Chapter 34
Thirty-four
In the ballroom, the servants stood quietly assembled, uniforms cleaned and pressed, backs straight, hands clasped in front of them.
That was the way you presented yourself to your employer.
It also made Mina wince with guilt, and she was relieved to see a similar expression on Stephen’s face.
Nobody in front of them had done anything to deserve this.
Emily had done nothing to deserve that hellish half hour in the pantry, and neither she nor Stephen deserved such an expression of loyalty and professionalism.
Later, she would realize that she’d classed herself with Stephen, and neither her presumption nor her readiness to share his guilt would surprise her, though they would dismay her. For now, there was a task at hand.
“First of all,” Stephen said, “is everyone still all right?”
Heads bobbed. “Yes, sir,” rose in a ragged chorus, valiant and not entirely true.
Polly still looked gray around the lips; Baldwin’s hands twitched slightly; Emily might have been at any other reasonably solemn assembly.
The resilience of youth, Mina thought. It was a wonderful thing in some respects.
“You know now,” Stephen began, “that I haven’t told you everything. I couldn’t, for you’d not have believed me until now. There’ll still be things I must conceal, for your sake and mine both, but I’ll explain what’s in my power.”
“The monsters,” said Mrs. Baldwin with an outward calm that itself spoke of inner turmoil. “Emily told us about them.”
“Aye,” said Stephen. “Miss Seymour told you that I’d an enemy, and that’s true enough. She didn’t say that the enemy had—has—some mystical powers. That he’s capable of sending things other than men after me.”
Nobody looked surprised, though a few people shifted and looked away, uncomfortable to hear Stephen put the situation into words so bluntly.
“I’ve some abilities of my own,” Stephen went on. “I’d set up my own protections on this house, and I had thought they’d work well enough to keep any such things away. I was wrong, and I am most sincerely sorry for that.”
The words hung in the still air. Polly swallowed hard. Mrs. Hennings closed her eyes for a second.
Stephen cleared his throat and looked over at Mina.
Briefly, she wondered if he expected her to say anything—and she wondered what she would say—but he turned away again just as quickly and spoke once more.
“I believe I know what went wrong. With Miss Seymour’s help and with my brother’s, we should be able to make the house safe from any further attacks. ”
Both maids turned their eyes on Mina now: Emily wondering, Polly dubious.
“However,” Stephen took a long breath, “given the circumstances and the unforgivable risk I’ve placed you all in, I will quite understand if any of you wish to depart my service, either for the duration of this crisis or permanently.
I’ll provide a month’s wages and a good character to anyone who wishes to leave, and I’ll be glad to take you back on afterward if you’d like. ”
Clearly unable to help himself, he glanced for a moment at the Baldwins and then over at Mina again.
“You can speak with me privately about your decision, and you don’t have to make it just now. I’ll be here if you have any questions. Once again, you have my deepest apologies,” said Stephen, and he actually bowed.
It wasn’t a very courtly bow, particularly given the wounds he’d suffered, but the mere fact of a lord bowing to his servants drew a few gasps. After a moment of stunned silence, the servants bowed in response. They left in twos and threes, leaving Mina and Stephen alone once more.
“I’ll go to the kitchens,” Mina said, “and see what the mood is. They might be more likely to talk with me.”
Stephen nodded, frowning, then stepped toward her with inhuman speed and put a hand under her chin. Immediately, Mina’s blood began to heat, her heart to race. His lips were close, his strong body closer, and she found that she wasn’t as weary as she’d thought.
His thumb brushed over her cheekbone. “I’d make the same offer to you, you know. You’d get the hundred pounds and a good character—I wouldna’ bind you here, not when it’s so dangerous. Not when you were nearly killed.”
“I hear danger’s good for the mind,” Mina said, trying to breathe steadily.
Stephen’s other hand clenched on her shoulder. “Mina—”
“Besides, I can’t leave now, can I? Not without making a big hole in your wards.”
“When Colin’s well enough, we can reset them,” said Stephen. He sighed and stepped back, and the air seemed very cold in his absence. “Until then—I feel the worst sort of cad, draggin’ you intae this as I’ve done.”
“You didn’t drag me,” said Mina. A dozen questions came to her mind, questions for which this was neither the time nor the place. In the face of Stephen’s guilt, she might not have trusted the answers anyhow. She turned away. “I’d better go and talk to the others.”
***
When Mina reached the kitchen, Mrs. Baldwin was pouring out tea for herself, Polly, and Emily. “Hennings is upstairs,” she said when Mina came in. “Packing.”
“I don’t blame her,” Polly said. “Especially with her knee the way it is. If I couldn’t run, I’d be out of here like a shot,” she added, heedless of any contradictions in her speech.
“But, since your knees are fine…” Mina replied, with a questioning look at the housemaid.
“Oh, I wouldn’t leave now for the world,” said Polly, and gave Mina a daredevil grin. “I’ve been in service three years, and I haven’t seen anything near this exciting anyplace else.”
“You call that thing at the door exciting?” Mrs. Baldwin said, shaking her head. “I can well live without that sort of thrill, that’s certain enough, and so can anyone of any sense.”
Polly’s eyes flashed. “People die in this city every day, you know. Typhoid’s as deadly as boogeymen, and a blasted sight less interesting. Besides, I don’t see you upstairs folding your petticoats.”
“I’ve been with his lairdship for many years,” said Mrs. Baldwin stiffly, “and with his family for longer, and they’ve always treated us very well indeed. There’s such a thing as loyalty. But I don’t think any of this horror is some sort of seaside attraction.”
“She’s right, you know,” said Mina, looking at Polly and Emily. “We were lucky this time.”
“And you’ll have fixed the…protections…by next time, his lordship said,” Polly shot back. “So it’s even odds, isn’t it?”
“What about you?” Mina asked Emily, giving up on convincing Polly.
The younger girl looked down and bit her lip. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I’d miss it here, that’s sure, and I don’t know as another place would be better—um, other than the creatures, that is. But—”
“How old are you, lass?” Mrs. Baldwin asked.
“Fifteen.”
“And have you family about?”
“My father, in Leyton.”
“Then you’ll go and see him for a month. I’ve no doubt he’ll be glad to see you, wi’ your wages and all. You’ll come back after, if you’d like. One way or another, we’ll know a good deal more by then.”
“Oh—” Emily looked up, her face caught between delight and reluctance. “I’m not sure I should—”
“I am,” said Mrs. Baldwin. “And if I go to his lairdship, he’ll be too.
We’ll not have a child here at a time like this.
I’d not sleep at nights if we did. Go and pack your things.
” She sent Emily on her way with a firm pat on the back, and turned to Mina and Polly.
“Well, then. There’s the three of us, it seems.”
“Unless Miss Seymour wants to go,” said Polly.
“I don’t,” said Mina, which was more or less accurate. She was past being dismayed by that thought now.
“No, I thought you wouldn’t,” said Polly. “But you’re not one of them, are you? Not properly—you’re from Bethnal Green. I’ve heard from your letters.”
“And they don’t breed many magicians there. At least not that I know of,” Mina agreed. “I just sort of fell into things here.”
“You’ll have to fall into a few more,” said Mrs. Baldwin. “You’ve been a help with the chores already, but we’ll all have to take on more—”
“—and so will the gentlemen,” Mina said firmly.
“Or at least S—Lord MacAlasdair. I don’t know if we can convince his brother, especially as Master Colin’s got a broken arm.
But if one of them doesn’t come and work down here, they can send out for their meals and pay for it.
With that and the four of us, we’ll survive. ”
Then she remembered the manes reaching for her and the gashes in the pantry door, and wished she’d come up with another way to phrase things.