by C. J. Archer
"Daniel, his name is," the toymaker said without looking up. "He usually comes on Saturdays but I haven't seen him today. Must have found something more important to do in his spare time, eh?"
"Do you know where I can find him?"
"No, I'm sorry."
"Did you ever see Daniel's maps? Are they as good as my friend, McArdle, claims?"
"They're very fine. Your friend doesn't exaggerate. Daniel's maps are a work of art in themselves. I'm surprised only the one fellow has come here specifically asking after him. You're the second, of course."
Only one? "That's our friend," I said. "Mr. McArdle."
"The archaeologist?"
Matt hesitated a second before saying, "Is that how he introduced himself to you?" He chuckled. "McArdle likes to make himself sound more interesting than he is."
The toymaker slid the wrapped train engine and carriages to me and set to work on wrapping the zoetrope. "His hobby explains why he and Daniel fell into a discussion about Roman hoards."
Matt went very still. I leaned forward. A Roman hoard meant treasure, and Daniel had told his friends he would come into a lot of money soon.
"McArdle is always on about hoards," Matt said with a laugh and shake of his head. "He's obsessed with them. Was he commissioning Daniel to make a map of an area known to contain a hoard?"
"I wouldn't know, sir. I didn't hear the entire conversation, just a little, in passing, as I was outside cleaning the window." He passed the package to me with a smile. "That'll be one and eight, sir."
Matt paid him and we took our parcels to the carriage. As soon as we pulled out from the curb, we turned to one another and grinned.
"Daniel's map must show McArdle where to find the hoard," Matt said. "Although I'm not sure how. If he commissioned Daniel to draw a map of the location of the hoard, doesn't that mean he already knows where it is?"
"Perhaps he does. Perhaps he's not trying to find the hoard but hide it again after finding it."
"Then why the map, if he already knows?"
I sighed. "It doesn't quite make sense, does it?"
"Don't be disheartened. I think we're onto something. I do know one thing—we need to find out everything we can about Roman archaeology in London, specifically hoards that might be buried beneath the modern city."
"Do you know anything about hoards in general?"
"Archaeology is all the rage in Italy, and my mother had a keen interest. She took me on a dig when I was twelve. We didn't find a hoard, but the archaeologist said he'd once found a large bowl full of coins, buried in what had probably been the garden of a wealthy merchant's villa."
"What did you find on your dig?"
"Walls and a few coins, but not hoards."
Hoards. Coins. I pulled out the button from my reticule and inspected it again. "Perhaps it's not a button but a coin," I said, showing Matt. "The shank is certainly a modern addition."
He plucked it from my palm and inspected it. "I think you're right. Perhaps it's a Roman coin from McArdle's hoard."
"A magical Roman coin."
Chapter 8
Miss Glass eyed the packages in Matt's hands. "What have you got there?"
"Gifts," he said, setting one down on the table and holding out the other.
"For me? Oh, Harry, that's so like you. I knew you'd bring me something from your travels."
Matt no longer batted an eye when his aunt experienced her episodes. He simply handed her one of the packages. "This is for you." He pecked her cheek. "The train is for India."
"Me!" I blinked at him. "Why?"
"You showed an interest in its mechanisms. I thought you might like to pull it apart to see how it works."
"Oh. That's very generous of you." I accepted the package and sat heavily on the sofa. What did he expect in return?
"Don't look so troubled," he said with a sly grin. "Consider it my lost wager. You haven't looked at a watch or clock all day."
"I suppose."
"A zoetrope!" Miss Glass said with a girlish giggle as she unwrapped it. "I love these. What does it show?" She spun the drum and peered through the slits at the spinning images. "What a lovely little toy. Thank you, Matthew. It's been years since anyone gave me a toy."
"My pleasure, Aunt. Are the others back?"
"Not yet." She set the zoetrope down. "Now, before we dress for dinner, I wanted to speak to you about the Haviland girl."
Matt's gaze slid to me. I gave him an innocent shrug. "What about her?" he asked darkly.
"She's a lovely girl," Miss Glass said. "Very pretty."
"So you told me. And extremely accomplished, too. But can she converse? Is she intelligent?"
Miss Glass's lips pressed together. She glared at me. "Have you two been colluding?"
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind." She stood. "I'm going to dress for dinner. You ought to too."
"It's hours away," he said.
"Nevertheless." She left clutching her zoetrope.
He threw himself into an armchair with a deep sigh. "It's going to be a long evening."
"You should rest a little before you leave," I said. "And use your watch."
"Speaking of which." He pulled out my watch and gave it back to me. "Congratulations. You are one hell of a mule-headed woman, as we say back home."
"I prefer to use the term iron-willed."
He smiled. "What are you going to do tonight? Play poker? Read?"
"Play with my train."
Without Miss Glass present, I didn't bother dressing for dinner. Duke, Cyclops and Willie only changed when they felt like it, and none did tonight. They'd managed to report to Matt before he left with his aunt to dine with the Rycrofts. According to Willie and Duke, DuPont hadn't returned to the factory, and according to Cyclops, neither Onslow nor the mysterious gentleman had been to the guild hall. We dismissed Bristow after he served supper, and I informed them of what we'd learned from Daniel's friends and the toymaker.
"So what do we do now?" Willie asked, putting her booted feet on the spare chair beside her.
"We want to visit an archaeology expert," I said, cradling my wine glass. "Not only to find out more about the coin and hoards but also to find McArdle. I suspect the archaeology field is small and they all know one another."
"McArdle seems like he may be the key," Cyclops said. "Wonder how he heard about magic if he ain't magic himself."
"And how did he find out about Daniel specifically?" Duke asked.
That was a good point. It was somewhat alarming to think that Daniel's reputation had gathered momentum so quickly that a man like McArdle would seek him out.
"Maybe magic ain't as secretive as we think," Willie said. She pulled her pipe from her pocket and patted her other, looking for matches.
"Not in the dining room," Duke grumbled.
She made a rude gesture at him but tucked the pipe back in her pocket.
"Willie may be right," Cyclops said. "Seems to me that most magicians know about it from family stories. How many magicians are there? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?"
"And then there are people like McArdle," I said, "who aren't magical but are happy enough to pay for it."
"Don't forget worms like Abercrombie," Willie said. "People who know about magic but aren't letting on."
"From the way most of the Watchmakers' Guild members looked at me with fear in recent weeks, they must all know that I am…" I studied my glass, swirling the contents in slow circles. "That I possess…"
"Magic, India," Willie said. "You can say it. It ain't a cuss word."
"But it's a despised one, in some circles."
"Despised or feared?" Cyclops said.
"I wish Matt would confront Abercrombie over his comments to Mr. Mason," I said. "He seems to know something about Daniel, and we ought to discover what it is."
"Aye," Cyclops said.
"Matt's being too careful. It ain't like him," Duke agreed.
"He wants to keep India away from Abercrombi
e."
"Why?" Willie asked. "What can Abercrombie do to her now that Matt's warned him off? He won't try that trick of getting her arrested again. Besides, we only want to talk."
Willie and I looked at one another. I lifted my brows. She nodded. We both smiled and turned to the men.
"The four of us will visit Abercrombie tonight," I said, setting down my glass.
"No." Duke shook his head. "Matt won't like it."
"Matt ain't our master," Willie said. "Cyclops? Will you come?"
The big man nodded. "You two will go anyway, and I ain't going to face Matt and tell him I let you go alone. Besides, you need some muscle."
"Then there's no need for you, Duke."
Duke stood and buttoned up his waistcoat. "I'm coming to keep you from doing anything foolish."
"I won't do anything foolish," I said, also standing.
"Not you. Willie." To her, he said, "Maybe you shouldn't take your gun."
"You just try and take it off me." She pushed back her chair, an air of anticipation in her movements. "Least this'll be more interesting than wagering matches at poker."
Cyclops drove the brougham to the Watchmakers' Guild hall in Warwick Lane in the hope we'd find Abercrombie there. I knew he spent much of his spare time at the hall instead of home. My father had once joked that Mr. Abercrombie did everything in his power to avoid the two Mrs. Abercrombies, his wife and mother, who both lived with him. Father said the women bickered incessantly and he almost felt sorry for the man.
Duke peered up at the coat of arms and let out a low whistle. "It's almost as big as the door itself. What does the writing mean?"
"Time is the ruler of all things," I said, blinking up at Old Man Time and the emperor. "It's in Latin."
"Truer words…" Duke murmured, perhaps thinking of Matt's predicament.
"Aye," Cyclops said, equally somber.
We all stared up at the coat of arms, brightly lit by the two lamps mounted on either side of it. The passing of time weighed us all down, as well as the worry over our lack of progress in finding Chronos.
"The Mapmakers' Guild have an old man holding up a globe in their coat of arms too," Willie said, hands on hips. "Why all the old men? Why not have a young muscular brute holding up the globe, or wearing that cloth around his waist? Be easier to look at."
"Because guilds are run by old men," I said, knocking on the door. "And old men don't like to be reminded of what they once had but lost."
"Muscles?"
"Youth."
She snorted. "Hair and teeth, too. Smooth skin."
"A memory," Duke added. "Women falling at their feet."
"We're talking about real life, not your fantasy."
The door was opened by the same footman who'd let me in the last time I'd confronted Abercrombie at the guild hall. I pushed past him before he recognized me and shut the door in my face. He spluttered a protest but didn't bother trying to stop the others from entering.
"You!" he blurted out. "You're not welcome here."
"Is Mr. Abercrombie present?"
"Get out!" He pointed at the door.
Cyclops closed it and stood with his feet a little apart and his hands clasped loosely in front of him. He looked like a pirate anticipating a brawl.
"Is Mr. Abercrombie present?" I repeated.
"I'm here."
I spun round to see the tall figure of Abercrombie approach. He held his pince-nez in one hand and a candlestick in the other. "Good evening, Mr. Abercrombie," I said. "Is there somewhere we can speak privately?"
"Here will do." He didn't advance any closer than the end of the entrance hall, some six or seven feet away. "I cannot imagine you have anything to say that I want to hear."
The footman strode up to his master and whispered something in his ear. Abercrombie nodded and the footman disappeared into the shadows behind him. I guessed we had only a few minutes before constables arrived.
"You have nothing to fear from me," I said. "No one here wishes to harm you."
"Then why is your friend resting her hand on her gun?"
Willie lowered her hand and the flap of her jacket once again obscured the Colt she'd tucked into the waistband of her trousers. I tried to catch her attention to warn her to keep the gun holstered, but she was too intent on glaring at Abercrombie to notice.
"What do you want, Miss Steele?" he said. "I'm a busy man and I don't have time for your games."
"What do you know about Daniel Gibbons?"
The candle's flame flickered with his expelled breath. "Who?"
"Don't play me for a fool. You know about the mapmaker's apprentice. You know he's…special."
"I've never heard the name."
"Did you have anything to do with his disappearance?"
"I beg your pardon? Are you accusing me of something, Miss Steele?"
I approached him slowly, Duke and Willie flanking me. Abercrombie backed away. "It's a simple question, Mr. Abercrombie. Did you have something to do with Daniel's disappearance?"
"How can I when I don't know him?"
"That's a lie."
He backed into the long case clock, throwing the pendulum off its rhythm. It chimed once. "Be careful, Miss Steele, or I'll set my lawyer onto you for slander."
"Your threats don't scare me."
His oiled mustache twitched. "They should. I see that your employer, Mr. Glass, is not here. Is that because you know he won't always be able to save you? He may have friends and influence now, but he won't always. He's not infallible."
"What does that mean?" Willie snapped.
I put out my hand to stay her arm in case she decided that the only way to get him to answer was by shooting. "If you had anything to do with Daniel Gibbons's disappearance, your lawyer won't be able to help you," I said. "Not in the face of his father's ire."
"He doesn't have—" He cut himself off.
I smiled.
"Through here." The footman returned with six thuggish brutes in tow. They looked as if they'd come straight from the docks or an East End tavern. They certainly weren't constables.
I tightened my grip on Willie's arm as I felt it twitch. Duke moved in front of us, arms out at his sides. Cyclops joined him.
"It's time for you to leave, Miss Steele." The smug look on Abercrombie's face made my blood boil more than the presence of his thugs.
"Coward," Willie spat. "Turd. Son of a whore."
I pulled her arm hard and backed toward the door.
"Let me use my Colt," she hissed, trying to pull free.
I was saved from ordering her to leave by both Duke and Cyclops backing up, forcing us to retreat. I opened the door and rushed outside, dragging Willie with me.
Cyclops hurriedly untied the reins from the bollard and threw them to Duke as he sat on the driver's seat. Cyclops joined him while Willie and I climbed into the carriage. She pulled down the window and shouted obscenities at the guild hall as we drove off, not even stopping after we'd turned the corner.
"Willie! Enough!" I cried, rubbing my temples.
She slammed the window shut, humphed, and slouched into the corner, arms folded across her chest. We'd almost reached home by the time her scowl cleared and she spoke again. I was grateful for the silence in which to think.
"What did he mean, Matt's not infallible?" she asked. "Does he know about his illness?"
"I don't know. Even if he's aware of the existence of magic, how would he know that a watchmaker's magic and doctor's magic have been combined in Matt's timepiece to keep him alive?"
She kicked the seat beside me with her boot. "Then what's he talking about?"
"I don't know," I said again, even though a thought had occurred to me. Matt had gotten Abercrombie to drop his accusation of theft against me by telling him about his connection to Commissioner Munro. Perhaps Abercrombie was referring to that connection being broken if Matt failed to find his son.
No, that couldn't be right. Abercrombie didn't know who Daniel's father was.
>
Willie kicked the seat again. "We didn't achieve anything," she grumbled.
"Nonsense. We did. We now know that Abercrombie knows Daniel. When I mentioned Daniel's father's ire, he almost replied that Daniel doesn't have a father."
"It ain't enough."
"Did you expect Abercrombie simply to blurt out that he'd been involved in Daniel's kidnapping?"
"He would have, if you'd let me draw."
"And if he hadn't? Would you have shot him? No, you wouldn't, and if you had, you would have been foolish to do so since the footman had seen us enter. We'd all hang."
"I weren't thinking of murdering him, just shooting off his little toe or something else he don't really need but will hurt like the devil."
I closed my eyes and tipped my head back. Matt had my utmost respect for the way he handled Willie. How he'd managed to keep her out of jail thus far was a miracle.
"He's going to kill us when he finds out, you know," she said.
I opened my eyes. "Abercrombie?"
"Matt. When he learns that we went to visit the guild without him."
"Then don't tell him."
"It was just as I expected," Matt said at breakfast. "Painful. My uncle clearly didn't want me there, and Aunt Beatrice wouldn't stop talking about the girls' charms and accomplishments. Twice Aunt Letitia forgot where she was, and who I was, which made Charity laugh. Hope sat on one side of me, and Patience on the other, but Aunt Letitia glared at me every time I conversed with Hope. I tried to engage Patience in conversation but she's so shy she wouldn't look up from her plate. I spent the entire evening talking to her left ear."
"That must have upset Hope," I said.
"If it did, she's gracious enough not to mention it. We finally managed a conversation when the gentlemen rejoined the ladies in the drawing room. Hope wanted to know why Aunt Letitia disliked her so. I couldn't think of an answer so I feigned innocence. Now she thinks I'm an unobservant fool."
Willie snorted. "If she knows men then she'll think you're normal."
Why did he care what Hope thought of him?
"What about the food?" Cyclops asked. "Did you dine like a lord?"
"Always thinking about your stomach," Willie said with a shake of her head.