Brilliant Devices by Adina Shelley

Author:Adina, Shelley [Adina, Shelley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: MoonshellBooks
Published: 2013-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Claire found Alice shortly thereafter, pacing to and fro in the gondola of the Stalwart Lass. She lost no time in telling her about Frederick Chalmers—and about Mr. Penhaven’s suspicions concerning his activities.

“I ain’t going to judge him one way or the other,” Alice said after a short silence, during which Claire wondered if she were revising the appearance of the dream figure she had called Pa for most of her life. Adding shadows and angles. Taking away a certain amount of the glow.

Or perhaps she was merely wondering about the presence of a woman in his life who was not her mother.

“I ain’t interested in his politics. I’m just interested in whether he’s my pa or not, and if he is, why he went away and left me and my ma.”

“The question is, how do we find him without raising the ire of the mining people? It would not do to be seen consorting with one whom they consider a saboteur.”

Alice’s gaze was uncompromising. “Are you afraid, Claire?”

Alice’s inability to prevaricate could sometimes produce most uncomfortable results. “Not afraid, no. But our situation is rather delicate, both of us being guests of the Dunsmuirs.”

“I’m not really a guest. I’m here under my own steam.”

“But you’ve eaten at their table—and will again, if the ball tomorrow night goes off as planned.”

“I don’t have to go to that. Would rather not. But we’re getting off track. How are we going to find my pa?”

“That nice boy who was guiding us mighed ge”

Claire gazed at her in admiration. “What an excellent mind you have, Maggie. The very thing. How difficult can it be to locate a Texican man in an Esquimaux village? Let us ask the ground crew to unload my landau at once. We shall be back for dinner before anyone notices we are gone.”

Within half an hour, the thing was done. While Tigg, who was given land-leave by Mr. Yau to accompany them, supervised the unloading of the landau, Claire and the Mopsies changed into raiding rig.

“Not that I expect any danger, of course,” she assured them, buckling her leather corselet. “But it would be foolish to set off into a wilderness populated by bears and caribou without some means of protecting ourselves. And the lightning rifle cannot be holstered in a sash.”

The young man had innocently provided them with a map and an offer of assistance, one of which was accepted with gratitude and the other declined with the same. And before long, they set off along a track of packed and already frozen gravel, which seemed to receive frequent use.

“How far is it, Lady?” Tigg asked, leaning over the bolster between the compartments. “Will we see a bear?”

“Mr. Eliot said about five miles as the pigeon flies, but that does not take into account the turns and—ouch! My apologies, that was a big one—the potholes.”

“We’re lucky there’s a road at all,” Alice observed, hanging on to the seat with both hands. “Oh, kids, look—a bear, to be

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