The five of them
ascended in the balloon not a half an hour later, cranking the propeller to its
maximum speed. What had been an idyllic trip up the day before now seemed like
an interminable nerve-racking slog back down south to London. Along the way
Moto and the General laid out their theories about what had occurred.
It seemed that the
name Iggelsdin was well known to both of them. He had served under the General
many years before. Yet Iggelsdin had not stayed in the Army very long. He had
come in as an officer, a special appointment by His Majesty. The Iggelsdin
family was an old but faded family, their ancestry stretched back further than
their funds and the family and fallen upon difficult times. As a favor to
Iggelsdin’s father, the younger had been joined into the army. But young
Iggelsdin bristled at having to be anyone inferior. He found fault with
everyone and everything connected to the army, Mostly, the general felt, the
boy just whined. But one day Iggelsdin noticed that the way provisions were
being shipped from England led to a good deal of them arriving in the heat of
the African sun in a ruined condition. In his head he devised a way to pack
them differently, a way he was sure would lead to less spoilage. He promptly
resigned his commission, went back to England post-haste and managed to win an
experimental contract from the army to ship goods. His method, which he was
careful to patent, result in a significant reduction in spoilage.
Now most people
would have been very happy to have both done so much good and also to make so
much money, as he took over the supply of all of His Majesty’s African troops.
But Iggelsdin was not satisfied, and he proceeded to other lines of business
any way he could. As the years went by this meant, increasingly, that he would
bully, bribe or simply eliminate competition or those who would refuse to sell
out to him.
The General and
Moto were convinced that Iggelsdin was behind Cogsworth’s kidnapping.
“But why?” Thorns
berry asked. “It is not as if Cogsworth was in business against Iggelsdin,
unless Iggelsdin wants to take over schooling now as well?”
“Unless,” Mary
said, her eyes sparking, “Unless he has seen a way in which Cogsworth’s
discovery might be used to make money.”
“The murderous
cloud people?” Liza said.
“No, not them, although
they are clearly an issue, but their city. Or really almost anything they make
or have. I do not suppose that the city is a natural phenomenon. The technology
they possess would sell for a king’s ransom, if Iggelsdin gets a hold of it.”
“And what if it is
natural, then what Mary dearest?” Liza said.
“All’s the same,
then whatever natural resource that propels the city or maintains its floating
status would be worth a small fortune. And our dear friend Will is the key to
getting to the city.”
“Dear friend?” The
Colonel asked. “We barely knew the lad!”
“Yet we went
yesterday to find him, just as Iggelsdin did.” The General pointed out.
“Agh! If only we’d
been more insistent. Clearly the way to go was some sort of brute force!” Mary
said, half joking, but also half serious.
Liza laughed,
covering her mouth with her hands.
“Mary! You should
hear yourself. Why not just two days ago you were this quiet country mouse, now
you are talking about kidnapping!” Mary laughed and soon both girls were in a
fit of giggles.
“Well, yes, alright”
said the general. “But we must come up with a plan to try and get Mr. Cogsworth
back from Iggelsdin.”
“I think it best
to go and make sure he, in fact, has Mr. Cogsworth.” Moto said.
“Oh, how are we
supposed told o that?” Mary asked “Shall we just march up to his house and ask
him he has kidnapped a man against his will?”
“Yes!” Liza
exclaimed. Everyone in the basket turned and looked at her. “Exactly, yes! I
knew I knew the name from someplace. Iggelsdin married this simply horrible
woman, the Countess something…”
“Permelia Olivia
Goodenough” Moto said. Liza looked at him with a smile.
“Moto, I am
suspecting something of an obsession with Mr. Iggelsdin on your part.” Moto
said nothing but gave a small shrug.
“Get to the point
Liza!” The general said, sharply but lightly.
“Yes, sorry. This
woman, Permelia, is giving a ball in a week’s time. I received an invitation
several weeks ago. I supposed I might still have it. I never RSVP’d as it was
some sort of ghastly dress up thing, what was it… these people that dress up and play as if it
were a hundred years ago… ridiculous nonsense…”
“The Georgians?”
Mary said and Liza nodded and smiled.
“The Georgians!
How on earth did you know about them Mary?”
“My Mother keeps
up with so much of the London night life, especially anything she thinks young
people should be following, anything other than books of course. She has
explained to me that there are young people in London, and Paris or even New
York it seems, who dress up as if it were still the reign of George III.”
“Really?” The
Colonel asked.
“Oh yes Colonel.”
Liza said “I have heard such things, really such a strange waste of time. Play acting
it all, dressing up, putting on dinners, parties, even plays. Why I have even
heard some who write novels around the them.”
“Preposterous!”
the Colonel said, as if that settled it once and for all.
“Perhaps, but we
will have to wade into it deep if this countess is throwing a Georgian these
party.” Mary said ruefully.
“Exactly” Liza
said. “We’ll go to the party and have a look around.”
“Liza, it is not
like they will have the man on display.” said the general.
“No Grandfather,
but we can look around nonetheless, speak with the maids or footmen.”
“Hmmm, we shall
have to think of another plan. I will not allow you risk yourself with a man
like Iggelsdin.”
“We will be fine
Grandfather, we will be careful.”
“Nothing doing. We
will think of another plan. You are not going and that is that!”
No comments:
Post a Comment