The Shadow in the North Page #5

new work for the benefit of all mankind.

And what was it, this...

great new work?

Well, the polite name for

it is the self-regulating device.

We called it the steam gun.

Nordenfels?

Nordenfels...

There are pages missing.

There are seven more patents

in the name of Arne Nordenfels

and the details

of each have been torn out!

This is an outrage.

The steam gun isnt just any weapon,

it is pure evil.

It looks like

an ordinary railway carriage

except for the very tiny little holes.

1,000 holes in each side

and out of every hole

come five bullets per second.

That's what the steam pressure's for?

It's like turning the handle

on 2,000 machine guns at once.

The regulator

uses electrical connections,

lines drawn on a roll of waxed paper.

Using a dense kind of graphite.

- Graphite?

- Comes from nearby.

Lady Wytham's family

have owned the mine for years.

I'm a pacifist, Mr Garland.

I don't hold with fighting

or violence of any kind.

As soon as I realised what it was about,

I resigned.

Think of an ordinary English street,

full of men, women and children,

and then imagine every cubic inch

of air filled with a red-hot bullet.

You'd need something from the

Book of Revelations to do it justice.

If someone wanted

to make money from a patent,

it would have

to be registered in his name?

Of course.

Would you see if there are any patents

registered

in the name Axel Bellmann, please?

Bellmann...

Ah, here we are.

It's in the British index.

1876, Bellmann A, number 4524-

steam-powered machine

gun drawn on railway carriage.

Simple as that.

Thank you.

Jessie Saxon.

A young man makes a nice change.

My admirers are usually

pushing 60 these days.

I have come about your sister Nellie.

She's been attacked and badly injured.

Something to do with that

little woodlouse MacKinnon, isn't it?

He didn't attack her,

if that's what you think.

But he is mixed up in it somehow.

What's the connection

between him and Nellie?

They were lovers, of course.

I fell for him, too.

40 years old and we quarrelled

over that worthless...

Well, we're all fools when

it comes to love, aren't we?

Nellie would have done

anything for him.

He'd got that kind of power over women.

Well, he'd need to have something

special to get her to do that.

Do what?

It's a secret, dear.

My lips are sealed.

You're trying to get me drunk.

I certainly am.

I'd let you seduce me, dear,

but I've had my heart broken and

I haven't the energy for it these days.

My loss.

Who am I trying to protect?

It was my silly, love-struck sister

found him lodgings in Scotland

and even paid for the lawyer.

You mean they went away together?

No, just him,

to prove he'd been resident for 21 days.

It cost her a bob or two

but it had to be done legally.

Why would you need to prove

you'd spent 21 days in Scotland?

So he could get married.

They got married?

You mean to Nellie?

Don't be daft.

To Johnny Wytham's girl, Lady Mary.

Go on, boy.

Chaka!

Isabel!

He stabbed me!

It must have caught in my stays.

Chaka.

They wanted to take Chaka's body away.

But I wouldn't let them.

I said I'd look after him!

Why don't you burry it here,

in the garden.

Isabel's resting.

Her ribs were cut,

but it was just a surface wound.

The police can't understand

why any ordinary thief

would risk taking Chaka on.

You didn't say anything

about Bellmann?

We have no proof.

I think Isabel and I

should stay here for a while.

Would that be all right?

So, Nordenfels designs the gun.

And then Bellmann killed him and

patented the invention in his own name.

But where did he get

all his money from?

The Russian government.

When they found they didn't have

the expertise to build the steam gun,

they funded him to come here.

What I don't understand is why.

What use is a gun like that?

Isn't it obvious?

It would make any army invincible.

Only if there's a railway line nearby.

The enemy is hardly going to stand

around politely while you build one.

You're saying it's useless then?

Unless you're a government

facing internal unrest or revolution.

Then it's absolutely lethal.

All you need is a railway

through all your major cities

and ports,

you could defend any position.

Imagine a steam gun in

a city square full of protesters.

This isn't a battlefield weapon at all.

It's the ultimate weapon of

tyranny against civilian populations.

And he's got the damned nerve

to build this thing in England.

MacKinnon and Lady Mary.

You must have got it wrong, Fred.

Sorry, Jim.

The names are in the

register at Gretna Green.

Does he know his daughter's

already married?

He knows.

He's been all over Gretna Green

paying off witnesses to keep quiet.

I don't believe MacKinnon

is in love with her.

He doesn't love anyone except himself.

He must be after something else.

The same thing Bellmann wants,

only for a different reason.

Her inheritance.

Her mother's a big landowner and

the whole lot is entailed to Lady Mary.

A fortune in graphite mines.

What's graphite?

It's what pencils are made of.

And steam guns.

If Bellmann is going to corner the

market in graphite, MacKinnon has to go.

That's why Bellmann

wants MacKinnon dead.

He can't marry Lady Mary

if she's already married.

We must get to MacKinnon.

You hurt me, I'll scream.

I warn you.

Help me!

What do you think I'm doing,

having a cup of tea?!

That'll teach you to lay your

hands on the Wizard of The North.

You're coming with us.

And where's my bloody watch?

I just... I wanted...

I wanted to tell you before only...

I hope your marriage

will be very happy.

My marriage has caused me

nothing but trouble and misery.

He don't even know what he's got.

You smug Scotch git!

I mustn't stay here.

I'll go away.

I only ever bring bad luck to people.

You're tired, that's all. Go to bed.

You'll feel better in the morning.

Sorry, Isabel.

They're all there,

including the Scotsman.

And they didn't suspect anything?

No one looks twice at the painter

and decorator.

Wait until midnight.

Right.

You know, sir?

I really am favourably

impressed with Miss Lockhart.

It's a great pity there's

no prospect of making terms with her.

It's too late for that, Windlesham.

Far too late.

Fred, am I really unlikeable?

I didn't mean that.

I was angry.

I don't want us to call it a day.

You were right.

We do make a good team.

I could never give you up, Sally.

Never.

Sally.

Did I ever mention that I love you,

Lockhart?

Will you marry me?

Of course.

'Of course', she says, just like that!

After all this time.

I do love you.

I always have.

It's just...

I thought that I wouldn't

be myself somehow if I married you.

You make me more than I am.

Not less.

Fire!

Wake up! There's a fire!

Wake up, there's a fire!

He's back. The studio is on fire.

Everyone, get blankets.

- Where's Isabel?

- She won't come out.

- I'll get her.

- I'll go!

Get Sally out.

Come on.

- I can't.

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