Magnificent Devices 01 - Lady of Devices

Jake wanted to know.
    “You are quite correct, Mr. Jake. I can obtain the chemicals with one of my two pounds. With the other, I must have something to eat or I shall fall down where I stand. We do not even have a loaf of bread this morning. Who’s with me?”
    Maggie and Willie crowded her skirts. “C’n we ’ave a sweet?”
    She looked down into two pairs of eyes, both shadowed with dirt and more care than a child should ever be burdened with. “I should think that a sweet would be a fitting reward for a job well done in the field of mathematics. And we must not forget Rosie while we are enjoying the fruits of our labors.”
    “She laid an egg,” Maggie said in a confidential tone. “I hid it.”
    Lizzie hung back, her face cloudy as the desire to go fought with the necessity of its being in Claire’s company.
    “Miss Elizabeth, we would be glad of your company if you should care to join us.”
    “My name’s Lizzie.”
    “Of course it is—to your family. But it would be impertinent of me to address you so familiarly on such short acquaintance.”
    “Say ‘I beg yer pardon,’” Maggie urged her sister.
    “Ent beggin’ her pardon for nuffink.”
    “That’s quite all right, Miss Margaret,” Claire assured her before fisticuffs ensued. “I am not offended. Let us be off. Master Jake, if you would be so kind as to accompany us, you may find it useful to memorize the list of ingredients as they are measured out. Since I do not have the use of my notebook.”
    He nodded, his face expressionless as this hint flew straight past his ears.
    Ah well. She could hardly expect to reclaim all her things so soon.
    They found a likely chemist in a lane just off Haymarket, in a neighborhood where Claire was unlikely to see anyone she knew, but which received enough custom from people of quality that her accent would ensure there were no uncomfortable questions. At the door, Claire turned to see a familiar form whisk itself into the shadows further down the street. She schooled her lips into serious lines. “Miss Maggie, would you be so good as to invite your sister to join us? It is too bad of an acquaintance of mine to behave like a footpad.”
    “She ent much of a footpad if you could see ’er,” Jake pointed out.
    Maggie ran off while she pushed open the door to the shop, setting the bell over the door to ringing. Behind an oak counter blackened with age, the chemist looked up from measuring a paper of powder. At the sight of Jake, he frowned. “See here. Get away from that lady, you. I’ll have none of your thievery in here.”
    The place smelled of lemon, bitter herbs, and kerosene, and Claire fought the urge to sneeze. “This young man is not a thief,” she assured him in her plummiest tones. “Nor is this boy, or these girls,” she added as the bell rang again and the Mopsies fell into the shop. “He is here to assist me as part of his education.”
    The chemist did not dare contradict her, but his gaze did not leave Jake’s grubby hands as he said, “My apologies, my lady. Many ladies of quality take an interest in the indigent. How may I help you this morning?”
    Beside her, Jake bristled. He may not know what indigent meant, but he certainly recognized the tone. She laid a hand on his jacket sleeve. “We are pursuing studies in the field of science, and my experiments require a number of chemicals.” Beginning with the liquid capsaicin, she dictated a list of what she required, estimating the amounts of each from recent experience. She spoke slowly, so that the chemist could write them down, and Jake could commit them to memory.
    “It will take me some time to measure these out, my lady. Boy!” he shouted.
    Beside her, Willie jumped, though he had been doing nothing worse than pressing his nose against the glass of the case.
    “Sir?” A young man even thinner than Snouts popped out of a door in the rear like a jack-in-the-box.
    “Would you care for some tea while you wait, my lady?” the chemist inquired. “Robin will fetch it for you.”
    “How very kind. We should all love some, thank you.”
    The chemist looked flummoxed. “Er, so that would be—”
    “Five cups. Thank you so much.”
    Ten minutes later found them seated with mugs of hot tea, sweet with honey and smoky with toasted jasmine. Lizzie and Willie slurped theirs with abandon, and Claire realized that lessons in deportment would need to be added to mathematics and science if they were to come out with her