Read Online Imperial Clock (The Steam Clock Legacy) by Robert Appleton - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Robert Appleton
Ads: Link
reserved as they came, taciturn even, or as he’d overheard one lady say—a wayward marchioness he’d been deeply attracted to at the time—“about as marryable as a wet cod.” The words stung anew.
But how easily he could talk to Sonja McEwan, and she to h im. Other girls in his class had crushes on him, that much was obvious, yet none had yet dared speak to him as an equal. This young woman had pluck. She didn’t fit in; her father’s reputation had seen to that. But more than that, she was smart as a whip, easily the equal of any student, boy or girl, in the school. And looks-wise, she was blossoming into a lovely example of English womanhood.
A rare combination. If only she wer e a couple of years older and bore a more reputable family name. If only...
Using his compass, for the party’s tracks were completely covered, he led them directly to the coaches in a little over fifteen minutes. Eustace was not there. He had evidently lost his bearings trying to find them in the blizzard, so Wilhelmina sent up a flare rocket from the emergency supply chest. He can’t have been far away, as he returned several minutes later sporting a limp of his own, face red as beetroot. In the meantime, no one seemed to notice Sonja McEwan’s ankle had fully healed.
Nor that Mrs. Prescott, restin g on the front seat of the first carriage, had passed away.
Her heart had given out.
“ I could’ve sworn I packed the over-ice—sworn blind. It makes no sense. I had two spare gas torches in this hamper with the soup flasks, two torches full and ready just in case, and plenty of hot strips for the copper pan.” Mrs. Challender rifled through the blankets and food baskets and under the seats in the final carriage one last time, on the verge of tears, before casting her husband and Mr. Auric a pitiful gaze. She turned her face away when she saw Sonja had seen.
Hmm, that ’s right, best not cause a panic with the others. But even Sonja swallowed hard at the sight of one her teachers falling to pieces.
Mr. Challende r buried his head in the bulky sleeve of his parka, resting against the brass door frame. His wife’s alarming news had the unflappable Mr. Auric worried too; he rubbed his stubbly chin several times with his glove, no doubt thinking of a way out of this. Several locomotive components in the steam engines were frozen solid, and without gas lamps to warm hot strips in the copper pan, and those hot strips to melt the ice, they had no way of freeing up the engines. In other words, they were stuck here until the engines thawed, or they had to walk out.
“ Roughly how far, if you had to guess—”
Mr. Auric shook his head, silencing his shorter, fatter colleague. “Don’t even think it. When night falls, you’d freeze to death before you made the nearest village.”
“ May well be, may well be. But I don’t fancy leaving these girls out here all night either. See,” Mr. Challender swiped a handful of snow off the roof, “these carriages are only covered by a waterproof canopy. Hardly any insulation.”
“ Better that than foot-slogging it,” Sonja rudely cut in, not meaning to—she immediately clasped a gloved hand over her mouth and cringed at Mr. Auric’s headshake on her behalf. Damn, she really had to stop blurting things out like that.
“ Right, McEwan, you’ve had this coming.” Mrs. Challender slid from the carriage, marched over the snow and proceeded to whip Sonja with a tea towel. Hateful, erratic blows that either glanced off her kagool or slapped the side of her hood, making her ears sting. “Impudent little—I’ll bloody teach you not to give lip to your elders.” Thwack! “Giving cheek at a time like this—you just wait till I have you in my office, you rotten little terror.” Thwack! Thwack! “You’ll never speak out of turn again, so help me.”
After the initial shock had sunk in, Sonja felt a little sorry for her arts and crafts teacher. The blows weren’t having their
But how easily he could talk to Sonja McEwan, and she to h im. Other girls in his class had crushes on him, that much was obvious, yet none had yet dared speak to him as an equal. This young woman had pluck. She didn’t fit in; her father’s reputation had seen to that. But more than that, she was smart as a whip, easily the equal of any student, boy or girl, in the school. And looks-wise, she was blossoming into a lovely example of English womanhood.
A rare combination. If only she wer e a couple of years older and bore a more reputable family name. If only...
Using his compass, for the party’s tracks were completely covered, he led them directly to the coaches in a little over fifteen minutes. Eustace was not there. He had evidently lost his bearings trying to find them in the blizzard, so Wilhelmina sent up a flare rocket from the emergency supply chest. He can’t have been far away, as he returned several minutes later sporting a limp of his own, face red as beetroot. In the meantime, no one seemed to notice Sonja McEwan’s ankle had fully healed.
Nor that Mrs. Prescott, restin g on the front seat of the first carriage, had passed away.
Her heart had given out.
“ I could’ve sworn I packed the over-ice—sworn blind. It makes no sense. I had two spare gas torches in this hamper with the soup flasks, two torches full and ready just in case, and plenty of hot strips for the copper pan.” Mrs. Challender rifled through the blankets and food baskets and under the seats in the final carriage one last time, on the verge of tears, before casting her husband and Mr. Auric a pitiful gaze. She turned her face away when she saw Sonja had seen.
Hmm, that ’s right, best not cause a panic with the others. But even Sonja swallowed hard at the sight of one her teachers falling to pieces.
Mr. Challende r buried his head in the bulky sleeve of his parka, resting against the brass door frame. His wife’s alarming news had the unflappable Mr. Auric worried too; he rubbed his stubbly chin several times with his glove, no doubt thinking of a way out of this. Several locomotive components in the steam engines were frozen solid, and without gas lamps to warm hot strips in the copper pan, and those hot strips to melt the ice, they had no way of freeing up the engines. In other words, they were stuck here until the engines thawed, or they had to walk out.
“ Roughly how far, if you had to guess—”
Mr. Auric shook his head, silencing his shorter, fatter colleague. “Don’t even think it. When night falls, you’d freeze to death before you made the nearest village.”
“ May well be, may well be. But I don’t fancy leaving these girls out here all night either. See,” Mr. Challender swiped a handful of snow off the roof, “these carriages are only covered by a waterproof canopy. Hardly any insulation.”
“ Better that than foot-slogging it,” Sonja rudely cut in, not meaning to—she immediately clasped a gloved hand over her mouth and cringed at Mr. Auric’s headshake on her behalf. Damn, she really had to stop blurting things out like that.
“ Right, McEwan, you’ve had this coming.” Mrs. Challender slid from the carriage, marched over the snow and proceeded to whip Sonja with a tea towel. Hateful, erratic blows that either glanced off her kagool or slapped the side of her hood, making her ears sting. “Impudent little—I’ll bloody teach you not to give lip to your elders.” Thwack! “Giving cheek at a time like this—you just wait till I have you in my office, you rotten little terror.” Thwack! Thwack! “You’ll never speak out of turn again, so help me.”
After the initial shock had sunk in, Sonja felt a little sorry for her arts and crafts teacher. The blows weren’t having their
Similar Books
