Shanghai Sparrow by Sebold Gaie

Author:Sebold, Gaie [Sebold, Gaie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Steampunk
Publisher: Solaris
Published: 2014-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

WEEKS PASSED. EVELINE discovered the horrors of French verb construction, the use of the parasol both to shade the complexion and wind an opponent, and the many ways in which a young woman could be made to look like an old one, or a man, or a foreigner. She made good progress in Retention, very slight progress in Cantonese (her fingers were constantly bruised from Wen Hsu’s stick), even less in Navigation, and none whatsoever with her mother’s mechanisms. Sometimes she managed to raise a wheeze or a dreadful catlike yowling from one of them, sometimes a growl. The only noticeable effect it had was to send Mr Jackson complaining to Miss Cairngrim that he could not work with such a dreadful noise going on. Considering the constant hammering and clanging that he engaged in on his Velocitator, and the way he shouted during his occasional, half-hearted attempts at teaching, Eveline considered this more than a little unfair. She even asked his advice about the Etheric mechanisms, but his only response was to call them superstitious rubbish intended to fool the credulous, and tell her she would be better off paying attention to her stitching.

She lived in dread of Holmforth’s next visit.

She attempted to distract herself with gathering all the knowledge she could about the school and its inhabitants, though after dark she kept her explorations to the main building. The dogs that ran loose in the grounds at night were a thoroughly nasty pair of animals controllable only by Thomas, their monosyllabic and odorous keeper. During the day they were chained up in the laundry yard, and hanging the washing was a task all the girls hated, living in dread that one day the chains would break as the vile animals barked and lunged and drooled within feet of them.

It was a rambling place, built for a large family and at least a dozen servants. Twenty girls and half as many staff did little to fill it. Half the rooms on the east side were shut off, and a smell of damp came from them which was only slightly more pervasive than that which filled the rest of the building.

When a carriage pulled up at the house for the third time in as many days and Eveline’s heart climbed into her throat for fear it might be Holmforth, she realised there was only one thing for it. She had to get her mother’s notes.

If they still existed. If James or whoever came after him hadn’t found them.

The house would have gone to strangers now. She just prayed it hadn’t been knocked down.

It would be hard to do it alone. Not the robbery, about that she’d no qualms. It wasn’t even robbery, strictly speaking; she’d only be taking back what was hers.

Getting out of the school and back in, though, that was a whole other business.

Eveline began to think very hard.

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