When Pascale Auber is forced out of the airship of the evil Dr. Simpelstur, she finds herself rescued by a handsome Ruritanian diplomat, Theo von Hentzau. Pascale soon realizes that Theo is hiding something - something to do with the evil doctor, th...
The girl eyed me with an air of suspicion."So then you won't allow me to publish? If I can't publish, I'm not talking to you."
"I think it extremely unlikely that we would not come to an understanding," I said, as smoothly as I could manage. I looked longingly toward the embassy, but I doubted my counterfeit badge would impress the cordon of policemen. There would be time later to try to find my way in and see the scene for myself.
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I turned my attention back to the young reporter. She looked young enough that she might not have yet reached her full height. My baby brother is not quite twelve; adolescent children are always hungry.
"Come," I offered, gesturing to the clock in the church steeple across the square, "It is an excellent time to break for an early luncheon. We are very close to Miss Tanaka's Tea House, which has always been recommended to me very highly. We could discuss all this there, in a more civilized manner."
The girl sighed. Then her stomach rumbled.Her cheeks coloured, but she allowed me to lead her off to Tanaka's.
It occurs to me that, as not all my readers are familiar with the Metropolis, so they must by necessity be ignorant of Tanaka's also. It is located on the margins of Prince Alexander's Gardens, a mere three blocks from the Baratrarian embassy, on St. Helena's Street. The Tea House occupies a pleasant corner of the gardens, and it is a low plastered building covered in dark roof-tiles and surrounded by climbing roses and wisteria. It is picturesque, but inexpensive, and large numbers of visitors to the Prince's gardens also stop by the tea house.
The Tanaka sisters – there are, in fact, three misses Tanaka, despite the name of their cafe – are the daughters of a merchant from Hinomoto who settled in the metropolis when his children were young. Their younger brother is the notable Mr. Tanaka whose latest novel was such a sensation last summer.
Upon entering the tea house, we were shown at once to a low table by a window. I ordered a watercress sandwich, a dish of egg salad, and a pot of Earl Grey's mixture. The girl rustled through her coin purse, then ordered the least expensive menu item, a side dish of four cucumber rice rolls. She placed her coin purse and press pass on the table. I was able to observe that she worked for one of the smaller women's dailies. I also caught her first name - appropriately, for a young lady on the flower show circuit, her name was Dahlia.
"The Ladies' Dressing-room Review?" I asked, with a raised eyebrow. I hoped Dahlia would want to talk about her work long enough for our meal to arrive, or at least the tea. I had no particular wish for any of the Misses Tanaka to overhear the more important parts of our conversation.
"It's a serious paper," she insisted. "We started in theatrical news and review, hence the name."
"Ah," I said, as the middle Miss Tanaka arrived with the tea. She poured each of us a cup, placing the cups on a tiny tray. The tray was then balanced on the outstretched arms of a wind-up doll, dressed in robes typical of Hinomoto. When the teacups were placed on the tray, the added weight started the clockwork inside the doll, which trundled on hidden feet across the table, stopping in front of young Dahlia. She picked up the tea cup.
"But we've branched out," she said, taking a sip as the doll now trundled to my spot on the table. "We do proper news now."
"Including the flower show circuit?" I asked, taking my own cup. The doll trundled back to the waiting Miss Tanaka.
"It's a starting point," Dahlia explained as Miss Tanaka took the wind-up doll away for the next customers. She left the pot of tea on the table within easy reach."My ultimate goal – my aspiration, if you will – is to rise to the position of editrix."
"Editrix?" I asked, bemused. The girl glared.
"What? You don't think a ladies' newspaper should be edited by a lady?"
I refrained from commenting that I thought the word 'editor' was meant to apply equally to persons of either sex.
"Of course it should be," I soothed, "But surely many of the ladies' papers are, in fact, headed by females?"
Dahlia snorted. "Most, yes, but not ours. And my boss is the most – well, never mind. I'm going to change that, just you wait and see!"
While this was all very fascinating, it was getting me no closer to discovering who had started the fire. Miss Tanaka deposited the food on the table. As she left, I asked, "Why are you so sure this isn't a compressed-gas incident?"
"Because of the note," Dahlia said, picking up one of her seaweed-wrapped rice and cucumber bundles.
