Read Online The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Robert Appleton
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how far, another light blazed on before it flickered twice and blinked out. But at least she had a direction to aim for. Nowhere near her pursuer.
She hiked her dress and scurried across the lawn toward the dim, empty scrawls of London.
Chapter Six
“CLOSED.”
The brass signpost loomed at the foot of the stone steps, barring her way into the Westminster Observatory. The maze of thick cordon ropes had not yet been removed and a dim yellow light glowed inside the building—proof that someone was still in the process of closing up. A caretaker? Where was he?
Julia wanted to scream for help but that would give away her position. There was yet a chance her attacker had taken a wrong turn in the fog. She sank to a crouch, hugging her aching ribs, exhausted. She glanced round. Damn it. Her stockings, soaked by the damp wharf grass, had left footprints on the concrete pavement and likely over the iron canal bridge as well. All right, this was it. The observatory might provide a place to hide or, even better, help from someone inside.
The distant, staccato click, click of running steps rushed her up the stairs to the heavy oak doors. Her heart flipped when the left-hand door groaned open with a push. She eased it closed behind her. Someone had propped open the inner doors—a large crack ran through the crimson stained glass—with a mop and bucket. The marble foyer was empty. The light she’d seen came from a solitary gas lamp perched on the reception desk to her right.
No one at all came to help her.
She held her cry to a whisper. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
Repeating it down each corridor scraped her throat like sandpaper. No sooner had she touched a hand on the varnished banister when a sliver of cold air tickled her neck. Creeeeak! Julia half turned, glimpsed a bulge in the flickering shadow near the door.
She hiked her dress and flew up the staircase two steps at a time.
Click, click, click…
He was following! Faster, faster—a surge of energy shot her up two more flights. The third floor was very dark indeed. Left or right? The latter room, though blacker, looked bigger, felt more inviting. She tore along a strip of carpet and hurdled a sagging cordon rope.
Planets?
Dark spheres of every size sat suspended in midair around the exhibition, each connected via a brass pipe to the central hub, the largest sphere of all—the sun.
Julia remembered she’d been here before, a few years back, with the girls from dance class. The orrery. An enormous mechanical model of the solar system. Fancy. Expensive. The only place she could think of to hide was the centrepiece attraction, inside the sun.
Click, click, click…
She ducked under Neptune. The show had cost her half a crown last time. She dodged Mars. Gasping, she slithered round to the far side of the sun.
Cold, gloom and the spokes of a sleeping mechanical beast surrounded her. In the daytime, this whole heliocentric exhibit hissed and wheezed and revolved for minutes at a time, a magnificent brass roundabout unlike anything else in the world.
Click, click.
Her pursuer stopped, then resumed his measured steps. But in which direction was he headed? She fingered the sun’s smooth, cold surface, trying to locate a seam or a handle. If he chose this direction she would be cornered. No way out.
There. The large cloth-covered knob, well-protected if the sphere overheated. She eased the hatch open moments before his footsteps resumed. Definitely in her direction. Oh, God. No time to unfold the stepladder. Breathless, she climbed onto a pipe, pulled herself up between the two rows of seats inside, then, bunching the layers of her dress about her knees, inched the door ever so gently closed.
The entire circumference of the globe was one-way transparent. Those inside could see out, but no one could see in. Julia didn’t want to take any chances, though. She stayed on the floor between the seats, tucking herself into a ball.
Minutes passed. No sound, no sign
She hiked her dress and scurried across the lawn toward the dim, empty scrawls of London.
Chapter Six
“CLOSED.”
The brass signpost loomed at the foot of the stone steps, barring her way into the Westminster Observatory. The maze of thick cordon ropes had not yet been removed and a dim yellow light glowed inside the building—proof that someone was still in the process of closing up. A caretaker? Where was he?
Julia wanted to scream for help but that would give away her position. There was yet a chance her attacker had taken a wrong turn in the fog. She sank to a crouch, hugging her aching ribs, exhausted. She glanced round. Damn it. Her stockings, soaked by the damp wharf grass, had left footprints on the concrete pavement and likely over the iron canal bridge as well. All right, this was it. The observatory might provide a place to hide or, even better, help from someone inside.
The distant, staccato click, click of running steps rushed her up the stairs to the heavy oak doors. Her heart flipped when the left-hand door groaned open with a push. She eased it closed behind her. Someone had propped open the inner doors—a large crack ran through the crimson stained glass—with a mop and bucket. The marble foyer was empty. The light she’d seen came from a solitary gas lamp perched on the reception desk to her right.
No one at all came to help her.
She held her cry to a whisper. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
Repeating it down each corridor scraped her throat like sandpaper. No sooner had she touched a hand on the varnished banister when a sliver of cold air tickled her neck. Creeeeak! Julia half turned, glimpsed a bulge in the flickering shadow near the door.
She hiked her dress and flew up the staircase two steps at a time.
Click, click, click…
He was following! Faster, faster—a surge of energy shot her up two more flights. The third floor was very dark indeed. Left or right? The latter room, though blacker, looked bigger, felt more inviting. She tore along a strip of carpet and hurdled a sagging cordon rope.
Planets?
Dark spheres of every size sat suspended in midair around the exhibition, each connected via a brass pipe to the central hub, the largest sphere of all—the sun.
Julia remembered she’d been here before, a few years back, with the girls from dance class. The orrery. An enormous mechanical model of the solar system. Fancy. Expensive. The only place she could think of to hide was the centrepiece attraction, inside the sun.
Click, click, click…
She ducked under Neptune. The show had cost her half a crown last time. She dodged Mars. Gasping, she slithered round to the far side of the sun.
Cold, gloom and the spokes of a sleeping mechanical beast surrounded her. In the daytime, this whole heliocentric exhibit hissed and wheezed and revolved for minutes at a time, a magnificent brass roundabout unlike anything else in the world.
Click, click.
Her pursuer stopped, then resumed his measured steps. But in which direction was he headed? She fingered the sun’s smooth, cold surface, trying to locate a seam or a handle. If he chose this direction she would be cornered. No way out.
There. The large cloth-covered knob, well-protected if the sphere overheated. She eased the hatch open moments before his footsteps resumed. Definitely in her direction. Oh, God. No time to unfold the stepladder. Breathless, she climbed onto a pipe, pulled herself up between the two rows of seats inside, then, bunching the layers of her dress about her knees, inched the door ever so gently closed.
The entire circumference of the globe was one-way transparent. Those inside could see out, but no one could see in. Julia didn’t want to take any chances, though. She stayed on the floor between the seats, tucking herself into a ball.
Minutes passed. No sound, no sign
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