Lady of Devices: A steampunk adventure novel (Magnificent Devices Book 1) by Shelley Adina

Author:Shelley Adina
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781939087102
Publisher: Moonshell Books, Inc.
Published: 2011-05-30T05:00:00+00:00

17

It cannot be said that Claire spent a comfortable night on her rag-pile. While Willie breathed gently next to her, she started and woke at every sound, suspecting thievery or vermin—she wasn’t sure which would be worse. When a watery dawn finally broke over London, she was already awake and regretting the absence of tooth-powder and warm water to wash in.

Clearly, better accommodations must join recovery of her property and employment on her list of immediate needs.

She combed her hair with her uninjured tortoiseshell comb, rewound it and pinned it into its customary chignon. Then she changed into a fresh waist and descended the stair with Rosie in her cage in one hand. The sound of conversation led her into the depths of the house, where she found her companions, including Willie, gathered in the kitchen around a three-legged table. A stack of bricks replaced the fourth leg.

Kitchen was a generous term. The room contained only a cold iron stove and the table, and the shelving tacked onto the walls above the stove were empty but for dirt and spiders. In the center of the table, a hard loaf had been hacked at with a pocket-knife, and the children were busy wolfing it down.

“Good morning,” she greeted them. “Where did this come from?”

A mumble answered her. Rosie tottered to her feet and focused on the bread on the table, tilting her head so as not to lose sight of it.

“We already been out,” a Mopsie said. “I got a corncob for Rosie.” She extracted it from a pocket and held it up.

“I could’ve et that,” Jake complained. “I’m still hungry.” Someone had wrapped a rag around his burned hands.

Claire opened the cage door and put the fresh ear inside. Rosie fell upon it like an eagle on a carcass. “A little self-sacrifice now will all be forgotten when we have our fry-up later in the week. May I have some of that bread, please?”

“Help yerself,” Jake said.

“Mr. Jake, a gentleman would slice a piece and offer it to a lady.”

“I ent no gentleman.”

“Since I am a lady, and since I do not consort with men who are not gentlemen, your training in that department begins immediately.” She smiled at him. “Thank you. You are most generous.”

He just stared at her.

“Crikey, Jake, you deaf? Cut ’er off a bit.” Snouts pushed the knife closer to him.

“I ent servin’ ’er. What d’ye take me for?”

“It is not a matter of serving, Mr. Jake. A gentleman puts the comfort of others before his own. That is how one tells he is a gentleman.”

“I said I weren’t a gentleman. Cut yer own bread. Or better yet, don’t, and I’ll ’ave it.”

Snouts swore and cuffed him across the head. “Do as she says, ye stupid cove.”

“Why should I? First she burns me, then she boils me eyes. If I take that knife to anything, it’ll be ’er, and that’s a fact.”

Though he couldn’t be more than twelve or thirteen, Claire could not mistake the deadly resolve in his eyes and had no doubt he meant exactly what he said.

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