Surrender Read Online Free PDF Page B

let Grimshaw work the crank this time?”
    “Don’t mind if I do,” Potbury said. “Bit tiring, I must say. Here you go, Grimshaw. Put some push into it.”
    Grimshaw muttered a response and a moment later the sound of the hand crank rumbled forth once more. Cloth rubbed rapidly against a long glass cylinder until a sizable charge built up. Everyone waited expectantly, and in due course another searing flash of light crackled and danced in the shadows. Gasps of satisfaction and delight again filled the room.
    “Heard there’s been some efforts to reanimate a couple of corpses with electricity,” Potbury announced to the small group.
    “How fascinating,” Cleo said, clearly enchanted with the notion. “What was the outcome?”
    “Got a few twitches and such from the arms and legs but nothing permanent. Tried it myself with a frog. Easy enough to get a few jerks out of the limbs but still stone dead when all was said and done. Don’t think there’ll be much gained from that line of inquiry.”
    “Where did the experimenters obtain the corpses?” Victoria asked, unable to stifle her morbid curiosity.
    “From the hangman’s noose,” Grimshaw said. “Where else? A respectable experimenter can’t exactly go about robbing graves, y’know.”
    “If the corpses were those of villains, then it’s just as well they stayed dead, I suppose,” Lady Nettleship stated. “No point spending all that time and energy hanging thieves and cutthroats only to have them spring up again good as new a day or two later because someone wanted to experiment with electricity.”
    “No.” Victoria felt a little queasy at the thought of such a possibility. Such things were disturbingly close to the contents of her dreams lately. “I quite agree with you, Aunt Cleo. No point getting rid of villains if one cannot count on them staying dead.”
    “Speaking of the difficulty of obtaining corpses for experimentation, I must say some people are certainly making a nice livelihood robbing graves.” The darkened room did not conceal the shudder in Lady Finch’s words. “I heard the resurrectionists struck again the other night at a little churchyard on the outskirts of town. Took two bodies that had just been buried that morning.”
    “Well? What do you expect?” Potbury asked in prosaic tones. “Doctors at Edinburgh and Glasgow Schools of Surgery have got to have something to cut up. Can’t expect to train good surgeons without something to practice on. The resurrectionists may be illegal but they are filling a need.”
    “Excuse me,” Victoria whispered to her aunt as theconversation about the traffic in dead bodies threatened to grab everyone’s attention. “I believe I will go on to bed.”
    “Sleep well, my dear.” Cleo patted her hand affectionately. “Remind me in the morning to show you the wonderful collection of beetles Lady Woodbury brought by. Found them all on her last trip to Sussex. She’s very kindly agreed to let us study them for a few days.”
    “I shall look forward to seeing them,” Victoria said, not without genuine enthusiasm. An interesting collection of insects was almost as intriguing as a new exotic plant from China or America. “But now, I really must be off to bed.”
    “Good night, dear. Mustn’t exhaust yourself, you know. Perhaps you’ve been going it a bit strong lately. Just as well you’re in before dawn for once.”
    “Yes. Perhaps it is.” Victoria let herself out of the darkened library, blinking a few times in the glare of the brightly lit hall before she started up the red-carpeted stairs. As she reached the landing, her gathering sense of excitement was almost overpowering.
    “You may go, Nan,” she informed her young maid as she entered her airy, yellow, gold, and white bedroom.
    “But your lovely gown, ma’am. You’ll need help getting it off.”
    Victoria smiled in resignation, knowing she would only create questions where there were none if she refused assistance.