Strange Star (15 page)

Felix grabbed the nearest door and pushed it open. Inside was a sort of parlour. There were books everywhere – on shelves, tables, chairs.

‘This’ll do,’ he said, beckoning to the girls.

The door had only just swung shut behind them when, out in the hallway, two sets of footsteps stopped.

‘We’ll talk in the library,’ Mary said.

They were coming in.

Felix took Lizzie’s arm. ‘Quick! Duck down!’

They crouched behind a bookcase as the library door opened. Felix tried to quieten his breathing. He watched as Mary led someone into the room, shutting the door behind them. The woman was small like Mary, with yellow hair peeping out from under a bonnet.

So this was Miss Stine.

She didn’t look like a scientist. But then, he supposed, he didn’t know what one
did
look like. And
he and Lizzie and Peg weren’t well hidden, either. If Miss Stine glanced round, she’d see the tops of three heads. Lizzie clearly sensed this; she’d put her hand over Peg’s mouth.

Miss Stine wasn’t shown to a seat. She stood, twisting her hands. ‘I come to you in deep despair, Mary. The night you left there was a fire at Eden Court. It destroyed all my work, all my findings. The house couldn’t be saved – everything perished.’

Mary eyed her coldly. ‘Yes, I did hear as much.’

‘You read of it in the papers?’

‘No, I
heard
of it, Francesca, from someone who was there.’

Miss Stine’s finger-twisting stopped. Her hands, gripped together, turned white at the knuckles. ‘So the girl survived the fire, after all. That night someone saw her in the hallway trying to go upstairs, so I assumed she’d not survived.’

‘Bet she wishes I
was
dead,’ Lizzie muttered under her breath.

‘She came all this way for her sister,’ Mary said. ‘And now I’ve heard the truth of what went on that night at Eden Court, I’m very sorry I ever showed an interest in your work.’

‘Look here!’ Miss Stine’s voice suddenly rose. ‘You
mustn’t believe the girl. I tried to convince her that my ideas could work. I showed her
everything
, Mary. So if that little traitor has now come to you spreading evil lies about my experiments as I feared she would, I swear I’ll make her sorry – and that brat sister of hers!’

Beside him, Felix sensed Lizzie stiffen. She held Peg tight to her chest.

‘I suggest you drop that tone,’ Mary said, icily.

But Miss Stine kept on. ‘Where are the girls? Let me see them at once!’

She’d started pacing the room too, which made Felix very nervous. Though they’d shrunk down further behind the bookcase, she’d only have to peer behind it to see them.

‘Enough, Francesca!’ Mary cried. Taking hold of Miss Stine’s arms at the elbows, she looked deep into the scientist’s face. ‘You must stop. You’ve caused enough trouble already.’

The two women stared hard at each other. Then the fight went out of Miss Stine and she dipped her head. ‘I have nothing left.’

Lizzie, still holding Peg, made a little ‘hmm’ sound of disgust. Felix hoped Mary wasn’t taken in by it, either.

He needn’t have worried.

‘And you’ve come to me for
pity
?’ Mary said, letting go of her and taking a step back.

Miss Stine looked shocked. ‘Well, I hoped you might help me get back on course. I have
nothing
: I mean it, Mary. I can’t stop my research now, not when it’s—’

‘All your life you’ve had too much of everything,’ Mary interrupted. ‘Too much ambition, too many ideas, even too much money.’

‘It was my father’s money and his father’s money,’ Miss Stine said. ‘I hardly think—’

‘Money got from sugar plantations. From other people’s misery,’ Mary said, grimly. ‘You told me once how your grandfather insisted on branding all his slaves with the letter S, even the babies. I’ve never forgotten it.’

Felix’s hand went to his arm. Was
this
what the S shape of his scar meant – S for Stine?

He felt dazed.

He didn’t know whether it was some awful coincidence or a reminder that there were others, many others, with scars like his. There was so much he wanted to feel. So much he wanted to say. And yet, as he stared at Miss Stine, all he saw was a rather small, badly dressed woman. She had no power over anyone in the room. And she certainly didn’t own him.

‘You say you have nothing?’ Mary asked. ‘I suppose you’ve come to us for money, like my father often does.’

‘Well, yes, I’m afraid I have. All my family’s money has gone in debts and so forth. I hoped maybe Percy could help me with a loan from his inheritance.’

Mary shook her head very firmly. ‘No, Francesca. That won’t be possible. You see, we’ve lost something too. The girl you so kindly
arranged
for us to adopt isn’t an orphan after all. She has a family who love her and who’ve come to claim her back.’

‘But that isn’t …’ Miss Stine faltered.

The room went quiet. Miss Stine had started twisting her hands again. Yet it was Mary now who Felix couldn’t take his eyes off. She looked ready to commit murder.

‘Why did you let me take the girl?’ she asked. ‘Why did you set it all up?’

‘To ease your grief,’ Miss Stine said, her voice trembling. ‘I couldn’t bring your daughter back to life – not yet anyway, my work isn’t that advanced – and it pained me to see you still suffering from Clara’s death.’

So this daughter of slave owners had
feelings
? Felix was keen to hear what they were.

‘I wanted to
do
something for you, Mary,’ Miss Stine said. ‘As your friend.’

It made Felix think suddenly of Dr Polidori and his sprained ankle. People had a habit of doing odd things to impress Miss Godwin and Mr Shelley. This, though, was quite something else.

‘And you just
happened
to have a random child at your disposal?’ Mary said.

‘Please, there was a mistake. Mr Walton brought me the wrong girl. It was Lizzie Appleby I wanted to study, not her little sister. But when I heard her story – she said she had no mother and that the villagers spoke ill of her – I thought you could give her a new beginning.’

‘So you lied? You planned all this yourself?’

‘I … well …’

‘Good grief, Francesca!’ Mary spat. ‘You’re not just clever – you’re twisted!’

‘And now I’m ruined.’ Miss Stine’s shoulders visibly sagged. ‘All I have left to show for a lifetime of work is a wolf.’

Felix glanced sideways at Lizzie. The colour had drained from her cheeks.

‘Not so long ago, I believed in your work, Francesca. But I’ve seen the damage it can do. What you propose is not the answer to people’s grief. I’m not sure there really
is
an answer to that.’ Mary composed herself again. ‘So I’m afraid I can’t help you any more. As for
this wolf business, yes, I’ve heard about it but I’m not sure I entirely believe it. Besides, you can’t possibly have brought him all this way.’

‘But there is a wolf! He was shot dead and I brought him back to life!’ Miss Stine cried, gesturing towards the door. ‘He’s outside in a crate!’

‘Whatever for?’

‘As proof that my work should go on. I hoped you of all people would see him and realise what, with time, can be achieved. Forget about what you’ve heard and listen to me. I have great plans. Great ambitions. The wolf in question came from the Alps originally. I have notions of capturing another from the same pack and giving it a mate.’

Mary folded her arms across her chest. ‘Capturing a wolf? Really, Francesca, this is too much.’

‘It needs a companion again. Originally it had one but she died, and being a lone wolf has made it very savage. Do you know it killed my assistant back in England?’

‘So Mr Walton
is
dead,’ whispered Lizzie. She looked horrified.

Mary didn’t speak. Her silence said it all.

‘You won’t help me, then?’ Miss Stine asked.

Mary shook her head.

‘Then I’ll have to find someone to shoot the wretched creature, won’t I?’

‘If there really is a wolf, then yes, I suppose you will,’ Mary replied. ‘And let me warn you, if you take one step towards the Appleby girls again, I promise I’ll see you’re sent to Newgate Gaol or somewhere equally awful, am I understood?’

Wearily, Miss Stine straightened her shoulders. ‘Yes, Mary, you are.’

There didn’t seem much left to say. Mary, her manner cold and brittle, showed Miss Stine out of the library. Their footsteps retreated down the hall.

‘Mary’s right. It’s that Francesca Stine who needs putting in a cage,’ said Lizzie. ‘I’ve a good mind to go after her.’

Felix stopped her.

‘Leave it. It’s finished,’ he said. There were bad people he’d have liked to cut a strip off too. But it didn’t make things better; it just made you feel a different sort of awful. ‘You’ve got Peg back safely. So try thinking good thoughts like going home and being with your father again.’

Lizzie hugged Peg tighter. ‘And no more of your silly lies, Peg Appleby. You’re going home to a family who
loves
you, d’you hear me?’

Peg, looking slightly stunned, nodded.

His feet numb from sitting, Felix stood up. ‘We should leave.’

This time they found the back door easily enough. They startled a kitchen maid who was busy making breakfast, and emerged, blinking, into the sunshine of what was now a rather warm day. Felix found himself thinking of London again – the sun shining on the river, the vast white buildings that he imagined might look like iced cakes.

‘How will you both get home?’ he asked Lizzie.

‘Same way as I came, I suppose.’

‘Do you have money?’ Looking at her shabby dress and worn feet, he guessed she didn’t. ‘Because I’ve a little bit saved. If you hitch a ride back to France, it might pay your passage across the Channel.’

‘You’ve been too kind already. We can’t take your money,’ Lizzie said.

‘Yes we can,’ Peg said. ‘At least we could borrow it.’

But Lizzie was adamant. ‘No we can’t. We’ll write to Da that we’re safe, and we’ll find work and earn our way home.’

‘Then at least let me ask Frau Moritz if she has need of you,’ Felix said, for the idea of them both staying on at Diodati a little longer seemed a very fine plan indeed.
He suspected Lizzie agreed, for she slipped her arm through his as they walked.

‘Felix, you know what you said back there about good thoughts?’ she said.

‘Yes.’

‘Before we go home to England, there’s something I want to do here in Switzerland. It’s a good thing and who knows, it might bring peace to us all.’ Lizzie gave a nervous smile. ‘It’s going to be a bit dangerous, and it’ll have to be a secret from everyone else. I’ll need both your help. And Peg, it involves an animal, so you’re going to absolutely ADORE it.’

Back at Diodati, Frau Moritz eyed Lizzie and Peg up and down like they were pigs ready for market.

‘Well they’re both wanting flesh,’ she observed. But like Felix, she was impressed by how far they’d travelled and the courage they’d shown along the way. And it touched something in her that these girls were set on getting home to their father. So once they’d been fed breakfast – a second one in Lizzie’s case; she had quite an appetite – Frau Moritz handed them clean pinnies and caps to wear.

‘Hard workers are welcome here,’ the housekeeper said. ‘We’ll have that sea crossing paid for in no time.’

Agatha, who’d made a miraculous recovery, took a shine to both girls. At first Felix felt almost jealous at the sight of them giggling together as they worked. But at least it kept Agatha off his back. Anyway, he had things to do, or rather lies to tell. In helping Lizzie with her plan, he’d have to do quite a lot of both.

To Lord Byron, Felix complained of toothache and was promptly given a small bottle of laudanum for the pain. To Frau Moritz, he said he felt weak and could he please have today’s serving of meat raw for strength. And at suppertime, he admitted he still felt unwell and was sent to bed early. He felt almost guilty for the kindness he was shown. It took a lot of cunning to drug a wolf.

By nightfall it was done. The wolf lay snoring in its wooden crate out in the stable yard. Neither Mr Shelley nor Lord Byron had cared to shoot it.

‘Good grief, no,’ Mr Shelley had said. ‘I don’t eat animals, so why on earth would I kill one?’ Lord Byron, who was known to be fond of animals, said
the very thought of shooting such a beautiful beast had brought on a bilious attack. And Dr Polidori, who came to tend his friend, insisted it was against his principles as a man of medicine to destroy a life. So someone else – a local farmer – was expected with his rifle in the morning.

Lizzie had wanted to borrow a horse, but in the end they settled on carrying the wolf between them. Up close, it smelled strongly of beast and outside places; Felix wondered if the smell would ever leave his hands, though Peg had no qualms. She insisted on stroking the wolf’s head and talking to it like it was an old friend.

‘Time for us to go,’ Felix told Peg, easing her off the animal as they left the stable yard. ‘Your job’s to lead the way. Follow the sheep track up the hill as far as it goes.’

The wolf was a heavy, awkward thing to carry. Felix took its shoulders, its great head lolling from side to side at every step. Lizzie had the back end, and though she grunted under her breath, she kept up a good pace. They had to stop often, though, especially as the path got steeper, because of the rocks and loose soil underfoot.

It grew colder too. The night was clear and full of
glittering stars. And soon they were high enough to hear frost crunching beneath their feet, and feel the air burning their lungs.

‘Is that the comet?’ Peg asked, pointing to the sky.

Felix stopped. Shifting his grip on the wolf, he looked up. He didn’t spot it straight away. The comet was little more than a smudge now, the other stars much bigger and brighter.

‘Your strange star’s leaving us, Lizzie,’ he said.

‘Good,’ said Lizzie. ‘And so’s this wolf soon, or I swear my arms will drop off.’

They trudged on for another mile or so until they reached the pine forest. The grass was thinner here. Mostly it was stones and bare rock underfoot, and the odd patch of last winter’s snow. Up ahead, out of sight, came the strange, eerie groaning of the glacier.