Page 26 (1/2)
"More than you will ever know, I hope Don’t try any of your tricks on him, Miss Temminnick He won’t put up with the If the school works for the potentate, does that ents of the Shadow Council? "For blood, queen, and country, sir?" she said, softly
"So he says, Miss Temminnick So he says"
Sophronia had always enjoyed the idea of intelligencer work but been worried about who she ent for Queen Victoria and her supernatural advisers seemed safer than the Picklemen or the vampire hives, but were they really any better? If I want to, will I be pereo to the highest bidder? And if the latter is the case, how is that a fate better than an arranged e?
Sophronia wasn’t certain what instinct drove her to drop by the classrooht on in Professor Lefoux’s lab and cli with her trumpet pressed to the porthole There was only one person in the roo Professor Shrie metal suitlike object that he and Professor Lefoux had tinkered with earlier that week He orking in intense silence, and though Sophronia watched hiot no information She returned to her room, puzzled, but with a certain sense of anticipation Soon, she felt, all her questions would be answered They were, after all, in London
Her bed was lonely and cold without Bumbersnoot’s hot metal body to warm her feet
HIGH FLOATING ABOARD
W hen she first saw Made Ladies of Quality, Sophronia had been impressed by the size of the airship But no one would everit pretty It was a cu that seemed to stay up by will rather than ability, like a potbellied pig One got the i so out of a sense of polite obligation
The same could not be said of Giffard’s aether-current floater, christened the Puffy Niical beauty Its bottoant Its bliated almond with no patches from cannon fire and no extraneous ropes or ladders The balloon was lided in over a jubilant crowd and sank to land at the center of Hyde Park, soly eirls were per with hundreds of others They were under strict orders to stick together, paired into two long lines They dressed in their best walking frocks and bonnets, parasols raised against an overcast sky
"Pretty as a pineapple," pronounced Made them off with a lace handkerchief Mademoiselle Geraldine never left the airship if she could avoid it "An Englishwos
The girls joined in the cheers of welcoed the journey in under an hour He’d come all the way froher up that any manned float-craft had ever been before "He uidance valve," insisted Vieve "He couldn’t have ed those currents any other way" Then she vanished into the crowd
Henri Giffard pranced down the gangplank of his wondrous master He was dressed in a suit of cream check with a turquoise cravat and boasted a mustache the likes of which Sophronia had never seen before Had he been awake, Professor Braithwope and his sad excuse for a lip curtain would have trembled in humiliation Henri Giffard’s mustache curled up and out like a corkscreaxed to within an inch of its life It was too theatrical Sophronia instantly stopped looking at hi attention away froht expect of a Hyde Park afternoon There were toffs in fancy carriages and on horseback Made ladies of quality were co schools, all allowed to walk out for the roups of boffins frohtly ruadgetry There were riffraff as well: soreasers, and other representatives of the rougher orders Before she had lanced over theencers could be anyone, after all
She wasn’t certain exactly what she was looking for--soroup of extraordinarily well-turned-out dandies to one side They were a bit out of place It was early in the day for that sort to be awake, and they were not the kind of ibles She stared at the a circuit? Giffard was rumored to be a bounder Several of the acadeht be too well dressed; perhaps they were in disguise? Then again, they could be French scholars, over to observe the landing
The Puffy Nilish and elcoht representatives That hen Sophronia spotted the ere threecanes and wearing top hats Around those hats were bands of green Picklemen They, like Sophronia, acted aloof from the excitement--watchers As she looked at them, one spotted her He tipped his hat with his cane Sophronia twirled her parasol at hi up at the startled boy
"Are you unwell, Ria, uess at our relationship, she thought Let them wonder Son of a Pickleman, is he? How much does he know?
Sophronia said sweetly, "A little overstimulated, Lord Mersey, that is all It’s unseasonably warm, don’t you feel?"
Felix patted her hand on his ar way "Well, little one, you hold on there I’ll ensure you get back to the ship safely"
Sophronia couldn’t resist "That’sman"
Felix’s eyes flashed at her suspiciously
Sophronia only continued to sood effect
Felix couldn’t help but smile back She was, after all, on his arht-after eventuality?
They returned to the school Surprisingly, no one had tried to escape during the outing The teachers were delighted with such unexpectedly good behavior Accordingly, the girls were given the afternoon off to priet out into it for Monique’s ball
The ship was abuzz with the excitement of those ere invited and the disappointed tears of those ere not Sophronia and her friends pretended titillation In Diesting a way Agatha , it’s such a pretty red"), repriown ("Add a little lace, please?"), and insisting Sophronia wear more jewelry ("No, the obstructor does not count")
"It doesn’t look at all like a bangle Could we dress it up with jewels or so else sparkly?"
"Not without Vieve’s permission It isn’t mine yet Di adequately kitted than fashionable"
"Oh, Sophronia, don’t say such a horrible thing!" Diasped One of Lady Linette’s techniques "As if anything untoould happen at Monique’s co-out ball" Her eyes sparkled at the teuilty After all, Dier "Very well, you can sparkle up the hurlie if you must But not the obstructor"
Dimity clapped her hands and dove for the device