“But not for long, now that Wrex is back,” said Raven. “He will soon have the miscreants brought to justice.”
The boy’s faith in him only made Wrexford more achingly aware of his own frailties. Rather than reply, he marched to the sideboard and picked up one of the bottles from the tray.
To his dismay, he found that his hand was shaking.
“Refill my glass while you’re at it,” said Sheffield. The earl noted that his friend was looking awfully grave and brought the whisky with him as he moved to the group of armchairs by the hearth.
“So,” he said, once he had seated himself and taken a long draught of his drink. “What is the trouble?”
“Let me start at the beginning,” answered Charlotte. “Peregrine has been corresponding with Samuel Tilden, a friend of his uncle Willis and a fellow inventor. This morning, he received an invitation to visit Tilden at the King’s Dockyard and have a tour of the Royal Navy’s nautical research laboratories. . .”
Helped along by numerous interjections from Raven and Hawk—and a few hesitant comments from Peregrine—she recounted what she and the boys had seen.
“Hmmph.” Wrexford read in her eyes that there was more to the story, so he refrained from any further reaction.
The Weasels looked about to badger him with further questions, but Charlotte intervened. “Off you fly, fledglings,” she said. “Wrex is tired from traveling, and there are some things that we need to discuss with Kit.”
“In private,” added Wrexford. He eyed the jumble of fencing foils lying on the carpet. “Be forewarned that any eavesdropping, and I may have to lop off a few ears.”
Charlotte sweetened the dismissal by adding, “You may take the platter of ginger biscuits with you.”
Raven’s scowl softened as he scooped up the plate. Harper added a canine grin before rising and padding after the boys.
“You could have asked them to leave some biscuits behind,” grumbled Sheffield as the pelter of steps in the corridor died away.
“I think we have more meaty things on which to chew,” said Charlotte. “I’ve yet to tell either of you about the papers I saw in the work area by the prototype steam engine—”
“Before you begin, His Lordship would likely welcome some real sustenance after his journey.” McClellan appeared in the doorway with a platter of sliced beefsteak, along with a slab of cheddar and a loaf of bread.
“Thank you, Mac.” A soft splash sounded as Wrexford refilled his glass. “Why is it that I have a sneaking suspicion I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear?”
“Because you are developing very good primal instincts to go along with your incisive logic,” replied Charlotte, after gesturing for McClellan to remain and be part of the discussion.
A mirthless laugh rumbled in his throat. “It seems that I’ve just been damned with faint praise.” He sat down and began to fix himself a plate of food. “Perhaps some sustenance will make it more palatable.”
* * *
Charlotte took that as a signal to proceed. “I am no expert on steam engines, but as Peregrine mentioned, it looked distinctly different from any other one I’ve ever seen.”
“How so?” asked Sheffield.
“It was very . . .” Her brow furrowed. “I suppose the best way to describe it is to say it was horizontal rather than vertical, with very unusual condensers and flywheels. But even more curious were the set of technical drawings spread out in the work alcove. There were some exceedingly strange diagrams in the margins.” A puzzled shrug. “They made no sense to me, so I can’t really describe them. In addition, there also were a number of rough sketches of odd-looking paddle wheels.”
She reached into her pocket. “I had a chance to make copies of some of them in my sketchbook.” Her lips gave a wry twitch. “Though Colonel Jarvis might have put me in front of a firing squad had he known.”
Charlotte passed the book to Wrexford, who merely shook his head and handed it to Sheffield.
Their friend took several long moments to study the sketches and then set down his glass rather heavily. “Damnation.” His voice was barely more than a whisper.
“You think this proves that the government is working on an oceangoing marine propulsion system?” asked Wrexford.
“I’ve been making some discreet inquiries and have heard rumors to that effect,” answered their friend. “And these drawings certainly look to confirm them. I’ve also heard that the Americans are experimenting with some new innovative paddle wheel designs that are more flexible, along with some experimental models that are placed in the interior of the ship on either side of the keel, rather than on the outside of the hull.”
Sheffield slowly expelled his breath. “These drawings seem to show that the Royal Navy is experimenting with the same ideas. As for the curved object, I confess I have no idea what it shows.”
“But what wedoknow,” pointed out Charlotte, “is that two groups involved in the race have recently suffered clandestine attacks on their laboratories.”
She fixed each of them with a troubled glance. “The question is, who is to blame?”
