Page 2 of The Journal of a Thousand Years (The Glass Library #6)

CHAPTER 2

T he connections snapped together like magnets.

Although I knew my mother as Alice Ashe, we’d discovered she was really Marianne Folgate, the only child of a silver magician from Ipswich, who himself descended from a lineage of magicians that was suspected to be the last of its kind. Gabe’s parents had met Marianne years ago when she was living in Wimbledon. When Gabe and I visited that house recently, we’d learned that Marianne had been known as Mrs. Cooper while living there, and that the man she lived with was most likely her husband. The house they rented was owned by Lord Coyle, but Coyle’s widow had sold it after his death.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that a man named Cooper worked at the Petersons’ paper factory and that he resembled the Hendry sisters, and me. It was precisely the place in which a paper magician would feel comfortable.

Yet Evaline claimed he wasn’t a magician, and we knew that Melville Hendry was. My initial thrill dampened a little. Perhaps they weren’t the same man. Having the Hendry sisters meet him, and confirm or deny if he was their brother, would resolve the issue once and for all.

I wasn’t the only one with that idea. All three sisters suddenly stood together, as if they’d been raised up by strings pulled in unison. They’d never seemed more alike.

“Is he at work now?” Rosina asked, at the same time Naomi said, “Can we meet him?”

Myrtle was more cautious, her tone less enthusiastic. “Did you mention us to him?” she asked Evaline.

“Yes, just before coming here. I asked him if he was related to the Hendry family. I thought he might be a cousin on your mother’s side, hence the different name.” Evaline frowned. “He looked shocked at first, but that quickly vanished. He told me he’s not related to any Hendrys, then reminded me that he’s not a magician. I told him he might have relatives he didn’t know about, including a young paper magician.” She nodded at me.

Myrtle’s lips pressed together. “If it is Melville, he won’t want to see us. He has probably disappeared again.”

“He has worked for us for years. He won’t leave without giving notice.”

Myrtle remained unconvinced. “If our brother doesn’t want to be found, he’ll go to great lengths to disappear.”

Gabe made an excellent and intriguing point, however. “If he didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t have used the same name he was once known by—Cooper. He would have chosen something entirely different.”

We decided to travel to the factory. Gabe’s Vauxhall Prince Henry was parked on the adjoining street near the end of Crooked Lane, but we couldn’t all fit. Alex searched the vicinity for a taxi, or perhaps he was checking there were no suspicious looking characters lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity to kidnap Gabe.

I asked Evaline about her previous visit to the Glass Library. She wasn’t a person who called on someone without a reason, and that time had seemed odd, although I’d dismissed it as a friendly gesture. Now, I wondered if she’d had a purpose, after all. “Last time you were here, you suspected your employee was related to me, didn’t you?”

Her sharp features softened. “I wanted to study you, Sylvia. While you look a little like him, he’s a man in his sixties and you’re a woman in your twenties. In fact, you look more like Rosina than Mr. Cooper. But that day, I wanted to study your mannerisms to compare them to his. That’s when I noticed you talk like him. It’s the way your mouth moves, I think. I can’t quite explain it, but there is a resemblance that goes beyond obvious physical similarities.”

The thought of seeing those similarities in person soon, and comparing myself to the man who could be my father, made me feel somewhat weak-kneed. I moved closer to Gabe in case I needed to hold on to something solid.

“We should wait for Willie,” Alex said, as he signaled to a taxi that had just turned into the street. “She doesn’t like you wandering around without her.”

Gabe checked to see that we were out of earshot of the others. “ You’re here to protect me.”

“She has something I don’t. A gun,” he added when Gabe arched his brows.

“She could be hours. I think the airman she met with is more than a friend.”

Willie’s interest in both men and women was the reason I wasn’t shocked when I’d learned about Melville Hendry’s homosexuality. But I had thought Willie was monogamous. “Has something happened between her and Nurse Tilda?”

“She told me to mind my own business this morning when I asked,” Gabe said. “I value my life, so didn’t press her.”

The taxi pulled over and Alex opened the door for the three sisters. Once they were on their way, he invited Evaline to travel with us in the Vauxhall.

Thirty minutes later, we alighted at the main gate to the Petersons’ paper factory on Bethnal Green Road. The sky was murkier here, thanks to the smoke spewing from the chimneys, and the air felt cloying. A lorry drove slowly through the gate and headed up the street, most likely on its way to deliver paper around the city. The Petersons supplied small stationery shops like Petra’s, as well as large institutions, including the Bank of England. It was a lucrative business, and one that I’d been accused of coveting for myself when I was attempting to discover if Walter and Evaline’s father was also my father. Neither sibling had accused me. It was their long-time employee who’d suspected I was a fortune hunter.

It suddenly occurred to me that he could be the fellow Evaline wanted us to meet. I didn’t know his name, but there was a resemblance between him and the three sisters.

Evaline asked us to wait for her in her brother’s large office in the administration building while she went in search of Mr. Cooper. The Hendry sisters sat, but I couldn’t settle. Gabe and Alex’s good manners meant they wouldn’t sit unless I did, so the three of us stood by the window that overlooked the courtyard surrounded on three sides by buildings. That’s how we saw Evaline striding towards us with her brother. There was no sign of a third person.

I smiled at Walter when he greeted me and listened as Gabe introduced him to the Hendry sisters. I didn’t really hear the conversation, however. I had the strange sensation of being outside the scene, as if I were standing in the wings watching a play being performed on stage. I knew before Evaline spoke that the man known as Cooper couldn’t be found.

“He said he was feeling unwell and went home early,” Walter added. “It’s unlike Cooper to be ill. He rarely takes time off.” The frown looked unnatural on the usually cheerful man.

Evaline paced the floor, her hand pressed to her chest. “I mentioned the Hendry family to him this morning in all innocence. I thought he was a distant relative. I never suspected he was a Hendry himself, but now it seems as though I triggered his flight.” She stopped in front of me. “I am so sorry, Sylvia.”

Walter shook his finger at her. “We don’t know for certain if that’s why he left. I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Cooper has been a loyal employee and a solid worker for a number of years.”

“None of that matters if he’s trying to remain hidden,” Gabe said.

Rosina clicked her tongue in irritation, while Myrtle muttered, “Typical Melville,” under her breath.

“We don’t know if Mr. Cooper is Melville,” Naomi reminded her sisters.

“He must be, or why avoid this encounter?” Myrtle turned to Evaline. “You say you mentioned we three to him, and told him about Sylvia, too?”

“I simply told him he might have a relative who was a young paper magician. I didn’t mention her name, nor that she’s searching for her father.”

Walter threw doubt over the idea that I was Mr. Cooper’s daughter. “He had one son, who I believe died, although I’m not entirely sure, now that I come to think about it.” He frowned. “He rarely speaks about family.”

“Because he was avoiding us,” Rosina muttered with a bitter edge.

Naomi looked sheepish. “We didn’t get along with Melville,” she told the Petersons. “Not when we were children, and certainly not as adults. He avoided us, and we him, then he disappeared altogether.”

I rubbed my arms as a chill rippled through me. He didn’t get along with his sisters, and I suspected my mother didn’t like my father. Indeed, she was most likely afraid of him. It was too much of a coincidence.

Walter strode toward the door. “We have Cooper’s address on file. I’ll send someone to check on him.”

“We’ll go,” Gabe said.

Walter hesitated before nodding. He left to speak to his assistant in the outer office and returned moments later with a large photograph. “My assistant reminded me of this. It was hanging out there on the wall.” He showed it to the Hendry sisters. “It was taken a few months after war was declared. When we realized a lot of our men would enlist, we had a photograph taken of all the staff.”

Evaline peered over Naomi’s shoulder. “We lost some young men in the war, then the influenza outbreak took more.” She pointed to a figure in the photograph which had been taken in the courtyard. “There. That’s Cooper.”

Rosina and Naomi squinted at the photograph while Myrtle removed a pair of spectacles from her bag.

“That’s him!” Rosina cried. “That’s Melville.”

“Are you sure?” Naomi asked.

Myrtle took the photograph from Walter and inspected it. “That’s him. Older, yes, but it’s definitely him.”

Walter removed a magnifying glass from his desk drawer and handed it to Naomi. “When did you last see your brother?”

“In 1891,” Myrtle said.

“That’s not a year many of us who lived through it will forget.”

Gabe and Alex exchanged knowing glances. It was the year Gabe’s parents had set in motion the emergence of magicians from the shadows. Laws had been implemented to prevent their persecution, but it had taken time for the situation to settle. With the well-made products of magicians flooding the market, and with their more efficient practices, they’d quickly asserted themselves as the makers of superior merchandise. Artless manufacturers and craftsmen had suffered, leading to tensions in London and elsewhere. Those artless who hadn’t repositioned themselves as producers of lower quality products and priced accordingly had gone out of business, causing further resentment.

Naomi peered through the magnifying glass at the photograph. “Oh, yes, I see him now. That’s Melville. He lost most of his hair.” She handed the magnifying glass to Rosina.

“So he did.” Rosina sounded satisfied to see her brother suffer in that small way.

I asked to see the photograph and Naomi handed it to me. She pointed at Melville, standing in the front row of what must be a hundred employees. I didn’t need the magnifying glass to recognize him.

It was the man I’d spoken to on a few occasions, the one who accused me of coveting a share of the Peterson fortune. He’d come across as cantankerous and rude.

“It doesn’t confirm whether he’s your father,” Myrtle told me with a gentleness I’d not experienced from her before. “It just confirms that Cooper is Melville.”

When I didn’t respond, Gabe answered. “Sylvia’s mother was known as Marianne Cooper at one point. The man she lived with in 1891 was also known as Cooper, so we believe they were married, although that may not necessarily be the case. If the paper magician Melville Hendry disappeared around that same time, and reappeared as Cooper here at the factory, and Sylvia’s mother was also known as Cooper and Sylvia’s father is a paper magician…” His eyes became hooded as he looked at me, his voice gentled. “Then it stands to reason that Melville is her father.”

The evidence was compelling. No one could deny it. No one did. A weighty silence filled the office, as oppressive as the smoky air outside.

Until Naomi broke it. She blinked back tears as she took my hands in hers. “We have another niece. Isn’t it wonderful, sisters?”

Rosina threw her arms around me and hugged me fiercely. “My children have cousins. And you’re a magician, too. How I’ve longed for another in the family. Both of my children are artless.”

My eyes filled with unshed tears, so I closed them. When I could be sure I wouldn’t cry, I reopened them. Myrtle filled my vision as she hugged me, too. “Welcome to the family, Sylvia. It’s lovely to have you.”

Finding three aunts and two cousins was everything I’d hoped for. More. It made the trials of my complicated past less bitter. I didn’t even mind having a man nobody liked as my father if his connection to these women meant I had a lovely family.

When Myrtle pulled away, I caught Gabe smiling at me over the top of her head. His fingers briefly touched mine in a featherlight flutter before slipping away.

Alex clapped me on the shoulder. “You’ll have to telephone Daisy to give her the good news. She’ll be thrilled for you. As am I.”

I found I couldn’t speak to thank him, as tight as my throat was, so I simply nodded and smiled instead.

Walter had slipped out of the office, but now returned with a piece of paper. He handed it to Gabe. “Cooper’s address. Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”

Gabe shook his head, but it was Myrtle who answered. “It’s now a family matter, but thank you for all your help. Before we go…” She glanced at her sisters. “Before we go, can you tell us what you know about our brother? It’s been decades since we saw him, so perhaps he has changed.”

“He’s a good employee. He works hard and is prepared to put in extra time when necessary. The others respect him, but I think that could be because they fear him a little, which is not entirely a bad thing for a foreman.”

“I mean on a more personal level. What was he like?”

Walter shrugged. “I can’t say I know him well. He’s always respectful to me and Evaline.”

“Speak for yourself,” his sister said. “He was often curt when he had to deal with me. I got the distinct impression he resented the times he had to answer to me instead of you. Particularly in the early days, when I first came to work here. Our father was still alive then, and he praised Mr. Cooper for his strong work ethic, but to me, Cooper was rather rude. I think he thought I wasn’t up to it. It took years before I felt as though he respected me as a magician and a manager.”

“Because you’re a woman,” Rosina added with certainty. “You had to work extra hard to prove yourself to him. He treated Myrtle and Naomi abominably because they were artless, and he was little better with me. He was a much stronger magician than me, you see. When we were young, he’d taunt me. He called me weak and pathetic whenever I performed magic. He tore up my origami creations and left little pieces of them around for me to find to prove that my magic didn’t last as long as his and wasn’t as strong.”

“He wasn’t always like that,” Myrtle said. “When we were small children, he was a normal brother. It wasn’t until he was thirteen or fourteen that he changed.”

It was an age that a lot of youths changed, both physically and emotionally. It was a trying time for some. Probably even more trying for a boy who realized he was unlike others in a way society wouldn’t allow. But that was no excuse for his cruelty.

“He never performed magic here at the factory?” Gabe asked.

Walter shook his head. “Not that we know of. Evaline and I are the only ones who use spells on our luxury paper line.”

“When did he start working here?”

Walter looked to Evaline, but she merely shrugged. “I’d have to check his file,” he said.

Gabe asked him to do so.

Walter returned a few minutes later with a document that he handed to Gabe. “February 1898.”

Alex peered over Gabe’s shoulder at the file. “The troubles between artless and magicians had largely ended by then. He must have thought himself safe.”

Gabe agreed. “The police would have stopped actively searching for him. If he kept his head down and didn’t make any trouble, no one would find him.”

“Not even his sisters,” Myrtle muttered.

Gabe tapped his finger on the document. “He used the name Cooper here, the same name he was using in 1891 when he was involved with Lord Coyle. It was a risk not to change it again. So why didn’t he? Why keep using a name that linked him to the past?”

Alex pointed to the address on the document. “Let’s see if he’s home and ask him.”

Although Alex didn’t speak during the short drive to Melville Hendry’s flat, I could tell he was anxious. He constantly checked the surroundings and drove as quickly as he could through the traffic. Fortunately, he’d given the driver of the Hendry sisters’ taxi the address so they didn’t have to keep up.

Gabe regarded Alex narrowly but didn’t comment on his friend’s speed. He kept a watchful eye on our surroundings, too, as we alighted from the Vauxhall. I couldn’t see anyone suspicious, but Alex’s caution worried me.

While we waited for the sisters to arrive, we spoke to the landlady. She informed us that Mr. Cooper was at work at the paper factory.

“We’ve just come from there,” Gabe told her. “He left early. He hasn’t returned home?”

The matronly woman wrung her plump hands together. “I don’t think so, but I’ve been out myself, so he may have come back while I wasn’t here. I’ll knock on his door.”

We waited somewhat impatiently while she headed upstairs. She returned a few minutes later, shaking her head. “There’s no answer.”

“We should go in and check,” Gabe said.

“What if he’s not there?” She looked Gabe and Alex over, biting on her lower lip. “It wouldn’t be right to let strangers in without his permission.”

It was fortuitous that the Hendry women arrived at that moment. Gabe introduced them as Mr. Cooper’s sisters, and me as another young relative, all of whom were concerned that her tenant had left work feeling unwell. Our physical resemblance to Mr. Cooper must have swayed her. She went to fetch the spare key, then invited us to follow her up the stairs.

His room contained a bed, narrow wardrobe, and washbasin on a stand on one side, and a table with a portable stove on the other. The copper kettle on the stove was cool to the touch, and the blue-and-white teacup beside it was clean. A wooden chair was tucked under the table, and a plate and bowl in the same blue-and-white pattern as the cup and saucer were placed neatly on a shelf by the window. The jars lined up on the second shelf proved to contain exactly what their neat handwritten labels stated—sugar, tea, and other non-perishable essentials. The only other furniture was a comfortable-looking armchair positioned by the fireplace, separating the room into a sleeping half and a dining half.

The rug under the armchair was small but good quality, as were the armchair and crockery. They weren’t the type of things left behind when a resident moved, so I suspected he’d simply gone out to avoid seeing his sisters.

Gabe didn’t agree. “All his clothes are gone.” He went to close the empty wardrobe door, but Myrtle wanted to take a look, so he left her to it while he checked the small cupboard under the washstand. It was also empty. “There’s no shaving equipment or other personal items. He left.”

“But he hasn’t paid me this month’s rent!” the landlady cried.

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look like he plans to return.”

She clicked her tongue and muttered something under her breath.

I checked the name of the manufacturer on the base of the saucer. I recognized it. “This is magician-made. The set would have cost quite a lot. Surely he wouldn’t just leave it behind. The armchair, too, is good quality and worth taking to his new place of residence. Are the stove and kettle his?”

The landlady wasn’t listening. Her matronly manner had disappeared beneath the huffing and puffing of her fury.

Gabe inspected the plate and bowl. “They may be magician-made, but the bowl is chipped.” He fingered the jagged edge. “It’s also probably part of a larger set, or it was, once. My guess is that this was made years ago, and when the magic wore out, it got damaged. The owner probably threw it away or gave it to Hendry.”

“Or he stole it,” the landlady muttered.

Naomi bristled, but it was Rosina who stood up for her brother. “Melville wasn’t a thief.”

“Who’s Melville? My tenant’s name was Maxwell. Maxwell Cooper.”

“He went by more than one name,” Gabe told her.

The landlady wagged a finger at Rosina. “As his sisters, you are responsible for the rent he owed.”

Rosina crossed her arms. “We’re estranged.”

Gabe removed a banknote from his pocket. “Will this cover your lost rent?”

The landlady tucked it into her apron pocket.

Myrtle slammed the wardrobe door closed. She shook her head at her sisters. “He must have taken it with him.”

“What are you looking for?” I asked.

“A journal that’s been in our family for a long time. It disappeared along with Melville years ago.”

“It belongs to all of us,” Rosina added. “It has been handed down to the strongest male magician of each generation, so I suppose he felt he had a right to it.” She sighed. “All that history, just gone.”

Naomi took her sister’s hand. “Not gone. I’m sure he’s taking good care of it. And when we find him, we’ll tell him about the strongest magician in the next generation. She may not be male, but she certainly ought to have it.” She gave me a small smile.

Alex had been giving the room a more thorough search while we spoke. He’d checked under the bed and inside the jars. He’d lifted the rug and felt about for loose floorboards. He found nothing of interest until he checked the back of the armchair cushion. He removed a scrap of paper, no larger than a postage stamp, and handed it to Gabe. “He was in Ipswich.”

Gabe read the scrap then handed it to me. It was part of a train ticket with the word Ipswich clearly visible. It must have fallen out of Melville’s pocket when he sat in the armchair.

Recently we’d learned that the silver corner protectors on the Medici Manuscript had been made by a magician in Ipswich. Since my brother, James, believed he was a silver magician, we’d traveled there and learned that Marianne Folgate had been the daughter of the magician who made them. According to a neighbor, she’d left home shortly before her parents died and not been seen since. A photograph of a young Marianne proved she was my mother, the woman I’d known as Alice Ashe.

At each step, we’d learned of another man making the same inquiries, discovering the same things as us. It seemed likely that man was Melville Hendry.

I twisted the slim silver ring on my middle finger, one of the few possessions of my mother’s that I’d kept. She’d ensured our safety by moving from city to city, but I wished she’d told James and me why we were always moving, always keeping to ourselves and not putting down roots. It would have made life less confusing.

Although telling one’s children they were hiding from their cruel father wouldn’t have been an easy conversation for anyone.

The landlady locked the door to Melville’s room as we left. Alex led the way downstairs to the entrance hall, most likely to make sure the coast was clear.

“What’s he like as a tenant?” Gabe asked the landlady as we followed Alex.

“He kept to himself. I rarely even got a ‘good morning’ out of him. Nor did my other tenants. I never liked him. Now I know why. I have good instincts.”

The Hendry sisters chose not to defend their brother. Rosina and Naomi walked to the waiting taxi, while Myrtle hung back to speak to Gabe. “We’ll pay you back Melville’s rent just as soon as we can.”

“No need,” he said.

“We can’t let you do that for us.”

He gave her one of his charming smiles that no middle-aged lady could resist, even if she was a practical-minded one. “As much as I like you all, I’m doing it for someone else.”

“Ah.” She smiled at me. “Do let us know if you find him.”

We would have watched them drive away, but Alex ushered Gabe to the Vauxhall while Myrtle was still climbing into the taxi. Although both men were usually chivalrous, I was left to my own devices and had to open my own door.

“Were we followed?” I asked as I looked up and down the street.

“It seems so,” Gabe said as Alex cranked the engine. Once his friend had slid into the driver’s seat, Gabe asked why we were in such a hurry.

“A black vehicle sat behind us for a long time on the way here, but I think I lost him,” Alex said.

“Was it following us from the factory? Before?”

Alex hesitated then shook his head. “I can’t be sure. I wasn’t—” He swore loudly then stamped his foot on the accelerator.

The Vauxhall shot forward to join the traffic. I clamped a hand to my hat to keep it on my head.

Gabe turned around to look past me out of the rear of the vehicle. He swore, too, something he rarely did. “I need a new motorcar.”

“Why?” I shouted over the roar of the engine.

“This one isn’t fast enough. There is someone following, and they’re gaining on us. Brace yourself for impact, Sylvia. Hopefully my magic will engage like the last time we were run off the road, but in case it doesn’t…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. We all knew an impact with another vehicle could be fatal.