Chapter 8
Eight
Truth be told, Annaliese was beginning to feel as if she was experiencing a drama-filled day that was never going to end, especially when, after Agent Pearson shot his pistol into the air, the monkey picked up her pace before she hurled herself up and onto Irma, who wasn’t exactly a lady who enjoyed animals hurling themselves on her in general.
Instead of jumping off Irma the moment Annaliese’s mother started shrieking, though, the monkey began trying to relieve Irma of the Merriweather diamond necklace encircling Irma’s neck, earning additional shrieks from Irma in return as she tried to wrest the necklace away from a monkey that was obviously skilled in the ways of relieving a person of their valuables.
To add an entirely new level of drama to the situation, Pippin, along with Wiggles and Fidget, began circling Irma, chirping in a fashion that could only be described as menacing.
“Pippin, stand down,” Annaliese called when she was five feet away from her mother, a demand that had Pippin freezing on the spot, Wiggles and Fidget doing the same after she shot them her stern look.
Ignoring the dejected looks she was now receiving from ferrets that rarely earned that particular look from her, she strode closer to her mother, who now seemed to be in the process of being strangled by a monkey that appeared determined to get possession of the necklace.
“Let . . . go,” Irma huffed as she continued tugging on the necklace.
“I think you’re going to have to let her have it, Mother, before someone gets hurt, and I don’t think that someone’s going to be the monkey,” Annaliese said.
A side-eye was Irma’s first response to that as she continued her tugging. “Agent Pearson only just retrieved this necklace from that horrid Mrs. George Bend. If you’ll recall, Mrs. Bend was first in line at the Sotheby’s sale we had to hold months ago when our fortune was stolen.”
“And while that was not well-done of Mrs. Bend to scoop up your jewelry for a fraction of its worth, I’m not suggesting you let the monkey keep it. Just hold it for a moment or two.”
“How do you know she’s not going to take off into the woods with it and never show her monkey face here again?”
“Perhaps we should simply find something she’ll find more enticing than diamonds,” Seth suggested, moving to stand beside Annaliese.
Her lips couldn’t help but curve when her gaze settled on him because the parrot was now firmly attached to Seth’s head, its long talons gripping his hair in what had to be a painful grip, not that Seth seemed bothered by that.
“Mr. McCormick,” Irma exclaimed before Annaliese could remark on the parrot. “What are you doing here, and why, pray tell, do you have a parrot on your head?”
“It’s been quite the interesting day, Mrs. Merriweather,” Seth returned. “But before Annaliese and I regale you with the details, let me see if I can figure out how to get that monkey off your back.”
With that, Seth stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and began pulling out an assortment of odd-looking contraptions that he promptly dumped on the ground. He then bent over and began sorting through everything.
Interestingly enough, while he sorted, the monkey stopped tugging on Irma’s necklace, her monkey gaze fixated on Seth, who took that moment to hold up the artificial eardrum, which the monkey all but scoffed at as she gave the necklace another tug.
“Thought it was worth a shot,” Seth murmured before he returned to his gadgets, his lips curving as he held up a brightly polished silver box, one that had a clasp on it and was not much bigger than a calling card.
“What do you think about this?” he asked the monkey, who immediately began chattering up a storm, something that left Irma turning rather pale.
“Ah, you like this, do you?” Seth asked as the monkey held out her paw, earning a shake of the head from Seth in return.
“You need to let go of the necklace first, or better yet, how about if you come over here next to me?” Seth held out his hand.
“I assure you, you’ll enjoy what’s called a sovereign change purse far better than that necklace because this dispenses coins. I have a feeling you like coins.”
A bit of additional monkey chatter commenced before she gave yet another tug on Irma’s necklace.
Seth smiled. “Ah, I see you don’t believe me.
Allow me to show you the marvel of this purse, although .
. .” His smile faded as he shot a glance to Annaliese.
“Perhaps she’d cooperate more if we were calling her by name because, if it’s escaped your notice, she has remarkably intelligent eyes, and we might be insulting her by not addressing her by name, or worse yet, calling her monkey. ”
Something that felt exactly like a flutter of butterfly wings took that moment to settle in Annaliese’s stomach, a feeling that rendered her speechless, until her mother began looking at her oddly right before a smidgen of what seemed to be calculation flickered through Irma’s eyes.
Having been the recipient of that exact look anytime Irma found a gentleman who hadn’t been apprised of Annaliese’s dismal reputation during her disappointing debut, and not caring to experience Irma turning relentless if she thought there was a viable suitor on the horizon, Annaliese shook all butterflies aside.
After summoning up a smile, and hoping it wasn’t overly bright since Irma would definitely decide that was an encouraging sign, she inclined her head Seth’s way. “That’s an excellent suggestion, and since you came up with it, any thoughts as to what we should name her?”
Seth’s eyes went distant for a long moment before he nodded.
“I recently had the privilege of meeting Harriet Russell Strong, a progressive lady if there ever was one, who’s been studying water shortages along the Colorado River and has some rather impressive ideas regarding how to control floodwaters and water storage.
” He smiled. “Seems to me, since you’re a progressive lady as well, that Harriet might be an appropriate name for your monkey. ”
The butterfly fluttering returned with a vengeance, something Annaliese tried to ignore by turning to the monkey. “What do you think, darling? Want us to name you Harriet as you seem to be a progressive monkey, just like Harriet Russell Strong is a progressive lady?”
The monkey tilted her head and then began chattering away, quite as if she was in full agreement that Harriet would be a more-than-appropriate name.
“Harriet it is, then,” Seth said, but before he could do more than hold out the change purse again, Irma shook her head.
“We can’t name her Harriet as Melinda Anderson’s mother is named Harriet. I very much doubt that lady is going to appreciate sharing her name with a monkey.”
Considering that Harriet immediately returned to attempting to relieve Irma of her necklace, resulting in Irma’s face turning bright red since Harriet was tugging harder than ever, it seemed as if the monkey understood far more of the conversation than Annaliese had imagined.
Before she could figure out how to proceed before her mother ran out of air, though, she noticed that Pippin, Wiggles, and Fidget were stealthily moving in on Irma again, coming at her from all directions in a strategic fashion, almost as if they were in the process of a coordinated attack.
Knowing it was highly unlikely that Irma would appreciate three ferrets launching themselves on her in an attempt to save her from Harriet, Annaliese stuck two fingers in her mouth and blew out a shrill whistle, one that had every animal, including Harriet, freezing on the spot.
“That’s quite enough nonsense for the day,” she said, snapping her finger in her ferrets’ direction. “You three, into the house, and no back talk about it, if you please.”
Pippin, instead of complying with that demand, stood on her hind legs and began prattling madly away, waving her front paws around in an obvious attempt to plead her case.
Unwilling to allow herself to be swayed by the sheer adorableness of that, Annaliese shook her head Pippin’s way, fighting a smile when the ferret dropped to all fours, let out a donk—a sound ferrets made when communicating—and after sending Annaliese an injured look, began slinking her way toward the castle, Wiggles and Fidget slinking along behind her.
They paused when they reached the steps, the reason for the pausing being that Drusilla, Annaliese’s sister and current headmistress of the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies, was standing at the bottom of the steps, not a hair out of place and appearing perfectly composed even though chaos had clearly visited the castle yet again, something it had done often after they’d first moved in.
Annaliese resisted the sigh she longed to expel because, while she adored her sister, Drusilla was one of those annoyingly competent types, one who’d been capable of saving the family after they’d been rendered penniless by making the bold decision to turn the castle their aunt had given them into an academy for young ladies.
And even though Drusilla had experienced her share of problems over the years, having even had a fiancé toss her over because of their stolen fortune, she’d always maintained a most proper air, which is exactly why she made such an excellent headmistress.
Annaliese, on the other hand, had never been very diligent when it came to matters of proper decorum, even though she’d received the same lessons in propriety that Drusilla had at the Sherwood Academy for Young Ladies.
That lack of diligence had been responsible for a few questionable incidents, which had then been responsible for why she’d been deemed all but a pariah by society.
In her defense, though, it wasn’t as if she could have ignored the urge to open a window at Mr. Charles Alsbury’s home, which allowed the escape of the two birds of paradise he’d bought for his wife because Mrs. Alsbury had admired their feathers.