Page 11 of Inventing Vivian

Mr. Barnaby helped her return the other valve pieces as well. “And how go yer plans for the exhibition? Ye still intend to enter, do ye not?”

“I hope to,” Vivian said. She picked up an iron bolt that was longer than her hand and studied it. It must have come from a bridge or a boat. She hoped the missing part had been discovered and replaced.

“And have ye sponsors?”

Vivian shook her head, setting the bolt back on the table. A rush of heat filled her cheeks at his question. “I’ve inquired, but so far...”

Mr. Barnaby handed her a tension spring with a link at one end. It was nearly half a meter long with a diameter of at least three inches.

Vivian considered Hooke’s law of elasticity and tension, wondering how she might test it with this particular spring.

“Have ye spoken with Baron Harrington?” Mr. Barnaby asked. “Heard he’s keen to promote young inventors such as yerself.”

Vivian handed the spring back, feeling a surge of hope. “I hadn’t thought of the baron. Do you really think he might consider... ?” She trailed off, feeling silly for sounding so desperate.

“Think it’s worth a try.” Mr. Barnaby pulled on the spring, hardly moving the coils at all. He tried to bend it, with the same result, so he rolled it back across the table. “Someone out there will see the splendid things ye’ve made and want to show the world.”

“And what about you?” Vivian asked. She was embarrassed by the compliment. “You have created all sorts of devices. Don’t you want to exhibit them? Maybe sell a patent or two?” She’d seen remarkable gadgets created by Mr. Barnaby and sold by children on the streets of London. He was well known for his mechanical toys. Each was unique due to the different parts he’d found with which to build it. Vivian had purchased a couple of devices herself: a wind-up horse that stomped its foot on the ground and a box that held brass stars on springs that shot out when the lid was opened.

Mr. Barnaby scoffed, making a wet noise with his nose. “What earl or marquess would want to sponsor me, I ask ye?”

“Oh, I’m sure someone would,” Vivian said. “Once they saw what you are capable of.”

“’S not for me, miss. Don’t care for the attention. What would I do with sudden fame and riches?” He smirked, shrugging. “I’d come right back here to my shop and tinker. ’S what I do and where I do it.” He wiped his nose with a plaid handkerchief. “But yerself, on th’ other hand...” He looked into her eyes, his expression turning suddenly serious. “Ye’re destined for bigger things, Miss Kirby. Mark my words.”

***

When Vivian walked through her front door an hour later, she found Chester lining up his toy soldiers on the staircase. The wood of the entryway glowed golden in the setting sun.

The boy’s eyes went wide when she rolled the wheel contraption across the threshold and Devon carried the wooden box inside. “What is this, Vivian? Another invention?”

“Yes. I hope it will be.” She rolled the contraption toward him.

He came across the entry hall and stopped it, then rolled it back. “What are you making? Can I help?”

She smiled at the eagerness in his eyes. “You may, if your mother agrees. But I’m not going to have time to work on it today.” Vivian took the box from Devon, thanking him as he returned to the carriage for the milk jug and its attachments. “I need to finish building the pump for our neighbor’s fountain.”

Vivian started up the stairs to her workshop.

Chester followed. “Mother said we should invite Lord Benedict to dinner one day soon.”

“That is nice of her.” Vivian was certain she had plans for whichever day the dinner was to take place.

“I hope he brings Zhang Wei,” Chester continued. “I want to know more about China.” He ran up the stairs and stood on the landing in front of Vivian. “Look. My hair has grown, don’t you think? Soon, it will be long, and I will wear it in a long braid.”

“I think it takes more than one day for hair to have noticeable growth,” Vivian said, knowing full well that for a healthy person, a quarter inch of length every two weeks was all he could expect.

When they reached the third floor, she took the key from her pocket and unlocked the door to her workshop. Of course, she didn’t believe anyone in the household capable of stealing, but there were chemicals and other dangerous things inside, and she worried especially about a curious little boy getting hurt.

Chester followed her inside. “We should pay Lord Benedict and Zhang Wei a visit, don’t you think, Vivian? I think they were pleased to have us yesterday.”

“Absolutely not.” She set the box down on her worktable harder than she meant to. Seeing the surprise on Chester’s face, she smiled, softening her response. “It isn’t polite to visit a person of Lord Benedict’s station without an invitation.”

“But we are friends,” Chester said.

“I know, dear.” Vivian took the pieces of the fountain from the box and put them on the table with the parts she’d left behind, arranging them carefully in order and setting the diagram modified by Mr. Barnaby on an easel, where she could have a good view while she worked. She left a large space for the milk jug. “I’m sure Lord Benedict is very busy.”

Chester climbed onto a stool and watched her work. “May I go with you when you repair the fountain?” he asked. “I might see Lord Benedict or Zhang Wei then.”

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