Magnificent Devices 01 - Lady of Devices

aptitude, not for numbers, but for bluffing. “It is that talent that will allow you to win,” Claire assured him. “Such a skill cannot be taught. In the meantime, let us count these diamonds once more—if you have three on this card and four on this one, how many do you have in total?”
    Tigg and Jake had at one time in their dark pasts received some schooling, so addition and subtraction came back fairly quickly. The Mopsies, however, treated the concept of multiplication with dark suspicion. To them, it was simply not possible to arrive at a single answer in a multitude of ways. One added three to three to get six, one did not simply say, “twice three” and arrive at six. Since there were only four suits, Claire could only advance to the four times table in any case. Everything after that would have to be memorized … another day.
    Without slates, chalk, or books, they were limited to what the cards could teach them, and as the day tilted into afternoon, she and Snouts needed the deck themselves. They played hand after hand of poker until Tigg nudged her.
    “We can’t do this much longer, lady. Everyone’ll be stumblin’ off ’ome soon to get a bit of shut-eye before tonight’s games.”
    “We want to play when they’re tired and foxed.” Snouts gathered up the cards and tapped them into a neat deck. “Only one problem I can see.”
    “What would that be?” Claire lifted the stove lid so he could put the cards back in their place. “You have all done very well today. Even Jake can play a respectable hand, though I would not bet the deed to an estate on it.”
    “That’s just it,” Snouts said. “What ’ave we got to bet wiv besides great lots of nuffink?”
    Claire sat rather suddenly on the broken stool she had been using. “Oh. I had not got that far in my strategy.” She regarded him while her mind raced and anxiety puddled in her stomach. How could she not have thought of this? The whole point of gambling was to win, but one had to have a stake in order to be included in the game.
    She did not even have a toothpick.
    But wait—
    Her gaze narrowed on Snouts. “We do have something to throw in the pot,” she said. “Where is my exchange for teaching you your numbers? Where is my great-grandmother’s ring?”
    “You get yer stuff back when you teach us about chemicals and suchlike useful items.” Jake tilted his chair back, severely endangering its bodily integrity. “Not arithmetic.”
    “Shut up, Jake.” Snouts reached under the muffler wound about his neck and rummaged in his shirt. “This it?”
    Her great-grandmother’s Georgian emerald winked in his palm. Claire restrained herself from snatching it by sitting on her hands. She would not say she had gained their trust, but at least she was making every effort she could to help them in their uneasy truce. However, it seemed she would have to make this ultimate sacrifice in order to attain the greater goal.
    “Yes, that’s it.” With a breath, she committed herself. “We will use it for our stake. I implore you to use your skills to the utmost, Mr. McTavish. I should very much like to see it come back again.”
    “I ent goin’ into this wiv the intent to lose it, if that’s wot you mean.” He tucked the ring away.
    “I still say we pawn the thing,” Jake put in. “Stupid to risk it when we could get ten pound easy over t’ Seven Dials.”
    “We ent goin’ to pawn the lady’s ring if we have a chance of winnin’ the pot,” Tigg told him.
    “What chance? Snouts ent no strategy man. You’ve got me for that.”
    “But you cannot recognize the numbers on the cards fast enough,” Claire reminded him. “Snouts is our best chance.”
    “I c’n tot them up pretty quick,” one of the Mopsies said with pride. “Faster’n you, Jake.”
    In answer, he swatted her with the back of his bandaged hand. In the resulting uproar, Snouts grabbed him and pushed him out into the front room. “I’ve ’ad about enough of you!” he shouted. “Go do summat useful and don’t lemme see you back ’ere afore dark.” Jake’s broken boots pounded furiously on the street, disappearing into the hubbub dockside. “Stupid cove.” Snouts went to the back door and looked out, though there was nothing there but tangled weeds and broken rocks, and the river wall six feet away.
    Claire opened Rosie’s cage and took her out, sliding one hand under her feet and passing her arm about her so she would not fall off. Rosie