1888 Part 12

Short but sinister…

 

The sight was a bewildering one, and not what Annie had been expecting.  She had thought the room would at least contain a bed, but there was none.  Instead, something akin to the operating table she had once seen at a public trepanning in the London Hospital; long and narrow with thick leather straps to restrain the body.  Beside it, a tray of metal instruments, glinting where the gaslight caught them.  Her stomach knotted horribly; they were sharply evil-looking.  Perhaps now was a time to call off the deal – even twenty guineas might not be enough for whatever ordeal her mysterious client intended to put her through.

 

But then the short Frenchman broke into her fearful thoughts.  "Just look zis way, Annie," he coaxed and she stared anew at the odd contraption he was operating.  A large wooden cabinet with a cupboard-like adjunct at the front from which two thick glass eyes stared, one on top of the other.  The part with the eyes was hinged so it could be opened, but Lord knew what might be inside the thing.  The Frenchman was fiddling with a small lever at the side of the cupboard attachment, moving it slightly forward and backwards and squinting into a hole at the side, all the while tutting and shaking his head in a fuss.

 

"What is that, Sir, if you please?" Annie asked nervously, but before the Frenchman could reply, The Toff and his nameless employer stepped out from behind a screen.

 

"Annie, it is time to begin."