accommodation.”
“Well, I am not certain anyone would consider me particularly favoured or prodigious, though I am quite popular in many circles and have completed a number of assignments for the very highest of society to the uttermost standard of success and professionalism.”
He fluttered his hand impatiently. “It matters not, Mrs Darby. There are many in England and abroad who know your name, have heard of your many exploits and would like to get a look at you. Besides which, our host is a Swede. Very out of touch with modern society. He wouldn't know Shakespeare from a penny gaff.” He produced a folded pamphlet from a location I could only begin to envisage. He brandished it towards me. I hesitated. He pressed it into my hands. “It is your reservation for our latest performance. I took the liberty of procuring you a suite. I understand you are not married but do travel in the company of many of your associates?”
“Indeed, I often do.”
“I am sure you will all be most comfortable.”
I unfolded the pamphlet. “Ah. The show is this evening.”
“Oui, madame, so you understand my urgency. It will be long before I will land again on your part of world.”
“Yes, I do now. Well, I regret I will not be able to keep my appointment with Lady Mandragora today. She will, I expect, refuse to see me for another several months until her ire has abated. But, such is the nature of our particular relationship. I do find your proposition quite gripping.”
Eitenne breathed a theatrical sigh. “I regret, Mrs Darby, I have little money to pay. The life of a performer is exciting and rewarding, but it is not lucrative.”
I waved my hand in dismissal. “Consider it a wash, my good man. I am most delighted to have acquired this reservation. It is payment enough for the task to which I am now most keenly committed. Well, then.” I dropped a pound note on the table and rose to my feet. “Time wears on. I must gather my things if I intend to make my airship this evening. I will see you, then, sir, upon the Cirque du Flaire.”
Eitenne pushed back from the table and caught my hands. “I must ask one more thing of you, Mrs Darby,” he said earnestly.
“Oh? Do go on, then.”
“As you might imagine, I am fearful for my life and the life of my dear sister. If he can orchestrate the disappearance of my friend and any number of others, I know not what Flaire might be capable of doing to me and Elodie if he suspects I have hired you to investigate him.”
“Ah. Of course. I understand most completely. I will am most proficient at appearing as an utterly innocent reveller without any investigative or adventurous intentions. I will behave just as though we have never met before.”
He bent low over my hand. “I am very relieved, Mrs Darby. Very grateful. I feel as though the weight of my fears has been lifted from upon my shoulders.”
I extracted my hand from his grip. “Well, then. I am pleased to be of service. I am looking very forward to taking in your performance this evening. I have always been keen on experiencing a live aerialist show. The closest I have experienced was a Finnish spy shimmying up a drainage pipe in Berlin to escape the M.O.D.”
For a moment, Eitenne looked quite uncertain whether he should laugh at this remark. I smiled brightly at him. I often received such a response and would likely have been disappointed had I failed to do this time.
“Let us step lively, then, Eitenne. Good day. See you this evening.”
“Good day, Mrs Darby.”
I did not wait for the young funambulist to follow me out of the Blue Bottle. I suspected he hung back, hoping to catch another glimpse of our hirsute server, who had failed to return to our table after my admonishment. I did not begrudge the young man his quirks; I was most pleased with the outcome of our audience. I hoped I might at the very least, however, salvage my remaining good will with the Lady Mandragora, and I proceeded to her shop around the corner with haste.
The woman was an absolute dragon, and my expressions of profuse regrets did little to assuage her choler. Nevertheless, after much persuasion and some grovelling, I eventually purchased an absolutely lovely and exceedingly costly blue hat with a peacock feather on the brim, and the Lady agreed to reschedule our appointment for two days hence. I was reasonably pleased with the results of our somewhat heated argument; I suspected the Lady would preserve some of that fine China silk for our meeting, knowing precisely my tastes, and the ostentatious headdress would be absolutely perfect for the carnival that evening.
My young cousin and lately ward were most conveniently within our hotel suite when I arrived. Xander and Juliana sat at the desk, bent, heads together, over a shiny brochure covered in esoteric symbols and formulas. They were discussing it earnestly, and their words were so incomprehensible, I assumed it must be some diabolical new scientific theory involving explosions, dangerous chemicals, directed energy or some other life-threatening element of which the two young scientists were so particularly fond
I cleared my throat pointedly to gain their attention. It took them both moments before they noticed I had returned. I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my foot impatiently. When they finally glanced up at me, I smiled radiantly at them. “Ace. You are both here. I feared you would still be off tarrying away the day at the latest exhibition of sonic deep sea Kraken hunting apparati or the like.”
Juliana snorted in a most unladylike fashion. “Astrid. The Kraken? Honestly.”
“Well, I am feeling somewhat silly at the moment.” I lowered myself to the corner of the bed and carefully lifted my newly acquired headdress from its box. “I regret to inform you both that our holiday has been placed—temporarily, I assure you--on hiatus.”
They stared at me in silence as I modelled the hat for them. They did not seem as keen on it as I had been. Xander, in fact, only barely concealed a most horrified expression. Then he frowned at me, quite outraged by all appearances. “But Astrid! You have taken a job? You promised you would not this time. Juliana and I were to visit the Museum of Astrological and Aeronautical Excogitation tomorrow.”
“It is supposed to be currently displaying the most innovative and exciting exhibit since Dr Fairway's Study of the Skeletal Imperatives,” Juliana added. She looked as mightily disappointed as young Knightly, but I was certain their ill-feelings would fall away as soon as they learned of our latest assignment.
“I am quite sorry to foil your grand schemes for the afternoon. As such, you may feel free to refuse joining me on this latest expedition. I am confident I am quite capable of solving this particular mystery on my own.”
My two young wards exchanged a suspicious glance. “Do tell, then, Astrid,” Xander said. “You were quite keen on enjoying some leisure time. You must be extraordinarily compelled to cut it short.”
I smiled. “Indeed. I was quite compelled, as you say.” I admired the ostentatious hat in the small mirror above the vanity across the room. “So compelled was I, in fact, that I cancelled my appointment with the tempestuous Lady Mandragora, despite the difficulty with which I persuaded her to accept me. She swore she would never fit me again, though I did manage to insinuate myself back into her good graces by the purchase of this very fine and elegant hat.”
Juliana rolled her eyes. The young lady had thus far displayed little patience with my predilection for dramatic suspense. “We do understand the difficult nature of your decision, Astrid, but what has caused it?”
I thrust my nose indignantly into the air. The moment had been lost, and there was no sense drawing it out. “As I was entering the Lady's shop to keep our fitting appointment, I noticed a most intriguing advert for Pietro Augustus Flaire's air-borne circus.”
“Cirque du Flaire?” Xander said.
“The same.”
“I have seen the adverts all over the city since we arrived. It is supposed to be a most thrilling pageant.”
“Yes, I have heard as much myself in so many words. I was quite intrigued by the idea of a flying circus, but, sadly, reservations are thoroughly booked through the
ir last shows in England. It is a most novel, idea, is it not? A circus in the sky? Have you seen the ship hovering above the city, glinting in the sun and spilling music into the streets? Delightful.”
“Please, Astrid, get to the point,” Juliana ordered impatiently.
I laughed merrily. The young lady was in much better health these days. Her complexion was positively rosy, and she had filled out nicely. A more pleasant and sensible companion I could not have devised. “Right. Of course. I beg your forgiveness. I do enjoy overusing my words, but I assure you I have not been visiting an unrelated tangent.” I allowed them a moment to exchange a long-suffering glance. “Whilst I was admiring the poster, I was unexpectedly accosted in the street by a man bedecked in the most unusual raiment. He introduced himself as Eitenne Allard. Young Eitenne is terribly concerned, you see, that his twin sister, Elodie, has been somehow altered by their mutual employer.”
Xander lifted a reluctantly interested eyebrow. “Altered in what way, Astrid?”
I smiled. My young wards were suitably ensnared. Their eyes glinted keenly with the promise of a thrilling new mystery. “Young Eitenne believes Elodie has been beguiled in some fashion. She is behaving most unusually and is, by his account, a much changed woman; no longer the sweet, playful girl he remembers.”
“Please explain, Astrid,” Juliana