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"I'll need another way in," Matt said. "Guilds require servants, the members have customers, friends, wives." "You wouldn't make a good wife," Duke said, fighting back a grin. "You ain't obedient enough." "Obedient?" Willie snorted. "No wonder you ain't married."
Once he was gone, Willie turned to me, hands on hips. "Why does he do what you want him to do, and not me? When I told him to rest, he refused. You tell him to go and he's all agreeable." "That's because you don't have a delicate feminine touch," Miss Glass said. "Huh?" "If you want a man to do what you want, you have to subtly suggest it, not order him. You have to show him the benefits of doing what you want, as India did when she reminded him that he'll be busy again tomorrow and wouldn't want to feel unwell. She's a marvel at subtle suggestion."
Duke and Cyclops didn't meet my gaze while Willie flashed a grin around her pipe. "We ain't got no halo like you," she said. "Don't take offence, India." I returned her smile. "You do have a halo. I've seen it. Only you pretend it's not there. Don't take offence, Willie." She grunted but her smile remained.
I was about to argue that he wasn't responsible for me when Willie cut in first. "It ain't because you're a woman. It's because you can't fight like a man. And you don't carry Mr. Colt like I do." "I could carry a gun if I wanted to." "But you wouldn't use it."
He smiled. "What are you going to do tonight? Play poker? Read?" "Play with my train."
"I feel like a tiger in a cage." "Retract your claws for a little while and smile, for your aunt's sake." His scowl deepened. "You're enjoying this." Did I like every woman in church admiring his handsome face and assessing whether he'd be a good husband? Did I like that I sat beside him and not a single one of his admirers even knew I was there? No, I did not. I could see that I'd been quickly dismissed as the companion already confined to the spinster's shelf, an invisible person whom no one considered a threat. It left a sour taste in my mouth and a hollow ache in my chest.
"But he's not the only one who didn't like Daniel. None of the servants thought much of him. He lorded it over them, they said, like he was someone special." "He was," Matt said. "Is. He's a magician." "Ain't no reason to think himself better than the rest of us," Duke said.
"Then we'll continue to the guild, right after I tell Bristow not to allow McArdle into the house." "Our list of banned people is growing at a rapid rate."
He rolled his eyes to the cabin ceiling. "What have I created?" I smiled. "Don't worry, I won't make a habit of it." "See that you don't." "Unless it's necessary." He sighed.
"Did he see me with the watch?" From the angle he'd been standing at? "It's difficult to tell." "We drove right past him with the curtains open," Matt said, picking up the watch. "He saw."
"What about Daniel?" I asked, although I already knew the answer. "Buried in the pit over there, waiting to be sealed up forever beneath the new floor." Oh no. Poor Daniel. Poor Miss and Mr. Gibbons, and Commissioner Munro. They'd lost something a parent should never have to lose.
"Thank you, India." I tipped my face so that I could see him better. Our noses almost bumped. His breath warmed my lips. "For what?" I whispered. "For brightening my moods when they'd otherwise be dark." The shine of humor in the depths of his eyes would imply now was one of those times. "And for not staying mad at me. I wouldn't like it if you did. I wouldn't like it at all."
