springs If Priscilla would not think him too odd-and this was also why he valued his privacy-he would have professed that he had names for all his instruments, his hammers and pliers and such, and soether, "Very well, now, alfred! Fit there into Sophie and give her a good turning!" Or soht of it, sounded indecent too, but who ever said an inventor had to be decenti

Or, for that unpowder Its rich, aler Yes, that was part of the love, too

"Who is iti" Oliver asked

"He just inquired if this was the house of Oliver Quisenhunt He said it was vital that he speak to you"

"Vitali He used that wordi"

"He did He uo back and ask his naht years old, had been a bachelor-a life-long bachelor, he&039;d assured his friends over ale at the Seven Stars Inn-until he&039;d irl two years ago whose wealthy father wanted a Dutch clock in their parlor repaired It had taken hie, repairing a clock and wishing tiht" He pushed his chair back and stood up "Soht to find out what, ehi"

She caught his arly Way up, because he was rail-thin and six-feet-three-inches tall and towered above her pluerous"

"Reallyi Well," he said with a ser is o see what he wants"

In the roo in its place One thing that Priscilla had taught him, an artist did not need to live in confusion Did not need to fill up the house with books and scribbled-upon papers and little gearwheels and sacks of gunpowder and lead balls everywhere and underfoot clay jars full of different varieties of grease that made a terrible mess if they were broken Indeed, not with the new Quisenhunt co So he had his workshop where what she termed confusion was his paradise, and she had the rest of the house, excepting of course the cellar

He also loved the fact that she called him an artist The first tiarden, he had looked into her face and asked hi bachelor really meant, anyway

Priscilla had closed the door when she went to fetch hi the sleeve of his cream-colored shirt He opened the door, and the ons, carts and passersby on Fourth Street

"Oliver Quisenhunt," the man said

Oliver nodded, when his flinch had passed He thought he ht have heard a note of whati relief in the ht about hiht froht from the frontier where Indians hacked your limbs off and boiled them in pots for their suppers Thispots Maybe had barely escaped from one, as well How oldi about twenty-six, twenty-seveni It was hard to tell, with those blue bruises splotching his right cheekbone and forehead Both his eyes were bloodshot The left eye had a white medical plaster laid just below it The dark hollows under his eyes, and the general gri on fiftyi a few days&039; beard, a mess of black hair, the palundy-colored breeches and a waistcoat the saed buckskin jacket scabby with grime On his feet were honest-to-God Indian oes ahead to clear the ho takes the risks only the bravest-or ht they called that kind of man a providence rider

"My name is Matthew Corbett," said the visitor "May I come ini"

"ah well I am very busy at present, sir I mean to say, it would be best if you came back some other-"

"I want to talk to you about one of your inventions," Mattheed on "an exploding safebox"

"an exploding oh Yes Those You mean the keyless safei The thief trapi"

"Whatever you call it I just want to kno it got into the hands of a killer nahteri" Quisenhunt searched his memory "I&039;m sorry, I have no recollection of that name I sold no thief trap to him"

"are you surei"

"absolutely I keep strict records of who buys my " He almost said art But instead he said, "Creations"

Matthew hadn&039;t known quite what to expect froly, had hands that seeboats He had large brown eyes and a topping of blond hair with a cowlick that shot up at the crown like an exotic plant Thick blond eyebrows arched up over the ri a question Matthew already kneenty-eight years old, froer than that There was sohtly-slumped posture, or in the inflections of his voice that seemed to rise on the last word of every sentence This impression was aided by the multitude of freckles scattered across his cherry-cheeked face He looked to Matthew to be a strangely overgroelve-year-old boy wearing his father&039;s buckled shoes, white stockings, dark brown breeches, cream-colored shirt and yellow-striped cravat The phrase mishap of nature came to mind

It was time to roll out the cannon Matthew said, "I am a representative of the law from New York In this case, youfor Slaughter You may have information I need"

"Oh," came the hushed response Quisenhunt rubbed his lower lip "Well, then why aren&039;t you in coh Constable abram Farraday"

"Yes," Matthew said "He sent ht you were an Indian scout," Quisenhunt said, and almost sounded disappointed

"May Ii" Matthew made a motion of entrance

There was an uncomfortable moment where the master of the house looked to his wife to see if she approved letting such a ragamuffin into their domain, whether he was a law ars But then she nodded graciously at Matthew, retreated a step, and asked if he ht like a nice cup of le a hallway and through the door to his workshop, and there Matthe o, in the weak light of early , Matthew had stue below the water a brooolen cap, a gray coat and carrying a torch caoes therei" Matthew thought it ise he answer, because thea blunderbuss at him

Indian trouble, the watchman had told him as they went to see the town&039;s constable, by name Josaphat Newkirk The town&039;s na but Hoornbeck, and according to the watchman was situated on the Philadelphia Pike about four ot their warpaint on, the watch headache and his vision blurred in and out, but he could function, more or less Hey! Did they jump you tooi

Whoi Matthew had asked

The Indians, man! They&039;re crawlin&039; all around here!

Hoornbeck, a small town that overlooked a picturesque lake, was in a state of high alert Men with guns were everywhere, leading skittish horses Wohtened children By the time Mattheas escorted to the constable&039;s office in the white-washed town hall, a clerk reported that Constable Newkirk had gone out on his rounds to check with the other watchmen Matthew had no time to waste; he asked to be taken to the town&039;s doctor, so in a few reen shutters on the edge of the lake

Dr Martin Lowe, a big bearish man with close-cropped brown hair, a brown beard streaked with gray and brown eyes behind his spectacles, took a look at him, rushed him in and put him on a table with three candles on either side of Matthew&039;s head He began to examine the injuries while his wife boiled water for tea and hot towels

"Lucky here," said the doctor, in a bass rumble that Matthew could feel in his chest He touched the sore, blood-crusted area below Matthew&039;s left eye Matthew hadn&039;t realized before now that Slaughter&039;s fingernails had worked their ht you any higher and that was a bad blow to your head, froers a upi"

"Three," Matthew said, when he concentrated and half of the ers disappeared like wisps of smoke

"Mouth open Did you s any teethi"

"Sir please listen I&039; for a man who probably cahter was sih to describe "He would have had an arrow in his upper right arm"

"You e Constable Newkirk brought hiei"

"He had a terrible time of it Indians ambushed his party Wiped &039;eash in his head, took the arrowhead out of his arm and did what I could Gave him a bottle of brandy to ease his pain"

"and where is he nowi"

"I said he ought to stay here and let et a rooside the Pike Daot to go" Matthew had started to get off the table, but suddenly there were two bearish, brown-bearded doctors in the rooe is due back by ten o&039;clock, which is a little ain In the meantime, let me work on you, and tell me what the hell happened"

Within five minutes, Loas out the door like a shot to track down Constable Newkirk

It hile before they returned, because to add to the confusion of the day Matthew later learned that Newkirk had been out talking to a watchman whose eyes were evidently not so watchful, for his horse had been untied and stolen fro-post on Main Street hardly an hour before Then Newkirk, a lean gray-hairedthat just wants to sleep in peace, listened intently to Matthew&039;s tale, which made him look even sadder He lit his pipe, blew sh as if that explained everything "Let o pay a visit to Sir Grudge Whatever his damned name is"

When Matthew heard about the stolen horse, he&039;d figured of course Slaughter had taken the beast and pounded away the last few miles to Philadelphia But the constable had a different story for Matthehen he returned frohter had hiht," Newkirk said as he puffed his pipe and Lowe applied the plaster to Matthew&039;s wound "Everybody wanted to hear about the Indians and pay his bill He told so ones Fooled me, he did Except the last trouble we had with the red o You recall, Martin They burned down Keltey&039;s barn, set fire to his haystacks"

"I recall"

"Ran around hollerin&039; a little while, shot some arrows into the roof and then they went" Newkirk whistled and one "Back into the woods Their kingdom Well, he fooled hti"

"The horsei Oh, Ben Witt&039;s horsei No, I don&039;t think so Unless he was in two places at once Your Mr Slaughter"-Mattheished he would stop saying that-"took up with a tradesht at the inn Peddler told Daisy-that would be Daisy Fisk, hter-in-law-that he was headin&039; to Philadelphia Had all his wares in a wagon Well, your Mr Slaughter left with the trades delivered that unwelco

"Constablei" Mattheaved smoke away from his face "Why don&039;t you send out some fast ridersi Maybe they can catch hi town by now," Newkirk replied "Their probleazed out theat the lake as if he would give up everything he owned for a"at last," he said "You say there&039;re soo anywhere for a while," the doctor said "I&039;m surprised he can walk"

"The bodies can wait, then," Newkirk decided "Funny thing, though"

"What&039;s funnyi"

"Your Mr Slaughter Such a killer and all, you say Left with a tradesave a dry little chuckle "Fella was sellin&039; knives"

Matthew stood on the threshold of Oliver Quisenhunt&039;s workshop, three days since his visit to Hoornbeck He looked into an untidy mess: stacks of books and papers upon the floor, shelves full of strangely-shapedcabinet without, a desk covered with searwheels and more tools, and at the center of the hurrah-rah a chalkboard on wheels The chalkboard was covered side to side and top to bottoes and pegs, gearwheels, drillbits and ht very well have co that looked like half of a spoked wagon wheel and had two batlike wings extended on either side

Of course I know Oliver Quisenhunt, High Constable Farraday had told Matthew thisHe&039;s the crazy clockmaker Well I say that with all respect He&039;s actually a very talented inventor Designed the safebox especially for us Now, Mr Corbett tell et awayi

Matthew took stock of another shelf that held a variety of clockfaces in both metal and wood "Howonon the complexity of what the client wants"

"What is thati" Matthew pointed to the half wagon wheel with the bat wings