“As a pledge of good faith,” Mrs. Money said more softly, “I will give you the key right now, in exchange for the letter of credit that you mentioned.”
“Well,” Mr. Giles said at last. “Perhaps you are not so unsuited for high finance as I’d implied.”
“Heaven forfend,” Mrs. Money said, and only Maddie heard the wry note beneath the mask of feminine reticence. “Do we have a deal, Mr. Giles?”
Maddie waited for his answer, her shuttle thumpingleft-right,right-leftin front of her like an anxious heartbeat, the rhythm echoed by the other girls’ looms unseen in the darkness around her.
And then: “Done,” Mr. Giles’s voice said. A single note, so low it was almost lost in the thrum of machinery.
The rush of success sent the blood soaring through Maddie’s veins; she only dimly heard Mr. Giles take his leave. Mrs. Money waited at the door until the rattle of horses and carriages showed the investors and Mr. Giles had all departed. “All right, girls—you’ve done it,” she called out, and as one the weavers let go the handles of their flying shuttles, and pulled the black cloth from over their eyes.
Maddie blinked against the rainbow lights from the colored lanterns, which was searing after so much darkness. Alice was chattering happily to an amused Judith about how well the illusion had worked, as she began taking down the magic lanterns from the Jacquard heads. The other girls were drifting toward the spot where Mrs. Money stood in the pool of ordinary lantern light by the door. The looms would have to be stripped of their silk, but that could wait for the moment.
“Who were those other men?” Mary Fisin asked, twisting the blindfold nervously between her hands.
“Nobody good,” Mrs. Money said grimly. “Not if they’re interested in a deal as underhanded as this one.”
“I don’t know if I can afford any more enemies,” Alice said.
“They won’t be enemies,” Maddie said. “They’ll be quite helpful to us, even if they don’t realize it.”
Everyone spun to stare at her: Judith with arms folded, Mrs. Money blinking in surprise, Alice squinting from the coruscation of the magic lantern in her hands, the other members of the Weavers’ Library.
Maddie smirked, her mind pulling scraps of thought into a pattern, as the threads of the looms around her shimmered like harp strings. “We are going to invite these men to the concert. You said yourself, Mrs. Money, that we need to embarrass him publicly. We’d planned on doing that already. Now if we make sure his investors are in the audience, we’ll have some very interested eyes when Mr. Giles’s true character is revealed. If they think he’s lost all their money... Won’t they demand he pay it all back?”
Alice began to grin, and Judith with her. Mrs. Money nodded, and even anxious Mary Fisin’s eyes brightened.
Maddie rubbed her hands, anticipating. “Time for one last performance, everyone.”
Chapter Fifteen
Maddie had been glad of the commission for the concert program, since it let her put to use the cream silk they’d bought for the false factory demonstration. Her loom had been warped properly for the work and the design punched onto the Jacquard cards—but today, instead of weaving more of the delicate design, Maddie was taking a day to help finish preparations for the other, secret performance that they were planning.
Mr. Samson had been to London and back, and now he had brought his finds to Maddie’s—along with Miss Narayan. The Narayan shop had always been a bit too costly for Maddie, but she knew they had the best reputation for tailoring in all of Carrisford. “So nice to meet you,” she said, shaking the slim brown hand Miss Narayan held out to her as Mr. Samson introduced them. “And we very much appreciate your help with this.” She led them into the front room, and turned. “Did Sophie—did Miss Roseingrave tell you what we needed your help for?”
Miss Narayan’s dark eyes were bright with curiosity. “She and Mr. Samson have been very mysterious about it, Miss Crewe.”
“Allow me to dispel the mystery, then—we are plotting a crime.”
Miss Narayan’s eyes went wide.
Maddie went on: “We are planning to rob Mr. Giles of everything we can. In the open, where everyone can see.”
“How subtle,” Miss Narayan laughed.
Maddie’s lips quirked in acknowledgement. “And now that I have told you that, I ask for your help.”
“And if I refuse?”
Maddie spread her hands. “Then I simply ask you not to tell anyone what we’re planning to do.”
“As if anyone would listen if I told them something so outlandish,” Miss Narayan muttered. She narrowed her eyes, and turned to Mr. Samson. “And you have been a part of this?”
“Since Miss Crewe first asked for my help a few months ago,” he confirmed. His expression was somber, his gaze earnest. “You may have heard my family is thinking of moving into manufacture?”
“That’s what they say,” Miss Narayan replied.
“Well, they happen to be right. My father has been trying to purchase Mr. Obeney’s factory from the manager for fully a year now—but Mr. Giles has put words in the man’s ear and gold in his pocket, and the factory sits empty when it could be putting people to work. And now we learn Mr. Giles is talking of buying the place himself.”
