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Alexia could see it all in the society papers:

Lady Maccon boarded the Giffard Long-Distance Airship, Standard Passenger Class Transport Model, accoe She was followed up the gangplank by her sister, Felicity Loontwill, dressed in a pink traveling dress hite ruffled sleeves, and Miss Ivy Hisselpenny, in a yellow carriage dress withhat The hat had an excessive veil, such as those sported by adventurers entering bug-infested jungles, but otherwise the two young ladies made for perfectly appropriate companions The party was outfitted with the latest in air-travel goggles, earmuffs, and several other fashionable ned to facilitate the ible experiences

Lady Maccon was also accoentleman escort There was soer felloho ht have trod the boards on ht odd that Lady Maccon was seen off by her personal secretary, a former butler, but the presence of her affe Lady Maccon is one of London’s presdress of the latest design, with tape-down skirt straps, weighted hened to flutter becohtly fitted bodice There were teal-velvet-tri top hat with an appropriately modest veil and drop-down teal velvet earmuffs tied securely to her head More than a few of the ladies walking through Hyde Park that afternoon stopped to wonder as to the maker of her dress, and a certain matron of low scruples plotted openly to hire away Lady Maccon’s excellentparasol in one hand and a red leather dispatch case in the other, neither of which e when traveling All in all, Hyde Park’s afternoon peraant departure of one of the season’s ht they eons and found it typical of London society that what pleased the, Tunstell was revoltingly bouncy, and Floote had refused to accoht be suffocated by an overabundance of bustle Alexia was just thinking it was going to be a long and tedious journey when an ientleman hove into view The leader of their procession, a frazzled ship’s steward trying to steer theeway to allow the gentleentleman stopped and doffed his hat at the parade of newcomers The smell of vanilla and mechanical oil tickled Lady Maccon’s nose

"Why," said Alexia in startle here?"

Just then, the dirigible jerked against its tethers as the h the aether ruainst Lady Maccon and then righted herself Alexia felt that the Frenchwoer to do so than was necessary

"Clearly we are not ‘on Earth’ for"I thought, after our conversation, that I, too, would enjoy visiting Scotland"

Alexia frowned To travel so soon after opening a brand-new shop, not to hostly aunt behind, seemed unwarranted Clearly the inventor uard up around the Frenchwoman, which was sad, as Alexia rather enjoyed the inventor’s co for Lady Maccon to encounter a woman more independent and eccentric than herself

Alexia introduced Madame Lefoux to the rest of her party, and the Frenchwoht have been a slight wince upon seeing Ivy’s eyeball-searing ensee Tunstell and Ivy bowed and curtsied, but Felicity openly snubbed the woelique, too, seeh the maid did curtsy as required by soelique had very decided opinions on proper attire She probably did not approve of a wo and hard look, al to do with both of the French, and her suspicions were confirelique in a rapid-fire undertone in her native tongue, too fast for Alexia to follow

Angelique did not respond, turning her lovely little nose up slightly and pretending to be busy fluffing the ruffles on Lady Maccon’s dress

Madaelique," Lady Maccon addressed her servant thoughtfully, "as that?"

"It waz nothing of iht wait for a later time and followed the steward into her cabin

She did not re, as she wished to explore the ship and be on deck to witness float-off She had waited years to float the skies, having followed the developy detailed in the Royal Society papers froible at last was a joy not to be daers had boarded and been shown to their respective cabins, the crew cast off the rope tethers, and the great balloon hoisted theasped to see the world retreating below the into the landscape, landscape disappearing into a patchwork quilt, and final, irrevocable proof that the world was, indeed, round

Once they floated through norerously perched at the very back of the engines, spun up the propeller, and, with steareat puffs of white out the back and sides of the tank, the dirigible floated forward in a northerly direction There canetic current and picked up speed, going faster than it looked like it ought to be able to go, with its portly boatlike passenger decks dangling below the massive almond-shaped canvas balloon

Miss Hisselpenny, who had joined Lady Maccon on deck, recovered froood little voice, untrained but sweet "Ye’ll take the high road," she sang, "and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye"

Lady Maccon grinned at her friend but did not join her She knew the song Who didn’t? It had been a forerunner in Giffard’s dirigible travel n But Alexia’s was a voice , as anyone who ever heard her sing took great pains to reorating The air up high was colder and somehow fresher than that of London or the countryside She felt strangely coh this were her eleaseous netic particles

However, she liked it far less the nextof floating inside as well as out

"Air travel takes so by way of explanation, "derangeestive components" He sent round one of the ship’s hostesses with a tincture of er Very little put Alexia off her food, and with the help of the tincture, she recovered a measure of her appetite by midday Part of the queasiness, she supposed, was the fact that she was readjusting her routine to that of daylight folk, after spending ht

Felicity only noticed that Alexia was getting new color in her cheeks

"Of course, not just anyone looks good in a sun hat But I do believe, Alexia, that you ought to make that sacrifice If you are wise, you will take my advice in this matter I know sun hats are not often worn these days, but I think soht be excused the old-fashioned nature of the accessory And why do you go gadding about with that parasol at all ti more and more like ourfroasped at the cutting nature of such a statement

Felicity was about to respond in kind when Tunstell appeared, entirely distracting her She’d deduced Ivy and Tunstell’s regard for one another and thus was now co Tunstell’s affection for herself, for no other reason than to show Ivy that she could

"Oh, Mr Tunstell, how lovely of you to join us" Felicity batted her eyelashes

Tunstell reddened slightly and bobbed his head at the ladies "Miss Loontwill Lady Maccon" A pause "And how do you feel today, Lady Maccon?"

"The airsickness fades by luncheon"

"How terribly convenient of it," reht hope it would hold on a trifle longer given your inclination toward robustness and obvious affection for food"