The Second Sleep by Harris Robert

Author:Harris, Robert [Harris, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781473558786
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2019-09-04T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Captain Hancock learns the secret

FAIRFAX’S MOUTH THROBBED as if it had been stung or bitten. He wiped his forefinger along his lips then brought it up close to his eyes to inspect it. He half expected it to be coated in some luminous blue residue. The ache wasn’t painful; rather it seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heart, which – now that he placed his hand upon it – felt somewhat engorged even though he wasn’t breathless. It was thumping in the way it did after he had been startled or had narrowly missed a fall. What in the name of Heaven had been done to him?

Oblivious to the hubbub in the hall, he went over to the table and began carefully examining Shadwell’s apparatus, picking up the various pieces of metal and glass, turning the glass tubes and metal cylinders around and upside down, as if by a process of deduction he could somehow penetrate the mystery of what had just occurred. From these incongruous objects had been conjured the fiery blue substance that, according to Shadwell, had powered the ancients’ world. Now that the demonstration was over, it seemed impossible, and yet he had not merely witnessed the phenomenon, he had experienced it; tasted it, even – the hard metallic flavour of electricity conveyed upon the soft lips of Sarah Durston.

He wondered where she was. He looked around for her and saw her standing alone in the centre of the crowded room, cradling the saddlebag to her breast, watching him. He jumped down from the stage.

‘Lady Durston, I’m sorry – I fear my wits must have been fried to such an extent I have quite forgotten my manners. Are you all right?’

‘Yes, quite well. I felt nothing more than a curious tingling in my limbs and hair, not at all unpleasant.’

‘The feeling has now passed?’

‘Entirely. You seemed to suffer more than I.’

‘I can feel the throb of my heart.’ He brushed his hand through his hair, a gesture he often used to deflect attention from his embarrassment. ‘Forgive me for any unwanted intimacy. I had no conception of what would be demanded of me when I agreed to go on stage. If I had, I should have refused to participate.’

‘My dear Mr Fairfax, don’t say that!’ She smiled at him. ‘I would not have missed it for the world! Although I doubt Captain Hancock will ever forgive us.’

Fairfax looked to the spot where he thought he had last seen Hancock. People were milling around. ‘Where is he?’

‘I believe he left straight after poor Dr Shadwell. Now no one is being allowed to depart till they have provided the sheriffs with their name and address and an account of what they saw.’

At the prospect of Bishop Pole being informed of his attendance – and not merely his attendance; his active participation – he felt a lurch of panic. ‘We should find the captain quickly.’

‘Why?’

He did not answer, but took her arm and steered her through the crowd.

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