The Inventor

The Crystal Palace shimmered in the fiery rays of the setting sun. The sound of bells and drums assaulted my ears and the smell of frying sausages hung in the air as we pushed our way through the crowd at the Midsummer Fair.

“Mother, there’s the fortune-telling pony!” exclaimed my niece, Fenella, tugging at Eliza’s arm. “Please can we give him a penny?”

“The fortune-telling pony is mere trickery,” replied my sister. “We should save our pennies for the sweet stall.”

“But we have enough pennies for the pony as well,” protested Fenella. “Please can we go and see him? Please, Mother, please?”

At the age of nine, Fenella already bore a strong resemblance to Eliza. Both had fair hair and brown eyes. Fenella wore a large yellow bow in her hair to match her summer dress, which had puff sleeves and a wide lace collar. Eliza wore a large straw hat and a loose-fitting cream cotton dress, deliberately ignoring the fashion for a tightly-laced waist.

A crack of gunshots rang out from the red and gold rifle gallery. The stall next to it housed Mademoiselle Chloe’s Marvellous Clever Cats, who I hoped would be able to withstand the noise.

“I don’t think I have ever seen so many people in one place,” Eliza remarked. “Once we’ve stopped at the sweet stall I think we should take a walk by the lake and visit the dinosaurs.”

“But we’ve seen the dinosaurs before!” complained Fenella. “What about the pony?”

“I’ve heard enough about the pony.”

“Please may I have some lemonade instead?” Fenella pulled Eliza toward a stand selling carbonated drinks.

I pushed my spectacles up onto the bridge of my nose and gazed over the stalls and flying horses to the Crystal Palace. Its fiery orange panes were slowly darkening to red. Built for the Great Exhibition more than thirty years previously, the glass building remained an impressive sight.

“I read recently that the arch over the central transept is more than one hundred and sixty feet high,” I said to Eliza.

“What transept?”

“The transept in the Crystal Palace.”

“Oh, that.”

“And you do realise that it was Isambard Kingdom Brunel who built those two enormous water towers either side of it? They feed the fountains, and it’s said that each can hold more than a thousand tonnes of water.”

“I can’t imagine what a thousand tonnes of water looks like,” replied Eliza. “A lake, I suppose. Was it ginger beer you asked for?”

“Thank you.”

“I just asked someone where the sweet stall is,” she continued. “And they told me it’s next to the Man with the Iron Head.”

“The illuminations will begin shortly,” I said. “We shall need to be up on the upper terrace.”

“But what about the dinosaurs?” asked Eliza.

“I think they will also be illuminated. We can walk down there a little later.”

“Did you hear that, Fenella?” said Eliza. “The dinosaurs are to be illuminated!”

I followed Eliza and my niece to the sweet stall, trying to prevent my ginger beer from being spilled as I was knocked about by the crowd.

I hadn’t come for the fair. I was hoping to speak to the inventor, Simon Borthwick, who was about to put on the greatest display of illumination ever seen. More than sixty thousand fairy lights were to light up the grounds of the Crystal Palace, and I had been eagerly anticipating the spectacle.

Simon Borthwick was well known for his work on the incandescent electric lamp. Three years earlier he had installed lamps in the Savoy Theatre, making it the first public building in the world to be lit by electricity. I hoped he would have time for me to interview him at some point in the evening for the Morning Express newspaper.

“Your Aunt Penelope is going to meet the inventor who created all the magical fairy lights you’ll see this evening,” I said to Fenella, but she was too distracted by a woman dressed as an Arab princess to listen.

“Did I tell you that I’ve interviewed Mr Borthwick before?” I said to Eliza.

“I don’t recall you telling me that,” she replied with an expression of complete disinterest. “Oh, look! There’s the Man with the Iron Head! That means the sweets must be here somewhere. There they are. Look!”

We pushed our way over to the sweet stall.

“Oh, Fenella! What will you have, do you think?” asked Eliza. “How about some lemon fruit slices? Or there’s sticky toffee or butterscotch. And honeycombs! I shall have some of those.”

“They have alphabet liquorice, Mother!”

“So they have. And caramel rolls and gum raspberries. What’s that? Oh, it must be peanut candy. What will you have, Penelope?”

“Are there any fruit jellies?”

“Yes, there are. Which flavour would you like?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Are you all right, Penelope? You seem rather distracted.”

“I’m fine, thank you Ellie. I’m hoping that Mr Borthwick will have enough time to speak to me this evening. If I can make my way to the upper terrace shortly I shall ask someone where he is to be found.”

“Oh, you’re distracted by your work. I should have known.”

“It’s the reason I’m here, Ellie! I asked you and Fenella to accompany me because I thought you would enjoy the spectacle.”

“And I’m sure we will,” she replied curtly. “That’s enough honeycomb to be getting on with, Fenella. You don’t want to make yourself sick.”

“Mother, can we go and see the Man with the Iron Head, please?”

“I’m afraid not. Your Aunt Penelope needs to carry out some work on the terrace, I believe.”

“You don’t need to come with me,” I said. “Take Fenella to see the iron man.”

“The Man with the Iron Head,” Eliza corrected as she handed me a paper bag filled with fruit jellies.

“I’ll meet you later by the dinosaurs,” I said.

“Very well. In forty minutes’ time? Will that allow you long enough to complete your work?”

“I hope so. I shall see you then, Ellie.”