Chapter IV: The Morning After
Previously, on Calamity's Trinket
Nell and her mother made a daring rescue and Nell discovered a strange item.
1897CE, somewhere on Ilha da Queimada Grande
She had to admit, this was the perfect place. You’d have to be crazy to come here. Whoever they’d sent to hide it had been crazy to bring it here, and she was crazy for following them. Maybe whoever it was had assumed no one else would risk it; that might be why they’d been so careless traversing the island.
It was clear they’d only made a cursory attempt to cover their tracks; counting nature to stand guard on her own. A fair gamble, in most cases.
She trekked slowly through the jungle, careful to make no sudden movements, eyes scanning the trees and rocks around her, looking for a telltale strip of pale yellow. It took her almost four hours, uphill in the heat, but she stayed focussed. As the ground levelled off under her feet, and the walk became easier, she slipped her knife from its holster, holding it slightly in front of her, her wrist supple. She didn’t know what she’d have to deal with when she found it; there could be a trap, there could be a fight. She had to be ready.
And then, there it was, just a few feet away. Sitting in a small clearing. In the open. As if it had fallen from a pocket and been abandoned.
She moved forward, inch by inch, her eyes flitting around the clearing. Every nerve in her body felt alive, thrumming with electricity. All it took was a faint sigh from behind her, barely a breath. She spun around and thrust her hand forward, hardly aware of what she was doing.
He let out a gasp as her knife plunged into his chest. She stared at him for a moment, then yanked it out. He stumbled back and fell to the ground.
He was smiling.
For a moment she couldn’t understand. Then she felt it. A sharp pain near her ankle. She looked down at the golden lancehead that had latched onto her leg as if she was looking through a portal to another world.
There was an elegance to it. To the evenness of its interlocking scales. The curves of its body.
Her mind was black as she struck down with her knife, cutting the snake in two. She yanked the head off her leg and, without looking back at the man bleeding to death at her feet, she grabbed what she’d come for and walked back into the jungle.
She could feel heat spreading up her leg as the venom moved through her veins. The only question that remained was how far she could get before it took her.
1923CE, somewhere in Mayfair
Despite the late night Nell rose early. She’d had the kind of fitful sleep that would usually be followed by a long morning in bed, but not this time. She was alert. Excited.
She threw on her robe and swiftly made her way downstairs. She suspected the stranger would have left in the night, but if he was still here she intended to get some answers. She may have asked for something a little outside the approved activities for a young lady of gentle birth by going to a common dancehall, but having one’s dance partner turn up stabbed mere hours later was surely too much.
When she got downstairs she was surprised to find the stranger still asleep. She’d been so sure he’d want to escape without confrontation, so bent on interrupting him before he managed to leave. She wasn’t sure what to do with him all peacefully slumbering.
Nell thought for a moment and then called for tea. She sat primly down on the small sofa in the entrance hall and waited. She hoped her mother would sleep later than she had. Her mother would no doubt insist on good manners when speaking with their unexpected guest, and Nell had no intention of being polite.
She was on her second buttered crumpet by the time the door to the parlour slowly creaked open. The stranger was still pale as he crept out into the hall and he jumped when Nell brightly said, ‘Morning!’
‘Oh god,’ he said. ‘You’re awake.’
‘Tea?’ said Nell, waving a hand toward the tray beside her. ‘Crumpet? Or a full breakfast will be laid out at nine, if you prefer something with a bit more substance.’
‘You know you really shouldn’t be sitting out here in your dressing gown when there’s a half naked man around? Don’t you have a reputation?’
Nell shrugged one shoulder.
‘I have a reputation,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure whether I care to uphold it. Besides, that’s not what I’m here to discuss.’
‘Oh, you’re here to discuss things. Lucky me.’
‘Yes, well—’
He cut her off.
‘As it happens, I need to be going.’
‘Oh, I don’t think that’s wise at all,’ said Nell. ‘Unless of course the place you’re planning on going is a hospital.’
‘You know, it’s really none of your business.’
But Nell was smiling. The American was stooping slightly, and keeping a hand pressed to his side. He’d taken a step forward as he spoke and given a sharp gasp of pain.
‘It’s going to take you a while to reach the door at this rate,’ she said. ‘You might as well explain yourself on the way.’
‘You can gab at me all you want, lady. Doesn’t mean I’ll reply.’
He was moving towards the door, but his steps were small and slow and clearly costing him.
‘I saved your life!’ cried Nell. ‘I think you could spare at least a little information in exchange.’
‘Oh you saved my life, did you? I didn’t realise it was you personally that saved my life.’
Nell took a sip of her tea and refused to blush.
‘Well if you want to determine the precise value of my contribution, allow me to call my mother down. Of course that might have some impact on your plan to leave. If you think the sort of woman who is willing to risk the good name of her entire household in order to help a very disreputable man she found stabbed in the street in the middle of the night is likely to blithely allow him to run along a mere six hours later without her verifying his good health then I’m afraid you’ve formed quite the wrong idea of your situation.’
‘What?’
He’d stopped moving and was staring at her.
‘No, never mind,’ he said. ‘Please stop talking.’
He resumed his trek, inch by inch across the rich oak floor.
‘I certainly will not stop talking,’ Nell said. ‘At least not until you start.’
The man gave a deep sigh and kept moving.
‘You must admit,’ Nell said, barrelling ahead, ‘there are dozens of questions to which I deserve an answer.’
‘I don’t care what you think I must admit. Thank you for whatever part you played in stitching me up. I assume not the actual stitching.’
‘Why would you assume that?’
He glanced at her briefly, an appraising look in his eye.
‘The stitches are very neat,’ he said. ‘Doesn’t seem like your style.’
Nell’s eye’s sparkled.
‘Probably unwise to remove the bandages so soon, wouldn’t you say?’
‘You call these bandages?’
‘I’ll ask the questions, thank you,’ said Nell and the man let out another deep sigh. He was almost halfway to the door.
Nell stood up and walked passed him, crossing her arms and leaning her back against the wall by the door.
‘Who stabbed you?’ she asked. ‘Why did they stab you? Did you deserve to be stabbed? I wouldn’t be surprised.’
The man let out a small, painful sounding laugh.
‘What were you doing at the dancehall? Why are you in London? What’s the thing in the leather bag? What’s your name?’
He was walking slowly towards her. He didn’t acknowledge any of her questions but she noticed his free hand twitch towards his pocket when she mentioned the strange chunk of stone. She wondered if he remembered telling her to hide it. She wondered if he’d looked in the bag after waking up.
‘Where are you going now?’ she continued. ‘Why are you in such a rush? Aren’t you worried about infection? You should probably be worried about infection.’
He was at the door. Nell turned sideways to face him.
‘Are you sure you won’t stay for breakfast?’
‘Lady, you are a pill,’ he said.
Nell smiled. The man reached out a hand to the door knob. He hesitated for a moment.
‘Tom,’ he said.
Nell raised an eyebrow in encouragement.
’Tom Dupont.’
‘Nell Bartlett,’ said Nell. ‘A pleasure to meet you.’
Mr Dupont sighed and shook his head. He opened the door and was gone, leaving Nell to ponder the drops of blood that traced his route to the door.
Next time, on Calamity's Trinket
Nell finds herself the subject of gossip...and something altogether more dangerous.