Read A Clockwork Heart for Free Online Page A

off the edge of the mantelpiece and smashed on the floor where the bits rattled for a moment.
    Elle walked up to the cabinet and pulled out the bottle of absinthe. She yanked the cork out and held the bottle aloft. “Adele. Inside. Now.”
    The fairy obeyed and wisped into the bottle. Elle fastened the cork, sealing the fairy inside with a tad more force than needed.
    She took a long, deep, steadying breath. “Hugh. Go upstairs and ask Neville to go to town to see if he can get us an extra ticket for my father for this evening. I’m sure Mrs. Mandeville would love to meet the professor.”
    She turned to the housekeeper. “Mrs. Hinges, take my father to the drawing room. Prepare the blue guest room for him and ask Neville to see that the professor’s tails are pressed. He is going to the opera.”
    â€œYes, my lady,” Mrs. Hinges said, for once without comment.
    Elle turned to Neville who had appeared in the doorway, but seeing the commotion was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible by hiding behind one of the ferns that stood in copper pots on stands by the doors. This was proving to be an impossible task, given that Neville was almost as tall as Marsh, with a shock of dark-blond hair that stood up no matter how much he combed it.
    â€œNeville, there you are,” she said. “Please go and find Caruthers. Ask him to assemble the staff. Volunteers for this clean up get an extra half-day wages as compensation for helping to clear up this mess.”
    â€œYes, my lady,” Neville nodded and disappeared from the room as quickly as he could.
    â€œAnd Mrs. Hinges, I was going to wait to discuss this with you, but I think it would be better for all if you went home with my father when he returns. He needs you more than we do at the moment.” She gestured at her father who appeared to be dressed in an unstarched collar and shirt that, despite his best efforts to hide it behind his waistcoat, had clearly not been pressed. Judging by the angle of the collar, it looked like he had done his buttons up wrong without noticing.
    Mrs. Hinges put her hand to her throat in shock. “I do say,” she started mumbling, “I’ve never been spoken to like this in all my life. If there is anything wrong with my work, I would that you say so, but to be dismissed like that—”
    Elle turned on her, eyes blazing. “Oh no you don’t. You know very well that this has nothing to do with the quality of your work.”
    Mrs. Hinges closed her mouth, sealing off whatever she was about to say.
    â€œAnd you two!” Elle turned and pointed at Marsh and the professor. “No more spark experiments in the house.”
    Neither of them answered and Marsh guiltily kicked a stray ball of paper under the table.
    â€œAnd now I am going upstairs. When I come down again, I don’t want to see a single thing out of place. Do I make myself clear?”
    Everyone mumbled various form of the affirmative.
    And with that, Elle set the absinthe bottle down on the top of the cabinet, turned upon her heel and marched upstairs.

CHAPTER 5
    Later that evening Marsh came to her as she was putting the finishing touches to her hair and face. She was, at this stage, still in the process of looking for a proper lady’s maid as befitted her new rank and station. But Elle had always prided herself on her self-sufficiency, and with the exception of enlisting Edie to help her with her laces, she managed quite well on her own. She had been so busy that hiring a maid to dress her had been fairly low on her list of things to accomplish.
    â€œYou look lovely,” Marsh said. He rested against the doorframe of Elle’s dressing room.
    â€œThank you.” She smiled at him in the mirror. “Although I always did think it a little silly to get this dressed up only to sit in the dark for a few hours.”
    â€œYou have such a strange way of looking at the world. But I have