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The carriage stopped in front of a utilitarian red-and-yellow brick warehouse building Pandora’s heart skipped with excitemented s and a carved pediment over the entrance O’Cairre Print Works had been painted on the pedion was quick to open the carriage door and reach in for Pandora’s valise before pulling down the step He was careful not to let Pandora’s skirt touch the wheel as she ee Efficiently he opened the shop door, and closed it after she entered However, instead of waiting outside the shop as a footman would, he went inside and stood beside the door

"You don’t need to wait in the shop with ave her the valise "My appointo sonored the suggestion and re a printer," Pandora couldn’t resist pointing out "The worst thing that could happen to , Pandora turned and went to the first in a row of counters that extended across the large interior and divided it into several departments The print works was the most wonderfully cluttery, colorful place she had ever been in, except perhaps Winterborne’s departlass and jewels and luxury ite neorld The walls were liberally papered with caricature prints, cards, playbills, engravings, penny-sheets, and toy theater backdrops The air was perfulue, and chemicals, a smell that made Pandora want to snatch up a pen and frantically start drawing so At the back of the shop, machinery clacked and clattered with a start-run-stop rhythm as apprentices operated hand presses

Overhead, prints had been hung up to dry on hundreds of lines strung across the room There were towers of h colureater quantities and varieties than Pandora had ever seen in one place The counters were piled with trays of printing blocks carved with letters, animals, birds, people, stars, moons, Christhtful i matron approached She was tidy and slender and boso-lashed hazel eyes "Lady St Vincent?" she asked, and curtseyed deeply "Mrs O’Cairre"

"A pleasure," Pandora said, beaued as I was by your letter," Mrs O’Cairre said "Your board game sounds very clever, milady" She was a well-spoken woue There was a lively air about her that Pandora liked exceedingly "Would you like to sit with me and discuss your plans for it?"

They went to sit at a table in a sheltered spot at the side of the rooame and what components it would require, while she unearthed sketches, notes, and prototypes froah the departments of a whimsically detailed store It would include merchandise cards, play money, and chance cards that would either help or hinder the players’ progress

Mrs O’Cairre was enthusiastic about the project, aa directly onto the board with a flat-bed press If you want a ame board, we could create a metal plate for each color--five to ten would be sufficient--and apply ink to the board in layers until the ie is coahtfully "It would be e in black and white, and you hired woe But of course, that would be h dereater profits by producing the game entirely by machine"

"I would prefer the hand-colored option," Pandora said "I want to provide good jobs for wo to support themselves and their families There’s more than profits to consider"

Mrs O’Cairre stared at her for a long moment, her eyes warm "I admire that, milady Very much Most ladies of your rank, if they think of the poor at all, do little roups Your business would help the poor far more than knit-work"

"I hope so," Pandora said "Believe hed "I do like you, ether briskly "Coive you a pile of sa up her papers and galanced over her shoulder at Dragon, atching her from beside the door He stepped forward as he saw that she was heading to the back of the shop, but she shook her head and gestured for hihtly, he folded his arms and remained in place

Pandora followed Mrs O’Cairre past a waist-high counter where a pair of boys were busy collating pages To the left, an apprentice worked a treadle-operated letter press with huge gears and levers, while another e copper rollers that pressed i rolls of paper