‘Yes, that’s just what Papa says. But I don’t need to join a guild. You could teach me, Herr Gray!’
I would have liked to dismiss it all as a joke, but there was no mistaking the girl’s seriousness and determination. ‘Look, Fraülein,’ I began.
She interrupted. ‘Please, Herr Gray. Call me Corinna.’
‘And you must call me Michael,’ I said, ‘for I hope that we can be friends.’
Her face lit up in a smile, and I felt a stirring in my heart.
‘Then you’ll do it?’ she demanded. ‘You’ll instruct me?’
‘Why are you so interested in clocks?’ I asked in turn.
She laughed. ‘Living in Märchen, how could I not be?’ She seemed to take belated notice of the bowl in her lap and, blushing again, offered it to me. ‘Frau Hubner says you are to finish this broth – every last drop.’
I took the bowl from her, feeling a tingle where our fingers brushed. The beefy smell of the broth made my mouth water. There was a wooden spoon in the bowl, and I raised it to my lips and sipped. I had never tasted anything so delicious; warmth and vitality coursed through my body in dizzying waves.
‘Slowly, Michael,’ the girl admonished as I slurped down the broth. After a moment, she returned to the subject of clocks. As she spoke, she toyed with the ring on her necklace, turning it in the fingers of one hand, and I found myself wondering once again about the story that no doubt lay behind it: felt, too, a twinge of jealousy at the thought that some other man, living or dead, might have a claim on her affections.
‘When I was young, our timepieces seemed like magic to me. But as I grew older, I began to wonder at how they functioned. I longed to take them apart and see for myself what it was that drove the hands in their orbits and regulated their progress around the dial. But as you have discovered, it is impossible to get permission to open any of Herr Wachter’s creations. Of course, that didn’t stop me. I can’t tell you how often I tried in secret to gain access to my father’s pocket watch or one of the other timepieces of the town. And how often I was caught and punished. But despite my efforts, I never managed to open a single one. As for the tower clock, I’ve searched and searched for a way in, even climbing to the campanile itself, but without success. Yet I haven’t been completely defeated. Over the years, I managed to find a few old timepieces tucked away in attics – clocks and pocket watches from before Wachter’s day – and these I studied thoroughly, dissected and put back together as best I could, with tools I fashioned myself out of cutlery and anything else that came to hand. But I have reached the limits of what I can learn on my own. I require instruction, a teacher. A man like you, Herr Gray … that is’ – and she blushed again – ‘Michael.’
Finished with the broth, I returned the empty bowl to her and lay back against the pillows. A vast and sleepy well-being pervaded me. I felt light-headed, almost drunk. I had no desire to argue with this pretty and spirited young girl. ‘I should like to see some of those tools of yours, Corinna,’ I said.
Her blush deepened. ‘I would be ashamed to show you.’
‘Ashamed?’
‘I didn’t simply take your tools, Michael. I studied them. What beautiful things they are! So cleverly designed, so lovingly crafted. By comparison, mine are crude, laughable, ugly.’
‘I received most of my tool kit when I became a journeyman. Over the years, like many clockmen, I’ve added some implements of my own design. But to do what you have done, without benefit of a master’s guiding hand – that is truly impressive.’
‘Papa doesn’t think so. He finds my interest in timepieces unladylike. I’m afraid I couldn’t show you my tools even if I wanted to, for he confiscated them from me after learning that I had taken yours. But he’s done so before, and it hasn’t stopped me yet.’ She flashed a conspiratorial smile. ‘I just make new ones.’
‘I’ve never met a girl quite like you, Corinna,’ I told her. ‘And yet I almost feel as if we have met before …’
‘Why, that’s not surprising,’ she said. ‘After all, I helped care for you during your sickness, even if you don’t remember it.’
‘For which I’m grateful.’
‘Grateful enough to teach me something of your art?’
It occurred to me that I had been manipulated into acknowledging an obligation, but somehow I didn’t care. ‘I doubt your father would approve.’
‘He doesn’t have to know,’ she said. ‘It can be our secret. At least for the next few days, while you’re getting your strength back, you could teach me. What harm could it do?’
‘I’ll think about it,’ I told her. After all, what would be the harm in showing her a few things? Nor was it lost on me that Corinna could prove a valuable ally in my efforts to convince her father, the burgomeister , to grant me the permission I sought. And if all else failed, perhaps I could enlist her as an accomplice, get her to bring me one of Wachter’s timepieces; she had already proved herself an adept thief. Besides, the notion of spending more time with Corinna was appealing for its own sake.
‘Thank you, Michael,’ she said, breaking into a wide and dazzling smile.
‘I haven’t agreed to anything yet,’ I cautioned.
‘But you will,’ she said. ‘I know it.’ At which, to my surprise, she leaned forward impulsively and planted a kiss on my cheek. A jolt shot through me at the touch of her lips, and the scent of pine enfolded me, rich and resinous, as if I were walking through a mountain forest in springtime.
Just then, a voice thundered from the doorway: ‘What is going on here?’
Corinna drew back with a gasp. ‘Papa!’
Herr Doppler marched into the room, his bushy white moustache bristling like lightning, his face an ominous shade of red. He wore a colonel’s uniform and a powdered club wig the colour of pewter.
Corinna rose and went to him before I could say a word, laying a hand on his arm. ‘Calm yourself, Papa, dear. I was merely making Herr Gray more comfortable.’
He glared at her. ‘Were you indeed, madam? It appeared to me that the rascal was stealing a kiss.’
‘Papa!’ she chided him. ‘Our poor patient is too weak to steal anything.’
Doppler gave me an appraising glance. ‘He looks feeble, I’ll grant you, but looks can be deceiving … as can daughters.’
Doppler was now the recipient of the same fierce look that had been directed at me a moment ago. He withstood it no better. ‘That is,’ he said, ‘these footloose rascals can lead innocent girls astray with their wild talk.’
At which Corinna stamped her foot. ‘Honestly, Papa! Do you take me for a simpleton? I swear to you on my honour that Herr Gray did not steal a kiss.’
‘Is this true?’ the burgomeister demanded of me.
I nodded, impressed with Corinna’s sangfroid.
‘There, you see?’ The girl stood on tiptoes to plant a kiss on her father’s ruddy cheek.
The man fairly glowed. ‘Forgive me, my dear,’ he said, then addressed me once more. ‘I beg your pardon as well, Herr Gray. With such a treasure, a father cannot be too careful.’
‘Your daughter has been my ministering angel,’ I told him, struggling to keep my expression serious and my voice level as, behind Doppler’s back, Corinna blew me another kiss. ‘I would not repay her in such a base fashion.’
‘Such sentiments do you credit,’ said Doppler. He turned back to his daughter. ‘Frau Hubner has need of you. I will tend to the patient for a while.’
‘Yes, Papa,’ she said demurely. ‘I will see you later, Herr Gray.’
‘Thank you again, Fraülein,’ I replied.
Smiling, she curtsied and left the room.
As soon as she had gone, Doppler’s manner underwent a stark change. Crossing to the bed, he seated himself in the chair that Corinna had vacated and took hold of my upper arm, squeezing so that I gasped in pain.
‘Let us speak as men,’ he said in a low voice that was all the more threatening for its icy calm. ‘Should I discover that
you have trifled with my daughter, Herr Gray, you will wish that Adolpheus had left you buried in the snow. Nay, do not speak. I know how it is with you wandering rascals. Clockmen? Cockmen, more like! Do not trouble to deny it, sir! I have been a soldier. I know what it is like to be young and footloose, far from home, with pretty wenches set before you like dishes at a banquet. You try a taste of this one, of that one. Where’s the harm? Come, sir! Do I have the wrong of it?’
I stammered out some excuse or other.
His vice-like grip tightened. ‘We are both men of the world. Pray do not insult me.’
I wrenched my arm free. ‘What do you wish me to say, sir? Yes, I have had dalliances in the course of my travels. You imply that you did the same as a younger man. It is, as you say, the way of the world. But that does not mean I have no honour, Herr Doppler. No gratitude . And you speak of insult? It is you who have insulted me!’
Herr Doppler’s blue eyes widened during this outburst. At the end of it, he sat a moment as if stunned, then broke into hearty laughter, slapping his knee. ‘I like you, Herr Gray; indeed, I do,’ he said at last, wiping his eyes. ‘In truth, I meant no offence. I merely wished to impress upon you that my daughter is precious to me above all things.’
‘You might have done so in a less literal manner,’ I muttered, examining my arm, where the imprint of Doppler’s fingers was purpling to a bruise.
‘It will not have escaped your notice that there is a greater span of years between us than might normally separate a father and daughter,’ he went on, arranging himself more comfortably in the chair. ‘I was already in my fifties when I met and married Corinna’s mother, the youngest daughter of a fellow officer. Maria was scarcely older than Corinna is now when we became man and wife. She was loveliness itself, but fragile as a springtime flower. And our life together was as fleeting as that season. The rigours of childbirth proved too arduous for her delicate constitution, and the effort of bringing Corinna into the world ushered her out of it.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, while reflecting that this story was quite different from what Inge had told me of the fate of Corinna’s mother. One or both of them was lying. Which, and from what motive, I did not know. But perhaps I could find out, and make use of that knowledge. It is always wise to learn the truth behind the lies that people tell each other, and themselves. Such knowledge is like a dagger up the sleeve; sooner or later, you will be glad to have it close to hand. ‘Then, the ring she wears about her neck …’
‘Her mother’s wedding ring,’ Doppler affirmed. ‘I sometimes think there must be an ineffable law, as absolute as that which governs the movement of celestial bodies, preventing two creatures of such sublime beauty from existing simultaneously on Earth, and it was in obedience to that law that Maria was taken from me. For Corinna has grown into the very image of her mother, and there are moments, Herr Gray, moments when I could swear to you that it is Maria herself who stands before me, miraculously restored to life, or never having left it at all, the last seventeen years nothing more than a dream from which I have suddenly awakened. Like Wachter’s Folly, the heart does not recognize the ordinary flow of time, and what the mind knows to be an impossibility the heart embraces without hesitation or reserve. And so my love for Maria remains as fresh today as on the day we married, and my grieving as profound as on the day she died. Add to that a father’s natural affection for his only child and you will understand why I am perhaps a trifle indulgent with Corinna, and at the same time so ardent in safeguarding her welfare.’
I replied that she was fortunate to have such a father, though in fact I pitied the girl, not just for the loss of her mother but for the enduring legacy of that loss, thrust upon her by her surviving parent, to be both daughter and wife to him … or, rather, part-daughter, part-wife, neither one thing nor the other. It seemed a heavy burden to impose on a child, as unhealthy as it was unfair. Growing up without a parent is difficult enough already. The ring she wore about her neck, the mystery of which had so tantalized me, now seemed as much a token of a father’s obsession as it was the symbol of a daughter’s devotion. No wonder the girl was rebellious, headstrong. How else could she insist upon her uniqueness, demonstrate to her father – and, indeed, to herself – that she was more than just the image of the mother she had never known?
Doppler, meanwhile, stroked his moustache and smiled. ‘She does not always recognize that fact, I’m afraid. In beauty, she takes after her mother, but she has also inherited her father’s martial spirit, and the promptings of that spirit sometimes make her forget her filial duty, not to mention the natural modesty that is the most becoming ornament of her sex.’
‘I found nothing immodest about her,’ I protested, feeling compelled to come to her defence even as I savoured the memory of her impulsive kiss.
‘I know my daughter,’ Doppler replied. ‘Doubtless her apology in the matter of your tool kit was so charming that you have by now completely forgotten the theft that occasioned it.’
‘No, but I have forgiven it,’ I said.
‘Have you? I’m glad to hear it.’ Doppler glanced towards the door with a furtiveness that reminded me of Corinna’s movements earlier. ‘I should like to ask a favour of you, Herr Gray.’
‘By all means,’ I told him, curious.
‘This must remain between us.’
‘Of course.’
Doppler seemed at an uncharacteristic loss as to how to proceed. He cleared his throat, shifted his position on the chair, smoothed his moustache. Then he blurted out: ‘My daughter is obsessed with horology. She nurses the ambition of becoming a journeyman like yourself, and one day even a master. When she was younger, her interest in timepieces was amusing, and I indulged it. I thought she would grow out of it, but instead her interest has only grown stronger with the years. I mean no disparagement to your profession, sir, but it is not suitable for a lady, as I am sure you will agree.’
I nodded for him to continue.
‘It was this fascination, this obsession, that led her to steal your tool kit, Herr Gray.’
‘She has confessed as much to me already,’ I told him. ‘Indeed, she told me that she has made tools of her own, and has taught herself the rudiments of horology. Can this be true?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ Doppler confessed shamefacedly.
‘Quite remarkable,’ I said. ‘The influence of Herr Wachter, no doubt.’
‘She requires a more salutary influence now,’ Doppler told me. ‘I have found, as her father, that my efforts to curtail her enthusiasms in this regard only have the opposite effect. Thus I am turning to you, Herr Gray.’
‘To me?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I know it is an imposition, but I would consider it a great favour if you would take my daughter under your wing, as it were.’
‘You want me to teach her?’ I could scarcely believe my ears.
‘I want you to discourage her,’ Doppler clarified, ‘under the guise of teaching her. You will be outwardly encouraging but meanwhile set her tasks beyond her abilities, the better to convince her that she lacks the aptitude for horology, that her talents lie in more … feminine directions. Could you do that, Herr Gray?’
‘Let me make certain I understand you, sir. You wish me to deceive your daughter, to invite her trust and then – subtly, to be sure – betray it.’
‘For her own good,’ Doppler said defensively.
‘She will not like it.’
‘If you are skilful enough, Herr Gray, she need never know.’
‘And if I succeed?’
‘Why, you will have earned the gratitude of an anxious father.’
‘I am not in the habit of deceiving young ladies, Herr Doppler. Certainly not at the invitation of their fathers.’
‘And if I were to offer you a more tangible measure of gratitude?’
‘Go on,’ I said.
‘Dissuade my daughter from her unseemly interest in timepieces, and I will permit you to examine my pocket watch – which,
you may remember, once belonged to Herr Wachter himself.’
‘I should want to remove the casing,’ I told Doppler.
‘Of course.’
‘And make detailed sketches of the workings.’
‘Naturally.’
‘I might even need to dissassemble the mechanism, or at least portions of it.’
I watched a struggle play out on Herr Doppler’s features. But at last he gave a terse nod. ‘Acceptable,’ he grunted, and I could see that it had cost him much.
‘You surprise me, Herr Doppler,’ I confessed. ‘When last we spoke, you were adamant in refusing to let me examine the watch. Yet now you agree to everything I asked of you that night, and more.’
‘You see how much my daughter means to me,’ Doppler replied. ‘More even than the oath I swore to my father when he passed Wachter’s timepiece on to me. Above all else, I wish for Corinna to be happy, yet as long as she harbours these dangerous fantasies, she will never be content. If she cannot find what she so desperately desires here in Märchen, sooner or later she will look for it farther afield … and find something quite different, as we both can imagine only too well. So I ask you to dispel her illusions, Herr Gray, as gently but firmly as you can, to spare her a more grievous awakening at less gentle hands. Once resigned to her proper sphere, she will find fulfilment as a dutiful daughter, and later as a wife and mother, as God and Nature intended.’
I did not share Herr Doppler’s conviction on this point. The fanatical gleam I had seen in Corinna’s eye would not be so easy to extinguish. Yet I agreed to his proposal, for it promised to deliver not only Herr Doppler’s pocket watch, but Inge’s cuckoo into the bargain. Nor was that my only reason for accepting the offer. Someone had attacked me. Knocked me out, robbed me of my clothes, and left me to die in the snow. I was determined to learn the secrets of Wachter’s timepieces, but I was also determined to learn the identity of my would-be murderer, and my efforts in that regard would be hindered, it seemed to me, if I made an enemy of Herr Doppler. ‘When shall I begin?’ I asked him.
The Emperor of all Things Page 30
