A Beggar's Kingdom by Paullina Simons

Author:Paullina Simons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

Part Three

Lady of the Camellias

“Oh, I would give ten years of my life to weep at her feet for an hour.”

Alexandre Dumas, La Dame aux Camélias

28

Airy’s Transit Circle

TO GET TO THE LIGHT, JULIAN CLIMBS A FAMILIAR-LOOKING iron staircase, narrow like a ladder. When he pops open the grate and climbs out, he finds himself back in the Transit Room inside the Royal Observatory.

“Ashton?” he calls out. How could it not work! Julian had been drifting down the river for so long. But it’s unmistakable: though the window to the courtyard and the roof are closed, the familiar telescope is in front of him, and the black stairs flank it. Ashton is nowhere to be found. Neither is Sweeney.

Nope, that’s not true. There’s Sweeney. First the shuffling of torpid footsteps, and here comes the heavy man, huffing and panting. He’s dressed more formally than a minute ago. He wears a funny hat.

“Sweeney,” a crushed Julian says. “It’s you.”

“Who else would it be,” Sweeney says. “I’m the caretaker, I’m always here. And who might you be?”

“It’s me, Sweeney. Where’s Ashton?”

“Who’s Ashton? And who the bloody crickets are you?”

Before Julian can answer, a gray-haired, dapper man in his fifties—wearing no less than a frock coat and top hat—enters the Transit Room. “Mr. Sweeney!” the man exclaims. “Did you see the sun flare just now? I was nearly blinded. That was the largest one yet. Do you have my pen? I must record it in my notebook—” He spots Julian and stops speaking. Turning sharply, he glares at the caretaker. “Mr. Sweeney! I thought I had made it abundantly clear. There are to be no visitors at my Observatory before noon, and certainly not at any time near my telescope.”

“It is noon, Mr. Airy.”

Mr. Airy! Could this be George Airy, Britain’s most famous Astronomer Royal? George Airy not only invented Julian’s mystical telescope but presided over the reorganization of the Observatory during the period that just happened to coincide (or correlate?) with Britain’s unmatched navigational prowess. Under Airy’s watch, Britain became the most powerful empire the world had ever known, largely due to the expertise of its navy.

The cranky genius has big gray sideburns and a bulbous nose. He is dressed impeccably in tails, like a prince dressed by others. If there’s a daytime ball somewhere, George Airy is ready to attend it. He carries a stack of papers under one arm and a cane in the other. He already has a significant stoop.

Once a relieved Julian realizes the vortex has worked, he relaxes. To stop upsetting the great man, he takes a few steps away from the precious telescope. No protective railing has been built around the Transit Circle (not yet anyway; leave it to Julian to alert George Airy to the necessity of a fence!).

“Yes, it is noon at this precise moment, Mr. Sweeney,” George Airy says, “noon on Thursday, August 3, 1854”—(look at that; Julian didn’t even have to ask! Well, he’s come to the right place to know the correct

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