Steampunk 2 – Jo & Griff
Jo’s vermillion skirts rustled softly as she walked down Bond Street. She had to keep up with the thin man, but he moved so fast through the crowd it was difficult to keep him in sight. Griff would be furious if he knew where she was, and who she was after. The thin man dodged down an alley and disappeared. Jo got to the mouth of the alley in time to see him disappear through the third door on the left. She was about to plunge into the dark alley when a hand grabbed her arm.
“Josephine Stanton? Is that you?” She heard the familiar voice and nearly cringed. She turned slowly, schooling her face so it did not look as though she had just shoved a saltlick in her mouth.
“Caroline Wroth. Why I can’t believe my eyes,” Jo said. And she couldn’t. Of all the people to come upon her at that moment, Caroline Wroth was the last one she would have requested.
“What ever are you doing looking down an alley?” Caroline was always too curious for her own good.
Heavens! She couldn’t tell her friend she was following a man she suspected of hiring her to kill the Earl of Melton. She reached up to her ear as though her earring was missing and said, “Why I heard a ping as I was walking past and I was sure I must have lost an earbob.” Jo turned and made a pretense of looking on the ground. Caroline attempted to slide out of the way but Jo knocked her over in her false search.
Caroline went down onto her backside tossing her skirts into the air. Jo cried out and helped her regain her feet. She made a big show of brushing her skirt off for her and then resumed looking for her jewelry.
“I do not see anything.” Caroline leaned toward Jo. ”Oh! But your earbob is quite on your ear. You always were loosing things Josephine.” She looked irritated with Jo. “I must say I had no idea you were in London.”
I do so wish we could have kept it that way. Jo sighed and attempted to reign in her impatience. Where was that man going? She cast a furtive glance back down the alley.
Caroline kept talking as though Jo had responded, “We must have tea sometime.”
No I do not think you would be happy to realize you had tea with Madame La Roux, much less spoke to her on a very public street.
Caroline gushed. It was what she did in addition to the fact she was a ferocious gossip. Jo shook off her useless train of thought and tried to focus on the woman for a moment. Unbidden, the box’s limerick came to mind.
Hickory, dickory dock
The steam engine powered the clock.
The clock struck eight
Making everyone late
And the vote ended up a shock.
Jo’s train of thought was interrupted as a matronly woman stormed up to them and snatched Caroline by the arm.
“What is the meaning of this!” The iron haired harridan was already in full dudgeon. It was obvious she knew who or at least what Jo was. How Caroline did not understand that a woman wearing vermillion on a Tuesday afternoon was not a lady was beyond Jo’s comprehension.
“Why Aunt Gladys, you remember Josephine Stanton. She lived near me as a child.” Caroline was heard to say as Aunt Gladys turned sharply and propelled her bodily down the street.
Jo stood there overwhelmed by the whole experience. A moment later after much not-so-whispered conversation, Caroline’s head snapped around. Jo could see both her eyes wide in surprise and a deep crimson blush on her maidenly cheeks. She just learned what her old friend was now.
Aunt Gladys’ sudden appearance was for the best really. Jo needed to continue on her way, and figure out where the thin man had gone to, and she certainly had no desire to have tea with her old friend. She was certain it would be nothing but an inconvenience. How does one sip tea and explain that she runs an exclusive brothel and kills people on the side when the crown requests it? No, it was much better that Caroline disappear back into her past. Wasn’t it?
Suppressing her thoughts on her history, she turned and briskly headed down the alley. She at least had to look inside the door to see where the thin man disappeared before she confessed her afternoon’s escapade to Griff.
