The House Of Smoke Read Online Free PDF

of us climbed into the grandest carriage I had ever seen. Painted glossy black, it boasted a golden crest on the doors and gleaming brass lamps to the front. An immaculately uniformed coachman, sitting soldier-straight above the elegant steeds, controlled a team of white horses.
    I settled into a rear-facing seat, opposite Moriarty and the thin scrap of an errand boy, while the well-dressed one installed himself next to me. I already had the measure of things. As soon as the carriage stopped for any reason I would open the door, dart out and disappear.
    The professor caught my eye. ‘While I have quite taken to steam travel and appreciate its speed and convenience, I find old carriages like this afford me invaluable privacy.’ He ran a hand proudly over the door panel at his side. ‘It is a former mail coach, so it is roomy enough. Though I had the springs adjusted by a French mechanic, as the French understand the necessity of a less tumultuous ride.’
    ‘Where are you from, mister? You talk like a toff but have an accent unlike any I’ve heard.’
    His companions laughed and a thin smile moved his lips. ‘I’m as English as you are, but I spend a lot of time in America on business. It’s like a second home to me and I have only recently returned. The accent sticks for some time because I spent a lot of my childhood there.’
    I had grown bored with his tale and my impatient eyes had spied a set of cut glasses and decanters fixed on pads of velvet, tethered by straps of leather and stowed in a door well. I couldn’t help but think that I knew plenty of flash houses where fancy goods like that would fetch a pretty penny.
    We’ll refresh ourselves in a moment,’ he said, in a voice that chastised my gaze. ‘But first, some introductions. This is Miss Surrey Breed.’ He placed his right hand on the urchin’s left knee and smiled. ‘Quite an extraordinary young lady.’
    ‘
Lady?
’ I blurted.
    ‘Aye, a
lady,
’ she stressed in a thick Scottish accent, ‘so doon’ yoo go playin’ the daft laddie an’ forgit it.’ She took off the large cap, withdrew a hairpin and a waterfall of black locks tumbled over her narrow shoulders. Now she looked undeniably feminine and not a lot older than me. She tilted her head in a coquettish manner and her whole countenance, voice and status instantly changed. ‘Honestly, don’t you find that first appearances can be
dangerously
deceiving, Mr Lynch?’ She had assumed the most refined of English accents. ‘It is such an aberration of sound judgement to make sweeping presumptions of class, status or even gender, based solely upon how a stranger appears.’
    The professor laughed. ‘Miss Breed is a cultural chameleon, an invaluable creature given the pomposity of the age we live in.’ He nodded to the man next to me. ‘And this is Mr Sirius Gunn. Do not be deceived by his occasional good manners and his constantly prim appearance. Beneath that fine facade lurks a devil that puts Satan to shame.’
    Gunn lifted his hat indifferently but spoke not a word. His eyes conveyed in one fleeting look that he did not care for me. In return, mine told him that given the chance I would beat him black and blue and rob him blind.
    I turned my attention to the carriage window. Trees and fields flew past as the magnificent horses picked up speed. Soon we would be miles from Manchester. I looked to the professor. ‘Where are we going, sir?’
    ‘We will come to that in a moment. First, it is time, I think, for those refreshments.’ He leaned to his left and plucked three shimmering glasses from their holders and handed them round. Next, he grasped the cut-glass decanter and added, ‘A little
aqua vitae
, to stiffen our resolve for the journey.’ He removed the stopper from the decanter and poured a generous amount of pale amber liquid into my glass.
    ‘Try it,’ he nodded at me in encouragement. ‘I am intrigued to know what you think.’ He dispensed similar measures for the