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“Then you must have a prize, young lady.” Mr. Lumley handed a small wooden box to Adele.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A magic box,” said Mr. Lumley.
“Oh no,” Banksford groaned. “Still telling the same jokes?”
“Looks ordinary to me.” Adele held it up and shook it.
“It’s not ordinary at all,” said Mr. Lumley, with a twinkle in his cloudy eyes. “It contains all of the modesty of a dandy, the honesty of a lawyer, and the luck of a gambler.”
Adele studied the box for a moment. Her eyes lit. “Which is to say it contains nothing at all.”
“Clever girl.”
“I’ve got one for you,” said Adele. “What kind of dance did the tin soldier take the paper princess to?”
Mr. Lumley thought for a moment. “A cannon ball! I’m right, aren’t I?”
He slapped his thigh and roared with laughter. “Ho! Your Grace, I like your children immensely.”
“You always did love a good laugh,” said the duke. “Shall we go shopping?” he asked the twins. Carl and the shop clerk followed Edgar and the children through the shop as they made their selections.
Now was her opportunity to question Mr. Lumley. Mari gestured toward the wooden rabbits on the shelf behind him, she’d noticed them immediately upon entering. “I was given one of your wooden rabbit figurines as a little girl.”
Mr. Lumley reached behind him and placed a wooden rabbit on the counter. “Were you? I’ve always loved the wooden bunnies. This one’s name is Clover.” He stroked the green velvet gown the rabbit wore, so much less worn than her rabbit’s tattered old gown. “They were very popular decades ago. Now the children only want porcelain figurines, much more lifelike and less roughhewn.”
“Did you manufacture many of the rabbits?” she asked.
“Hundreds.”
“Might you have a list of the customers who purchased them?”
“I’m sure I do... somewhere,” he said, with a befuddled expression.
That wasn’t very promising. She’d have to come back when she could be alone with him. Perhaps ask to speak with his bookkeeper.
“Why do you ask, Miss Perkins?”
“I never knew where my rabbit came from. I thought perhaps it had a story to tell.”
“Most toys do.”
Edgar and the children had piled Carl’s arms high with toys and games. Among the puzzles and soldiers, spyglasses, and magnifying glasses, Mari noticed little buckets and spades.
“What are these for?” she asked the duke, when he approached.
“You’ll find out,” he said, with a secretive smile. “I’m planning something for the children, something they’ll like very much.” He bent down and settled his arm across Michel’s shoulders. “Are we forgetting anything?”
“I don’t think so,” said Michel, his eyes shining and a smile curving his lips.
“What about a book of constellations?” asked Mari. “We can use a telescope and go up on the roof.”
“An excellent idea, Miss Perkins,” said Mr. Lumley. “I’ve just the thing.”
He opened a drawer and handed her a set of large cards and an accompanying book calledUrania’s Mirror.
“You hold the cards to the light, and it shows the formation of the constellation. They’re perforated according to the star’s magnitudes.”
