“You’ve been reading the wrong newspapers. Do you think the officially sanctioned papers would acknowledge that any subject of the Crown is less than perfectly content?” She laughed and shook her head. “And I promised we wouldn’t discuss politics after we drove you away yesterday.”
“You didn’t drive me away,” I insisted. “I had to get back to work. I hope I didn’t offend Alec.” It was the first time I’d said his name aloud, and my cheeks grew so warm I knew I must be blushing furiously.
“He’s very difficult to offend.” She smiled and added, “I believe he was quite taken with you.”
My face grew even warmer. “Really?” I said in a squeak.
She laughed. “You like him?”
I was afraid to answer because I didn’t want to appear overly eager. “I barely know him, but he did save my life, and he seems very clever.”
She grinned. “Then I shall have to play matchmaker. It’s high time Alec looked at something other than an engine.”
A thought struck me, dampening my spirits. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to have gentleman callers. Governesses aren’t usually encouraged to court.”
She winked. “He doesn’t have to call on you, and it isn’t anyone’s business who you meet in your free time.”
The waiter brought our refreshments, then Lizzie said, “Now, tell me about yourself. What brings you to New York to be a governess?”
I didn’t want to tell her the version of the story I’d given Lord Henry. It sounded so very dull. “I had a good education and wanted to put it to some use other than becoming a professor’s wife, so I decided to strike out on my own.”
“And you landed among us your first day in the city! I suppose that was hardly what you expected.”
“Not at all,” I admitted.
“What is it like working in a magister house?”
“I’ve never lived among such wealth, but Lord Henry is very kind.”
She snorted derisively. “For a magister, I’m sure he is. But that just means he’s almost human.”
My mouth went dry in spite of the sip of lemonade I’d just taken. “Almost human?”
“The magisters are what’s wrong with the colonies, what’s wrong with the Empire. They act as though they’re some higher race with every right to subjugate us mere humans.”
“Really?” I asked. That didn’t fit my impression of Lord Henry at all.
“Why do you think it’s so important that their children be chaperoned everywhere? They’re terrified that if enough of them made improper liaisons, there might be common people with magical powers, and that would chip away at the basis of their rule. Not that it would make much difference. I imagine that anyone who got power would end up becoming like them.”
I fought not to wince at what she’d think of me if she knew my heritage. If the magisters thought I was an abomination because I was a commoner with power and the Mechanics thought I wasn’t entirely human because I had magical blood, then who might accept me? At least the Mechanics were unlikely to discover my secret. Being nonmagical, they wouldn’t sense magic if I used it around them. “The family seems human enough to me,” I said. “You’d hardly know they were magical.”
“They have money, and plenty of it. That comes because of the power they control.” She laughed and shook her head. “And there I go talking politics again. I’ve forgotten how to have a normal conversation. What do people talk about when they’re not ranting about the inequities of the system and the role of machines in evening the balance?”
“I usually talk about books.” It turned out that Lizzie was a great reader, too, and she enjoyed pulp novels as much as I did. It was the first time I’d been able to talk about these books with anyone else, and the rest of our visit passed far too quickly.
As we left the coffee shop, Lizzie said, “We shall have to get together again soon. Oh! I know just the thing. Do you have any obligations Saturday night?”
“As far as I know, there’s nothing I have to attend with the children.”
“Some of my friends are having a party, and I think you’d enjoy it.”
“It isn’t a political gathering, is it?”
“Of course not. It’s just some music and dancing.” She added with a meaningful grin, “I’m sure Alec will be there.”
“It sounds like it would be great fun,” I said, trying to sound calm and collected even though my heart was