taken up with understanding what was going on around that table.
For the Dunsmuirs were not merely a wealthy couple who dabbled in natural resources in various locations about the world. No, they intended to change ied gert—and for the better, too, as far as Claire could see.
“Why should all the commerce from Europe be funneled through New York?” the earl asked, indicating a huge map of the continent on one wall. “Any market needs competition to be viable, and since Charlottetown and the Maritime Territory have so recently declared for the Canadas, it makes sense to locate the airfield, port, and seat of government there.”
“And Zeppelin ships shall be the first to enter the new port,” the count said with satisfaction. “It will be profitable for all concerned when I do not have to pay the tariffs that New York extorts from me.”
“But we must be cautious,” his first officer warned. “It seems the Texicans may have infiltrated as far into the Canadas as Edmonton. It is my belief that they are responsible for the events of last night, when der Landgraf was attacked.”
The count nodded. “They are foolish, then, if they believe a single bullet can derail the development of a country’s economy. Whether I had fallen or not, these plans will proceed.”
“We shall be returning to London immediately following our tour, then,” Lady Dunsmuir said. “I will meet with Her Majesty to inform her of these developments.”
“Do you fear reprisals, then, your ladyship?” the mine director asked.
“I fear they have already occurred,” she said bluntly. “With the sabotage here and the attempt on Count von Zeppelin’s life, we would be fools if we did not believe them related. The only thing we do not know is who is behind it.”
“We shall find out,” the count said grimly.
“I’ll tell you who’s behind the sabotage,” the mine director said, his brows lowering in a frown. “If it isn’t Frederick Chalmers and his Esquimaux, I’ll eat my hat. Who else knows this mine like the back of his hand? And—begging your pardon, your ladyship—who parks his boots under the bed of a woman of the Esquimaux, the whole kit and caboodle of whom are in Isobel Churchill’s pocket?”
Frederick Chalmers!
Claire gripped the door frame hard so she would not fall headfirst through it. She must find Alice immediately. Could her father really be so close? Because it had to be he. How many men named Chalmers would have intimate knowledge of a mine’s workings if he were not an engineer?
And then what the man had said sank in.
They suspected Frederick Chalmers of the sabotage.
Oh, dear. Which would be worse—never to know one’s father, or to know him for a saboteur and a criminal?
*
When Claire joined Andrew and their guide topside once more, she was hard put to keep from spilling her news. But of course one must not blab indiscriminately what one had learned by eavesdropping—though this was not a rule of etiquette her mother, Lady St. Ives, would ever espouse.
They joined the others in the office, conveniently too late to have been included in the discussions. The meeting had broken up and everyone was enjoying thimbles of port and brandy. Claire and Maggie had just accepted cups of piping hot tea when a messenger came in.
“Beg pardon, sir,” he said to the earl, “but a pigeon’s just arrived.” He handed his lordship an envelope bearing a most flamboyant script.
The earl tore it open and read the contents.
“Good heavens,” he said blankly, and handed the letter to the countess. “We are to be inundated with guests, it seems. The news of your visit, Count, seems to have traveled far and wide. And is about to travel farther.”
Davina’s brows rose and she handed the letter to Count von Zeppelin. Then she turned to Reginald Penhaven. “It seems the end-of-season convoy is arriving a week early, in the company of Julius Meriwether-Astor and his family, plus a rather large contingent of reporters from the Texican, Colonial, and Edmonton newspapers. Do you know of Mr. Meriwether-Astor?”
“Is he the railroad baron out of New York?”
“He is indeed,” Count von Zeppelin said. “We have met on one occasion, but I am afraid it was not a happy one. He is expanding his interests from railroads to airships, you see, and did not look upon my newest designs with a friendly eye.”
“His ships fly with the older Crockett steam engines, do they not?” Claire asked. And when surprised faces turned her way, she fought the tendency to blush