He knew there were men that held women in disdain, but he rarely encountered them in his own life. Were a man foolish enough to treat Briar or Meena so shabbily, they’d find themselves out in the street, wondering what had hit them. Let alone Mrs. Hapgood. Mrs. H would’ve cut this Ravensworth off at the knees half an hour ago.
But Ada moved in more ordinary circles. It seemed she had no choice but to deal with these sorts of blowhards on a frequent basis.
No wonder she was overly sensitive to his own suggestions.
"Fine then, we’ll press on." The admiral stepped around his desk to take Ada’s hands in his. "Thank you, Mrs. Templeton, for your service. Your discovery will put us far ahead of our enemies.”
Then he turned to Edison and grinned, much like a small boy. "Quite an adventure you had on the way here." He shook his head in wonder. "Tigers milling about in Covent Garden. Just imagine. I'm relieved Mrs. Templeton was accompanied by such a clearheaded gent. No telling what could have happened."
Edison tried to appear modest. “To be fair, there were only the two, and they did appear rather tame. Just our luck, they'd already had their morning feeding. More a matter of behaving with common sense, really. Stand quietly and let the beasts roam. The magician’s crew rounded them up as quickly as one could have expected.”
The admiral planted his hands on his hips, making the large collection of metals on his uniform swing gently from side to side. "Would have given a nice bit of coin to see that commotion."
“And who wouldn’t? It was quite a sight.” He nudged Ada, urging her to chime in.
She glared up at the ceiling. “A most unreal experience. Hard to believe it even occurred.”
*
“Is it a capital offense, do you think? Lying to an admiral?” Ada asked as they hurried out of the man’s office.
“Definitely not.” Edison paused for the seamen to open the doors to the street, then steered her out into the sunlight. “Only lying to the Sovereign.”
Ada let him guide her out onto the pavement before she stopped and planted her fists on her hips. “You told the highest ranking officer in Her Majesty’s Navy that we wrangled a stray tiger on our way to the meeting!”
“Made him forget that we kept him waiting for twenty minutes, didn’t it?”
“That’s hardly the point.”
“It’s exactly the point.”
She looked at him blankly.
“You don’t confabulate often, do you?” He stepped back and flung his arms wide. “You have to make it large. Construct the most outlandish image you can and believe in it. That’s the secret.”
Ada pursed her lips as if she’d bitten into a lemon. “I don’t expect to have a need for that particular skill, thank you.”
Edison shrugged. If she was very lucky. In his experience, luck ran out.
No need to force the issue now though. She deserved to enjoy her success. She’d have a lot more of that coming as more open-minded, more intelligent men, began to appreciate her brilliance.
He thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers and toed at the ground. He’d suspected Ada Templeton was far out of his league, but now he knew it.
“That went well, in there,” he said, still not meeting her eyes. “You have a great command of your material. Inspires confidence.”
“Thank you. Your tiger did help, although I hesitate to admit it.”
“It did, didn’t it?” He took her arm, and they strolled back toward the far end of the palace. “You handled that tick Ravensworth masterfully. I admire your restraint.”
Ada waved away his compliment. “He’s nothing. An unpleasant fellow to be sure, but he’s got the brains of a gnat.” She sighed. “He’s far from the worst of the lot.”
“Still. I admire the way you rose above his petty needling.”
Ada gasped. “Well that utterly tears it.”
Edison froze. What had he done now?
Ada was staring off over his left shoulder. A formidable frown creased her face. “Keep walking.” She tugged on his arm. “Pretend you don’t see him.”
“See who?” Edison checked the area, senses on full alert.
“Don’t look!”
“Who am I not looking at?”
“The worst of the lot.” She cocked her head to the left, indicating a narrow-shouldered fop in a fashionable sackcoat. “Spottswood. He’s mean and small-minded and unforgivably dense.”
“Mrs. Templeton!” The man, led by a set of over-sized mutton chops, veered straight for them.
Ada stiffened. She wrapped both hands around the handles of her satchel. Were it not filled with her precious notes, Edison bet she would have used it to whack the man straight in the face.
Edison didn’t even know him, and he already wanted to give him a good thrashing.
The elegant man executed a small bow. “Good afternoon.” Light eyes sparkled maliciously as he examined the both of them.
“Lord Spottswood.” Ada attempted to fashion the semblance of a smile. She was not, he had to note, very good at it.
“Sweet. Edison Sweet.” He answered the man’s unspoken query. “I’m Mrs. Templeton’s… solicitor.”
Pressure built on the last two toes of his foot. The minx was stepping on him. Edison slid his boot out of harm’s way and ignored her. “In addition to being an accomplished chemist, her business interests are quite complicated.”
“I can only imagine.” Slender, un-calloused fingers gripped a useless-looking excuse for a cane. The man spread his legs wide, rocking back on his heels as if he had all the time in the world to chat. “What brings you to Whitehall? I wasn’t aware there were any lectures at the academy today.” His gaze flicked over Ada’s skirts, his mouth pursing with distaste, as if she were covered in grim. “Any that ladies would be welcome to attend, I mean. It’s rare we have lecturers willing to accommodate those of lesser abilities.” Edison resisted the urge to ball his hands into fists and settled for imagining how gratifying it would feel to flatten the weasel’s delicate nose. Though the man’s query sounded casual, Edison noted the tension in the shoulders, the rigidity of the muscles around the lips.
Spottswood knew Ada had been at the Admiralty. Probably knew exactly why.
Edison’s heart raced. His muscles tingled with added energy, preparing for action. He moved as close to her as was publicly decent.
His instincts were rarely wrong. The man was toying with her.
Ada gave Edison an odd little sideways glance. “I can’t believe you weren’t told.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Told what?”
“How unfortunate no one got word to you.” Ada shook her head sorrowfully. “Mr. Joseph Swan just gave a small talk—a rather exclusive talk—at Admiral Helmsley’s invitation.” She widened her eyes as if astonished. “I cannot believe you were overlooked.”
Her lie pushed him back on his heels. He took a step back and gaped at her. “That’s impossible. I would have known.”
Ada looked thoughtful, or maybe she was trying not to laugh. “Perhaps it was only for working scientists. You theoreticians are so often ignored, are you not? Quite unjust, if you ask me.”