“Hooray!” crowed Raven. “We’ve told him all about Peregrine’s hound, and now he will have a chance to see it for himself.”
“Hooray!” echoed Hawk. He put down his pencil and made a face. “I’m not very good at mechanics, but as I’m not making any progress with my pencil, I might as well pass you the gears and hold the turnscrew while you work.”
“You can keep trying later,” said his brother. “You never know when inspiration will strike.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself, sweeting,” she counseled. “I don’t see any clues in the fabric, either.”
Raven returned to fiddling with the gears attached to the underbelly of the mechanical hound. “Perhaps Osprey will have some ideas on how to make the hound walk faster.”
Peregrine nodded. “Right. He mentioned that Mr. Tilden is teaching him about engineering.”
“I’m sure your fellow students at Eton will be very impressed with your creation when you and your hound return to school,” observed Charlotte.
“I think they’ll be even more impressed with your left jab and right upper cut,” chortled Raven. “Any bully who looks to prey on you this term will find himself with a bloodied beak.”
“Or black-and blue cods,” sniggered Hawk.
Charlotte maintained a stoic silence. She didn’t condone such gleeful savagery, but she accepted it as a necessary evil. Whether dressed in finespun wool or filthy rags, human nature was the same. The elite school for the rich and privileged ran on the same primitive wolf-eat-wolf rules as the London slums. Peregrine had suffered nasty taunts and beatings the previous spring. However, he was now quite skilled in defending himself, which would earn him the respect of his peers.
Thanks to the Weasels, who had taught him all manner of kicks and punches that no proper little gentleman was supposed to know.
“I hate Eton.” Expelling a sigh, Peregrine looked up at her with a beseeching look. “Can’t I stay here and be tutored by Mr. Lynsley, like Raven and Hawk?”
If the decision was up to her, she would say “yes” in a heartbeat. “I fear not, Falcon. To us, you are family, but Wrex and I must respect that your cousin is your legal guardian until you reach your majority, and so we must—”
“Defer to his wishes, whether I like it or not,” intoned the boy. “Would that I could snap my fingers and in the next instant turn twenty-one.”
Charlotte felt a knife-like stab in her chest as she regarded the boys, thinking that the three of them would grow up way too quickly.
And then she felt a chill snake down her spine. Life was so fragile, and as her husband knew all too well, love was a wondrous power, but it couldn’t work miracles.
Ha, just let the Grim Reaper try to swing his scythe at any of my loved ones—he will find himself in for a rude surprise.
Such morbid thoughts were chased away by McClellan’s hail from downstairs, announcing that the dowager and her young relative had arrived.
“Come, let us all go down and greet Alison and Horatio. I am looking forward to meeting the young man.”
Harper took the invitation to include him and shook off his nap with a gusty yawn.
“Mac has been busy in the kitchen,” added Charlotte as they all trooped toward the stairs. “Do try not to make yourselves sick with freshly baked ginger biscuits.”
The hound flashed his teeth in a canine grin, which swiftly gave way to an injuredwoofas Hawk wagged a finger and said, “That means you. Sweets are very bad for dogs.”
Horatio was introduced to Charlotte, who welcomed him with open arms as the boys exchanged exuberant hugs with Alison.
“You may add these to the platter of biscuits,” drawled the dowager, handing Raven a bag of Pontefract cakes. “However, don’t—”
“Make ourselves sick!” chorused the Weasels and Peregrine.
“Precisely,” she said with a laugh. “Now take Horatio up to your eyrie while m’lady and I enjoy a quiet cup of tea.”
Charlotte, however, had spotted the expectant gleam in Alison’s eyes. “Mac will fetch refreshments,” she said as the boys hurried off. “While we—”
“Begin our plotting,” finished Alison.
“Before we discuss that,” replied Charlotte, leading the way into the parlor, “you need to hear about the latest developments.”
The dowager listened in rapt silence as Charlotte recounted the details of Wrexford and Sheffield’s clandestine visit to the secret laboratory and the momentous discovery concerning the propeller.
