Irma’s smile dimmed ever so slightly before she squared her shoulders. “You may very well have a point, but again, since Drusilla’s now had an opportunity to discover for herself that the castle really is haunted, I believe she’ll be more receptive to a marriage proposition from you.”
Realizing that Irma was not going to be easily dissuaded from her determination to see him married to her daughter, Rhenick decided a change of topic might be in order. “Youmust tell me how you came to conclude that the castle is well and truly haunted.”
Her gaze darted around, quite as if she were ascertaining there were no ghosts nearby to hear what she was about to disclose. “I saw proof with my own eyes. If you can imagine—there I was, settling down to sleep in Ottilie’s old suite of rooms, a suite my daughters insisted I move into as there are spectacular views of the lake from almost every vantage point. After spending a few moments saying good night to my lady’s maid, Miss Tremblay, I then had her draw the drapes around the four-poster bed, waited for her to blow out the candles we’d used to sufficiently light the room, and closed my eyes, knowing sleep would soon be in my grasp as I was exhausted from the events of the day.”
Irma shuddered ever so slightly. “I must have fallen asleep, for how long I’m not sure, but then I found myself wide awake and confronted with a ghostly figure that had opened up the drapes on the four-poster bed and was simply standing there, peering at me.”
“How could you see the ghost if you blew out your candles before you went to sleep? And while I’m thinking about it, why use candles in the first place when I know Ottilie has gas lighting?”
“Norbert isn’t certain the gas is still safe to turn on since it’s not been used for months, so candles it is until we can have that inspected, but...” Irma glanced around again before lowering her voice. “I could see the figure because it was holding a candle, standing there calm as you please—until it pointed a finger at me and started talking. That’s when I knew it was Ottilie.”
“Because?”
“She told me that I, along with the girls, needed to return to New York because we were in danger. No other ghost who would be haunting this place knows I’m from New York.”
Rhenick tilted his head. “And did this ghost sound like Ottilie?”
“I can’t say for certain because, in all honesty, I was scared todeath at the time. I do recall that Ottilie sounded like she had a cold, which is odd because I wouldn’t think ghosts caught colds, seeing as how they’re dead and all.”
“What happened after she told you to return to New York?”
“She said I’d be sorry if I didn’t listen to her because horrible things would happen to me. She then twitched the curtains shut, blew out the candle, and disappeared.”
“Did you find it odd that a ghost could twitch something, or for that matter, light and hold a candle?”
A pursing of the lips was Irma’s first response to that. “Now you sound exactly like Drusilla, who doesn’t believe ghosts are capable of twitching anything either, let alone striking a match to light a candle. But while I have no idea how Ottilie managed those things, I know what I saw.”
“Forgive me if I offended you,” Rhenick said. “I simply have a lot of questions, as I’ve never spoken to anyone who encountered a ghost before, and my next question is this—what did you do after this ghost disappeared?”
“What anyone who finds themselves confronted with a ghost would do. I screamed and didn’t stop until Drusilla, Annaliese, and Seraphina came rushing into my room.”
“Did they detect any signs of this ghost?”
Irma’s eyes took to flashing. “They did not, and to my annoyance, my daughters now believe that I’ve either taken complete leave of my senses, or that I claimed to have seen a ghost as a way to force Drusilla into considering other options to save the family instead of opening up a ladies’ academy, but...” Irma’s eyes stopped flashing as she took to smiling brightly at him again. “Speaking of options, here I am waxing on about my ghostly encounter when, clearly, you’re here with a specific purpose in mind.”
Rhenick opened his mouth, but before he could get a single word out, Irma held up a hand.
“No need to divulge the particulars of whatever tactic you’vedevised to further your quest to marry Drusilla, but know that I’m firmly on your side and will be cheering you on as you make your case to my daughter. And now, with that settled...”
In the span of a heartbeat, he found himself being herded toward the front of the castle until Irma abruptly stopped in her tracks. Her nose then took to wrinkling after she settled her attention on Drusilla, who was, thankfully, once again sitting on the bench with her sister, who, as luck would have it, didn’t appear to have any of her attack ferrets with her.
“Is it my imagination or does it appear as if my daughter has been the victim of some sort of accident—and one that involved a great deal of dirt?” Irma asked.
“She apparently suffered a run-in with some ravens while she was cleaning out the chimney.”
Irma raised a hand to her throat. “Do not tell me that besides rats and snakes we also have ravens living inside the castle.”
“I believe the ravens were nesting in the chimney, which isn’t technically living inside the castle.”
“A comforting thought, but...” Irma was suddenly looking at him with horror in her eyes. “Surely I didn’t hear you correctly, because it would be quite beyond the pale for Drusilla to turn herself into a chimney sweep.” She sent him a rather weak smile. “Know that if she was cleaning the chimney, though, it must have been for a very good reason because Drusilla has never—as in ever—placed herself in a situation where dirt is actually involved, as that’s not what proper ladies do.”
“She seems to be taking all the dirt in stride,” Rhenick reassured her. “Just as she barely blinked an eye over the fact she’d been set upon by rampaging ravens while she was in the chimney flue.”
“Of course they’d be rampaging ravens” was all Irma said to that before she lifted her chin, tightened her grip on his arm, then hauled him into motion, not stopping until she was directly in front of Drusilla.
“Mr. Whittenbecker, or Rhenick as he has encouraged me to address him,” Irma began, “has come to call on you, Drusilla. And since he just went to the bother of rescuing me from a situation where I could have very well lost my life, I expect you to afford him the courtesy of a few minutes of your time to hear what he’s come to say—and without pulling a rifle on him, if you please.”
Before Drusilla could do more than incline her head, which hopefully meant she was going to hear him out and not while holding him at rifle-point, a carriage rumbled into view—his mother’s carriage, in fact.
