Chapter 5

Downstairs, the four sat together and agreed on Lacey and Loren being visiting cousins from India and to the twins leaving the house as little as possible. The fiasco over getting dressed had proven how ill prepared for living in the past they were. They didn't make a single complaint against the confinement.

Phileas asked again. "Is there anything you can think of that might be responsible for this? Could you go over exactly what you were doing?"

Lacy considered it. "I went straight to the attic to get into the trunks as soon as we arrived. One had ladies' dresses in it. Mother had shown it to me years ago. I especially remembered the green ball gown. Then I found a trunk with men's clothing in it. There were toys piled on top of the clothing. Someone must have combined storage."

"What sort of toys," Rebecca asked?

"Oh, a porcelain doll in a wedding dress."

'Carrie?' Rebecca had not thought of that doll in ages. It was the only one that had escaped Phileas and Erasmus's desecration as it had stood in a glass case in Rebecca's room, never to be played with.

"I found a carriage with four horses, some cloth animals and a metal top," Lacey said. "Loren was spinning the top while I was tying a cravat on him. Then the…" She hesitated to go on. Loren had skipped over the air raid siren in his story last night. Such revelations would only lead to questions, and then they would have to tell these people about the wars to come.

"Continue please," Phileas said quietly. It came out as an order, with gentle but firm force. His voice sounded so much like her own father's; Lacy started.

Loren came to her rescue. "We heard a sound outside," he said truthfully. "We were on our way out to see what it had been when we ran into you."

You were running out of that room like the hounds of hell were after you. Phileas wanted to say that but didn't choose to press the issue just yet. They can keep their secrets for a bit longer. "Well, other than these toys, was there anything else?"

"No, nothing," Lacey said.

"How is the family in your time?" Rebecca said, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Doing well," Loren answered. "No one has beggared the coffers yet, although a few have tried."

The young man didn't look at him when he said that, but Phileas had the distinct feeling that comment had been aimed at him.

"I'm afraid we are both woefully ignorant on specifics in this generation," Loren added. "Our grandfather died when we were small, and our father was a man of the present. I know of you, but nothing about you." He said to Phileas.

"Was?" Phileas questioned.

"Yes… our father died, ten months ago," Loren said. "Our mother died when we were fifteen. Lacey and I have been living in the country since his death. I had had all the other properties closed until I could decide what to do with them. This house included. There are plenty of other Foggs around. Our grandfather had six children and they had no less than four each, except for our father. The family is strong and well represented."

"Good news," Rebecca said. "And what of the future?"

Loren laughed. "As much as I'd like to, I think it best I don't offer stock tips. There will be advances in medicine, industry and politics that are going to be truly amazing."

"I think you could tell them a bit more than that," Lacey said. "Such as some of your favorite pass times, Cars for example?"

"Ok," Loren said. "Horses are not the only mode of travel in our time. Most everyone uses mechanical transportation. Some friends and I race those vehicles for fun. They can reach speeds of up to ninety miles per hour if one tunes the engine right."

"My goodness," Rebecca cried. "And you Lacey, what do ladies do in your time?" Rebecca said.

Lacey looked at her brother nearly laughing in his face at the warning he was sending her way. Ladies did nearly anything toward the war effort, from industrial work, to flying airplanes for the RAF.

"Ladies can do a great deal in my time," she said simply. "There is more freedom to choose vocations and hobbies. Loren didn't mention it, but there are three ladies in his motor club, and one routinely beats him," she teased.

"I haven't had the leisure to do much until recently," she admitted getting back to the subject. "While my brother has been at Cambridge living it up, I had been traveling across Europe with father, acting as his personal secretary and hostess. He was a diplomat and a very busy one. Since his death, I've worked as a field interpreter for the… Well, it doesn't exist yet, but it's an international charitable aid agency. They take food and medical supplies to disaster areas and war-torn countries. The language skills I learned working with father are very needed in such work."

"Yes, Lacey has an astounding ability to pick up languages," Loren said. "Father set her up with tutors everywhere they went. How many do you have in your repartee now? Fifteen? Twenty?"

"If you include the ones I can only order dinner and find a taxi with," she said grinning, "close to fifteen."

"Isn't that rather dangerous work for a young woman?" Phileas said, stepping over Loren's attempt to change the subject.

"It can be," Lacey said. "Occasionally someone decides they don't want someone else to receive our aid, and the logistics and politics can be a nightmare. My background in diplomacy was a plus because of that."

"Was?" Rebecca questioned.

A look passed between siblings that showed there was stress in this subject.

"I've convinced Lacey to leave the agency for other occupations," Loren said. "Our father considered her indispensable to his work. As such, she wasn't given the chance to go to university as I did. When we get back to our time, she will be attending Cambridge to study linguistics. Now, I'm afraid I must beg off," Loren said quickly. We had a long day yesterday, and whatever dragged us back in time seems to have worn me out. I'd like to rest this morning. You should too, Lacey," Loren suggested/insisted. He pulled her off the sofa to stand.

"Of course," Phileas agreed. "By all means."


Lacey went with her brother quietly. But once he had led her into his room... "Why did you drag me away like that? And what was all that about me going to Cambridge?"

"Well, Cambridge, Oxford or Pembroke." Loren said. "I haven't received responses to all the applications I sent out for you. It was going to be a surprise when I found out which one had the best language studies. You would like to go, wouldn't you?"

"Well, of course I would. Thank you." She said, genuinely surprised and grateful. "But you acted like we had said too much."

"We may have," he said. "Phileas and Rebecca Fogg are not people it will be easy keeping secrets from. They were, are, both Secret Service agents. Keeping information about the future from them is going to be difficult."

Lacey said, "Why do we have to be so secretive? I'm sure they will keep what we tell them to themselves."

"They might and they might not," Loren said. "Anyway, would you want to know the mess that comes to Europe with two world wars, if it was something your children and grandchildren had to live through? What would you do if you found out your progeny had been transported back in time, just in time to avoid a bombing raid that might have ended your direct line in one stroke?"

Lacey didn't have an answer for that. "Wait a minute," She looked up at Loren suspiciously. "How do you know so much about them?"

"Uncle James told me about them, and most of the other members of the family that have been in the service," Loren said. "Phileas was hip deep in espionage during the Crimean war and Rebecca plays cat and mouse with Prussians."

Lacey's demeanor darkened, suspicion, curiosity and worry, raising her blood pressure. "Uncle James has been so deep in cloak and dagger, no one has seen him in years. When did you find and get chummy enough with him for family spy stories?"

Loren swallowed hard, confessed. There was no help for it now. "I've been working with him from time to time.

"Meaning?" Lacy said, face darkening.

Loren said, "Uncle James brought me into the service about three years ago."

"And you never told me!" Lacey was shouting now. Thinking back, she started tallying times he had been out of touch for over a week. "Last year just before Christmas?"

"Poland," Loren said.

"Last month when you asked me to make excuses for you to Rachael? Are you even enrolled at Cambridge?"

He answered, "France. I am taking classes. It's just set up differently." He stopped any further inquiries by answering the next logical question she would ask. "I didn't tell you because father wouldn't allow it. He didn't want you to worry. He didn't want you to get any ideas about joining up with me. I didn't either. Of course, had I known you were going to get shot at so much with the Red Cross, I would have signed you up right away. It would have been far less dangerous dropping you into France during the invasion!"

Lacey accepted no excuses. Her brother had willfully lied to her, and her father had been in on it. Her hand flew out and snapped Loren's head hard to the right, hard enough to make him back up several steps to catch his balance. The sound of it echoed through the room. For a moment they both just stood and stared at each other. Then Lacey was gone in a blur of tears and rustling petticoats, leaving Loren stunned.

Lacey turned out of the room to her own, too fast and upset to notice Passepartout standing in the shadows of the hall.

Passepartout had not intended to eavesdrop but had decided to do so anyway to see if the two would give up some of their secrets. What he had heard was quite an ear full. "Master must be knowing this." He backed up and headed downstairs.