Miss AliceLovelady’s
FirstOmnibus
of her
InexplicableAdventures
All StoryCopyrights © Sadie Swift 2016
Cover design byJacqueline Sweet.
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All thecharacters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance toactual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Contents
Mr Tok
The Caspian Star
Katherine
AlsoAvailable
Mr. Tok
One
I didn’tlike the way the penguin looked at me. There seemed to be somethingunusual about its eyes. The strange yellow eyebrows I could copewith; its long black frock coat was something I could… try toignore. But its eyes…
A brassplaque to one side informed me it and its brethren were Rockhopperpenguins. I had no knowledge to prove or disprove this informationso assumed it was correct. A feeling of relief washed over me as itturned its gaze and rejoined it’s fellows in a strange hoppingdance over the stone-coloured stage.
“Just like real ones,” my companion, Sir Percival, said nextto me, derailing my train of thought.
“Really?” I queried, drily.
“Certainly.”
“They must have very good tailors to get the black jacket tofit.”
Uncertainty tinged his voice.
“Well… Perhaps certain liberties have beentaken.”
I reckoned the libertieshe mentioned may have been taken and dumped in ariver in an old sack.
“Must be going, Miss Lovelady. No time to waste. Lots to seeand do,” he added quickly, shooing me away from the collection ofbespoke-tailored yellow-eyebrowed birds. They continued to dancearound each other to their internal clockwork programming for theamusement of the exhibition attendees.
SuddenlyI had the strangest feeling I was being watched. Quickly I turnedround. Was a penguin looking at me? Before I could be certain myline of sight was obscured by a large man in an ill-fitting suitand his female companion.
At least Sir Percival was right about the last part – therecertainly was an almost overwhelming number of things to see and anawful lot to do at Queen Victoria’s Annual Inventor’s Exhibition.He reminded me of a child unexpectedly locked in a toy storewondering what to play with first. We’d visited the penguins tobegin with because I was curious and it would get the crowds ofpeople between us and the ever-present Departmentliaison.
On ourmeanderings we stopped and joined many others watching ademonstration of Mr Gatling’s new steam-powered firearm. The large,leather-suited elderly gentleman I took to be Mr Gatling wassmiling and nodding to possibly imaginary acquaintances in theaudience.
“Ten shots per second!” Mr Gatling’s younger assistant loudlysaid in his white shirt and red braces.
Ourfellow watchers ‘oohed’ at that. I glanced up into Sir Percival’sface. He wasn’t overly excited. Past his large bushy white beardand moustache I saw his pale blue eyes glancing here, there, andeverywhere, but certainly not at Mr Gatling’s gun. Even when theassistant picked it up and blasted several large holes in aman-shaped wooden target he nary raised a hairy eyebrow.
Thesound of gunfire was quickly crushed to nothing by the overwhelmingcrowd chatter, so that the only evidence a gun had been fired wasthe slowly rising steam and black smoke heading towards thegaslight chandeliers high above our heads.
Something caught Sir Percival’s attention and he grabbed myelbow to better guide us through the throng. He seemed to be in ahurry so with my other hand I lifted up the skirt of my newlybought dark-blue bustled dress (which matched the frock-coat of mycompanion) so as not to tread on it and let him forge ourpath.
A purpleglow, that I had only recently become familiar with, appeared to beour destination and we soon found our way jammed by fellowattendees.
“What do you make of it?” I asked.
“Hopefully a new aetheric device.” His normally deep voice washushed like he was in a place of worship. I suppose the annualinventor’s exhibition washis place of worship.
Excitement burst in me like receiving an unexpected kiss. Ifan inventor was exhibiting a new aetheric device then it would mostcertainly be worth seeing.
Being of smaller stature I began worming my way into anyspace I could find between the crowd members with the aim ofgetting as close as humanly possible to the demonstration. SirPercival’s hand on my elbow was now serving to let him follow meinstead of vice versa.
Onelarge fellow seemed to take offense at my actions but he caughtsight of someone behind us and grudgingly moved away; theDepartment liaison could sometimes prove useful. The auburn-hairedlady the fellow was with gave me a secretive, timid smile and myheart fluttered. She was gorgeous, slightly shorter than me, andwore a very expensive-looking dark red dress. There seemed to beanother fellow keeping an eye on her and the man she was with. Wasshe someone important?
Although Sapphic love (which in a strange way had brought meinto Sir Percival’s employ) wasn’toutlawed under Queen Victoria it was always best to be circumspect.Therefore, making sure my actions were out of sight of hercompanions, I brushed my short dark blond hair away from my faceand then gently caressed her hand with the fingers of my leatherglove. ‘I know,’ I said with my eyes, wishing I could lose myselfin her hazel ones. But I was only here at the express request ofSir Percival and so unable to make more of the matter, however muchI most dearly wanted to. Dragging myselfaway I continued on towards our destination wondering who she wasand hearing Sir Percival muttering apologies for my sharpelbows.
Wereached the brass chain and stanchioned edge of the slightly raiseddemonstration platform. Looking around I saw the wide eyes of ourfellow audience lit by the coruscating purple light emanating fromtwo large glass spheres atop fluted brass stands.
I couldsee no obvious power supply for the sphere’s contents and stood ontip-toe to whisper into Sir Percival’s overly hairy ear, “What’spowering it?”
“As yet I don’t know. Let us observe further,” he whisperedback, handing me a pair of
