The Devil's Workshop

Alex Grecian The Devil's Workshop

For my father

Epigraph

Push me down and shut my box,

And twist my arm about.

And listen to my merry tune.

I’ll soon be coming out.

Push me down again, Dear Childe,

I’m safely hid away.

But I’m not gone; it won’t be long

Till Jack comes out to play.

— RUPERT WINTHROP, “JACK IN THE BOX,” FROM Londontown Rhymes for the Nursery (1893)

Karstphanomen | kärst 'fän • o • men |

noun

1. A geological phenomenon of underground limestone formations that have selectively eroded and are consequently riddled with fissures, sinkholes, and cavities.

2. A secret society made up of prominent London citizens who believed that criminal punishment should more directly match the actions of the criminals themselves. The society operated throughout the Victorian era, but is thought to have disbanded by the early twentieth century.

— FROM Fulton’s Guide to Unfamiliar Words (1923)

PROLOGUE

LONDON

LATE APRIL 1890