Free Magnificent Devices [5] A Lady of Resources by Shelley Adina Page A

the palace quietly on my own.”
    “You cannot go unescorted with all these people and coachmen and aeronauts about.”
    “Then I’ll ask Tigg to come with me.”
    “And get you into more trouble? Never mind. I shall take this opportunity to have a word with him myself.”
    Whatever that word was, Tigg looked as though his balloon had been well and truly punctured as she kissed the earl and countess good night and thanked them for the party. The Lady intercepted Maggie before she could join them, and then two of the Lady Lucy ’s crew asked them to dance, so telling her sad story to her sister was put off for an hour, at least.
    The two of them descended the gangway and hopped to the ground, Tigg handing her down as if he thought she might break. “So you really did it?” he asked. “You really were such a little fool?”
    Lizzie came close to throwing the watch at his head, but instead she merely handed it to him as they paced, arm in arm, across the airfield and onto the broad gravel avenue that ran with perfect rectitude through the park to the palace. “It belongs to Mr. Seacombe. The Lady says I must return it to him tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll give it to his son and say I lifted it for a lark. He seems like the sort to appreciate a joke.”
    Tigg examined the watch, turning it in the palm of his white dress glove. “I think you’re the one who’s the butt of the joke. Lizzie, this isn’t a pocket watch at all.”
    “What? Of course it is. There’s the stem, and there’s the chain, and it’s even chased with a design. What else do gentlemen keep in their watch pockets but watches?”
    “I don’t know, but look. It’s shaped like a watch, but it doesn’t open. There’s no catch, and no back or front.”
    She released his arm and took it herself, but she could gain no more information about the curious gold object than he. “Well, blow me down, as the aeronauts say. Bad enough I must prove myself a fool for a watch, but now it isn’t even that. What kind of device is it, do you suppose?”
    “A puzzle, for sure.”
    She slipped it back in her pocket with a sigh. “I’m glad you’re with me, anyway, Tigg. I was feeling a little peculiar earlier.”
    “Too much cake.”
    “Not as much as you. I saw you go back for a second piece.”
    “ Hazelnuss is my favorite. Say, Liz, move out into the center of the avenue. Looks like those chaps behind the elms have been celebrating a little too heartily.”
    Sure enough, a small group of men were pushing and shoving in the shadows of the trees, and one of them stumbled out onto the gravel, bumping up against a lamp post with a curse. Lizzie lengthened her step, thankful all over again that Tigg was with her. They wouldn’t be likely to make impertinent remarks to a young lady accompanied by an officer.
    Two more men lurched onto the avenue, reeling along behind them. Tigg quickened his pace, and the curls bounced against her cheeks as she did her best to keep up. But the men increased their pace, too, and suddenly Lizzie realized that they were not drunk at all.
    Something snatched at her skirt and she shrieked. “Tigg!”
    He whirled and shoved her behind him. One of the men threw a punch, but they could not know that every middy in the Dunsmuirs’ service had been trained in the defensive arts by Mr. Yau. Tigg’s leg swept out and caught the man behind the knees as he lunged past him, mowing him down as efficiently as the serving knife had cut the cake. The second man leaped into the breach, and Tigg moved in to engage him, but that left the third man. He made as if to go to the aid of his fallen companion, then dodged, whirled, and grabbed Lizzie around the waist, lifting her off her feet.
    Fortunately, Lizzie and Maggie had talked Mr. Yau into giving them the same lessons.
    The man might have been expecting a gently reared young lady to dissolve in a paroxysm of fear, or at the most, to kick her dainty feet. An elbow to the ribs and a second to his