Andrea looked disgusted. 'I've heard about London whores in Victorian times!'
'So, we get Erik to rescue a couple of young girls, bring 'em back here and scrub 'em up and get them some decent things. Afterwards we can give them enough money so they don't have to go back on the street again, which means at least someone else will get something good out of all this.'
'After what?' Andrea demanded.
I winked. 'After we've settled Hacklebury's hash, and hopefully Megan's, too.'
'And how are we going to do that and run a brothel at the same time?'
'I think I prefer the term House of Ill Repute , actually.' I smirked. 'And that's all part of the plan.'
'Oh well, that's all right then,' she muttered, 'just as long as you have a plan. Silly me for thinking you were just making this up as we go along, but if there's a plan, well, who am I to argue?'
'Well,' I admitted, 'I only have part of the plan so far, but I'm working on it and I'm sure it'll all come together, no pun intended.'
Andrea pursed those full Indira lips and stared hard at me. 'Would it be too much to ask you to share this part plan with me, or is it going to be a surprise?'
'Only for Hacklebury and Megan,' I assured her, 'but if I tell you, you've got to promise to trust me, because this is likely to be just a bit tricky and perhaps more than a bit dangerous.'
She continued to stare at me for a moment, and then heaved a long sigh of resignation. 'How come that's not a complete surprise to me?'
Unless you've experienced it for yourself, it's more than just a bit difficult to understand how much of a struggle it can be to come to terms with a time-shifting habit that always lands you back in your own century mere seconds after you left it, but which deposits you back in the past almost at random. One time I would go back only seconds after I had last left eighteen thirty-nine, yet another time it might be days, even weeks later, when I next turned up there, and it would take me a good few hours to catch up and fill in the blank bits.
But I digress and, in any case, this particular stay in the past turned out to be quite a lengthy one, so much so that when I was finally whisked back to that huge underground crypt at Carmen's, I had all but forgotten what had been happening when I was originally there. But more of that in a while...
For the particular moment - that is in eighteen thirty-nine - I set about preparing to put my half formed plan into action, not anywhere near sure of how the thing would eventually be executed and yet somehow certain I would think of something when the time came. For now there were simply basic things that had to be done, and so I set about making sure they were dealt with.
I started by negotiating a price for two of us - Andrea/Indira and myself - to remain at the inn for anything up to a month, which was the time I calculated it would take to make the old mill house at least partially habitable. I then despatched Erik to find a local builder who was prepared to undertake the work needed. Then, having haggled for an afternoon with one Mister Jonas White and finally settled on a figure, I sent our giant Viking to London with sufficient funds to accomplish the task of finding our first recruits, and with a diamond necklace to sell for the best price he could get.
The next several days were really quite boring, although my sweet little Andrea/Indira was becoming adept at finding new ways to distract me and pass the chilly evenings. Initially, I was expecting to be thrown forward to my own time at almost any moment, for our last few time-shifts had been of short duration and taken place with rapid regularity. Now, for some reason, it seemed I was destined to spend a protracted period as Angelina, which considering we had fallen into quite a boring routine struck me as curious. However, ours was not to reason why , as Tennyson was to write a few years hence, so I contented myself with daily visits to the house to keep an eye on the
'So, we get Erik to rescue a couple of young girls, bring 'em back here and scrub 'em up and get them some decent things. Afterwards we can give them enough money so they don't have to go back on the street again, which means at least someone else will get something good out of all this.'
'After what?' Andrea demanded.
I winked. 'After we've settled Hacklebury's hash, and hopefully Megan's, too.'
'And how are we going to do that and run a brothel at the same time?'
'I think I prefer the term House of Ill Repute , actually.' I smirked. 'And that's all part of the plan.'
'Oh well, that's all right then,' she muttered, 'just as long as you have a plan. Silly me for thinking you were just making this up as we go along, but if there's a plan, well, who am I to argue?'
'Well,' I admitted, 'I only have part of the plan so far, but I'm working on it and I'm sure it'll all come together, no pun intended.'
Andrea pursed those full Indira lips and stared hard at me. 'Would it be too much to ask you to share this part plan with me, or is it going to be a surprise?'
'Only for Hacklebury and Megan,' I assured her, 'but if I tell you, you've got to promise to trust me, because this is likely to be just a bit tricky and perhaps more than a bit dangerous.'
She continued to stare at me for a moment, and then heaved a long sigh of resignation. 'How come that's not a complete surprise to me?'
Unless you've experienced it for yourself, it's more than just a bit difficult to understand how much of a struggle it can be to come to terms with a time-shifting habit that always lands you back in your own century mere seconds after you left it, but which deposits you back in the past almost at random. One time I would go back only seconds after I had last left eighteen thirty-nine, yet another time it might be days, even weeks later, when I next turned up there, and it would take me a good few hours to catch up and fill in the blank bits.
But I digress and, in any case, this particular stay in the past turned out to be quite a lengthy one, so much so that when I was finally whisked back to that huge underground crypt at Carmen's, I had all but forgotten what had been happening when I was originally there. But more of that in a while...
For the particular moment - that is in eighteen thirty-nine - I set about preparing to put my half formed plan into action, not anywhere near sure of how the thing would eventually be executed and yet somehow certain I would think of something when the time came. For now there were simply basic things that had to be done, and so I set about making sure they were dealt with.
I started by negotiating a price for two of us - Andrea/Indira and myself - to remain at the inn for anything up to a month, which was the time I calculated it would take to make the old mill house at least partially habitable. I then despatched Erik to find a local builder who was prepared to undertake the work needed. Then, having haggled for an afternoon with one Mister Jonas White and finally settled on a figure, I sent our giant Viking to London with sufficient funds to accomplish the task of finding our first recruits, and with a diamond necklace to sell for the best price he could get.
The next several days were really quite boring, although my sweet little Andrea/Indira was becoming adept at finding new ways to distract me and pass the chilly evenings. Initially, I was expecting to be thrown forward to my own time at almost any moment, for our last few time-shifts had been of short duration and taken place with rapid regularity. Now, for some reason, it seemed I was destined to spend a protracted period as Angelina, which considering we had fallen into quite a boring routine struck me as curious. However, ours was not to reason why , as Tennyson was to write a few years hence, so I contented myself with daily visits to the house to keep an eye on the
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