Changeless Part 13

"And we did not part with ze friendly terms. A matter, how do you say, personal."

"Then I would not dream of prying further," replied Alexia, dearly wis.h.i.+ng to pry.

"She did not say anything about me to you, my lady?" the maid asked. Her hand went up to stroke the high collar about her neck.

"Nothing of consequence," replied Lady Maccon.

Angelique did not look convinced. "You do not trust me, do you, my lady?"

Alexia looked up in surprise, meeting Angelique's eyes in the looking gla.s.s. "You were drone to a rove, but you also served the Westminster Hive. Trust Trust is a strong word, Angelique. I trust that you will do my hair to the height of fas.h.i.+on and that your taste should govern my own disinterest in the matter. But you cannot ask me for more than that." is a strong word, Angelique. I trust that you will do my hair to the height of fas.h.i.+on and that your taste should govern my own disinterest in the matter. But you cannot ask me for more than that."

Angelique nodded. "I see. So it iz not something Genevieve said?"

"Genevieve?"

"Madame Lefoux."

"No. Should it be?"

Angelique lowered her eyes and shook her head.

"You will tell me nothing more about your previous relations.h.i.+p?"

Angelique remained silent but her face seemed to indicate that she thought this inquiry excessively personal.

Lady Maccon excused her maid and went to find her little leather journal, the better to collect her thoughts and make a few notations. If she suspected Madame Lefoux of being a spy, she ought to jot this down, along with her reasoning. Part of the purpose of the notebook was to leave adequate record should anything untoward happen to her. She had commenced the practice upon a.s.suming her position as muhjah, though she used the journal for personal notes, not state secrets. Her father's journals had proved helpful on more than one occasion. She would like to think her own might be of equal a.s.sistance to future generations. Although probably not in quite the same way as Alessandro Tarabotti's. She didn't go in for recording that that type of information. type of information.

The stylographic pen was where she had left it, on the nightstand, but her notebook had vanished. She checked all about-under the bed, behind the furniture-but could find it nowhere. With a sinking feeling, she went looking for her dispatch case.

A knock came at her door, and before she could come up with some excuse to keep the visitor at bay, Ivy trotted into the room. She looked flushed and nervous, her hat of the day a floof of black lace draped over ma.s.ses of dark side curls, the earm.u.f.fs underneath only visible because Ivy was tugging at them.

Alexia paused in her hunt. "Ivy, what is wrong? You look like a perturbed terrier with an ear mite problem."

Miss Hisselpenny cast herself dramatically facedown on Alexia's small bed, clearly in some emotional distress. She mumbled into the pillow. Her voice was suspiciously high.

"Ivy, what is wrong with your voice? Have you been up in engineering, on the Squeak Deck?" Since the dirigible maintained buoyancy through the application of helium, it was a legitimate a.s.sumption for any vocal abnormalities.

"No," squeaked Ivy. "Well, maybe for a short while."

Lady Maccon stifled a laugh. Really, it was too absurd-sounding. "Who were you up there with?" she inquired archly, although she could very well hazard a guess.

"No one," squeak, squeak. "Well, in actuality, I mean to say, I might have been with... uh... Mr. Tunstell."

Lady Maccon snickered. "I wager he sounded pretty funny too."

"A slight leak occurred while we were up there. But there was grave need for a small moment of privacy."

"How romantic."

"Really, Alexia, this is no time for levity! I am all aquiver, facing a ghastly emotional crisis, and you issue forth nothing more than scads of unwanted jocularity."

Lady Maccon composed her features and tried to look like she was not amused at her friend's expense, annoyed at her friend's appearance, nor still glancing about her room in search of the missing dispatch case. "Let me hazard a guess. Tunstell has professed his undying love?"

"Yes," Ivy wailed, "and I am engaged to another!" On the word engaged, engaged, she finally stopped squeaking. she finally stopped squeaking.

"Ah, yes, the mysterious Captain Featherstonehaugh. And let us not forget that, even if you were not affianced, Tunstell is an entirely unsuitable match. Ivy, he makes his living as a thespian. thespian."

Ivy groaned. "I know! In addition, he is your husband's valet! valet! Oh, it is all so messily plebeian." Ivy rolled over on the bed, the back of her wrist pressed to her forehead. She kept her eyes tightly shut. Lady Maccon wondered if Miss Hisselpenny did not have a possible future career on the stage herself. Oh, it is all so messily plebeian." Ivy rolled over on the bed, the back of her wrist pressed to her forehead. She kept her eyes tightly shut. Lady Maccon wondered if Miss Hisselpenny did not have a possible future career on the stage herself.

"Which also makes him a claviger. Well, well, well, you have got yourself into a pretty pickle." Lady Maccon tried to sound sympathetic.

"Oh, but, Alexia, I am quite fearfully afraid that I might just possibly, maybe a little itty-bitty bit, love him back."

"Shouldn't you be certain of a thing like that?"

"I do not know. Should I be? How does one determine one's own state of enamorment?"

Lady Maccon snickered. "I am hardly one to elucidate. It took me ages to realize I had feelings for Conall beyond abhorrence, and quite frankly, I am still not certain that feeling does not persist unto this very moment."

Ivy was taken aback. "Surely you jest?"

Alexia cast her mind back to the last time she had engaged in a protracted encounter with her husband. There had been a good deal of moaning at the time, if memory served. "Well, he has his uses."

"But, Alexia, what do I I do?" do?"

At that moment, Lady Maccon spotted her missing dispatch case. Someone had shoved it in the corner between the wardrobe and the door to the washroom. Alexia was quite certain that was not where she had left it.

"Aha, how did you get there?" she said to the missing accoutrement, and went to retrieve it.

Ivy, eyes still shut, pondered this question. "I have no idea how I allowed myself into such an untenable position. You must help me, Alexia. This is a cataplasm cataplasm of epic proportions!" of epic proportions!"

"Too true," agreed Lady Maccon, considering the state of her beloved dispatch case. Someone had tried to break open the catch. Whomever it was must have been disturbed in the act, or they would have stolen the case as well as her notebook. Her little leather journal would fit inside a vest or under a skirt, but the dispatch case would not. The villain must have left it behind as a result. Lady Maccon considered possible suspects. The s.h.i.+p's domestic staff had access to her rooms, of course, and Angelique. But, really, given the state of the locks on board, it could have been anyone.

"He kissed me," Miss Hisselpenny keened.

"Ah, well, that is is something like." Alexia decided nothing more could be determined from the dispatch case, at least not with Ivy still in the room. She went to sit next to her friend's prostrate form. "Did you enjoy kissing him?" something like." Alexia decided nothing more could be determined from the dispatch case, at least not with Ivy still in the room. She went to sit next to her friend's prostrate form. "Did you enjoy kissing him?"

Ivy said nothing.

"Did you enjoy kissing Captain Featherstonehaugh?"

"Alexia, the very idea. We are only engaged, not married!"

"So you have not kissed the good captain?"

Ivy shook her head in an excess of embarra.s.sment.

"Well, then, what about Tunstell?"

Miss Hisselpenny flushed even redder. Now she looked like a spaniel with a sunburn. "Well, maybe, just a little."

"And?"

Miss Hisselpenny opened her eyes, still blus.h.i.+ng furiously, and looked at her married friend. "Is one supposed to enjoy kissing?" she practically whispered.

"I believe it is generally thought to be a pleasant pastime. You read novels, do you not?" replied Lady Maccon, trying desperately to keep a straight face.

"Do you enjoy doing... that that with Lord Maccon?" with Lord Maccon?"

Lady Maccon did not hesitate, credit where it was due and all. "Unreservedly."

"Oh, well, I thought it was a little"-Ivy paused-"damp."

Lady Maccon c.o.c.ked her head to one side. "Well, you must understand, my husband has considerable experience in these matters. He is hundreds of years older than I."

"And that does not trouble you?"

"My dear, he will live hundreds of years longer than I as well. One must come to terms with these things if one fraternizes with the supernatural set. I admit it is hard, knowing we will not grow old together. But if you choose Tunstell, you may eventually have to face the same concerns. Then again, your time together could be cut short, as he may not survive metamorphosis."

"Is that likely to occur soon?"

Lady Maccon knew very little about this aspect of pack dynamics. So she only shrugged.

Ivy sighed, a long, drawn-out exhalation that seemed to encompa.s.s all the problems of the empire. "It is all too much to think about. My head is positively awhirl. I simply do not know what to do. Don't you see? Don't you comprehend my cacophony?"

"You mean catastrophe?"

Ivy ignored her. "Do I throw over Captain Featherstonehaugh, and his five hundred a year, for Mr. Tunstell and his unstable"-she shuddered-"working-cla.s.s station? Or do I continue with my engagement?"

"You could always marry your captain and pursue a dalliance with Tunstell on the side."

Miss Hisselpenny gasped, sitting fully upright in her outrage at such a proposal. "Alexia, how could you even think think such a thing, let alone suggest it aloud!" such a thing, let alone suggest it aloud!"

"Well, yes, of course, those damp kisses would would have to improve." have to improve."

Ivy threw a pillow at her friend. "Really!"

Lady Maccon, it must be admitted, gave little further thought to her dear friend's dilemma. She transferred all the most delicate doc.u.ments and important smaller instruments and devices out of her dispatch case and into the pockets of her parasol. Since she was already known as an eccentric parasol-carrier, no one remarked upon its continued presence at her side, even well after dark.

Dinner was a strained affair, stiff with tension and suspicion. Worse, the food was horrible. True, Alexia had very high standards, but the fare continued to be ghastly. Everything-meat, vegetables, even pudding-appeared to have been steamed into flaccid colorless submission, with no sauce, or even salt, to bolster the flavor. It was like eating a wet handkerchief.

Felicity, who had the palate of a country goat and tucked in without pause to anything laid before her, noticed that Alexia was only picking at her food. "Nice to see you are finally taking measures, sister."

Lady Maccon, lost in thought, replied with an unguarded, "Measures?"

"Well, I am terribly concerned for your health. One simply should not weigh so much at your age."

Lady Maccon poked at a sagging carrot and wondered if anyone would miss her dear sister were she to be oh-so-gently tipped over the rail of the upper deck.

Madame Lefoux glanced up. She gave Alexia an appraising look. "I think Lady Maccon appears in fine health."

"I think you are being fooled by her unfas.h.i.+onable robustness," said Felicity.

Madame Lefoux continued as though Felicity hadn't spoken. "You, on the other hand, Miss Loontwill, are looking a touch insipid."

Felicity gasped.

Alexia wished, yet again, that Madame Lefoux were not so clearly a spy. She would be a good egg otherwise. Was it she who had tried to get into the dispatch case?

Tunstell came wandering in, full of excuses for his tardiness, and took his seat between Felicity and Ivy.

"How nice of you to join us," commented Felicity.

Tunstell looked embarra.s.sed. "Have I missed the first course?"

Alexia examined the steamed offering before her. "You can have mine if you like. I find my appet.i.te sorely taxed these days."

She pa.s.sed the graying ma.s.s over to Tunstell, who looked at it doubtfully but began eating.

Madame Lefoux continued talking to Felicity. "I have an interesting little invention in my rooms, Miss Loontwill, excellent for enlivening the facial muscles and imparting a rosy hue to the cheeks. You are welcome to try it sometime." There was a slight dimpling at that, suggesting this invention was either sticky or painful.

"I would not think, with your propensities, that you would be concerned with feminine appearances," shot back Felicity, glaring at the woman's vest and dinner jacket.

"Oh, I a.s.sure you, they concern me greatly." The Frenchwoman looked at Alexia.

Lady Maccon decided Madame Lefoux reminded her a little bit of Professor Lyall, only prettier and less vulpine. She looked to her sister. "Felicity, I seem to have misplaced my leather travel journal. You have not seen it anywhere, have you?"

The second course was presented. It looked only slightly more appetizing than the first: some unidentifiable grayish meat in a white sauce, boiled potatoes, and soggy dinner rolls. Alexia waved it all away in disgust.

"Oh dear, sister, you have not taken up writing, have you?" Felicity pretended shock. "Quite frankly, all of that reading is outside of enough. I had thought that being married would cure you of such an unwise inclination. I never read if I can help it. It is terribly bad for the eyes. And it causes one's forehead to wrinkle most horribly, just there." She pointed between her eyebrows and then said pityingly to Lady Maccon, "Oh, I see you do not have to worry about that that anymore, Alexia." anymore, Alexia."

Lady Maccon sighed. "Oh, pack it in, Felicity, do."

Madame Lefoux hid a smile.

Miss Hisselpenny said suddenly in a loud and highly distressed voice, "Mr. Tunstell? Oh! Mr. Tunstell, are you quite all right?"

Tunstell was leaning forward over his plate, his face gone pale and drawn.

"Is it the food?" wondered Lady Maccon. "Because if it is, I entirely understand your feelings on the subject. I shall have a conversation with the cook."

Tunstell looked up at her. His freckles were standing out and his eyes watering. "I feel most unwell," he said distinctly before lurching to his feet and stumbling out the door.

Alexia looked after him for a moment with her mouth agape, then glared suspiciously down at the food set before them. She stood. "If you will excuse me, I think I had best check on Tunstell. No, Ivy, you stay here." She grabbed her parasol and followed the claviger.

She found him on the nearest observation deck, collapsed on his side against a far rail, clutching at his stomach.

Alexia marched up to him. "Did this come over you quite suddenly?"