Dorothea looked delighted at his words. "Really? Doesn't your-doesn't your body need time to recover?"
"This doesn't have much to do with my body. What I mainly need is a sacrifice-let's get started now!"
The three briefly divided up the work.
Dorothea went to the old house in the Canal District to fetch the two children, while Allen went to buy some daily necessities.
As for Vanessa-she opened the door and tottered out onto the streets of the Hearthfire District.
The housing arrangements were naturally Elliot's work. He hadn't needed to bother slipping Vanessa money at all-he could easily arrange everything through the Sterling Family's public channels.
Besides-he had another use for settling the three of them here.
Vanessa's stooped figure blended into the hurried crowds of the Hearthfire District-workers getting off their shifts, coachmen hauling goods-no one noticed the unremarkable old woman.
66
"Fifteen-sixteen-"
Vanessa's gaze swept inconspicuously over corners, bends in pipes, and the backs of discarded door panels-occasionally lingering on an unobtrusive corner.
"There's one here too-"
By the time she reached Linoleum Street, Elliot's expression before the Difference Engine had grown grave.
"I thought only the factory had been infiltrated, but these secret marks are everywhere!"
Elliot had seen these secret marks while inspecting his own factory earlier. Now it seemed their influence was probably considerable throughout the Hearthfire District.
The Difference Engine's scenery also reproduced the glowing mark. Elliot looked down at it: a long, thin design with a few simple dots on it.
It resembled a-flute.
A thought struck Elliot, and he guided Vanessa across Linoleum Street toward the other side of the Hearthfire District.
This wasn't the Sterling Family's territory, and the entire neighborhood had a completely different character from the one before.
The roads were noticeably cleaner, the pedestrians walked at an