Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories. Book 2.

by Paul Kater

left the building.

  "Miss Marin?"

  Lily almost jumped as she heard the voice say her name.

  "William..." she gasped as she turned and saw the owner of said voice.

  It was William Masterson, or Billy. An acquaintance of her friend Selma. Selma had, on several occasions already, attempted to be a matchmaker for Lily and William. So far Lily had succeeded not to match.

  "I startled you," Billy said, "I am so sorry, Miss Marin. I saw you go in here, and I decided to wait for you."

  Lily stared at the young man. She had been in there for hours. "You... waited? For me?" For herself she added 'Don't you have something better to do?'

  William, his floppy cap in a hand, nodded. "Yes. I would like the honour of escorting you home, Miss Marin."

  Lily was flabbergasted. "Well, I think that is very considerate of you, William, but-"

  "Please call me Billy, Miss Marin."

  "-but I know how to get home. Billy." Lily felt awkward, as she almost argued with this young man who clearly hoped to do something nice for her while she was not at all in a mood to let him do that.

  Billy was however not giving up and insisted that he wanted to guide her home, so Lily gave up trying to change his mind.

  "Very well," she said with a resigning sigh, "you can escort me home. But no further than the front door."

  "Oh, certainly, Miss Marin," Billy said, a bout of happiness spreading over his cheeks.

  "And, uhm, perhaps you should call me Lily then. It is odd that I call you Billy and you keep calling me Miss Marin."

  "Of course, Miss Lily. Uhm, Lily." Billy almost dropped his cap in his hurry to put it on his head.

  To Lily's surprise he raised his hand to a passing carriage, and as the driver had stopped, the young man opened the door for her and offered to help her inside. She categorically refused to be helped as if she was an old woman, though.

  "How did you know where I was?" Lily asked, intrigued by Billy's unexpected presence.

  "I was running some deliveries for my uncle. As I was passing by to deliver the last package, I saw you go into the building, so I decided to wait for you."

  Lily's curiosity was effectively prodded. "You deliver packages there?" She had no idea what kind of business his uncle was running, but if Billy was delivering parcels in this area, it had to be something particular.

  "Yes, Miss Ma- Lily. I had six of them today. Not so much as a few days ago." He shrugged, as if he apologised for it.

  "Then would you please tell me what you were delivering?" She had to know now and hated herself for it.

  "Things my uncle makes. He is a very gifted jewellery maker, and many ladies from here come to his shop. And sometimes also gentlemen from here visit him."

  "For jewellery?" Lily did not like it a bit to sound so surprised and interested, but this was... strange, to say the least.

  Billy smiled carefully, he obviously enjoyed that they were actually talking instead of Lily trying to get rid of him in a more of less decent manner.

  "Yes, that too. Rings, you know. But the gentlemen are more interested in the watches. And snuff boxes. My uncle is a craftsman with time pieces and other... uhmm... clockworks and such things."

  The question what kind of 'things' was immediately on Lily's tongue, but she decided to swallow that until later. She wanted to know also why he lived and worked with his uncle and aunt, and not with his parents. Although that might be painful, his parents might not be alive any more.

  Instead she asked him if he was going to do the same work as his uncle.

  "I would like to, but I doubt I am skilled enough for that. Not patient enough, says my aunt, although my uncle thinks I have talent."

  Billy looked at his hands. Lily understood why. Someone who made all these small items had to have good and steady hands.

  "Are you going to sing with the ladies of the choir, Lily?" the young man then dared a question.

  "Hmm. Yes. I think I will. They asked me to, and I agreed to come to the next rehearsal." Suddenly feeling cheeky, Lily grinned. "Some of them are not that good. But don't ever tell anyone I told you so. I will come after you if I find out you mentioned it!"

  Billy laughed. It sounded disarming, honest. "Don't worry, Miss- Lily. Nobody will hear that from me. I think the choir will benefit from your presence. And your voice."

  The carriage stopped. Lily saw that they had arrived in the street where she lived. Billy also saw it and quickly hopped from the carriage, holding up his hand for her.

  Not ever was she going to take the hand offered. She was not old nor in need, Lily thought, and left the carriage on her own.

  Billy did not seem to mind that Lily ignored his hand. He simply closed the door and paid the driver.

  The man tipped his hat and the carriage pulled away, but then something happened in front of the horse. The animal reared and pushed the carriage backwards.

  Lily felt something hard hit her in the back, and then Billy grabbed her and half turned, half pulled her away, getting a bashing from the rear end of the carriage. The two lost their balance and fell onto the pavement, Lily landing on top of the young man.

  Before they had sorted themselves out, the carriage driver was already with them, uttering a hundred apologies and helping them to their feet.

  Lily was more shocked that Billy had grabbed her than hurt. She would not have sustained any injury from this, but then, no one but her knew this. Billy had only attempted to keep her safe. Lily furiously pushed away a feeling she had not invited.

  In his galant but stupid action, Billy had twisted his ankle though, which became apparent as he tried to stand up after Lily was on her feet again. The carriage driver had to support the young man who was biting away the pain as he stood on one leg.

  "Are you all right, sir?" the driver asked, asking for the terminally obvious. "I'm so sorry, something must've spooked the horse..."

  Billy said he was mostly fine, although his face told a different story. It was several more shades ashen than was healthy.

  "We should sit him down somewhere, miss," the driver suggested to Lily.

  The singer bit her lip. This certainly meant inside her house, her sanctuary. But she did not see another option, so she nodded reluctantly. "Can you help him inside?"

  With the driver supporting Billy behind her, she went to her front door and unlocked it. In her head a hundred thoughts ran amok. She did not want other people inside, but Billy needed a seat.

  Once the door was open, she said: "I will take him and get him inside, sir."

  "Are you certain, miss? He is leaning quite heavily..."

  "We'll be fine," she assured the concerned looking man, and took Billy's arm. "Don't worry, Billy, I shan't drop you."

  Billy groaned as he hit his foot against the door, but that was the only mishap. Lily half carried him through the short hall, and soon he was in a chair.

  The driver, worried as he was, had come in after them. "Anything I can do to help, miss?" he offered, but Lily thanked him and said that it would all be well.

  'Just leave,' she thought.

  The man produced a crumpled piece of paper on which he quickly wrote an address, using a stub of pencil that appeared from some hidden pocket.

  "This is the address of the company, miss, if there is something you need, you can talk with them. Mr. Jones would be the manager in charge." Then he wished them good luck and a nice day, and left.

  Lily leaned against the now closed front door, resting her forehead against the sturdy wood. She had a man in her house. A hurt one, too. Letting out a sigh, she walked back into the living room.

  Despite being a singer and not a nurse, she managed to make Billy comfortable. She had taken off his shoe and put the hurting foot up on a low chair. "Is there something else I can do for you?" she then asked.

  "I don't think so. Please accept my gratitude, Lily, for what you do for me." Billy then looked at her in a particular way. "You are incredibly strong. You practically
carried me through the door."

  Lily groaned inside. Why did this have to happen? "Strong women is a family trait," she tried to brush the issue aside. She offered him some tea, which he gladly accepted, and after making some for both of them she sat down opposite of him.

  "Won't your family be worried?" she asked. "I can call for a carriage to take you home."

  "They will not be worried yet, but after tea I should be going," he nodded. "I do not want to occupy too much of your time."

  Lily relaxed.

  "You have a nice house," he then shared.

  Lily's relaxed feeling ran off.

  After tea, she arranged for a carriage. Lily rode along, to see Billy home safely. She would rather die than admit she was curious where he lived.

  -=-=-

  It was late in the evening and Lily had changed into her alter ego, the "Masked Woman". There was a burglar at large and so far this one had given the police force nothing short of a migraine.

  The burglar would not just break in somewhere in town, he would announce his actions beforehand, sending notes to the police. Despite these warnings, the strong arm of the law had proven too weak to catch this criminal mind.

  The police had resorted to posting the newest notes outside the station in an attempt to mobilise the public, hoping that with enough eyes out in the street they would someday be able to catch whoever was responsible for the break-ins.

  Lily had made it a point to walk by the police station as often as she could, to see if there was a new note, and two days ago there had been one. The burglar would strike this evening, at the archaeological museum.

  Lily walked to the cabinet and reached for her