Soap straightened, put down his primer, and walked over to the viscount. Felix Mersey might be the cream of the aristocracy, but in the boiler room Soap was undisputed king—grimy empire though it might be.
Felix was not impressed. “Who are you, darkie? And what are you doing with a guidance valve?”
Sophronia didn’t like anyone disrespecting Soap. But even while battling anger, she filed Felix’s comment away: the mini-prototype was called a guidance valve. She jerked forward to take back the guidance valve and show her allegiance to Soap.
Dimity held her back. Her friend was remarkably strong for such an innocent-looking creature. “My dear, we’d best let them deal with this in their own way.”
“But—”
“This is not a matter for ladies.” Dimity considered. “Or even intelligencers.”
“Oh, but I—” protested Sophronia.
“No, dear, no.”
Soap smiled his big, wide, welcoming grin at Felix. For once, it did not look friendly. “Ah, now, little lordling, you’re in our world. I’m thinking a bit of politeness might be in order.”
“To commoners? I think not.”
“We can boost you right back out that hatch you came in.”
“Hardly sporting. There’s plenty more of you scrappers than there is me.”
“Ah, yes, but if you’re going about not treating us as gentlemen, we don’t have to behave like ’em, do we?”
“As if you knew how.”
Soap made a perfect bow, precisely the kind due to a viscount. “How do you do? The name is Phineas B. Crow.”
Goodness, if Soap didn’t sound exactly as if he were a gentleman. He’s been practicing the accent. Sophronia wondered where he’d learned it in the first place.
Shocked into an instinctual reaction, Felix bowed back. “Felix Golborne, Viscount Mersey.”
“Lord Mersey, I’ve heard of you.” Soap looked over to where Sophronia skulked.
And he knows how to shorten the name of an aristocrat as well?
“Funny,” said Felix, watching Soap’s gaze rest on Sophronia, “but I hadn’t heard of you.”
“Some of us know how to keep secrets.” With that, Soap ostentatiously returned the valve to Sophronia.
Felix colored. So he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone it’s a guidance valve? Or is he embarrassed to catch Soap and me on terms of any intimacy?
“Be careful,” whispered Sophronia to Soap.
The sootie winked and turned back to Felix.
The boys squared off. Felix stood about half a head shorter than Soap, but then most people did. His clothes fit him perfectly, while Soap seemed to have been shoveled badly into his, with wrists and ankles sticking out.
“What can we possibly do for you, Lord Mersey?” asked Soap.
“I have no business with you.”
“Good thing, too. We have enough bother keeping this ship afloat. We don’t have time to pander to layabout toffs when there’s real work to do.”
Felix ignored this. “I wanted to look in on Miss Temminnick.”
Soap said, “Well, she has had a number of unwelcome visitors this evening.”
“Oh, has she indeed?”
Soap declined to elaborate. As Felix had voiced his interest outright, the taller boy could not delay him further.
“Miss Sophronia,” he said, “you have a visitor,” as if her were her butler. “This boy wants to see you.” He said it as though Felix were years his junior.
Felix turned the full force of his charm on Sophronia, presenting the back of an impeccable frock coat to Soap. “It is an odd place for us to meet, Ria, my dove.”
Soap tensed.
Sophronia supposed she must play the game. “Very well, my lord, why tarry here at all? Your waistcoat will be smudged and your cravat gone gray; how will you survive such travesties?”
“For the pleasure of your glorious company, I should suffer a thousand smudges.”
“Do they always talk like this?” Soap asked Dimity, loudly.
“Pretty much.”
“It’s revolting.”