Brilliant Devices (27 page)

She followed his gaze to the ring of
delicately carved ivory on the fourth finger of his right hand. “Is that from Malina? Is she your wife?”

“Yes. And yes. I am trying to steel myself to leaving her and the girls. The shadow side of my actions is that I have no funds to keep them with me. It is a simple fact that in
doing my duty, I must leave them.”

Alice raised her fingers to her hair, and touched what was fixed there. “You need money?”

“Not here, no. But if I were to travel with my family, I would.”

She
was already undoing the clasp of the diamond watch pin that Claire had given her back in Resolution as thanks for helping her. She had offered to give it back to Davina, but the latter had only laughed and asked if she would like the earrings to match. The latter were in her ears at this moment, as a kind of security deposit against the future. “Take this. If you can get as far as Edmonton, you can exchange it for gold. It ought to get you wherever you’re going.”

“I can’t take this from you. Was it a gift?”

“It was. It used to belong to Lady Dunsmuir, and now I’m giving it to you.”

“Alice, this is worth several hundred pounds at least—these three diamonds are a carat apiece
, and all these brilliants set around them amount to one more. I can’t take the most valuable thing you own.”

“The
Lass
is the most valuable thing I own. This is just something to put in my hair.” She put the pin in his palm and folded his fingers around it. “If this means you can be with Malina and the girls and me all at once, then it’s money well spent.”

His
other hand covered hers. “Just when I believe there is no hope for human nature, I meet the refutation of that belief in my own daughter.”

“That’s a lot of twenty-five-cent words, Pa.”

“I believe in getting my money’s worth.”

“Will I see you again, really?”

“Look for me by the caribou moon.”

“How? I could be in Victoria by then. Or S byp>

“You forget the pigeons. I will send one with you on the
Lass
. Just release it when you moor somewhere for more than a day, and I’ll come.”

She could say no. She could drum up some righteous rage, and turn a cold shoulder and march out of this
narrow little room doing double duty as a confessional. But what would that get her?

More of the same, that’s what. More tears, and more empty skies, and a lifetime of feeling as rootless and vulnerable as she had coming in here.

A caribou moon meant the end of one season … and the beginning of another.

Maybe she should open her eyes … and her heart.

“Alice?” He bent to look into her face. “Please don’t cry, sweetheart.”

But it was too late. She threw herself
into his arms and bawled like the little girl she had once been.

“’Scuse me, c’n I ’ave this dance?”

To Claire’s utter astonishment—and that of the young officer
partnering her—Jake cut in and manfully attempted to steer her away from the young man and across the floor.

“One two free, one two free …
Lady, we gots to rescue Alice. She an’ some gent did ’alf a waltz and then disappeared down that corridor there, behind them frondy things.”

“
Those are palms. And Jake, there are occasions when a lady may be allowed some privacy.”

He made a disgusted sound and tripped. His recovery was quick, though, and her skirts disguised most of it. “It weren’t that way. ’E weren’t one of us, nor one of the
Margrethe
’s crew neither.”

“Describe him.”

When he was finished, Claire patted him with the hand that rested on his shoulder. “The ocular device confirms it. That is Frederick Chalmers, her father. They had words in the Esquimaux village. Perhaps he has come to repair their relationship.”

“P’raps. And p’raps we should make sure she’s all right, him bein’ a saboteur and all.”

“I am convinced he has been unjustly accused, but to set your mind at ease, we will join them.”

In seconds Jake had located which of the paneled doors
along the short service corridor was the correct one, and Claire opened it, preparing a smile.

She found Alice in tears in Frederick Chalmers’s arms.

“Captain!” Jake sprang into the room. “All right?”

Alice lifted her head and snuffled like a child, whereupon her father
byp>>

“I thought—”

“Jake was concerned,” Claire said smoothly, when Jake came to an abrupt halt. “Mr. Frederick Chalmers, may I introduce Alice’s navigator, Jake Fletcher.”

“
Beggin’ yer pardon, Lady, but it’s McTavish,” the boy said slowly. “Snouts bade me keep it quiet from the others and use a different ’andle. I’m ’is brother. ’alf brother.”

“Jake McTavish,” she
corrected herself, inclining her head in thanks for the information while wondering why on earth Snouts would require such a thing. “Mr. Chalmers, will you be joining us this evening?”

“No,” Alice said. She balled up the
napkin and stuffed it down the front of her gown. Claire tried not to wince. “He’ll be hightailing it off this boat as quick as he can, before Penhaven finds out he’s here.”

“Or I can be polite and greet the Dunsmuirs and Count von Zeppelin.” He gave his daughter a meaningful glance. “And
then
, while the director is dragging me away, you might get a chance to speak with the count.”

Instead of answering, Alice proceeded to brief Claire on the particulars of what she and her father had just been discussing.

“I knew it,” Claire breathed.

“You know nothing,” Frederick said sharply. “I have asked Alice to do one thing, and one thing only. Her friends are not to be involved.”

“Gettin’ shot at don’t make us involved?” Jake asked. “Seems like we got bigger fish to fry than gettin’ the count clear of here. Wot ’appens if they go ahead wiv the sabotage anyways? More folks than just ’im could get ’urt.”

“For heaven’s sake, I will not discuss such secret matters with children!”

Jake eyed him. “Ent been a child in a long time.” Then, upon seeing Claire’s pointed gaze, reluctantly added, “Sir.”

“Give it up, Pa. We’re involved and that’s that. You can be secretive about the rest of it, but meantime, it’s our friends in danger here.”

Chalmers struggled with himself, and while he did, Claire thought aloud. “It’s safe to expect that Meriwether-Astor wants the Dunsmuirs to survive to bear the shame. Otherwise, why go to all the trouble of bringing the journalists? If they are killed, they become martyrs and the two-inch headlines will announce a state funeral instead of … whatever he is going to accuse them of.”

Chalmers let out a breath with as much exasperated noise as a steam engine. “For the last time, you must not—”

The floor jerked out from under their feet as the great flagship reeled from a sudden blow of massive force. Claire and Alice were flung into one another’s arms, while Jake fell into Chalmers’s back. The dishes slid up one side of their racks and clattered down into place again, while outside the galley, shrieks of terror and the smash and tinkle of glass told Claire that the buffet had not been so carefully engineered for bad weather.

She had just pushed herself up onto her hands and knees when a second blow struck the ship. It swooped sickeningly, as though all its mooring ropes had failed on one side and it had taken leave of the ground. With a cry, she fell
against the cabinet doors. At least she had not far to fall this time.

“Alice? Are you all right? Jake?” Dear heaven, she had to get over to the
Lady Lucy
. “We must make certain the Mopsies are all right, and Tigg and Willie. Jake?”

A groan told her he was conscious, at least.
The three of them helped each other struggle to their feet, she and Alice impeded by yards of silk and petticoats that they finally hauled up in their hands so they could find their footing.

“What was that?” Alice groaned. “An earthquake?”

“That was no earthquake.” After pulling himself to his feet, Frederick Chalmers tugged his waistcoat into place, looking grim. “That was a pressure wave—or else something happened to the gas bags within the fuselage. There will have been an explosion, and close by, too.”

Bruised, sore, they tumble
d out of the little galley. When they entered the saloon, Claire realized how much luck had been on their side. For the galley had protected them in a way that the large room full of loose objects had not protected the dancers, musicians, and other guests and crew of the
Margrethe
.

Chalmers gripped his daughter’s hand. “
Are you really all right?”

“Yes, Pa. I’ll have a big bruise on my behind tomorrow
. Not like these other poor folks—where are the count’s medics?”

But Chalmers was not to be distracted. “
You must get von Zeppelin off the ship and out of here. Ten to one this is merely a distraction and he is the real target.”

“But Pa—”

“Quick, Alice. There is no time to lose. I’m going out to see what happened.”

Claire caught Jake’s eye
and the boy followed him out without a word, quick as a footpad, weaving in and out of the dazed men and women in formal dress who were making for the gangways, instinctively seeking solid ground. The medics, who were coming through from the crew deck with their bags, began to work on the fallen and injured.

The Dunsmuirs were on their feet, and appeared to be having strong words about her ladyship’s leaving. Claire wound her way over, stepping over a swath of smashed desserts and three potted palms stretched out on the carpet, their fronds like fingers beseeching aid.

“Davina, we must see to the children on
Lady Lucy
immediately,” she said in a tone that made the earl draw himself up in affront.

“You shall
not
—”

“John, I am responsible for the twins and Tigg,”
Claire told him firmly. “Davina and I will escort each other. You must see to the safety of your crew and officers here.”

“But there may be—”

“Thank you, John. We shall return in half an hour.”

Davina grasped her hand and the two of them hauled up their trains and dashed helter-skelter for the gangway, leaping over smashed china and fallen chairs, skirting around the medical men bending over their patients, until they gained the
ground.

From there it was only a matter of fifty yards to
Lady Lucy
… where they could see what had happend. For the force of the blast had pierced the
Margrethe
’s fuselage, and in the light from the airfield they could see its great gas bags slowly collapsing. Already aeronauts were scrambling in the fixed rigging, closing valves and shouting orders to one another as the ship sagged on the ground.

If Frederick Chalmers had hoped the count would leave the north under his own steam, that hope was now dashed. From what Claire could see, it would take
days to repair the damage—and with weather on its way, did they have that time?

“Such a noble ship,” Davina said, as though of a friend who had died. “We must do all we can to assist. But first things first.”

Three of the middies watched anxiously at the windows of
Lady Lucy
’s gondola, and when Davina waved, their heads disappeared and they appeared moments later, jumping down to hold the gangway steps for her.