“Completely empty?” Simon waited for Imogen to peer deeply into the hat and nod in agreement. He smiled mysteriously and placed the hat on his head. He swept his hand along the brim and tapped the crown. His eyes flicked quickly to Kate, and he said, “And since a lady has arrived, a gentleman always tips his hat.”
Simon removed the top hat and something moved in his hair. He gave a shallow bow toward Imogen, who squealed with delight, while the servants laughed and clapped their hands.
“What is it?” Simon cried with mock alarm. “Is there a beast on me?”
Imogen laughed and hesitatingly reached out to him. Simon moved a step closer in invitation. She scooped a hedgehog off Simon’s head and cradled it in her hands. She held it up to show the other girls.
Kate laughed at the ridiculous scene. “What exactly is happening here?”
“Look,” Imogen said. “Mr. Archer produced a hedgehog out of thin air. It’s a miracle.”
“Yes,” Kate agreed, giving Simon a pleasant smirk. “He’s quite the wonderworker.”
The maids returned to their duties and Nick pulled his foot from the table under Kate’s quick baleful glare.
Simon bowed fully to Imogen. “I regret you must say good evening now, Miss Imogen. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
The young woman seemed confused at first but then rose and curtsied, following his lead. She extended the hedgehog back to Simon.
“Oh no,” he said. “You may keep him.”
“No,” Imogen replied simply. “He won’t be safe with me.”
Kate felt a hot pang of sadness as her sister placed the tiny, helpless bundle in the man’s hands. Simon glanced at Kate with concern, but Imogen seemed completely untroubled. She kissed Kate on the cheek and went out of the dining room with a maid at her heels.
“I’m sorry, Miss Anstruther,” Simon said. “I hope I didn’t overstep myself.”
“Not at all, Mr. Archer. It was wonderful to hear her laugh, if only for a moment.” Kate stroked the hedgehog with her finger, smiling at the prickly little thing. “Now that you’ve revealed the great mysteries of your occult sciences, if you and Mr. Barker will come with me, I’ll reveal a bit of mine.”
She led Simon and Nick into the corridor and toward the rear of the sprawling country house. After much walking, she reached up into her hair and pulled out a hairpin with a small key attached.
“Gentlemen,” she said, “you are the first outsiders to whom I have shown this room.”
“We are practically family, after all,” Simon quipped.
“Not quite.” Kate unlocked the heavy door. “I have told you I am a scholar of the occult, but there’s more.” There was a flush of excitement on her cheeks as she opened the way to her sanctum.
She lit oil lamps on wall sconces to reveal the room that used to be a parlor but now hosted several worktables covered in laboratory glassware. There were many beakers with colored liquid or bright granules. Apothecary cabinets lined one wall holding endless small bottles of herbs and chemicals and unidentified objects. The other walls were covered by crowded bookshelves, with more books resting in stacks on every flat surface.
Kate announced unnecessarily, “I have an affinity for alchemy.”
Nick whistled. “An affinity? I’d say you have a fixation.”
“I should have guessed by the effectiveness of your discombobulating snuff.” Simon tilted his head, reading the spines of books, making grunts of recognition. He jerked up in surprise and seized a heavy volume from a sideboard. He drew a finger along the embossed lettering on the cover. “Al Hashiri’s Miracles and Wonders.”
Kate regarded him with a look of mild doubt. “You’ve read it?”
“I have.” He opened the book and stared in shock. “Oh. This is in Arabic.”
“Yes. Didn’t you say you had read it?”
Nick laughed as Simon handed her the book a trifle sheepishly. “I read the Latin translation.”
Kate slid the book onto one of the shelves. “No shame. The Latin version is quite serviceable.”
Simon shook his head with an impressed smile.
“What is that thing?” Nick asked from across the room. He was staring at a very large glass jar filled with greenish liquid in which was suspended an object of some sort.
“An old experiment,” Kate replied. “I’ve put it aside for now.”
Simon joined his friend at the jar. “Good Lord. Is that a thorn?”
“Yes. From a rose.”
“It’s two feet long.”
“That was the largest I could manage and still have a rose in any meaningful way.”
“Where’s the flower?” Nick asked in awe. “Did you have to build a separate shed for it?”
“I haven’t any. Everything broke apart. I only managed to save that thorn in a suspension.”
“This is extraordinary,” Simon said.
Nick commented, “You must really like flowers.”