A Study in Silks

“It’s certainly not on the opera. I’d run mad. That baritone oomphs his arias like a morose foghorn.”

Penner snuffled a laugh. He reminded Tobias of a mischievous spaniel, always in search of food, soft pillows, and pretty young women to snuggle up to. About half the time, he was steady, sensible, and a good listener. However, behind those mild brown eyes lurked a talent for creative geometry. No one knew how to calculate the trajectory of projectiles quite like Bucky. Given a fulcrum and a sufficient amount of force, he made things go “splat” excellently well.

And splattage was key to their machinations. The preceding autumn, Tobias Roth had wagered that he could scandalize fashionable London, land on the front page of every important newspaper, and mobilize the armed forces of the Empire in a single night without being arrested or dropping his pants.

The reason he had done so had subsequently vanished in an alcoholic haze. Nevertheless, a bet was a bet, duly recorded and witnessed at the Xanadu Gentlemen’s Club. Thousands of pounds rested on Tobias’s word, not to mention a stellar opportunity to annoy his father.

“You are mad,” Bucky observed placidly. “But in a pleasant way.”

Tobias lifted the chased silver handle of his opera glasses to once more peruse the audience. “A man needs an antidote to boredom. A man needs ambition.”

“To do what?”

The question summed up Tobias in three words. At the advanced age of twenty-three, he was more familiar with all the things he didn’t want to do with his life. The founding of the Society for the Proliferation of Impertinent Events was his one great accomplishment, and the most fun to be had since Diogenes Smythe tried to jump his father’s prize stallion over a moving locomotive. Sad. Really. Surely you’re good for more than this?

Or maybe not. That was the scary possibility, wasn’t it?

“Abercrombie put you up to it,” Bucky carried on. “I remember that much from the night in question.”

“So?”

Bucky sighed with disgust. “Abercrombie is a jam tart and you were drunk. Note that jam tarts are sticky and prone to leaving stains.”

Tobias hated the waiting phase of a plan. It always led to moments of doubt, and he was having a large one now. Not that he would admit that to Bucky. Were eight tentacles enough? Did I bribe the stagehands sufficiently? What the blazes will I do if this goes all wrong? I can’t put my hands on that much money. Dear old Dad will throw a wobbler. At least that has possibilities …

He swung the glasses farther to the left. In the penumbra of the gas footlights, the diamonds worn by the ladies in the audience shimmered like the Flying Dutchman’s faraway sea. At last, the girl who had caught his eye came into focus. A pretty thing, tall, slender, and crowned with a fall of walnut curls.

To his annoyance, he could sense Bucky leaning over, trying to guess whom he was ogling. “I say, is that whatsit—I mean your sister’s friend?” Bucky asked.

Tobias lowered the glasses, disappointed. “Miss Cooper? No. Just looks a bit like her.”

“Ah.” Bucky straightened, took a nip from an ornate silver flask, then passed it to Tobias.

“Ah?” Tobias feigned innocence, then started as he caught sight of his father in a center box. Now he knew how Macbeth felt during a Banquo moment. He pushed the image away before it spoiled his mood. Instead, he conjured Evelina’s heart-shaped face.

“Ah.” Bucky nodded sagely, giving him a sly wink.

Tobias took a drink, disgruntled.

Onstage, the bass-baritone imitated a dyspeptic tuba.

Tobias let the brandy linger on his tongue a moment before swallowing. Evelina Cooper would fit right in with Bucky and the rest of the society’s charter members. That is, if one overlooked the girl part, which was plainly impossible. Evelina’s girl parts were on his mind almost constantly of late. Imogen’s school friend had suddenly come into focus after years of existing as blurry backdrop.

Given her scanty dowry, she wasn’t the type of girl one married, not even with the Holmes name on her mother’s side. They were just country gentry. All right for a barrister or a civil servant, but not quite the thing for the son of a lord. If it hadn’t been for poor Imogen’s obvious attachment, Evelina wouldn’t travel in their set.

But she wasn’t that other kind of woman, either, the kind one kept about just for larks. Things would have been a lot simpler if she were. The problem was, he wanted Evelina to like him. It was ridiculous. He never wanted that from a girl.

“Do you think Edgerton’s in place?” he asked, mostly to distract himself.

Bucky pulled out his watch, flipped open the case, and peered myopically at the time. “Probably.”

Excellent. As he folded away his opera glasses, Tobias looked down at the stage and made a quick calculation. In about fifteen minutes, the ghostly captain would be bemoaning his curse, which meant the heroine would be drowning herself shortly thereafter. After nearly four hours, it was about bloody time. “My friend, let us take up our stations.”

Scandal, headlines, bring out the army. How hard could it be?

They exited from the back of the box to the gaslit corridor beyond. A few patrons stood chatting here and there, but none looked up at two impeccably gloved and top-hatted young gentlemen beating a path to the marble foyer. None saw them turn and go through a service door and out the back way.

Darkness had just fallen, the last traces of daylight just fading from the sky. The spring air was as crisp as an Italian wine, even if the alley itself was none too clean. Tobias could still hear the opera plodding along, muffled by brick and distance. They hurried down the muddy passage with one eye on the shadows. The Royal Charlotte, despite its wealthy patrons, was at the edge of a less savory part of London. Here, what few gaslights there were had pale indigo globes, showing that the Blue Boy gang of the steam baron they called King Coal ran these parts. Despite himself, Tobias looked over his shoulder. It wouldn’t do for their plans to end with their heads broken and their pockets picked, although he always relished a good fight.

Bucky gave a low whistle that was answered in kind. A small crowd trundled an object toward them. Tobias made out the cheerful features of their friend Edgerton in the lead. Tall and athletic, he wore a shabby brown jacket and an odd round leather helmet. Over his shoulder, he carried a large bag.

Behind him were a half dozen hired men pushing and pulling a low-wheeled handcart. On it sat a metal contraption resembling a large and ugly brass lotus flower surmounted with a kind of seat. Four feet in diameter and as many tall, the lotus emitted a slight wheeze of steam every few seconds.

The lotus-thing had taken the four charter members of the society nearly three months to design. It had taken that long again—plus a good chunk of money—to oversee its construction in a town far north of London, where Edgerton’s father had a foundry. It would have been impossible to build such an engine any other way, with the steam barons monopolizing anything that generated so much as a fart, and it had cost them yet more cash to smuggle it south. As Bucky said, Tobias was going a long way to win a wager, but if a bet was worth winning, he would do it right.

As Edgerton reached them, he grasped their hands, pumping them enthusiastically. “Well, here we are, gentlemen. Are you sure this thing is ready?”

“Utterly,” Bucky replied. “We calibrated it to a fraction of a degree.”

“You brought our gear?” Tobias asked.

“Here.” Edgerton indicated his bag.

“Excellent.” Fortunately, the alley was deserted except for the workmen who had come with the cart. Ignoring their curious stares, Tobias and Bucky stripped down to their shirts and trousers, then pulled on plain jackets, boots, and helmets much like Edgerton’s. In a few moments, they were unrecognizable. Edgerton wore what looked like a quiver slung over his shoulders, the pole of a rolled-up banner sticking from the top.

Tobias felt his heart thud with anticipation, the wine-sharp night fizzing in his blood. Everything was going right. The wager was all but won. It had better be—the price of failure was enough to give the family’s finances a serious jolt.

He suddenly thought of his sister’s upcoming Season. All those gowns and entertainments cost money. Just how much was he gambling, really?

Too late to think about it.

“Let’s do this,” he said, sounding oddly hoarse.

Edgerton handed Tobias a pair of thick leather gloves. Slipping them on, Tobias clambered into the wagon,