Clara sat beside Mum, placing a reassuring hand on her knee. “I’m sorry I failed to reach the docks in time to stop him, but I promise, I’ll set this right. Grand has a good head start, and the owl is swift, but if I leave within the hour, I think—”
The doorbell’spriiingechoed through the house.
Clara’s heartbeat tripped over itself as she shot to her feet. Merciful heaven, let that be Grand. Rushing to the entryway, she flung open the door and came face-to-face with Mr. Arthur.
His mouth tilted in a lopsided grin. “Hello, Miss Stanton. Pardon the intrusion, but I’ve come to return this scrap of paper that’s fallen from your reticule.” With a carefree air, he reached into his overcoat and produced her twenty-pound note.
Clara’s jaw hung from its hinges. “Th-that’s impossible, sir. I don’t carry a reticule.”
“Odd. I could’ve sworn you did, but then again, I have been seeing all sorts of inexplicable things today. Perhaps I should consider spectacles.”
“Who’s that at the door, ducky? Let them in, will you?”
“Aye, let us in, will you?” Mr. Arthur winked as he slipped the note between the doorknob and Clara’s palm and clank-tapped toward the parlor.
Unbelievable. Had the man truly just given back her bribe? Clara studied the note as the door swung shut of its own accord. Indeed. He’d returned every shilling of a twenty-pound note that he might have pocketed without consequence.Miserly Mr. Forrester wouldn’t have offered Mr. Arthur as much, so why didn’t the stray just take the money and run?
Restoring the note to her chatelaine purse, Clara returned to the parlor, where Mr. Arthur had made himself obnoxiously comfortable on Mum’s right. In an act of betrayal, the canine quartet gathered around the man, accepting him into their pack with unfettered adoration. Dudley the Dane, sitting tall as a floor lamp beside the couch, rested his chin atop Mr. Arthur’s head. “Excellent timing, Miss Stanton. I was just outlining my plans for retrieving Drosselmeyer. As his apprentice, I feel it is my duty to—”
“Formerapprentice, Mr. Arthur. I terminated your employment, remember.” Clara claimed the seat on Mum’s left and looked to Papa, willing him to heed the plea in her gaze. “Do send him away. This is a family matter. Grand asked me to come after him, and I am more than capable of bringing him home. Once I fetch my maps and travel guides from the attic, I can outline Grand’s most logical flight pattern and—”
“Beg pardon, Miss Stanton, but you seem to be forgetting Drosselmeyer’s postscript.” Mr. Arthur held aloft the ledger book. “The one in which he asked me to come after him.”
Clara snatched the ledger back, gaping at her parents. “How could you let him read—”
“Perhaps because they know I have experience traveling abroad.” Mr. Arthur shifted on the sofa, displacing Dudley’s chin as he angled for a face-off. “It seems to me that the expertise you profess is limited to paper and ink, and while your maps and travel guides are well and good, knowledge does not trump experience. I know how to handle the sort of unforeseen obstacles that aren’t charted on maps. Strategize alternate routes. Think on the move. Make up for any knowledge I lack by gleaning information from the terrain, locals, and newspaper reports.”
Clara’s mouth went dry. “N-newspaper reports?”
“Aye, Miss Stanton.” Mr. Arthur slapped his knees and leaned forward. “You think a larger-than-life automaton owl soaring over cities, villages, and international borders isn’t going to be noticed? By this time, a dozen or so longshoremen are selling their firsthand accounts to newspapers across London. Come morning, Drosselmeyer’s machine is bound to be front-page news.”
Front-page news. Each word plunked to the pit of Clara’s stomach with the unsettling effects of an underdone potato. These past few hours she’d only thought to be worried for Grand’s safety, but now ... now there were the unmerciful, unpredictable, unrelenting members of the press to consider.
If the papers got wind of Grand’s identity—that the owl’s pilot was accused of lunacy—the repercussions could land dear Grand in an asylum and her parents in the gutter. Especially if the letter were to be discovered on his person. Oh, there was no room for debate now. She must go after Grand. For Mr. Arthur could not be trusted with secreting Grand’s incriminating trail of clues and bringing him and the letter home undiscovered.
Leaning across Mum, Clara met Mr. Arthur nose-to-nose and refused to recoil from the stench of the Thames that unaccountably clung to his person. “He’smygrandfather, andIwill bring him home. End of discussion.”
Mr. Arthur arched a blond brow. “Relation does not make up for a lack of qualifications.”
“Qualifications without verification do not signify.”
“Mulish stubbornness doesn’t make one in the right.”
“Smelling like the backside of a mule doesn’t win people to your way of thinking.”
“Enough pecking and squawking, chickies! You’re crushing mother hen.” Mum emerged from betwixt them, pushing them to their respective corners of the sofa. “Now. George and I have both read Father’s letter and listened to your differingopinions. Since the pair of you can’t seem to agree on a course of action, we shall decide how the situation should be handled. What do you think, George?”
Stroking the goat, Papa knit his brow. “I think ... you should have the final say in this matter, Heidi dear. C. E. is your father, for one. For another, I cannot be away from the London office for an indeterminate length of time.”
“Very well, George. If I am to decide, I say let the three of us set off at once.”
But if Papa couldn’t join them, who was the . . . ? Clara’s head popped up. “Oh, Mum, you cannot mean—”
“Indeed, ducky. Our party of three will include Mr. Arthur. I believe his travel experienceandyour knowledge of geography are needed to make our journey a successful one. Besides, Father did mention you both by name in his note. While my name was omitted, I shall join the pair of you as your chaperone and revel in the entire escapade.”
Mr. Arthur stood, taking up his crutch. “Right-oh, Mrs. S. If that’s what you feel is best, that’s how it shall be. I’ll return to the shop to grab a few supplies and lock up.” With that, he saw himself out.
The moment the front door thudded shut, Clara seized Mum’s hand. “You can’t possibly be serious about traveling abroad with a man we’ve known all of one month. What if he’s working for Mr. Forrester? What if he’s making up all these stories of his travel experience? What if—”
