The Blood Debt Chronicles:

The Case of the Missing Mummy

Chapter the second or How Adeline Learns of Farcical's Meddling and the Plot Thickens

Cat scampered to Lady MacNeal’s estate. She slipped through the gate. Where’s John? Lady Adeline always had all the appropriate servants. A man, John, to stand in the gate house and prevent riff raff from approaching the house. Not that he got to do his job. Not really. The lady worked with all the different layers of society, especially after her husband died, so John let lots of people through that no other servant would ever consider.

Cat took in the estate. Although it was still opulent and hardly in a state of disrepair; it wasn’t up to its normal standards. There’s dirt on the front step. That shouldn’t be there. Cat could see smudges on the windows. Did she fire everyone? That couldn’t be true. Lady MacNeal knew that would ruin her staff if she let them all go en mass, especially if she didn’t give them a reference.

Cat went around to the back and came up through the servant’s entrance. “Ello, Cook!” She called stepping into the kitchen and taking off her cap in a smooth motion. The room was swelteringly hot, which was why the door was always open.

Cook was a matronly woman in a crisp, white apron and cap. Cook looked up and tisked, “Lad, your bones are all sharp angles again! How long did it take me to put some meat on you before?”

Cat smiled. Cook loved to feed people and the lady loved to let her. “A day if I remember correct.”

Cook frowned, “It was longer than that.” She sprinkled some additional seasoning in the stew she was making, “I expect you are here for the lady? If you came around just for food, you never would have gotten so thin.” She waited for Cat to nod, “Then, love, go speak your piece to the misses.”

Cat started toward the servant’s stairs when Cook stopped her.

“Lad,” she tossed Cat a hand towel, “clean your face and hands. Properly, now. You know where to put the towel when you are done. I won’t have you going into our lady’s presence with you filthy, bad enough I don’t have time for Mary to give you a proper bath and a change of clothes before you approach her.”

Frankly, Cat agreed with Cook. Even though she didn’t particularly enjoy being clean, it seemed wrong to go before the lady at less than their best. It made it worse that the lady didn’t shame a lad for coming as they were.

Adeline and Anya were finishing their tea when the maid, Mary, showed Cat into the parlor. Clearly, Cat had come through the servant's entrance. It was also clear that someone had taken a cloth to Cat's face and hands before bringing her upstairs. This was only proper since Cat was a street urchin and very dirty.

"Cat? How good to see you." Adeline gestured to the scones on the silver tray, "Please, help yourself dear."

Cat's freshly cleaned face beamed, "It's good to see you, my lady." The lady was as gracile[1]as ever.

Adeline smiled, "I'm still willing to adopt you, whenever you are looking for a bath."

It was an old disagreement. One that had kept Cat away from Lady MacNeal's for the past few months. Cat had feared refusing would irritate the good lady and cause the lady to reveal her secret. "Sorry, my lady. I'd hate to leave my sewer behind for clean clothes, I’ve heard some say that soap can do powerful terrible things to the skin and mine is delicate." She needn't have worried, she realized that now. Lady MacNeal would never expose Cat's secret to the rest of the world. Of course, the lady's household knew she was a girl, but they also knew how much Lady MacNeal favored the urchin and they wouldn't put either of them in danger by exposing the child.

It was remarkable, Cat knew that now. No one’s staff was as loyal to their mistress as the lady’s was. This loyalty was made even more remarkable because the priests of the Divine maintained that dressing like the opposite sex, in this case as a boy, was an abomination and should be punished on earth by a whipping for the first offence. According to the priests, the Divine was not as lenient as they were, and cast any of these abominations into the hells where devils and demons of the lower courts tormented someone for all of eternity. Cat thought that was a bit extreme for a set of clothes, but the lady was a very devout woman, as was her household. They have a lot of faith in her. More faith, apparently in her than in the priests.

It was easier for Adeline and her household to pretend Cat was a boy all the time, then to try and remember when one could call Cat a girl. Lady Adeline was careful about saying certain things around Anya; the short Irishwoman had an eidetic memory. Something Adeline had thought could help her brother, but could be troublesome when dealing in secrets.

Anya frowned, "I can't believe the two of you."

Mary brought up a glass of milk with cucumber sandwiches artfully arranged on a silver tray. "Thank you, Mary."

Cat scooped up some sandwiches and almost began stuffing them into her face. A glance at Lady MacNeal's frown stopped her and had her eating at a more appropriate pace. When she could force herself to stop for a moment, Cat handed her letter to the lady. It was smudged and dirty from having been in her pocket, but the elegant calligraphy was still legible, "My lady, would you please read my letter? I got one today, and well, it's the first time I wished I could read."

Adeline took the letter, "Who gave you this letter?"

"I can't remember if'n it was a man or a woman. But they was cloaked and hooded." Cat said before popping another sandwich in her mouth.

"How very curious. I received the same letter." Adeline took a sip of tea. Divine. I don’t know how other cultures can live without tea. It must be absolutely dreadful.

Cat leaned forward, "That's the same thing his lordship said, what does it say?"

Adeline and Anya exchanged a glance, "It is an invitation to dinner and the unveiling of a mummy from Egypt. The good doctor will be performing an autopsy on it as well." She flipped the card, "On the back there is warning regarding thieves."

Cat wasn't certain what an autopsy was, but she did know one thing. Her face fell, "I can't go to a dinner party."

"No, I suppose not." Adeline sipped her tea as she thought.

Anya answered, "Unless you came in as a servant. A dinner this size, they would hire additional help." Anya had a servant. She considered anyone who even played the part to be beneath her station. Lady MacNeal should stop wasting her charity on this ungrateful boy. She felt that way, primarily because Cat refused the blessing of being adopted by the lady. After all, such a blessing should have gone to someone more deserving, namely, her.

Cat wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being a servant. The world was changing. Even a common girl could dream of something bigger and better to do. Or at least, shorter hours and more pay.

Adeline lit up, "Of course! I would pay you for your trouble."

"You would pay me?" A few coins however, would be all it took to change her mind.

"Certainly! Someone is going to be up to no good and I'm looking to find out whom. I would count it as a great service if you could get in and find out what you could."

Cat smiled, Sneaking around rich folks houses? "That I can do."

Adeline and Anya set about planning what they needed to do to prepare for the dinner. The napiform turned her body away from Cat, as if to exclude the urchin from the conversation. It was a slight to Cat that Adeline did not fail to notice.

Why is she being so discourteous? Adeline felt like after all her time in mourning for her husband; her eyes were finally being opened. Something was wrong with how Anya treated people and with the liberties that she was taking more and more. Dravan has made some distressing comments about her… could she be lucripetous[2]? But… wouldn’t I have seen that?

Lady MacNeal would have to put in a quick order for Anya’s dress; otherwise, it wouldn’t be done in time. The only reason I can have a dress made before the party tonight is because of my connections, but still… the madam won’t be happy. I’ll have to provide a hefty bonus. She rang for the maid and began dictating the necessary preparations.

Cat worried her worn and dirty trousers. "My lady?" She was so distressed by her question; she hadn’t noticed Mary come into the room.

"Yes, Cat?" Adeline made a note for Cat to be put in a bath and cleaned until she was presentable then handed it off to Mary. It is unfortunate that this dinner party is happening the same week that all the servants are on holiday. I should give Mary and Cook a longer leave. They’ve been doing the work of forty people at least. Who knows what they aren’t able to attend to. Knowing them, they are probably terribly upset everything isn’t being appropriately handled.

Cat spoke hesitantly, "The lord I delivered the other letter to, he said he would pay me a pound to tell him how you reacted to my letter." She hurried on, “I didn’t know you knew each other, I just said in front of him that I’d be asking you to read my letter for me cause you had done me a good turn before.”

Lady MacNeal gracefully raised an eyebrow, "Do you mind telling me the name of that lord?"

Cat shook her head, "No, lady.” Cat held no allegiance to the lord, “It was Lord Farcical."

"Lord John Farcical? He received a letter like yours?"

Cat wasn’t connected enough to have heard the lord’s Divine name, "Yes, lady, at least I believe so.” She almost shrugged, but changed the gesture to a more appropriate nod, “They looked the same, but I couldn't be certain on the print. He said it was the same."

Adeline nodded, "You can tell him. His is an old schoolmate of my late husband. They served together in India as well. I'll be interested to hear his reasons."

Cat's face blanched as she thought that she would be tasked to discover the lord's thoughts.

Adeline patted Cat's knee warmly, "Don't worry dear. I'll ask him myself. That dear thelyphthoric[3]is always up to no good."

The lady made a small gesture and Mary began to lead Cat away. Cat followed obediently. She walked down the hallway, not certain where she was being led to. There was a photograph on a small table of a young man in his twenties, he looked like a younger Lord MacNeal, and so Cat assumed he was the lady’s son. The man was in a dapper suit sitting next to Dravan, who was standing. The photograph was in a silver frame.

Cat had met the lord of the house after the lady’s son had died. When she met the old man he had a fire lit under himself and he had been passionate about discovering what had happened to his boy. Not for the first time, Cat wished she had parents like that. It would be a miracle of the Divine to have parents that cared about her wellbeing when she was in front of them, never mind caring after she had passed on.

Someone to care what time I came home and what company I keep… The closest Cat had was the Voice in the darkness. Only, the Voice couldn’t be counted on to be there when she needed it… or Weasel, whose kindness was self serving. He was ever trying to court her into his gang.

[1]Slender – with the implication of “gracefully slender”

[2]Money-hungry

[3]that which corrupts women