The Chemickal Marriage

stopped where he was and leant very close to Pfaff. Pfaff did not flinch.
    ‘He was in a brown coat,’ snarled Ramper, ‘looked like he’d been living rough – but no poacher, no woodsman and no farmer. He was watching the gate.’
    ‘How do you know he wasn’t some gypsy, sniffing out salvage?’
    ‘Why would a gypsy follow me through the woods? Or take the same train?’
    ‘Then why didn’t you damn well take him?’
    ‘I thought if I followed him I could find out who he was.’
    ‘
And?
’
    ‘I told you – once I got past the constables –’
    ‘He was gone.
Superb
.’
    ‘No one would go to that ruin without a reason – the
same
damned reason I had.’
    Ramper raised a hand to knock on Miss Temple’s door, but Pfaff caught it mid-air.
    ‘Not a word,’ Pfaff hissed. ‘The factory, yes, but not this …
figment
. We don’t scare the mistress.’
    Miss Temple emerged from the stairwell, grinning broadly.
    ‘There you are, Mr Pfaff,’ she called. ‘And Mr Ramper – how good to see you safely returned.’
    Pfaff spun round, his hand darting instinctively behind his coat. He smiled in greeting and stepped aside so Miss Temple might reach her door.
    Mr Ramper had not entered the Parchfeldt factory itself. The gate was barred and strongly guarded. The grounds outside were pitted with artillery craters, but he saw no bodies. The white walls were blackened by flame. The machines inside – if they remained – were silent, and the smokestacks on the roof were cold.
    Miss Temple asked if he had examined the canal. He had: there was no traffic to be seen. She asked if he entered the woods to the east. Mr Ramper described the shell holes and fallen trees amongst the stone ruins. Without noticeable tightness in her voice, Miss Temple asked if he had found any bodies
there
. Mr Ramper had not.
    She poured more tea before turning to Pfaff.
    ‘After a reasonable period of refreshment, of course – I will have Marie fetch brandy – Mr Ramper will direct his efforts to these
machines
. If they have been moved, then surely someone with knowledge of the canals can confirm it. If they have been repaired, then an inquiry to the Xonck Armaments works at Raaxfall may help us, for it is there the Comte’s devices were made.’
    ‘The works at Raaxfall are shut down,’ said Pfaff. ‘Hundreds of men without a wage.’
    ‘Mr Ramper – the men guarding the factory, did they wear green uniforms?’
    Ramper looked at Pfaff before responding. ‘No, miss. Local men for hire, it seemed.’
    ‘The Xonck factory had its own small army,’ Miss Temple explained. ‘Perhaps they have accompanied the machines.’
    Pfaff considered this, then nodded to Ramper, who stood.
    ‘Do wait for your brandy, Mr Ramper. Mr Pfaff, what of the Royal Institute?’
    Pfaff smiled, and rubbed his hands in a gesture Miss Temple was sure he’d copied from the stage. ‘No one’s let it spill, but there’s money in the air. I’ve found a glassworks by the river, apparently turning away work – I’m off tonight to see why.’
    ‘Then let us speak this evening, when you have returned.’
    ‘I will not return until quite late.’
    ‘No matter.’
    ‘The hotel staff will not admit me.’
    ‘Mr Brine will wait in the lobby – it is the simplest thing.’ She turned brightly. ‘Mr Ramper, perhaps you will finish this plate of biscuits – one dislikes their persistence in a room. And, Mr Brine, if you would come with me – I believe Marie has explained there is a fault with the lock on my window.’
    Mr Brine obligingly followed Miss Temple to her chamber, pointedly averting his eyes from her bed as he advanced to the window. He turned, his face quite wilfully blank, at the sound of her closing the door behind them.
    ‘There is little time, Mr Brine,’ she whispered. ‘When Mr Ramper leaves the hotel, I want you to follow him.’ Brine opened his mouth to speak, but Miss Temple waved him to silence. ‘I am not interested in Mr Ramper. My fear is that his brown-coated man did not lose him at all, but has followed him
here
, and will follow him away. Say nothing to
anyone
. Exit through the rear of the hotel – I will send you on an errand. If Mr Ramper is under scrutiny, follow this brown-coated person as best you can. Is that clear?’
    Brine hesitated.
    ‘Silence is a provocation, Mr Brine.’
    ‘Yes, miss. But what if the fellow wants you? If I’m gone, you’ll be alone.’
    ‘Not to worry.’ Miss Temple patted