Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose

Author:Andrea Penrose [Penrose, Andrea]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

The note duly written and dispatched to the earl, Charlotte made herself enter her workroom and take a seat at her desk. Of late, she had been woefully neglectful of her art. Ink and pigment had been shoved aside by the overwhelming demands of reality. The move, the murders, the worries about the boys adjusting to a new life.

Her own feelings were, she admitted, still a little topsy-turvy. Hidden away in the shadows of slums, she had a certain degree of simplicity to her life, allowing her to focus all her passions and ideas through her pen. Art and commentary were her voice.

Now things were infinitely more complicated. Anonymity had been a protective cloak. With each inch that she pushed back its concealing hood, she was making herself vulnerable.

Change entailed risk.

Charlotte shifted her gaze to her open sketchbook. She had only to look at the preliminary sketches for her Man versus Machine series of prints to see that.

Taking up her pen knife, she set about preparing a fresh quill. Mr. Fores had actually proved to be surprisingly supportive of the serious subject. Though the prints didn’t sell quite as well as the ones ridiculing the Royal family, he took satisfaction in the fact that nearly every government department and all the leading politicians were sending messengers to purchase copies of them. That his shop was seen as shaping public opinion was, to his canny mind, a worthwhile investment.

More than that, Charlotte was of the opinion that, at heart, Mr. Fores was a secret supporter of social reform.

The pen was now ready. There was nothing new she could—or would—say about Ashton’s death. However, there were still myriad questions to explore about the revolution sweeping through manufacturing in England. What place did people have in a world where machines made their efforts obsolete? What lay ahead for those who toiled with their hands?

These were important issues. And ones fundamental to what sort of society the country envisioned for its future.

The smoothness of the shaft, the softness of the feathery filaments grazing her knuckles—Charlotte realized how much she had missed creating the images and words that challenged people to think and react.

Science and technology were important. But so was art and abstract ideas.

A quick dip loaded the point with ink. Turning to a fresh page in her sketchbook, she began to rough out a preliminary idea.

* * *

“Milord, you have a visitor who is demanding an immediate audience.”

Wrexford didn’t look up from his laboratory notes. Having abandoned his efforts with the numbers, he was using his earlier experiment to keep his mind occupied. “What can you be thinking, Riche? You know the rules about interrupting my work.”

“My thoughts, sir,” replied the butler with a sniff, “are that I would prefer to face your ire than risk having the Young Person cut out my liver with the nasty-looking knife he has clutched in his grubby fist.”

“Ah.” The earl snapped the pages shut. “I take it Master Sloane is at the door.”

Tyler, who was busy cleaning the scientific instruments on one of the work counters, let out a snicker.

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