Elsewhere in-Station, the pirate vogue that had been in evidence at Sir John's theme ball had become, by this point in the season, the very height of fashionability; well-heeled gentlemen increasingly affected the air of gentlemen of fortune. A cutla.s.s was suddenly a required accessory, and one could not stroll the Retail Embankment nor row down Marleybone High Causeway without hearing the squawk of parrots chattering on the shoulders of kerchiefed beaux beaux. Games of chance and aquatic amus.e.m.e.nts such as the sea-lion rodeo were less and less in favour, replaced by sword fights, in which the men of the Station tested their mettle- though to come into combat with actual pirates would be the furthest thing from anyone's imagining.

Elinor found these styles distasteful, especially since they coincided with a very real increase in the number of pirate attacks in the Surface-Lands; various buccaneers, including the fearsome Pirate Dreadbeard, were making the seas even more dangerous than usual, boarding any ship short of a four-master, rampaging the stores and throwing anyone aboard to the mercy of the sea monsters.

Yet more distressing was that the piratical colouring to their social round did little to elevate Marianne's spirits. She prepared quietly and mechanically for every evening's engagement, donning her galoshes, though without expecting the smallest amus.e.m.e.nt from any, and very often without knowing, till the last moment, where it was to take her.

One evening they travelled to the house of an acquaintance of her sister-in-law, where they were to witness a series of fights, performed with cutla.s.s and dirk, of the sort that it was imagined brave gallants would engage in with pirates. The events of this evening were not very remarkable. The party, like other sword-fighting parties, comprehended a great many people who had real taste for the sport, and a great many more who had none at all; and the performers themselves were, as usual, in their own estimation and that of their immediate friends, the best private duelists in England.

As Elinor was not martial, nor affecting to be so, she made no scruple of turning her eyes from the "gangplank," which had been carefully constructed to resemble the foredeck of a schooner, such as that where an actual pirate fight might occur. In one of these excursive glances, she perceived among a group of young men, one who wore two customised arm-bands, one reading Hail Hail, the other Britannia Britannia. She perceived him soon afterwards looking at herself, and speaking familiarly to her brother; when they both came towards her, Mr. Dashwood introduced him to her as Mr. Robert Ferrars.

He addressed her with easy civility, and twisted his head into a bow which a.s.sured her as plainly as words could have done, that he was exactly the c.o.xcomb she had heard him described to be by Lucy. Happy had it been for her, if her regard for Edward had depended less on his own merit, than on the merit of his nearest relations! But while she wondered at the difference of the two young men, she did not find that the emptiness of conceit of the one, put her out of all charity with the modesty and worth of the other. Why they were were different, Robert exclaimed to her himself in the course of a quarter of an hour's conversation, as the clang of metal on metal rang out from the artificial foredeck behind them; for, talking of his brother, and lamenting the extreme different, Robert exclaimed to her himself in the course of a quarter of an hour's conversation, as the clang of metal on metal rang out from the artificial foredeck behind them; for, talking of his brother, and lamenting the extreme gaucherie gaucherie which he believed kept him from mixing in proper society, he candidly and generously attributed it to the misfortune of a private education; while he himself, merely from the advantage of a public school, was as well-fitted to mix in the world as any other man. which he believed kept him from mixing in proper society, he candidly and generously attributed it to the misfortune of a private education; while he himself, merely from the advantage of a public school, was as well-fitted to mix in the world as any other man.

"Upon my soul," he added, "I believe it is nothing more; and so I often tell my mother, when she is grieving about it. 'My dear Madam,' I always say to her, 'you must make yourself easy. The evil is now irremediable, and it has been entirely your own doing. Why would you place Edward under private tuition at the most critical time of his life? There to mingle with wharf rats, and become obsessed with tedious scholarly trivialities and myths of the Alteration! If you had only sent him to Westminster as well as myself, all this would have been prevented.' This is the way in which I always consider the matter, and my mother is perfectly convinced of her error."

As John Dashwood had no more pleasure in swordplay than his eldest sister, his mind was equally at liberty to fix on anything else; he spent most of the evening trying to recall if he had yet been paid in full for a recent experiment, in which he had eaten nothing but paddlefish roe for three days. This led to a most agreeable thought, which he communicated to his wife, for her approbation, when they got home. He would be most monstrously sick for the following week, recovering from an operation that would line his lungs with thin filaments and lamellae, such as those found in gills-surely f.a.n.n.y would like to have company during his period of recovery. It would only be sensible and polite, therefore, to invite his sisters to be their guests. The expense would be nothing and the inconvenience not more, but f.a.n.n.y was startled at the proposal.

"They are Lady Middleton's visitors. How can I ask them away from her?"

Her husband did not see the force of her objection. "They had already spent a week with her, and Lady Middleton could not be displeased at their giving the same number of days to such near relations."

"My love, I had just settled within myself to ask the Miss Steeles to spend a few days with us. They are very well behaved, good kind of girls, and I am told by Lady Middleton the younger one makes a devilish clever ship-in-a-bottle. We can ask your sisters some other year, you know; but the Miss Steeles may not be in-Station anymore!"

And so Mr. Dashwood was convinced. He saw the necessity of inviting the Miss Steeles immediately, and his conscience was pacified by the resolution of inviting his sisters another year; at the same time, however, slyly suspecting that another year would make the invitation needless, by bringing Elinor in-Station as Colonel Brandon's wife, and Marianne as their their visitor. visitor.

f.a.n.n.y, rejoicing in her escape, wrote the next morning to Lucy, to request her company and her sister's, as soon as Lady Middleton could spare them. This was enough to make Lucy really and reasonably happy. Such an opportunity of being with Edward and his family was the most material to her interest, and such an invitation the most gratifying to her feelings! It was an advantage that could not be too gratefully acknowledged, nor too speedily made use of; and the visit to Lady Middleton, which had not before had any precise limits, was instantly discovered to have been always meant to end in two days' time. Lady Middleton, for her part, was supremely pleased, as now she could focus her full attention on finalizing her rebuilt submarine.

When the note was shown to Elinor, as it was within ten minutes after its arrival, it gave her, for the first time, some share in the expectations of Lucy; for such a mark of uncommon kindness seemed to declare that the good-will towards her arose from something more than merely malice against herself; and might be brought, by time and address, to do everything that Lucy wished. Lucy possessed a remarkable, even a supernatural skill at flattery, Elinor thought, which had already subdued the pride of Lady Middleton, and made an entry into the close heart of Mrs. John Dashwood.

Thus the Miss Steeles removed to the residence of John and f.a.n.n.y Dashwood, and all that reached Elinor of their influence there, strengthened her expectation of the event. Sir John, who called on them more than once, brought home such accounts of the favour they were in, as must be universally striking. Mrs. Dashwood had never been so much pleased with any young women in her life, as she was with them; she called Lucy by her Christian name; utilised her help in keeping John's lung-gills moistened with fresh rounds of sea-water; and did not know whether she should ever be able to part with them.

CHAPTER 37

MRS. PALMER WAS SO WELL at the end of a fortnight that her mother felt it no longer necessary to give up the whole of her time to her. Content with visiting her once or twice a day, she returned to her own docking station, in which she found the Miss Dashwoods very ready to resume their former share. at the end of a fortnight that her mother felt it no longer necessary to give up the whole of her time to her. Content with visiting her once or twice a day, she returned to her own docking station, in which she found the Miss Dashwoods very ready to resume their former share.

About the third or fourth morning after their being thus resettled, Mrs. Jennings, on returning from her ordinary visit to Mrs. Palmer, entered the drawing-room, where Elinor was sitting by herself, tearing into a package of thrice-exsiccated crumpets.

"My dear Miss Dashwood! Have you heard the news?"

"No, ma'am. What is it?"

"Something so strange!"

"Has another infant been sucked up into a filtration duct?"

"No, thank heavens! When I got to Mr. Palmer's, I found Charlotte quite in a fuss about the child. She was sure it was very ill-it cried, and fretted, and was all over pimples. So I looked at it directly, and, 'Lord! my dear,' says I, 'it is nothing in the world, but a tapeworm bedeviling the poor child's small intestine-fetch me a tweezers and a box of wooden matches!' and nurse said just the same. But Charlotte, she would not be satisfied, so Mr. Donavan was sent for; and as soon as ever he saw the child, he said just as we did, that it was nothing in the world but a tape-worm, and he forced the child's jaw open, lowered a fishing line in there, and got the b.u.g.g.e.r out; I burnt it thoroughly in the ash-heap, and then Charlotte was easy. And so, just as he was going away again, it came into my head, I am sure I do not know how I happened to think of it, but it came into my head to ask him if there was any news. So upon that, he smirked, and simpered, and looked grave, and says I, "Did another infant get sucked up into a filtration duct?" and he says, "no," and then-at last- he said in a whisper, 'For fear any unpleasant report should reach the young ladies under your care, I must say I believe there is no great reason for alarm. I hope Mrs. Dashwood will do very well.'"

"What!" cried Elinor. "Is f.a.n.n.y ill?"

"That is exactly what I said, my dear. 'Lord!' says I, 'is Mrs. Dashwood ill? Did she she get sucked up into the filtration duct?' And the doctor replied no, and begged me to stop asking that, and from frustration with my single-mindedness on it, I believe, revealed the whole story. The long and the short of the matter seems to be this: Mr. Edward Ferrars, the very young man I used to joke with you about, has been engaged above this twelvemonth to Lucy Steele!" get sucked up into the filtration duct?' And the doctor replied no, and begged me to stop asking that, and from frustration with my single-mindedness on it, I believe, revealed the whole story. The long and the short of the matter seems to be this: Mr. Edward Ferrars, the very young man I used to joke with you about, has been engaged above this twelvemonth to Lucy Steele!"

Upon the utterance of that name, and this public revelation of the news she had privately held for so long, Elinor found herself at once in a kind of debilitated, feverish state, combined with a headache of unutterable agony; she doubled over, her head clutched between her legs. As she exhaled deep, heaving breaths, the five-pointed star danced malevolently in the dark s.p.a.ce between her eyes.

Mrs. Jennings, from an excess of either politeness or self-regard, gave no notice to this extraordinary reaction.

"There's for you, my dear!" she continued, heedless. "And not a creature knowing a syllable of the matter, except Anne! Could you have believed such a thing possible? That matters should be brought so forward between them, and n.o.body suspect it! I never happened to see them together, or I am sure I should have found it out directly. Well, and so this was kept a great secret, for fear of Mrs. Ferrars, and neither she nor your brother or sister suspected a word of the matter; till this very morning, poor Lucy, her sister Anne, you know, is a well-meaning creature, but a few sails short of a schooner, popped it all out. And so, away she went to your sister, who was sitting all alone at her carpet-work, little suspecting what was to come-you may think what a blow it was to all her vanity and pride. She fell into violent hysterics immediately, with such screams as reached your brother's ears, as he was sitting in his own dressing-room downstairs, writing a letter. The screams were of displeasure, amplified tenfold by surprise, and tenfold again, at least as far as your brother was concerned, by his having been implanted last Thursday with the hyper-sensitive eardrums of a pinecone soldierfish.

"So up he flew directly, hands covering his poor ears to m.u.f.fle the shriek-shriek-shriek shriek-shriek-shriek, and a terrible scene took place, for Lucy was come to them by that time, little dreaming what was going on. Poor soul! I pity her her. And I must say, I think she was used very hardly; for your sister scolded like any fury, and soon drove her into a fainting fit. Anne, she fell upon her knees, and cried bitterly; and your brother, he walked about the room, disoriented, ears still ringing, blundering into the walls, and said he did not know what to do. Mrs. Dashwood declared they should not stay a minute longer in the house, and your brother was forced to go down upon his his knees too, to persuade her to let them stay till they had packed up their clothes." knees too, to persuade her to let them stay till they had packed up their clothes."

"My goodness," interposed Elinor.

"The gondola was moored dockside, ready to take the poor Miss Steeles away, and they were just stepping in as Mr. Donavan came off; poor Lucy in such a condition, he says, she could hardly walk; and Anne, she was almost as bad. Lord! What a taking poor Mr. Edward will be in when he hears of it! To have his love used so scornfully! The whole affair is simply . . ." Mrs. Jennings then lapsed into her native tongue, indecipherable to Elinor, who tried to collect her thoughts.

But a slight rapping at the gla.s.s of the Station Dome distracted her from her course of reflection. Glancing up, she saw that the source of the sound was a small swordfish, tapping on the gla.s.s. Even as she was buffeted by the waves of inner turmoil caused by Edward's undoing, the appearance of the small fish, with its slight, small, but determined tapping, sent a queer chill down Elinor's spine. The chill intensified when she observed that this swordfish had a gleaming patch of silver iridescence under its horn; it was not, therefore, the same swordfish that had rapped 'pon the gla.s.s previously. It was a different different fish. fish.

As Mrs. Jennings could talk on no subject but Edward's engagement, Elinor soon saw the necessity of preparing Marianne for its discussion. No time was to be lost in undeceiving her, in making her acquainted with the real truth, and in endeavouring to bring her to hear it talked of by others, without betraying that she felt any uneasiness for her sister, or any resentment against Edward.

Elinor's office was a painful one. She was going to remove what she really believed to be her sister's chief consolation, to give such particulars of Edward as she feared would ruin him forever in her good opinion, and to make Marianne, by a seeming resemblance in their situations, which to her her fancy would seem strong, feel all her own disappointment over again. But unwelcome as such a task must be, like the sc.r.a.ping of barnacles off a long-neglected hull, it was necessary to be done. fancy would seem strong, feel all her own disappointment over again. But unwelcome as such a task must be, like the sc.r.a.ping of barnacles off a long-neglected hull, it was necessary to be done.

She was very far from wishing to dwell on her own feelings; she told the tale of Edward's engagement to Lucy in a manner calm and clear, endeavouring to ignore both her own feelings on the matter and the persistent tap-a-tap of the swordfish on the gla.s.s. Her narration was not accompanied by violent agitation, nor impetuous grief. That That belonged rather to the hearer, for Marianne listened with horror, and cried excessively. belonged rather to the hearer, for Marianne listened with horror, and cried excessively.

"How long has this been known to you, Elinor? Has he written to you?"

"I have known it these four months. When Lucy first came to Pestilent Isle last November, on the day we were nearly drowned and mauled by the hideous two-headed Fang-Beast, she told me in confidence of her engagement."

At these words, Marianne's eyes expressed the astonishment which her lips could not utter. After a pause of wonder, she exclaimed- "Four months! Have you known of this four months? Since the Fang-Beast?"

Elinor confirmed it.

"What! While attending me in all my misery, this has been on your heart? And I have reproached you for being happy!"

"It was not fit that you should then know how much I was the reverse!"

"Four months!" cried Marianne again. "So calm! So cheerful! How have you been supported?"

"By feeling that I was doing my duty. My promise to Lucy obliged me to be secret. I owed it to her, therefore, to avoid giving any hint of the truth."

Marianne seemed much struck. Behind her, on the gla.s.s, a second swordfish joined the first, and the two tapped together, labouring diligently, their gla.s.sy eyes staring straight ahead. Had Elinor not been distracted by the emotional intensity of the subject matter at hand, she might have reflected that the presence of the two swordfish, side by side, confirmed a certain sense of grim and unholy purpose about their labours.

"I have very often wished to undeceive yourself and my mother," said Elinor; "and once or twice I have attempted it; but without betraying my trust, I never could have convinced you."

"Four months! And yet you loved him!"

"Yes. But I did not love only him; and while the comfort of others was dear to me, I was glad to spare them from knowing how much I felt. I would not have you suffer on my account."

"Oh, Elinor!" she cried. "You have made me hate myself for ever. My behaviour has been more barbarous to you, my own sister, than the most rapacious of pirates-worse than Dreadbeard himself! You, who have been my only comfort, who have borne with me in all my misery, who have seemed to be only suffering for me!"

The tenderest caresses followed this confession. In such a frame of mind as she was now in, Elinor had no difficulty in obtaining from her whatever promise she required; and at her request, Marianne engaged never to speak of the affair to anyone with the least appearance of bitterness; to meet Lucy without betraying the smallest increase of dislike to her; and even to see Edward himself without any diminution of her usual cordiality. As the sisters consoled one another, a spider web of tiny cracks appeared in the gla.s.s. The two swordfish swam away, making little playful patterns as they disappeared into the dark of the deep ocean.

Marianne performed her promise of being discreet to admiration. She attended to all that Mrs. Jennings had to say upon the subject with an unchanging complexion. When Mrs. Jennings talked of Edward's affection, it cost her only a spasm in her throat, easily attributed to the effort of swallowing so much desiccated food paste. Such advances towards heroism in her sister, made Elinor feel equal to anything herself.

The next morning brought a further trial of it, in a visit from their brother, who came with a most serious aspect to talk over the dreadful affair, and bring them news of his wife.

"You have heard, I suppose," said he with great solemnity, in a wheelchair because his feet were recovering from the surgery necessary to make his toes webbed, to increase (or so hoped his physicians) his speed and agility in the water. "Of the very shocking discovery that took place under our roof yesterday.

They all looked their a.s.sent; it seemed too awful a moment for speech.

"Your sister," he continued, "has suffered dreadfully. Mrs. Ferrars too-in short it has been a scene of such complicated distress-but I will hope that the storm may be weathered without our being any of us quite overcome." Here he paused and let out a most inhuman shrieking noise; besides the toe webbing, John Dashwood had submitted (for four pounds sterling) to have implanted in his throat a complex biological mechanism for echolocation, such as that used by toothed whales and other odontoceti odontoceti to navigate unseeing through the ocean's depths. Thus far Mr. Dashwood did not have the system under his control, and so periodically he gave off a chilling shriek, which his sisters attempted to politely ignore. to navigate unseeing through the ocean's depths. Thus far Mr. Dashwood did not have the system under his control, and so periodically he gave off a chilling shriek, which his sisters attempted to politely ignore.

"Poor f.a.n.n.y! She was in hysterics all yesterday. But I would not alarm you too much. The doctor says there is nothing materially to be apprehended; her const.i.tution is a good one, and her resolution equal to anything." John paused, and let out another of the strange loud shrieks. "She has borne it all, with the fort.i.tude of an angel! She says she never shall think well of anybody again; and one cannot wonder at it, after being so deceived! It was quite out of the benevolence of her heart, that she had asked these young women to her docking station; merely because she thought they deserved some attention. Otherwise we both wished very much to have invited you and Marianne to be with us! And now to be so rewarded! 'I wish, with all my heart,' says poor f.a.n.n.y in her affectionate way, 'that we had asked your sisters instead of them.'"

Here he stopped and darted his head violently around the room, as his bat-like hearing informed him of some minute motion past his field of vision.

"What poor Mrs. Ferrars suffered, when first f.a.n.n.y broke it to her, is not to be described. While she with the truest affection had been planning a most eligible connection for Edward, was it to be supposed that he could be all the time secretly engaged to another person! Such a suspicion could never have entered her head! If she suspected any any prepossession elsewhere, it could not be in prepossession elsewhere, it could not be in that that quarter. ' quarter. 'There, to be sure,' said she, 'I might have thought myself safe.' She was quite in an awful humour. A servant coughed, interrupting her loud denunciation of Ms. Steele, and she had the unfortunate man shot out of her docking with the water cannon, and shouted 'huzzah' when he landed in the ca.n.a.l. At last she determined to send for Edward. He came. But I am sorry to relate what ensued. All that Mrs. Ferrars could say to make him put an end to the engagement was of no avail. She filled up a tank with sea-water and forced him to stand in it, and then added vicious biting snapfish, one by one. 'Foreswear your engagement!' she cried, adding the second of the snap-fish even as the first nipped eagerly at Edward's toes, but he remained solid. Duty, affection, everything was disregarded. 'Foreswear it!' and added a third snapfish. 'But no; I never thought Edward so stubborn, so unfeeling before. And indeed, the soles of his feet must be fashioned of pure lead.'

"His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton; told him she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax, brings in a good thousand a-year; she threw in another dozen vicious biting snapfish, which went to work on his feet most mercilessly; she offered even, when still he refused, to make it twelve hundred. She vowed to never see him again; she swore to do all in her power to prevent him from advancing in any profession. At last he was allowed to emerge from the tank, his feet bleeding and gouged."

Here Marianne, in an ecstasy of indignation, clapped her hands together, and cried, "Gracious G.o.d! Can this be possible!"

"Well may you wonder, Marianne," replied her brother, "at the obstinacy which could resist such arguments, combined with such physical tortures, as these. Your exclamation is very natural."

Marianne was going to retort, but she remembered her promises, and forbore.

"All this, however," he continued, "was urged in vain. Edward said very little; but what he did say, was in the most determined manner. Nothing should prevail on him to give up his engagement."

"Then he has acted like an honest man!" cried Mrs. Jennings with blunt sincerity, no longer able to be silent, "I beg your pardon, Mr. Dashwood, but if he had done otherwise, I should have thought him a rascal. I believe there is not a better kind of girl in the world than Lucy, nor one who more deserves a good husband." This sentiment was especially offensive to Elinor, and its utterance for some reason caused a recurrence of the flashing five-pointed star and the attendant pain; she clutched her hands to her temples and willed it away.

John Dashwood replied, without any resentment, "Miss Lucy Steele is, I dare say, a very deserving young woman, but in the present case, you know, the connection must be impossible." Here again he paused in his speech to shriek vividly and rush to the far side of the room in search of the source of some peripheral movement. Recovering himself, he continued: "We all wish her extremely happy; and Mrs. Ferrars's conduct throughout the whole, has been dignified and liberal. Edward has drawn his own lot, and I fear it will be a bad one."

Marianne sighed out her similar apprehension; and Elinor's heart wrung for the feelings of Edward, while braving his mother's threats and collection of tiny biting fish, for a woman who could not reward him.

"Well, sir," said Mrs. Jennings, "how did it end?"

"I am sorry to say, ma'am, in a most unhappy rupture. Edward is dismissed for ever from his mother's notice. His feet were so afflicted that he is, for the time being, to wear shoes made of soft leather. He left her house yesterday, but where he is gone, or whether he is still in town, I do not know; for we we of course can make no inquiry." of course can make no inquiry."

"Poor young man! And what is to become of him?"

"What, indeed, ma'am! It is a melancholy consideration. Born to the prospect of such affluence! I cannot conceive a situation more deplorable. The interest of two thousand pounds-how can a man live on it? And when to that is added the recollection, that he might, but for his own folly, within three months have been in the receipt of two thousand, five hundred a year (for Miss Morton has thirty thousand pounds, the legacy of her father, who perished along with his most splendid creation) I cannot picture to myself a more wretched condition. We must all feel for him; and the more so, because it is totally out of our power to a.s.sist him."

"Poor young man!" cried Mrs. Jennings, "I am sure he should be very welcome to bed and board at my house; and so I would tell him if I could see him."

"If he would only have done as well by himself," said John Dashwood, "as all his friends were disposed to do by him, he might now have been in his proper situation. But as it is, it must be out of anybody's power to a.s.sist him. And there is one thing more preparing against him, which must be worse than all-his mother has determined, with a very natural kind of spirit, to settle that that estate upon Robert immediately, which might have been Edward's, on proper conditions." estate upon Robert immediately, which might have been Edward's, on proper conditions."

"Well!" said Mrs. Jennings, "that is her her revenge. Everybody has a way of their own. But I don't think mine would be, to make one son independent, because another had plagued me. Of course, all my sons were murdered and their corpses mutilated by a group of adventurers, so that may colour my feelings on that particular hypothetical." revenge. Everybody has a way of their own. But I don't think mine would be, to make one son independent, because another had plagued me. Of course, all my sons were murdered and their corpses mutilated by a group of adventurers, so that may colour my feelings on that particular hypothetical."

Shortly thereafter Mr. Dashwood departed, leaving the three ladies unanimous in their sentiments on the present occasion, as far at least as it regarded Mrs. Ferrars's conduct, the Dashwoods', and Edward's. Marianne's indignation burst forth as soon as he quitted the room; and as her vehemence made reserve impossible in Elinor, and unnecessary in Mrs. Jennings, they all joined in a very spirited critique upon the party.

CHAPTER 38

MRS. JENNINGS WAS VERY WARM in her praise of Edward's conduct, but only Elinor and Marianne understood its true merit. Elinor gloried in his integrity; and Marianne forgave all his offences in compa.s.sion for his punishment. But though confidence between them was, by this public discovery, restored to its proper state, it was not a subject on which either of them were fond of dwelling when alone. in her praise of Edward's conduct, but only Elinor and Marianne understood its true merit. Elinor gloried in his integrity; and Marianne forgave all his offences in compa.s.sion for his punishment. But though confidence between them was, by this public discovery, restored to its proper state, it was not a subject on which either of them were fond of dwelling when alone.

On the third day succeeding their knowledge of the particulars, they decided to make an excursion to Kensington Undersea Gardens, among the most remarked upon of Sub-Marine Station Beta's recently added pleasure-places. Mrs. Jennings and Elinor were of the number; but Marianne, who knew that the Willoughbys were again in-Station, and had a constant dread of meeting them, chose not to venture into so public a place. It was also rumoured that a coral sculpture in the shape of a giant octopus was among the wonders on display at Kensington, and the sentimental a.s.sociations with such an artwork might prove, she imagined, too much to bear.

The Undersea Gardens had been created through a singular feat of hydraulic engineering, by which a single, non-loadbearing panel of the Dome's reinforced gla.s.s sidewall had been opened, allowing visitors, for a considerable fee, to venture outside the gla.s.s wall of the Sub-Station. There, they could roam for several minutes directly on a patch of ocean's floor, four acres square, that had been specially treated with an experimental chemical process to destroy all traces of marine life-but which allowed the awe-inspiring undersea fauna, such as no human could ever hope to lay eyes upon elsewhere, to thrive.

To venture into the Gardens, one was required first to don an elaborate sea-floor navigation costume, more extensive in its particulars but similar in basic outline to a diving suit. Aided by a courteous attendant, Elinor changed from her full-skirted dress to a seamless orange rubber suit. Then the large gla.s.s helmet was carefully lowered over her head. Next were added the supple gloves and the lead-lined galoshes which would ensure that her feet remained firmly upon the ocean's floor during her ex-Domic perambulation; lastly came the heavy air tank, strapped to her back, that would keep a vital supply of oxygen flowing into Elinor's helmet.

Once Mrs. Jennings was similarly attired, she and her friend were led by guides into a small ante-chamber, where the door of the Dome was sealed shut behind them with an audible whoosh whoosh; after a few moments they heard a loud whistle, and saw water begin to pour in to the chamber. After a moment, a second door opened on the far side of the chamber-the water had been let in, Elinor now understood, only to allow the atmospheric pressures to even out; now they were free to exit the ante-chamber and stroll the floor of the ocean itself.

All this extraordinary preparation, Elinor instantly concluded, was entirely justified by the miraculous sights that greeted her. Her eyes widened to see the endless varieties of multi-coloured undersea plants; the deep scarlet ceramiaceae, the wavy tendrils of the nereocystis barely swaying in the light undersea currents; her fingertips brushed against the thick stems of the acetabula.

As she tromped in her thick boots, through this marvelous under-sea universe, isolated in the confines of her suit, Elinor was lost to quiet reflection; all her inner torment and confusion, all the drama that had attended Edward's engagement, it was all the merest triviality when compared to the vastness of what she could now comprehend through the gla.s.s front-piece of her navigation suit: acres of coral, staghorn, sea whips, delicate and marvelous in their infinite variety. She tromped about the ocean floor, marveling at every blue-green tendril, curving her hands along every stalk; and, most of all, enjoying the isolation of her private world within her navigation suit. She was alone; she saw nothing of the Willoughbys, nothing of Edward, and for some time nothing of anybody who could be interesting to her.

But at last she found herself with some surprise, accosted by Anne Steele, looking rather shy as she approached her within her own navigation suit and gla.s.s helmet. Communication of course was impossible, which was some relief for Elinor, who had nothing to say to Miss Steele and desired to hear nothing from her. But the latter personage, from within her own suit, waved vigorously to Elinor, expressing by a series of delighted facial expressions and fervent gesticulations her great satisfaction in meeting her, and, by pointing back to the antechamber, that she wished to return to where communication was possible, and converse.

Elinor was shaking her head and forming her lips into an exaggerated No No, turning on her heel to hide in a bower of alariae alariae, when Miss Steele's expression changed entirely. Her eyes, which had been pleased and imploring, turned first distressed and then terrified; at that moment Elinor felt a sharp, painful sting directly at the base of her neck. The source was a sea scorpion, not less than five inches long; how it had survived the chemical process that had cleansed this patch of ocean and breached the walls of her rubber suit, were questions that must be answered later. At present her only concern was the crablike stinging horror that had crawled inside her helmet and attached one of its fearsome chelicerae directly into her neck. Terrified, and in the most excruciating pain, Elinor spun in a furious circle, trying to dislodge the loathsome eurypterid, but to no avail; as she spun, the thing spun too, clinging to her throat, its armored body whipping in circles and smacking against the gla.s.s of the helmet.

In desperation, Elinor raised her hands in their protective gloves to pluck the creature off her, but her hands only slapped in vain against the reinforced helmet; her head was enclosed in gla.s.s, and the same gla.s.s barrier which allowed her continued respiration kept her hands out, and her attacker in. The sea scorpion dug its claws deeper into the flesh of her neck. The blood ran down Elinor's chest, and she saw blood coat her like a bright red ap.r.o.n.

Mrs. Jennings had appeared beside her, and was mouthing to her, "OPEN THE SUIT! OPEN THE SUIT!" Elinor took a deep breath, drawing as much oxygen as possible into her lungs, and with a burst of pain-driven strength, pried open the face plate against the pressure of the water.

The icy temperature of the undersea depths. .h.i.t her like a slap in the face. Without time to contemplate the bitter coldness now swiftly stealing over her body, or how far she had ventured from the antechamber that led back into the Sub-Station and precious oxygen, or to note the horrified expressions on the faces of both Mrs. Jennings and Miss Steele, Elinor grasped the sea scorpion with both hands, crushing its carapace between her protective gloves, tugging mightily to dislodge it. Still the thing clung, its claws firmly embedded in her neck. The harder she pulled, the worse the pain became, and with every pa.s.sing second she felt her breath growing shorter. Still she pulled, and at last the devilish persistence of the eurypterid was overcome, and the claws came loose and the beast was torn free-taking with it a sizable chunk of flesh from her throat. Blood spurted forth in a wild gush, the sight of which-combined with the bitter cold of the water and her nearly extinguished air supply-caused her vision to swim black.

AT PRESENT HER ONLY CONCERN WAS THE CRABLIKE STINGING HORROR THAT HAD CRAWLED INSIDE HER HELMET AND ATTACHED ONE OF ITS FEARSOME CHELICERAE DIRECTLY INTO HER NECK.

Elinor awoke in a chair of the plushest otter skin, in the richly appointed Visitor Centre of the Kensington Undersea Gardens, her hands and feet submerged in small dishes of lukewarm water to ward off hypothermia. Anne Steele was on the other side of the room, brushing her hair to restore its former shape after an afternoon spent within the diving helmet.

Mrs. Jennings, seated beside her, immediately whispered to Elinor, "Thank G.o.d! You have survived."

And after inquiring with her customary enthusiasm of affection for the state of Elinor's health, and rea.s.suring her that her neck would certainly heal given time, Mrs. Jennings nodded her head towards Miss Steele and remarked, "Get it all out of her, my dear. You have suffered most grievously and nearly died; she is bound to be sympathetic and therefore talkative; she will tell you anything if you ask!"