Chapter 75: Trouble Comes to Roost Part 2
Cal went back inside and organized her sketchbooks from the trip. She had books covering the better part of a wall in the room she used as a studio when she was home. Except for the ones her father had out, these represented all the years of Cal's art. She left one book out and took it over to her desk. The entire book was filled with her attempts to recreate the drawing she'd burned on the Kestrel. The task was made more difficult because she had no idea what it represented or what the scale of it was. She looked through the book, then closed it and sighed. Maybe Pentam could make something of it. Chemistry was his expertise; he might be able to figure something out.
Another book lay open on her desk. It overflowed with drawings of airships. Renditions of what she remembered of her first sighting a couple of years ago, to her imaginings of what she might build. Her notes covered the gamut from materials to the equations telling her the ratio between the size of the airship and how much it could lift. It would have to float in the air like the Kestrel floated on the ocean. She'd seen paper lanterns which, lit by a candle, floated away into the sky. Cal went to get the book where she'd drawn one in detail and added it to her idea journal. How on earth could she heat the volume of air needed to lift an airship?
Beth, their cook and housekeeper, knocked on the door and called her down for lunch. With her father still working in his office, she was alone.
"Sit down and join me." Cal waved a chair. "It's just us." She served up a bowl and placed it in front the woman who was family in Cal's mind if not in hers.
"He's been working harder on his book." Beth tasted her soup and nodded absently. "Except when Hans or I drag him out of there, he hardly moves. I think he'd sleep there if we let him."
"Maybe he'll let me read more of his book." Cal took a bit of buttered bread and closed her eyes. Such simple things she missed on board her ship.
"Oh no, he won't let anyone see it." Beth frowned. "He was furious one day when he thought I was trying to peek at it. I haven't touched anything in his study since."
"That doesn't sound like Father." Cal looked over at Beth. "He said he's fine, but something doesn't feel right. Keep an eye on him, will you? Make sure he eats and sleeps properly."
"I will, Miss."
***
The carriage dropped Cal off in front of Lord Carroway's. The steam carriage had been acting up, so she'd hired an old-fashioned horse-drawn vehicle.
Lord Carroway's butler took her wrap.
"Welcome back to Anglia, Lady Shillingsworth."
"Thank you, it is good to see different faces for a while."
A maid guided her to the ballroom and left her at the door. Cal walked through into the crowded room where an orchestra played music in the background. Ladies in fine gowns walked about the room with fingertips on the arms of their men, looking like peacocks beside crows.
Cal wandered over to chat with a woman who was a casual friend of Crysabel's; maybe she'd know how her friend was doing. The woman saw Cal coming and turned her back. All around other men and women were turning away from Cal, leaving her in a bubble of isolation in the room.
"My dear Cal." Lord Carroway appeared beside her and took her elbow. "Come with me a moment." He frowned at the people around him. "I never thought." Cal looked down at him and thought he was on the edge of tears. "I'm sorry, there is a horrible person talking about you."
"Lord Sifton." Cal's stomach clenched.
"He's hinting at things..." Lord Carroway put his hand on his chest. "I don't believe a word he says, but some are easily influenced. Scandal is the hobby of the nobility."
"I see." Cal forced the acid burning in her gut down. "I survived most of my life being a failure as a Lady, I expect I can survive this too."
"Lady Shillingsworth." Lord Sifton's voice dripped venom.
Cal turned and pasted a smile on her face.
"How good to see you. I'm glad the Embassy was able to help you."
"You mean after you turned tail and ran, leaving me behind without a second thought? I had to take a train across the continent to get home."
"If that is how you wish to describe it." Cal shrugged. "I long ago ceased to care what you thought of me."
"I've lodged a complaint with the merchant's board, breach of contract, cowardice." Lord Sifton smiled. "They were quite concerned."
"I can imagine." Cal walked over to help herself to a glass of wine. She needed something in her hand to keep her from smacking the man. "My employers are also very concerned. They are examining the log book and the cargo. The Zithayan's did a customs inspection on every ship in port. They opened all the crates in the hold. It was that or have them seized. Imagine my employers' distress at learning, not one held anything remotely connected to the expedition you told them you were planning."
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