Page 144 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

Mr Cowling eyed him indulgently. ‘Aye, I know you’re soft on the subject, but they’ll not get anywhere behaving badly. No-one likes to see a female show herself up like that.’

‘Thirty years of asking nicely has got them nowhere,’ Lepida said mildly. ‘Perhaps a new strategy is needed.’

Mr Cowling admired Lepida and didn’t want to argue with her. So he said in an end-of-conversation tone, ‘Well, they got arrested for their trouble, so perhaps they’ve learned their lesson.’

She didn’t take the hint. ‘But they wanted to be arrested. Their whole purpose was to be sent to prison.’

‘How shocking!’ Mrs Girton murmured.

‘The magistrate would have let them off with a fine, but they refused to pay and were given seven days in Strangeways.’

‘Disgusting!’ said Mr Girton.

‘Strange ways indeed,’ Mr Cowling said. ‘I don’t like the idea of ladies being put in prison, but it has to be said, they didn’t behave like ladies.’

‘The plan worked at all events,’ Decius said. ‘When they came out they were met by an adoring crowd, held a mass rally in Free Trade Hall with a speech by the Labour leader, and the whole thing was reported in The Times. So I expect they count it a success.’

‘It’s a very unpleasant state of mind that considers going to prison a success,’ said Mr Girton. ‘Revolutionary ideas coarsen the character and destroy civilised manners. I sincerely hope this society of women, whatever it’s called, doesn’t manage to spread its evil influence.’

Lepida seemed about to speak, but Nina saw Decius catch her eye and give a tiny shake of the head and she subsided.

Instead, throwing himself into the breach, Decius said, ‘I read a most interesting report in the newspaper the other day. It seems two brothers in America have successfully tested a flying machine. Are you at all interested in aeronautics, sir?’

Mr Girton merely looked blank. Mrs Girton, slightly puzzled, said, ‘Do you mean, a balloon? We saw a balloon ascent once, didn’t we, dear? The balloonist was a very handsome man. I particularly remember that he had very fine moustaches.’

‘Not a balloon,’ Decius said, as Nina suppressed a giggle. ‘A proper machine, with an engine – like a motor-car, but with wings.’

Mr Cowling said, ‘People have been building flying machines for years – I remember when I was a nipper there was an exhibition of ’em at the Crystal Palace, all sorts of wonderful contrivances, but they never managed to get them off the ground. Or if they did, they came straight back down again.’

‘Motive force was always the problem,’ Decius said. ‘Steam engines were too heavy, and pedalling or winding a screw didn’t give enough power. But things have changed. A small, light petrol engine is a different matter.’

Mr Cowling looked amused. ‘You know all about it, eh?’

‘I’m interested in the subject. I read anything that comes my way. These brothers in America actually kept their machine in the air for over half an hour!’

‘You must be jesting,’ said Mr Cowling.

‘And not just flying in a straight line, either, but guiding it and performing figures of eight. And landing it safely at the end.’

‘If it’s true at all,’ said Mr Girton, ‘it can only be a flash in the pan.’

‘Half an hour, sir,’ said Decius. ‘If it could stay aloft for that length of time, I think we can be sure it wasn’t a flash in the pan. I believe it is the start of something tremendous for mankind.’

‘Flying motor-cars, stuff and nonsense,’ said Mr Girton, discontentedly.

But Mr Cowling looked thoughtful. ‘If there’s anything in it, it would be something to get in on. Look at railways – they were new once, and some folk said they’d never catch on. Other folk put their money into ’em. If flying machines really work, there’d be fortunes to be made.’ He looked indulgently at Decius. ‘And I warrant you’ll be one of the ones up there driving ’em, am I right?’

Decius smiled. ‘I would dearly love to fly. It’s been man’s desire from time immemorial.’

‘I sometimes dream I’m flying,’ Mrs Girton said unexpectedly.

‘How odd,’ said Nina. ‘I do, too.’

‘I believe it’s quite common,’ Lepida said.

‘I wonder why that is,’ Nina said. ‘When I dream of flying, it’s like a memory, as if it was something I used to be able to do but forgot. When I wake, I feel dreadfully sad, knowing that I can’t.’

‘You ladies have a great deal of imagination,’ Mr Cowling said. ‘I never dream at all.’