Channel Crossings
Air date: 16 Oct 2010
Present: Cindy, Kim, Maer, Andy, and Jim
August 16, 1867, Friday
Trumshaw's of London
Midmorning
A good deal of shopping is done by members of our party at Trumpshaw’s. Armed with an expense account backed by the Crown for the purpose of our mission, we equip ourselves to the best of our ability to anticipate our needs. Bertie outdoes himself in clothing and accoutrements and some rather outlandish gadgetry, amongst them a personal flying device called an Ascender. It looks like a modern-day mechanical set of wings and indeed, it is strapped on to enable the operator to fly. Bertie is much taken with it and knowing we may encounter mountains or cliffs in our journey, is easily able to justify its purchase. Josephine stocks up on clothing and weapons and such, as do the rest of the party. We arrange to have the purchases ready for us at the Paris Trumpshaw’s, pulled from their own stock where available. The London Trumpshaw’s will wire the invoice ahead of us, negating the need to be burdened by our purchases on our journey to Paris and yet not be forced to wait for our London goods to arrive by post. It’s a nifty arrangement, really, and we readily agree.
We also acquire the multivolume set of books titled, The Curse of the Dashwoods. It’s five books in all, penned by the inimitable Anthony Trollope, and the prose tends decidedly toward the purple. Each volume runs 300 to 400 pages and it describes the life and misadventures of the two brothers, Isaiah and Jacob Dashwood. The first volume is subtitled simply The Brothers. The rest, in order, are The Slavers, The Devil, The Wastrel, and The Abomination. Josephine tucks into the first volume to get a head start on the research into the clan before we leave for the Continent on the morrow. She is able to read fairly far before falling asleep. In summary, the book thus far:
Both fall in love with a half-caste temple dancer named Indra. Jacob murders Isaiah because Indra chose Isaiah over him. Jacob takes Indra with him to England, where they live a gloomy life as husband and wife. Indra gives birth to Franklin Dashwood, then murders Jacob by swamp adder bite before taking off for India again.
August 17, 1867, Saturday
En route to Calais
English Channel
Morning
The ladies of our party board the boat to Calais in good time and spend some of their morning on the deck, enjoying the sea air and watching the white cliffs of Dover recede into the distance. They look their fill, knowing it may be a long time before they see their country again. Or at least, Josephine and Flora do. Katherine is made horribly seasick by the crossing and Josephine and Flora settle her in their shared cabin to lie down. On the way to it, Josephine spies someone who she’s convinced is Rembecki and sends Flora onward without her. Josephine tails the woman to her cabin and noting the number, finds a purser. Who is in that cabin, sir? Oh, a Madame Inge Zinder? Please could you give her my invitation to join me for tea later today? Yes? Thank you.
Josephine tips the man and leaves for the infirmary, there to beg some laudanum for Katherine’s stomach and no so incidentally to spike Rembecki’s tea when she shows up. And Josephine is certain the woman will show up. After all, what evildoer can resist checking out her adversaries? Josephine gets the laudanum and returns to her cabin to tell Flora and Katherine the news.
When Inge Zinder shows up, we see her resemblance to Rembecki is strong but cannot now be sure it is her. We ask her where she’s from and so on and so forth in the normal course of conversation over tea, just four Englishwomen banding together over tea against foreigners and strangeness abroad. We find out that Inge is from a family of jewelers from London and Antwerp. At the moment she’s going to Paris and thence to Liege. Oh and her uncle is a duelist. Josephine meanwhile has refreshed Inge’s tea with laudanum and by the time we verify that Inge is not, in fact, Rembecki it is too late—the drug overwhelms Inge and the woman passes out. We bring Beignet into our cabin to have him verify that yes, this really is some poor woman we’ve dosed with laudanum and not Rembecki disguised under an illusion spell to look like someone else: that sort of spell requires the user to remain conscious for the duration and Inge is off in dreamland. Ergo: she is not Rembecki hidden under a spell. Inge is exactly what and who she seems.
Now what do we do with her?
It is Katherine’s seasickness that gives us a reasonable story—poor Inge swooned from her stomach’s upset. Could we get a purser to transport the woman back to her own cabin where she would be more comfortable amongst her things? Beignet and a purser carry the unconscious woman back to her cabin and deposit her gently on a fainting couch. Her cabin is neat as a pin and Beignet spies a Colt dragoon and a large black valise that doesn’t seem to be used for clothing. Beignet surmises Inge must be transporting jewelry between her family’s stores. He and the purser leave the woman in her cabin to sleep off the laudanum and Beignet rejoins the ladies to tell them what he’d seen.
Also, prior to being drafted by the women to transport Inge back to her cabin, Beignet is approached by a Mr. Wendt, of the Diogenes Club, and is warned that he and his party are under observation.
Hmmm….
Meanwhile, on a separate train to Dover and a different boat crossing the Channel, Bertie and Ezekiel and their manservants spend a quiet voyage over. Bertie gambles. Ezekiel abstains. Bertie walks off the boat considerably richer than when he walked on. they make their connecting train to Paris without trouble.
Likewise the ladies and Beignet board their train to Paris and after some hours pull into the famous French city. When we arrive we find that Beignet has changed his mind and booked us all at the Hotel St. Georges a block off the Rue de Rivoli, instead of the St. Vincent Hotel for the ladies and a separate hotel for Bertie and Ezekiel. It’s not clear why the hobbit did so and we do not really demand an explanation. Katherine and Ezekiel are clearly happy with this new arrangement and so is Bertie: he’s missed Flora.
Beignet has also booked us a dinner reservation at Maxim’s and since it is some hours away, we get ourselves settled in our respective rooms and take in the news.
The big news:
La Tour Eiffel is slated to begin construction amidst great public outcry and controversy.
Santos Dumont and his 1st long range airship experiment has caused a stir.
Napoleon III is having a showdown with Prussia over Bavaria. The Prussians are pressuring the Bavarians into joining the German Customs Union. The French are backing the Bavarians in their bid for independence. Napoleon II has just trounced Italy has skirmished with Spain successfully. Public announcements of Napoleon’s and France’s victories are rife, with much fanfare and jingoistic fervor. French engineers and secret weapons research has produced rapid fire artillery. The French Magician’s Guild has also developed secret weapons. Obviously Napoleon is preparing for war against the Prussians.
With such a backdrop, we decide to walk down Rue de Rivoli to Maxim’s, a few short city blocks away from our hotel on Rue du Mont Thabor. On the way, Beignet tells us the restaurant is owned and run by a Hobbit family by name of Cardin, and that the food will be transportingly delicious.
We are on the Rue de Royal when Flora is stuck quite strongly with a recovered memory—she knows where the British Embassy in Paris is. Also, she knows that a few streets over on the Rue de Boissy is a building. She’s not sure what the building is, but she knows it is there. We agree to investigate after dinner. The dinner is delightful, plentiful, and exceedingly well prepared. Beignet quite gorges himself, letting his true Hobbit appetite show.
After dinner, we hire a carriage to take us back to the spot Flora remembered the building. The driver pulls us up to its front door. Over the door is inscribed Societe du Nord. We get out and walk around the building as best we can. We all get a very odd feeling off the night-darkened building. It’s creepy, actually. Josephine looks up and sees … is it a bird? On top of the building. Did they see it? Flora looks and sees something big with glowing red eyes.
Bertie and Ezekiel were talking and missed seeing anything on the roof. Beignet decides to ask about the nature of the club but on first blush feels it is a mage’s club with dabbling in the dark arts, like diablerie.
Behind this building is the British Embassy.
Beignet knocks on the door of the Societe du Nord but is rebuffed on the front steps. The rest of the party spots movement of something on the roof—weaponry, perhaps? We get back in the carriage and have the driver take us away. Josephine hears a deep voice say:
“Bon nuit, mon petit.”
She immediately tells the rest of the party. Everyone listens and it’s decided to stop the carriage and walk through the Tuilleries to our hotel, the better to take in the night air and shake off the creepiness of the Societe building.
Beignet mentions that the French Thaumaturge Guild was traditionally on the Rue de Chevalier but have since been kicked out. Their current location is in Monmarte, the highest hill in Paris. Perhaps a visit to them is in order and perhaps they can tell him something about the Societe du Nord.
Ezekiel feels something’s not right, however. He asks Beignet if he feels it too. Looking around, Beignet catches sight of Mr. Wendt from the Channel crossing and feels also other eyes watching us.
Josephine is sure of it and keeps to the rear of our little group, taking in the night-lit park but also keeping an eye out for watchers. She finds none, but isn’t convinced that it means they aren’t being watched. Besides, she doesn’t want to intrude on Katherine and Ezekiel walking arm and arm ahead of her.
Bertie and Flora meanwhile have taken themselves to a fountain in the Tuilleries, there to enjoy a quiet moment of contemplation. Ezekiel and Katherine take the opportunity to do the same, taking another bench at the fountain to sit quietly and talk. The splash and fall of the water gives them some privacy. Ezekiel prays to the Host, attempting to see the future or the supernatural, but nothing comes to him. That might be a good sign or a bad one, but Ezekiel is firm in his belief that all is well and will be revealed in time.
Katherine, however, is not well. She’s still feeling seasick from her Channel crossing and half swoons against Ezekiel, her shawl slipping from her shoulder. Ezekiel delicately adjusts it. “Might I suggest that you swoon more often?” The comment leads to a few tender words between them before everyone gathers up to leave for the Hotel St. Georges.
Once there, we settle ourselves in our respective rooms—the women in one set of rooms and the men in another set across the hall. Flora and Katherine share a room, being two women of the same class abroad. Josephine is given one of her own. After everyone’s asleep, Bertie knocks on Flora’s door but is steadfastly refused entry for his amorous attentions. Rebuffed, Bertie takes himself off into the Parisian night, there to sample the offerings the city is famous for. He does not return until the next morning.
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