Pastworld (18 page)

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Chapter 34

At one o’clock exactly, after he had furiously brushed at some more boots and shoes, Caleb reluctantly lugged a heavy and awkward lunch tray – a bowl of hot soup, bread, butter, some mouldy cheese that smelled of staleness and was wrapped in a mouldy rag – up the twisty stairs from the dingy kitchen to the morning room. Leighton was at the table and Bible J was sitting in the window looking out at the street.

‘Sit down for a moment, Caleb.’

Bible J stood and shut the door.

‘Thing is,’ Leighton said, ‘we are outlaws and by now you’re like us. Not exactly popular with the authorities here. They will have Wanted posters up all over for you. Bible J, take young Mr Brown here upstairs, and show him the room. Here.’ He threw a key over to Bible J.

Bible J motioned Caleb upstairs. He unlocked a door off the corridor. ‘We’ve got a whole special collection in here, cabinets full. I’ll only show you if you promise you won’t touch any of them, at least for now.’

Caleb said, ‘I promise.’

It was a small, plainly decorated room, simple and severe compared to the hallway and especially compared to the rest of the furniture-crammed and overstuffed rooms. There was a dark green blind pulled down at the single window. A plain school clock ticked on the wall over the simple mantel. Bible J lit an oil lamp on a small side table. A thousand reflections leaped from the walls, each of which was lined with tall glass-fronted oak cabinets. Guns of all sorts were lined up on hooks and brackets behind the glass. There were Mausers, Colts, Berettas, Smith and Wessons, flintlock-action duelling pistols, Winchesters, and various antique military service revolvers and rifles, all laid out in rows. They gleamed darkly around the room.

Bible J unlocked one of the cabinet doors. He took out a heavy revolver with a wooden handle. ‘An 1858 Remington.44,’ he said, ‘from the American Civil War. I shot a ragged man once in the kneecap with this one, right in front of the Fantom himself. He knows me. He’s threatened me, and Mr Leighton. We’ve also got a New Model Army revolver from the same year, and a Spiller & Burr.36, and an 1836 Paterson.’ He laid the gun across his palm and pointed out the parts to Caleb.

‘You load the bullets in the chamber here, that cylindrical bit, then you’ve got six shots. Round they go, bang, bang.’ He spun the chamber and Caleb heard the well-oiled mechanism click as the chamber turned. Then he pulled the trigger and there was a hollow
clack
as the hammer hit the empty chamber.

‘What does he want them all for?’ Caleb asked.

‘Well, for a start he just likes ’em as things; he collects them. Then there is the question of what you might call professional uses; he’s got another kind of life away from this house and his spiritual experiments. He robs, banks and the like, not for a while now because of the Fantom. The Fantom threatened to cut Mr Leighton open if he carried on with his robberies. Trouble is, we were too good at it. I wasn’t averse to using one of these now and then either,’ he said, and sighted down the barrel.

‘Never point it at anyone, though, never,’ he said. ‘Unless you mean real business of course, that is, and there have been times when Mr Leighton and I have meant real business. Between you and me, you should have seen the reaction when I pointed this one at one of the Fantom’s ragged men. I shoved it right in his face.’ Bible J laughed.

‘Here,’ he said ‘you try it, hold it. Go on, it won’t bite. You might have to get used to it one of these days.’

Bible J handed the gun to Caleb.

Caleb took the gun. He felt a surge of confidence, an excitement. This was the sort of thing he needed. A weapon, a defence against the ragged men. The gun was heavy and smelled of oil. He held it by the wooden grip. He lifted the revolver up to arm’s length. He aimed at the centre of the window and squeezed the trigger. There was the same sharp clack as the hammer fell, and the gun leaped a little in his hand.

‘We’ll have to give you a proper live practice go sometime,’ Bible J said, and pulled out a drawer from below the cabinet. It was full of boxed and loose bullets and cartridges. ‘These fit the revolver, you see,’ he held out a handful of brass and copper bullets.

Bible J loaded one of the bullets and spun the chamber fast. It whirled and clicked, and then he stopped it in an instant with the flat of his palm. He raised the gun with a fixed grin on his face. He levelled the gun barrel to the side of his own head.

‘You never point the gun at anyone, ever,’ he said again.

Caleb nodded.

‘And by the way, Caleb, never ever do this.’ He slowly squeezed the trigger.

Caleb flinched instinctively; he expected a bang and Bible J’s head to explode in a cloud of red.

Instead there was just the hollow clack again.

‘Sorry, Caleb, just a trick,’ Bible J said, and held out his free hand where the bullet still sat, shining dimly in the hollow of his palm.

‘Normally we use crossed holsters with two guns.’ He mimed swinging two guns up from his waist with his arms crossed and made a shooting noise with his mouth. ‘It might be your job one day to reload fast if we was ever cornered, and in a fight. Mr Leighton might let you practise some loading before you know it. It’s all against the Fantom, see. The Fantom is Mr Leighton’s worst enemy, his worst nightmare, and mine. Mr William’d do anything to get the Fantom off his back. So staying here might be the best thing you could do; you help us, we’ll help you. The Fantom runs the ragged men. The ragged men took your dad. The best way to find your dad is to stick with us, I reckon, and follow them.’ He locked the gun back in the cabinet, and snuffed out the lamp.

Caleb looked into the smiling eyes of Bible J. He just wasn’t sure if he could trust him. He was friendly enough, and somehow he made Caleb feel better. Could he really trust someone who was such a conjuror, a magician at stealing and distraction? Maybe Bible J was setting him up. There was fear and death along every street in the ragged men, waiting, looking for him in every dark corner. He put out his hand like a flag of surrender and Bible J grasped it and shook it hard, threw back a wolfish grin at Caleb and said with a laugh, ‘Best thing you’ve done since you stood me a plate of fried potatoes.’

Mr Leighton pushed away the tray and dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. ‘Later on this evening,’ he said, ‘I am hosting what I like to call a “spiritual and scientific meeting” here in this very room. We hold these things from time to time. I would like to think that you will be willing to help us in the staging? You will welcome our credulous visitors to our soirée, and I would like you to be present and assist at the meeting itself. Powers will appear to present themselves for our visitors. They will see and hear things that may disturb them. Whatsoever these things are, and they cannot be sure what exactly they are, we make sure that they all appear to be part of a great plan and purpose of the new science. I flatter myself that they will believe that I have chanced through that science to the revelation of a mystery that was previously closed to us.’ He stopped and chuckled quietly to himself. ‘The Gawkers, sorry, our visitors, believe that my science is as a doorway through which they may look briefly in wonder at eternity and contact loved ones who have gone before them. For this the room will only be semi-lit, and if we require it you may have to carefully adjust the light levels by means of the gas taps on the mantles. This is purely to aid certain of our illusions. Do you think you could do that?’

‘I could try,’ he said. Leighton stood and ushered Caleb over to one of the gas lamp brackets.

‘This little tap here at the base of the pipe must be turned this way to brighten and this way to darken. Here, you try it.’

Caleb reached up and turned the little tap and the yellow white light flared higher and brightened. When he turned it the other way the mantel darkened and the glow of light was warmer and Caleb noticed that the shadow of his hand on the wall was suddenly brown.

‘There you see, it is a very straightforward task,’ said Leighton. ‘That is all there is to say about that for now. You may go downstairs, but remember the rules of address, very important this evening, and remember too that whatever you see in this house is our tradecraft, our secrets, not to be spoken of to anybody outside.’

‘Yes, Mister William,’ Caleb said. He backed out of the door and made a little bow like the kind of footmen he had seen in old films.

‘Good, that’s it,’ said Leighton with a smile.

Caleb went down to the kitchen. There was no sign of Mrs Boulter. He sat at the table and looked at the dingy light filtering on to the table. His life on the Outside seemed very far away now. No one there would have any idea yet what had happened to him. Soon though the ripple of news would spread out and surely someone would come and look for him?

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Chapter 35

Bible J was sent on an errand all kitted out in his smart house uniform. He wore his dip’s coat and he had a package to deliver for Mr Leighton.

He dodged between all the Gawkers on the crowded pavements. He even managed to do a little dipping on the way, minor things, a few coins, a silk handkerchief. No one noticed. The package was to be left at a house in one of the smart squares. A butler took it from him at the front door, and an envelope for Mr Leighton was handed over in exchange. It was all very discreetly managed inside the vestibule of the house, out of the way of prying eyes.

Bible J tucked the envelope into a secure inner pocket, and then he turned back to the street. He was free for a short while. ‘Come on,’ he said, his hands crossed over his heart. ‘Time to go and see her. I haven’t seen her for an age, it feels like.’ He dashed down the steps from the house in sudden high spirits. He made his way through the maze of streets. It was a bright morning, as if someone had suddenly turned the lights on full in a room that was usually dim. The buildings threw razor-sharp shadows across one another. The wet pavements and the cobbled roads dazzled for once like sunlit rivers. Bible J hurried along towards Holborn, and he soon heard the sounds of a drum and an out of tune trumpet being blown very loudly. He pushed foward in his excitement and ran into Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

There was a jolly crowd of Gawkers filing into a modest tent with a banner across the entrance which read,
JAGO’S PANDEMONIUM SHOW
. Bible J pushed his way through the line and paid over his few pennies at the booth.

It was warm inside. Some of the Gawkers were eating roast chestnuts bought from a brazier in the square and there was an air of noisy expectancy. A skinny man dressed as a harlequin was playing the trumpet tune and another one was banging loudly on the bass drum. Then Jago came out and bowed to the audience and there was a burst of applause. He raised his arms and the audience fell silent.

‘Hello, Jago,’ Bible J mouthed, grinning.

‘Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Jago’s Pandemonium Show. I am Jago and I would like to introduce without delay our star turn, all the way from the far frozen wastes of Russia, the very lovely Eve.’

When she danced on the narrow rope, she became something else. She balanced and twirled above their heads. Bible J watched her, and the more he watched the more he understood that there was surely something properly mysterious about her. She stood straight on the rope with a parasol in one hand as a balance. She leaped up above the rope and the crowd gasped. She spun in the air it seemed any number of times, and as usual Bible J thought,
Surely impossible
, and when she landed back on the rope, she landed firmly on her feet with no trace of a wobble, her head held high and her body completely still. She was so confident and graceful as she moved. The crowd roared their approval and applauded wildly. This was a close crowd, all pushed together hugger-mugger and all eager to get a view of Eve. At the climax of her act, she picked up Jago, a skinny but nevertheless full-grown man, in her arms and walked across the rope with him as if she had been just carrying a balance stick. And then when finally she floated down off the rope, down to the little stage, she seemed to fall, if this was possible, slowly. She held her parasol open above her head, and as she floated down the crowd were hushed for a moment as if they were watching a kind of miracle. She defied the normal rules of science, or appeared to. Bible J as usual looked in vain for a wire, anything that might be holding her from above, slowing her down, but he could see nothing.
However it’s done
, he thought,
it’s a very clever trick
.

She landed lightly on the platform and bowed. And then raised her face high and beamed bright-eyed, showed her perfect smile, her perfect teeth. She was indeed beautiful. Her skin was pale and flawless, and her features fine. She had a narrow jaw, a pertly tilted nose, and above all she had those shining turquoise-blue eyes.

Afterwards Bible J pushed through the crowd and ducked under the barrier between the crowd of Gawkers and the circus wagons.

He went round to the other side. The horse stood quietly ignoring all the noise and clamour, munching on some hay. Bible J patted the horse and laid his cheek on its flank. ‘All right?’ he said, as if expecting an answer. The horse shook its head and made a quiet sound, a sort of approval.

Jago was sitting on the top step of the wagon, rubbing his head and face with a towel. He stood up and looked over at Bible J.

‘Hello again,’ Jago said. ‘How is the mysterious Mr Leighton? You should be careful – it will all end in tears one day.’ He smiled good-naturedly. ‘You should get an honest job in the circus. You’ll want to see Eve – you caught the show, of course?’

‘Of course,’ said Bible J, ‘and she was even better today.’

‘She just goes on getting better,’ Jago said, and rapped hard on the step. Eve appeared in the doorway. She tripped down with a flicker of her feet and lifted her head to look directly at Bible J.

‘Someone to see you,’ Jago said.

She reached her hand out and just in time Bible J remembered his manners and bowed a little from the waist. And then he shook her hand awkwardly, and noticed at the same time close up the beautiful sea-blue of her eyes. The perfect sheen of her pale skin.

They both stood awkwardly for a moment.

‘I saw you pat the horse,’ Eve said.

‘It’s a nice horse,’ said Bible J with a grin, and added, ‘I tried to work out how you do the trick at the end.’

‘There is no trick,’ she said, looking directly back at him, unblinking.

‘Your eyes,’ Bible J said, ‘it’s a funny thing, but just the other day I rescued a boy from the streets, from Outside, a Gawker, but he has eyes the same colour as yours.’

‘Do you rescue many people from the streets?’

‘I have done from time to time. He was just in a bad way and I helped him.’

‘You were kind to our horse, you were kind to this boy . . .’

‘Caleb.’

‘Caleb. Well you helped him, so you are kind. I knew you were. Shall you come to see the show again?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Bible J, ‘very soon. I’ll bring Caleb with me perhaps. Will you still be here?’

Eve turned to Jago. ‘Are we performing here for a little longer?’

‘If they keep coming then we will be here, unless we are moved on.’

Bible J said, ‘I have to get back to the house anyway. I will come again very soon.’

‘Yes, come and say hello again,’ and then she smiled her full dazzling smile.

On the way back to Fournier Street the fog was back with a vengeance. Bible J thought about Eve. He had known lots of girls but none had been like her. She was special. He had met a beautiful girl and she thought he was kind. He felt closer to her than he ever had felt to anyone, and he didn’t really know her at all. What could that mean? It felt like some kind of giddy madness had overtaken him.