The Emperor of All Things (39 page)

‘You might have done so in a less literal manner,’ I muttered, examining my arm, where the imprint of Doppler’s fingers was purpling to a bruise.

‘It will not have escaped your notice that there is a greater span of years between us than might normally separate a father and daughter,’ he went on, arranging himself more comfortably in the chair. ‘I was already in my fifties when I met and married Corinna’s mother, the youngest daughter of a fellow officer. Maria was scarcely older than Corinna is now when we became man and wife. She was loveliness itself, but fragile as a springtime flower. And our life together was as fleeting as that season. The rigours of childbirth proved too arduous for her delicate constitution, and the effort of bringing Corinna into the world ushered her out of it.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, while reflecting that this story was quite different from what Inge had told me of the fate of Corinna’s mother. One or both of them was lying. Which, and from what motive, I did not know. But perhaps I could find out, and make use of that knowledge. It is always wise to learn the truth behind the lies that people tell each other, and themselves. Such knowledge is like a dagger up the sleeve; sooner or later, you will be glad to have it close to hand. ‘Then, the ring she wears about her neck …’

‘Her mother’s wedding ring,’ Doppler affirmed. ‘I sometimes think there must be an ineffable law, as absolute as that which governs the movement of celestial bodies, preventing two creatures of such sublime beauty from existing simultaneously on Earth, and it was in obedience to that law that Maria was taken from me. For Corinna has grown into the very image of her mother, and there are moments, Herr Gray, moments when I could swear to you that it is Maria herself who stands before me, miraculously restored to life, or never having left it at all, the last seventeen years nothing more than a dream from which I have
suddenly
awakened. Like Wachter’s Folly, the heart does not recognize the ordinary flow of time, and what the mind knows to be an impossibility the heart embraces without hesitation or reserve. And so my love for Maria remains as fresh today as on the day we married, and my grieving as profound as on the day she died. Add to that a father’s natural affection for his only child and you will understand why I am perhaps a trifle indulgent with Corinna, and at the same time so ardent in safeguarding her welfare.’

I replied that she was fortunate to have such a father, though in fact I pitied the girl, not just for the loss of her mother but for the enduring legacy of that loss, thrust upon her by her surviving parent, to be both daughter and wife to him … or, rather, part-daughter, part-wife, neither one thing nor the other. It seemed a heavy burden to impose on a child, as unhealthy as it was unfair. Growing up without a parent is difficult enough already. The ring she wore about her neck, the mystery of which had so tantalized me, now seemed as much a token of a father’s obsession as it was the symbol of a daughter’s devotion. No wonder the girl was rebellious, headstrong. How else could she insist upon her uniqueness, demonstrate to her father – and, indeed, to herself – that she was more than just the image of the mother she had never known?

Doppler, meanwhile, stroked his moustache and smiled. ‘She does not always recognize that fact, I’m afraid. In beauty, she takes after her mother, but she has also inherited her father’s martial spirit, and the promptings of that spirit sometimes make her forget her filial duty, not to mention the natural modesty that is the most becoming ornament of her sex.’

‘I found nothing immodest about her,’ I protested, feeling compelled to come to her defence even as I savoured the memory of her impulsive kiss.

‘I know my daughter,’ Doppler replied. ‘Doubtless her apology in the matter of your tool kit was so charming that you have by now completely forgotten the theft that occasioned it.’

‘No, but I have forgiven it,’ I said.

‘Have you? I’m glad to hear it.’ Doppler glanced towards the door with a furtiveness that reminded me of Corinna’s movements earlier. ‘I should like to ask a favour of you, Herr Gray.’

‘By all means,’ I told him, curious.

‘This must remain between us.’

‘Of course.’

Doppler seemed at an uncharacteristic loss as to how to proceed. He cleared his throat, shifted his position on the chair, smoothed his moustache. Then he blurted out: ‘My daughter is obsessed with horology. She nurses the ambition of becoming a journeyman like yourself, and one day even a master. When she was younger, her interest in timepieces was amusing, and I indulged it. I thought she would grow out of it, but instead her interest has only grown stronger with the years. I mean no disparagement to your profession, sir, but it is not suitable for a lady, as I am sure you will agree.’

I nodded for him to continue.

‘It was this fascination, this obsession, that led her to steal your tool kit, Herr Gray.’

‘She has confessed as much to me already,’ I told him. ‘Indeed, she told me that she has made tools of her own, and has taught herself the rudiments of horology. Can this be true?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ Doppler confessed shamefacedly.

‘Quite remarkable,’ I said. ‘The influence of Herr Wachter, no doubt.’

‘She requires a more salutary influence now,’ Doppler told me. ‘I have found, as her father, that my efforts to curtail her enthusiasms in this regard only have the opposite effect. Thus I am turning to you, Herr Gray.’

‘To me?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I know it is an imposition, but I would consider it a great favour if you would take my daughter under your wing, as it were.’

‘You want me to teach her?’ I could scarcely believe my ears.

‘I want you to discourage her,’ Doppler clarified, ‘under the guise of teaching her. You will be outwardly encouraging but meanwhile set her tasks beyond her abilities, the better to convince her that she lacks the aptitude for horology, that her talents lie in more … feminine directions. Could you do that, Herr Gray?’

‘Let me make certain I understand you, sir. You wish me to deceive
your
daughter, to invite her trust and then – subtly, to be sure – betray it.’

‘For her own good,’ Doppler said defensively.

‘She will not like it.’

‘If you are skilful enough, Herr Gray, she need never know.’

‘And if I succeed?’

‘Why, you will have earned the gratitude of an anxious father.’

‘I am not in the habit of deceiving young ladies, Herr Doppler. Certainly not at the invitation of their fathers.’

‘And if I were to offer you a more tangible measure of gratitude?’

‘Go on,’ I said.

‘Dissuade my daughter from her unseemly interest in timepieces, and I will permit you to examine my pocket watch – which, you may remember, once belonged to Herr Wachter himself.’

‘I should want to remove the casing,’ I told Doppler.

‘Of course.’

‘And make detailed sketches of the workings.’

‘Naturally.’

‘I might even need to dissassemble the mechanism, or at least portions of it.’

I watched a struggle play out on Herr Doppler’s features. But at last he gave a terse nod. ‘Acceptable,’ he grunted, and I could see that it had cost him much.

‘You surprise me, Herr Doppler,’ I confessed. ‘When last we spoke, you were adamant in refusing to let me examine the watch. Yet now you agree to everything I asked of you that night, and more.’

‘You see how much my daughter means to me,’ Doppler replied. ‘More even than the oath I swore to my father when he passed Wachter’s timepiece on to me. Above all else, I wish for Corinna to be happy, yet as long as she harbours these dangerous fantasies, she will never be content. If she cannot find what she so desperately desires here in Märchen, sooner or later she will look for it farther afield … and find something quite different, as we both can imagine only too well. So I ask you to dispel her illusions, Herr Gray, as gently but firmly as you can, to spare her a more grievous awakening at less gentle hands. Once resigned to her proper sphere, she will find fulfilment as a dutiful daughter, and later as a wife and mother, as God and Nature intended.’

I did not share Herr Doppler’s conviction on this point. The fanatical gleam I had seen in Corinna’s eye would not be so easy to extinguish. Yet I agreed to his proposal, for it promised to deliver not only Herr Doppler’s pocket watch, but Inge’s cuckoo into the bargain. Nor was that my only reason for accepting the offer. Someone had attacked me. Knocked me out, robbed me of my clothes, and left me to die in the snow. I was determined to learn the secrets of Wachter’s timepieces, but I was also determined to learn the identity of my would-be murderer, and my efforts in that regard would be hindered, it seemed to me, if I made an enemy of Herr Doppler. ‘When shall I begin?’ I asked him.

‘The sooner the better,’ he answered, rising from the chair. We shook hands, but he prolonged the clasp, fixing me with his steely gaze. ‘If I find you have betrayed my trust, Herr Gray, and used this opportunity to seduce my daughter, I will kill you. Is that understood?’

‘I am interested in another prize entirely,’ I assured him.

And what’s more, I believed it.

11

A World Newly Born

MY EXPOSURE TO
the elements had left me weaker than I realized, and it was some days before I was able to rise from my sickbed and take even a few tottering steps across the room. In that time, Inge and Corinna took turns caring for me like ministering angels indeed. True to my agreement with Herr Doppler, I began to teach Corinna the rudiments of the horologist’s art. At first, as promised, it was with the intent of discouraging her. But it soon became apparent to me that she would not be discouraged. Every task I set her she accomplished with ease. She was a natural. Her mind was quick, her fingers clever and dexterous. The tools she had made for herself – which I had asked Herr Doppler to return to her – were as effective as they were ingenious. In truth, she had already passed beyond the rudiments. More than once, as we bent together over one of the timepieces she had brought to me – the ones that pre-dated Wachter’s arrival – and my own pocket watch, I thought of my own apprenticeship and found myself wondering what Magnus would have made of this prodigy. I think he would have been as scandalized by her sex as he was impressed by her skill.

When I summoned up the courage to tell her of the bargain I had struck with her father, she laughed and replied that she’d guessed as much from the first, and had been waiting to see if I would play her false and try to dampen the fires of her enthusiasm. But, she said, knowing me for an honourable man, she had never doubted my intentions. I felt ashamed at hearing her say so.

I suppose I had already fallen in love with her. Any man would have, for she was beautiful, kind and brave – as well as having more natural ability than any horologist I had ever seen, with the exception of Magnus. Under other circumstances, she might have rivalled Wachter himself. Her grasp of horology, entirely self-taught, was extraordinary, as was her mechanical genius, evidenced not only in the timepieces she had at first dissected, then repaired, and finally improved, but in small automatons she had crafted, cunning little creatures that were nearly as lifelike as Wachter’s creations. I remember in particular a metal mouse that, when wound with a key, would scamper up and down the sides of an old clock like the rodent in the nursery rhyme, or run along her arm like a tame pet.

But did she return my feelings? How could I dare even to hope it? I was her teacher, her friend. But that was as much as I aspired to. The snows had continued to fall, and by now it was clear that I would be stuck in Märchen until the spring thaw. It would have been foolish – not to mention, with Herr Doppler’s threat hanging over me, suicidal – to attempt a seduction.

Nevertheless, Doppler realized soon enough that things were not going according to his plan. I explained to him that Corinna had proved to be more gifted than I had expected, and that it was taking longer than anticipated to discourage her. Rather than disappointing him, the news puffed him up with fatherly pride, and he told me to take as much time as necessary. After all, he said with a laugh, I didn’t have any other pressing engagements.

Corinna broached the subject of ‘borrowing’, as she put it, one of Wachter’s timepieces for me to study, but I told her at once that such a course would be too risky. Instead, I suggested that the two of us collude in making it appear that she had reached the natural limits of her abilities and was at last growing discouraged. By the terms of my agreement with her father, he would then yield up his pocket watch for my examination, and Inge would follow with her cuckoo. I would, of course, share the fruits of my investigations of these timepieces with Corinna. She was willing, but preferred to wait until she had learned more of what I had to teach. I agreed. Herr Doppler was right, after all. I had no pressing engagements, and to be trapped for months in
Märchen
without the solace of Corinna’s company would have been unbearable. The hour we spent together each day, talking of horology and other things, was like gold to me, an interval of time no clock, not even one of Wachter’s, was fit to measure.

Meanwhile, life went on. As the days and weeks passed, snow continued to fall, until it reached and then overtopped the second-storey window behind my bed. No one had thought to wind my pocket watch as I lay in the grip of fever, and by the time the fever had broken, the watch had long since stopped. Herr Doppler had assured me his own watch was accurate, and Inge insisted the same of her cuckoo, and though it was true that the two timepieces agreed with each other, I found it impossible to fully trust any timepiece built by Wachter. I reset my watch, yet for the rest of my stay in Märchen I felt untethered, cut off from the outside world, as if I had entered a kind of bubble where time was not the dependable constant of my experience but instead something as variable as the wind. It sometimes seemed to me that the only clock I could rely on was the rising and setting of the sun. At other times, even that seemed suspect, for I saw so little of the sun, hidden as it generally was behind a thick scrim of grey cloud or snow. Yet I kept my watch wound, and carried it with me everywhere, not only because I needed some yardstick against which to measure the day, however arbitrary or inaccurate in an absolute sense, but because it made me feel safe, protected. I suppose it had stopped being a timepiece exactly and become a sort of talisman. Perhaps that is all our ingenious watches and clocks really are, when you come right down to it.