Plague Doctor by Laura Strickland

Author:Laura Strickland
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Plagues, Steampunk, Immigrants, Automatons, Romance, Victorian, Automaton Rights, Orphanages, Buffalo
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2022-08-22T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

For the second time in as many days, angry words pierced the customary quiet of Lost Waifs Home for Children. In this case, as Kasper reflected while he helped Tori and Becky carry lunch trays upstairs, they were all spoken on Mrs. Marner’s part. Lionel Pike kept his voice low and his comments courteous. But nothing Mrs. Marner said could persuade him to alter Omar.

Kasper respected that. Not that he wanted disruption in the house or that he personally did not find Omar’s abrasive manner annoying. He did. But he’d seen, in the past, too many incidences when those with opinions were harshly penalized for expressing them.

In the end, Pike got Omar running, and the unit left the house in the company of the repairman and his assistant, under his own power. Pike promised to send over a replacement unit in a day or two.

Mrs. Marner did not seem as pleased by this as Kasper felt she should. Indeed, Mrs. Marner was clearly overwrought and not herself. Formerly cool and collected, with perfectly disciplined hair worn in a bun, and a formal manner, she now looked distracted, with tendrils of hair sticking out all over her head, a wrinkled blouse, and the eyes of a madwoman.

“I reckon she’s goin’ to crack,” Daisy commented to Kasper when they met in a hallway. Mrs. Marner had just given conflicting orders, for them to both vacate the floor and attend the children there, before marching off to the sickroom. “It’s just a matter of time.”

“We are all under much strain,” Kasper agreed.

“I’ll bet she can’t remember the last time she slept. The thing is,” Daisy bit her lip, “if she goes down, I don’t know what will happen. An old lady called Miss Radmacher owns this place. She holds the purse strings, and she holds ’em tight. But she’s never actually come here.”

“Would she hire another manageress, if something happens to Mrs. Marner?”

“I don’t see how, with the city in such a state. She might just close the place.”

“What would happen to all the children, then?” They had no other home. As for that, Kasper did not want to find himself on the street without a job. Would he ever see Tori again?

“We’d best be nice to her,” Daisy warned. Her eyes met Kasper’s. “That means you’d better not kick off.”

“Kick off? I do not understand.”

“It means ‘Don’t cause any trouble.’ ”

“I am not in the habit of causing trouble.”

“Yeah, you look innocent, I’ll give ye that. But I’m keeping my eye on you.”

Unhappily, Kasper thought back to that moment very early the previous morning when his door had been flung open, only for Daisy to catch him and Tori together.

He said, “Nothing happened between Tori and me.” Not much, anyway.

“Yes, that’s what she said. And you’d best keep it that way. Tori’s a good girl, and she needs this job. If she gets cast off, where do you think she’ll find another position? Who do you think would hire her with that arm? And Mrs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.