Free Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz

Nonetheless, he bowed over her hand. If anything he retained it too long. Certainly, Jed’s eyes narrowed. “Until later, Miss Smith. Ladies.”
    Hannah and Nellie hesitated, eyed Jed’s focus on Esme, and hurried after Bambury. His friend Gordon might be middle-aged, but he was also a well-to-do widower. Fresh blood, so to speak.
    “Mr. Singh,” Esme addressed the embarrassed young man. “Have you seen Mrs. Dam’s incense burner?”
    Gupta tugged at the cuffs of his navy wool coat, cut in colonial imitation of Jed’s French tailoring. “N-n-no, Miss Smith. Is it interesting?”
    “I think so. Her stall is just over here.” She led the two men away from the scene of Gupta’s humiliation to a stall near one of the hall’s narrow windows. There was a break between rain showers and sun streamed in, gleaming off highly polished brass objects.
    Mrs. Ayesha Dam was talking seriously with Mr. Amberley, a fellow inventor, but she smiled at Esme and nodded to Jed and Gupta.
    Esme picked up a small brass elephant and balanced it on the palm of one hand. “See how clever it is? You light the incense in its belly, then when you tug its tail, the trunk raises to puff out the smoke and the ears flap to swirl it around.”
    “Wonderful.” Jed laughed and stroked a finger along the elephant’s trunk.
    “It is good fortune, too,” Gupta said earnestly. “The elephant is a symbol of Lord Ganesha who all Hindus pray to for blessings.”
    “Lord Ganesha is patron of intellect and science, too. But this is mere frivolity.” Ayesha joined the conversation. “A toy to entertain the children. The real invention I brought to the fair is this, the All-Suck Insect Transporter.”
    It was an odd, elongated object in brass and leather with a cylindrical body, a nozzle, pump handle and glass chamber.
    Jed abandoned the pachyderm incense burner to watch Ayesha demonstrate her invention.
    Esme set aside the elephant, giving it a friendly, farewell pat. Its frivolity appealed to her a lot more than the All-Suck Insect Transporter. Since she didn’t believe in reincarnation, she felt no compunction in swatting any creepy-crawlies that invaded her home.
    Ayesha launched into her product description. “Many Indians are reluctant to kill even the smallest insect, but Australia has such venomous creatures that we need the ability to remove them safely from our homes. The All-Suck Insect Transporter allows the householder to capture the insect, transport and release it safely. It operates on the vacuum principle.”
    She put a thumbnail-sized twist of paper on the table and began pumping the device. The feather on her hat trembled with her exertions. “A brief, preliminary action to generate the vacuum, then whoosh.” She pointed the device at the twist of paper and it was sucked up and into the glass chamber. Ayesha ceased pumping. “The chamber is sealed for transportation, but when I release this lever, the insect is freed.” The paper tumbled back onto the table.
    “May I?” Jed took the All-Suck Insect Transporter from her and studied it. “Have you considered a crank system rather than pump mechanism for generating the vacuum? I suspect a crank would allow greater precision in aiming the device at an insect while continuing to power the vacuum.”
    He had an air of professional curiosity.
    Ayesha responded, one inventor to another. “Hmm.”
    Their heads bent over the device.
    “If you narrow this pipe…” Jed took a pencil and paper from his pocket and began sketching as he spoke.
    Esme blinked, then grinned as she caught Gupta’s similarly baffled gaze. Somehow one didn’t expect a man who dressed as fashionably as Jed to be interested in and informed on the latest advances in scientific principles.
    “I believe we’ve been forgotten,” she said to Gupta.
    “Not at all,” Jed said unconvincingly, watching Ayesha unscrew the nozzle.
    “Uh huh.” Esme’s mockery was affectionate. “Mr. Gupta, would you care to