Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms Read Online Free PDF Page B

VET GELS
    STAGE FLAT REV
    FALTER GAS VET
    LARVA FEST GET
    and
    GAVEL FART SET .
    None of them made any sense at all.
    “I think I might go for a moderately lengthy perambulation,” said his father. “Would you care to accompany me?”
    “No, thanks,” said Stuart.
    He heard his father’s footsteps go out into the hall, stop for a second, and then return.
    “An epistle for you,” said his father, placing an envelope on the table.
    Stuart frowned.
    Typed on the front of the envelope was: S. HORTEN .
    He waited until his father had left the house before he opened it.
    Dear Mr. S. Horten,
    The special crime edition of the Beech Road Guardian has been causing excitement and discussion the length and breadth of the Beech Road area. “When are you going to write more about this serious and important story?” our readers have been asking us.
    In response to popular demand, therefore, we would like to offer you, Mr. S. Horten, the chance to give your side of the story. Was there, in fact, an innocent reason for your attempt to smash your way into 9 Filbert Way?
    In return for exclusive rights, we will print a special “Stuart Horten Says He’s Innocent!” edition of the Beech Road Guardian , featuring a front-page interview with yourself and a voting slip for our readers to decide whether—
    Stuart didn’t bother reading any more. He crammed the letter back into the envelope, grabbed a red felt-tip pen, crossed out his own name, and wrote
    NO, NOT IN A MILLION YEARS
    in very large letters over the top of it. Then he turned over the envelope and scrawled
    LEAVE ME ALONE
    across the flap.
    Snatching it from the table, he walked out of his house and right to the one next door. He shoved the envelope through the mail slot, retraced his steps, and found that his own front door had clicked shut behind him. He gave it a shove. It stayed shut. He was locked out.
    He looked around. The road was empty, his father nowhere to be seen. In the upstairs window of the triplets’ house a curtain moved and three identical faces peered down at him; they appeared to be smirking.
    He felt like an idiot, a total idiot, and he wanted to run as far and as fast as possible, but he forced himself to walk calmly and steadily away from the house. He even stuck his hands in his pockets and whistled a little, as if he’d decided on the spur of the moment to go for a stroll. He didn’t think the sisters were fooled.
    Once he’d reached the end of the road, he slowed to a dawdle. His father was likely to be away for an hour or more, so there was no point in hurrying. For a while he walked aimlessly, taking alternate lefts and rights, thinking all the time of his old house, his old friends, of all the ease and fun of his life before he’d come to this awful place. It wasn’t until he took a left turn and found himself walking toward a brick wall that he started to pay attention.
    It was a dead-end street, lined with old warehouses. A few cars were parked along the curb, but there were no people about. Somewhere a dog was barking, and curled in front of the brick wall at the end was a marmalade-colored cat. Stuart went over to stroke it, but it hissed at him and darted away. He watched it disappear along a narrow alleyway between two of the warehouses.
    CRIBB’S PASSAGE, read a sign at the end of the alleyway, LEADING FROM POTTERS RD. TO GRAVE ST .
    Stuart blinked, and read it again.
    Leading from Potters Rd. to Grave St.
    GRAVE STREET.
    GRAVEST.
    The clue wasn’t an anagram; it was an address! He broke into a run, following the marmalade cat through the shadowy alley between the warehouses and emerged into a street of tall terraced houses. The cat was visible, sitting on the top step of a house with a red front door, and this time, as Stuart approached, it rose to greet him, rubbing its nose across his shins.
    The number on the door of the house was 79 . Beside the door were two bells, the top one labeled TRICKS OF THE TRADE and the other FLAT E