Julius and the Watchmaker (25 page)

The boys looked at her and one of them said, ‘Huh?' From the somewhat confused expressions on their faces Julius assumed that they were as entranced by Emily's pretty face as he had been when he first saw it washed free of dirt. He began to feel a little more at ease. He ran his fingers through his hair to tidy his fringe and smiled confidently.

‘His mother said we'd find him here. He's not in any trouble or anything, I can assure you,' said Julius.

The boys seemed unconvinced.

‘In fact,' said Emily, with a shy smile. ‘We have some good news for him.'

‘What news?' asked one of the boys, with a mixture of suspicion and excitement.

That's him, Higgins, that's our Edgar Sedley.
Julius tried to conceal a grin.
Greedy and not very bright. Perfect.

‘Well, we can only talk to Edgar himself about it, you see,' said Julius. ‘Could you direct us to him?'

Edgar's face expressed his dilemma. He was probably in trouble, bound to be, but what if it really was good news?

‘Well, if you do happen to see Edgar, could you tell him that we called? It was a pleasure to meet you all,' said Emily, smiling politely as if she would dearly have loved to get to know them all but was too shy to stay. She turned to go.

‘'Ere, 'ang on!' said Edgar, before Julius and Emily had taken two paces. Julius cast a quick grin in Emily's direction and was rewarded with one in return.

‘So, what's this good news, then?' said Edgar, as he sat down on a rotting bollard and pulled a cigar butt from his pocket.

‘It must be so exciting being a navy cadet. You must be ever so brave,' said Emily, looking like she was trying to hide her admiration.

‘Well, yeah…I suppose…' said Edgar lighting a lucifer and coughing on the first inhale.

‘It's my brother, you see,' said Emily, after the coughing had ceased, indicating shyly towards Julius, who was standing by her side. ‘He so dearly wants to go to sea…you see.'

‘Oh,' replied Edgar, none the wiser but enjoying every moment of looking into Emily's bright and adoring eyes.

‘We understand that you are to sail on the
Bountiful
on the 8th of August, bound for Australia.'

‘Yeah, don't I know it,' said Edgar. ‘Under the command of Captain Blight.'

‘Oh?'

‘Aye,
Oh
, indeed. No one wants to be under 'is command. No one likes the blighter, not even the admirals. 'E'd flog you soon as look at you, 'e would. Not that you're supposed to flog cadets, but anyfing can 'appen at sea. That's why they're sending the clockwork crew for 'is command. It's an experiment, to see if we get to Port Jackson in one piece.'

‘Yes, we heard about that,' said Julius. ‘The whole crew will be clockwork, then?'

‘Except for the officers, of course. There'll be clockmen guarding the convicts as well, with only a couple of sergeant majors to command them. I'm not looking forward to reporting for duty, I'll tell you that for nothing, mate.'

‘Well, we might be able to help you there, Edgar,' said Emily, drawing closer to the young navy cadet so that her arm brushed against his.

‘Oh, yeah?' said Edgar, blushing and coughing at the same time.

‘What would you say to ten pounds to secretly give your place on the ship to my brother? Oh, and we'd need you to train him how to walk and talk like a sailor too.'

‘Well done, back there, 'iggins. You're quite the mace when you put your mind to it,' said Emily as they walked side by side back to the attic.

‘Thanks. You were terrific, Emily,' said Julius with undisguised admiration.

‘It was naffing,' she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, but she smiled to herself all the same.

‘How is Harry going with the toys?' said Julius, testing to see if she could be pleasant to him for more than three sentences in a row.

‘Nearly done. They're all working night and day to get them finished. They ain't got no time for thieving no more. We'll be glad when you're gone, 'iggins, then we can get back to normal.'

Julius felt a little stung. He was relieved, though, by her mischievous smile—she was only teasing him.

‘You've all been wonderful, Emily. I am most grateful you know, really,' he said, stepping into uncharted territory.

Emily appeared to become a little embarrassed by his gushing. ‘It's naffing, 'iggins. Mr Flynn asked us to 'elp you and Mr Flynn is tops in our book. When them Banshees came to London and their airships and buzz-kites was filling the skies it was an 'orrible time. No one knew wot was going to 'appen next. There was panic everywhere. 'E came looking for us on Warwick Lane. We'd emptied Springheel's lodging and it had fallen down by then and 'e found us 'iding in the market. 'E took us to the attic and said it was ours to keep. 'E said we was
in
with the Fancy and anyone who messed with us messed with them. There's been chavies snatched off the streets everyday to be sold to the tobacco plantations in Virginy, or put in one of them steam factories, but no one snatches us, they don't dare. All we 'ave to worry about is the blue-bottles. But we keeps out of their way and they keeps out of ours.'

‘Are you an orphan, Emily?' said Julius. ‘I mean no offence. I am too…if you're one, that is. At least, I think I am.'

Emily stopped and looked at Julius. ‘You
think
you're an orphan?'

‘Well, you see, grandfather told me my mother was gone. That's all he said…“She's gone.”'

‘Well that means she's dead, so you're 'alfway there. What about your old man?'

‘I'm not sure. Grandfather would never say anything on that subject.'

‘Naffing?'

‘No. He used to get very angry if ever I tried to bring it up.'

Emily stopped and her eyes narrowed as she thought. ‘I bet your old lady weren't hitched, no offence. Which means your old man left 'er in the lurch when she got herself in the family way.'

‘Yes, I suppose so.'

‘'Appens all the time.'

Julius was silent. They started to walk again.

‘Emily…can I tell you a secret?'

Emily stopped. ‘Course you can.'

‘I think that Mr Flynn might be my father.'

Instead of laughing, Emily smiled knowingly. ‘That explains it,' she said.

‘Explains what?'

‘Mr Flynn sends one of us round to 'iggins' shop regular like, to look in the window and see 'ow the old boy is.'

‘And Mr Flynn doesn't call on him, himself ?'

‘Well, if he got your ma in the family way 'n then scarpered 'n your grandpa never forgave 'im…'

Julius winced at Emily's precision and looked away.

‘I'm going to visit Grandfather. I'll see you at the attic,' said Julius as he peeled away.

‘'Ang on. I'm going wiv you.'

‘All right…But, Emily…'

‘Yes?'

‘Don't tell Mr Flynn.'

Emily shrugged her shoulders.

‘It's naffing to me what you do, mate.'

Julius ducked his head as he walked along Ironmonger Lane. Not much had changed in the three years, except for Higgins' Booksellers. The pavement outside had not been swept for a long time. That was Julius's job. Julius wiped a circle of dust from the window and looked inside. Mr Higgins was at his usual place behind the counter. His shoulders were more stooped than Julius remembered them and his hair was longer. Cobwebs draped over the books on the display table by the window. Julius read the spines on the books.
Histories
, by Herodotus, in three volumes was still there, and Rufus's
Alexander the Great
. They had not been rearranged since he had left. That was his job too.

‘Wot's 'e doing?' said Emily.

‘Nothing.'

Julius turned away and leaned against the wall. He remembered the way his grandfather tapped his teaspoon unnecessarily on the side of his teacup after stirring his tea, making it ring like a porcelain bell. Julius could hear the sound in his ears. It used to irritate him to distraction, as did the unnecessary throat clearing and the endless spectacle cleaning.

A shiver ran through Julius.

‘You all right, 'iggins?'

‘Let's go home,' he said.

Harry greeted Julius and Emily at the attic door. ‘I've got a new plan for freeing the professor, 'iggins. It's a much better one than yours,' he said excitedly.

‘What?'

‘Come here, look at this,' he said, leading Julius to the table.

One of Harry's many notebooks lay open at a page with a drawing of a clockwork spider. ‘Look at that,' he said.

‘Yes?'

‘I got the idea from 'arrison's diary. 'E used lots of different types of metal in 'is watches, depending on wot needed to be done—different materials behave in different ways, do you see? It gave me the idea for the glass trigger. Look here.' Harry pointed to the drawing.

‘I don't really—'

‘The spiders will be the size of a sovereign 'n flat, so you can 'ide 'em in your pockets. You activate 'em by frowing 'em on the ground. The sliver of glass right there breaks—that releases the mainspring and you 'ave firty seconds of energy.'

‘For what?'

‘The spiders move like lightning, running in circles 'til they find an obstacle; then they climb up and when they reach a crevice they go inside, and when they get stuck and can't go any further the legs lock out, and jam the heart mechanism.'

‘The heart mechanism?'

‘Inside the clockmen.'

‘So—'

‘So you don't have to make friends with the clockmen. You can jam up their mechanism instead.'

‘But that would kill them…wouldn't it?' said Julius.

‘Kill them? They're only machines, 'iggins.'

‘I know, but…'

‘But what?'

‘I'll tell you what…make some for me. I'll take them with me, just in case.'