The Parasol Protectorate Boxed Set by Gail Carriger Read Free Book Online

two ladies watched, cut and cranked down its propeller before sinking softly into a
landing.
    â€œWhat remarkable times we live in,” commented Alexia, her eyes sparkling at the spectacular sight.
    Ivy was not as impressed. “It is not natural, mankind taking to the skies.”
    Alexia tsked at her in annoyance. “Ivy, why do you have to be such an old fuddy-duddy? This is the age of miraculous invention
and extraordinary science. The working of those contraptions is really quite fascinating. Why, the calculations for liftoff
alone are—”
    She was interrupted by a mellow feminine voice.
    Ivy let her breath out in a huff of relief—anything to keep Alexia off all that loopy intellectual mumbo jumbo.
    The two ladies turned away from the dirigible and all its wonders, Alexia reluctantly and Ivy with great alacrity. They found
themselves facing an entirely different kind of spectacle.
    The voice had come from atop a wholly fabulous phaeton that had drawn to a stop behind them without either woman noticing.
The carriage was a high flyer: a dangerous open-topped contraption, rarely driven by a woman. Yet there, behind a team of
perfectly matched blacks, sat a slightly chubby lady with blond hair and a friendly smile. Everything clashed about the arrangement;
from the lady, who wore an afternoon tea gown of becoming dusty rose trimmed in burgundy rather than a carriage dress, to
the high-spirited mounts, who seemed far better suited to draw some dandy of the Corinthian set. She had a pleasant expression
and bobbing ringlets but kept iron-steady hands on the reins. Unfamiliar with the woman, the two young ladies would have turned
back to their observations, presuming the interruption an embarrassing case of mistaken identity, except that the pretty young
lady spoke to them again.
    â€œDo I have the pleasure of addressing Miss Tarabotti?”
    Ivy and Alexia looked at each other. It was such a remarkable thing to happen—in the middle of the park, by the airfield,
and
without any introduction—that Alexia answered in spite of herself. “Yes. How do you do?”
    â€œBeautiful day for it, wouldn’t you say?” The lady gestured with her whip at the dirigible, which had now completed its landing
and was preparing to disgorge its passengers.
    â€œIndeed,” replied Alexia crisply, a bit put off by the woman’s brash and familiar tone. “Have we met?” she inquired pointedly.
    The lady laughed, a mellow tinkling sound. “I am Miss Mabel Dair, and now we have.”
    Alexia decided she must be dealing with
an original
.
    â€œPleased to make your acquaintance,” she replied cautiously. “Miss Dair, might I introduce Miss Ivy Hisselpenny?”
    Ivy bobbed a curtsy, at the same time tugging on Alexia’s velvet-trimmed sleeve. “The
actress,
” she hissed in Alexia’s ear. “You know! Oh, I say, Alexia, you really must know.”
    Miss Tarabotti, who did not know, surmised that she ought to. “Oh,” she said blankly, and then quietly to Ivy, “Should we
be talking to an actress in the middle of Hyde Park?” She glanced covertly at the disembarking dirigible passengers. No one
was paying them any notice.
    Miss Hisselpenny hid a smile under one gloved hand. “This from the woman who last night accidentally”—she paused—“parasoled
a man. I should think that talking to an actress in public would be the least of your worries.”
    Miss Dair’s bright blue eyes followed this exchange. She laughed again. “That incident, my dears, would be the reason for
this rather discourteous meeting.”
    Alexia and Ivy were surprised that she knew what they were whispering about.
    â€œYou must forgive my brazenness and this intrusion on your private confidences.”
    â€œMust we?” wondered Alexia under her breath.
    Ivy elbowed her in the ribs.
    Miss Dair explained herself at last. “You see, my