“Indeed, but she’s rather proficient with persuasion and convinced her lady’s maid that the rules of putting your hair up had changed.”
“You’re certainly going to have some challenges with Mr. Whittenbecker’s sisters, but speaking of Mr. Whittenbecker...” Mr. Grimsby took one last glance out the door, nodded to where Rhenick was already on Sweet Pea and trailing behind Wilhelmine’s departing phaeton, then closed the door and settled a stern gaze on her.
She fought the inclination to fidget when Mr. Grimsby simply continued considering her as his stern expression didn’t waver in the least.
“You wanted to say something about Rhenick?” she finally asked.
Mr. Grimsby gave a bob of his head. “Indeed, although I’m not quite certain how I should phrase what I need to say, so perhaps it might be best for me to simply spit out what I, along with Mrs. O’Sullivan, have been thinking.”
“Why do I get the distinct impression I’m soon to be in for a lecture?”
“It’s not a lecture, my dear, but as you have absolutely no one to advise you, or rather, no one to advise you who possesses yearsof worldly wisdom as Mrs. O’Sullivan and I do, I feel duty bound to lend you some advice. That advice revolves around this—your determination to keep every gentleman at arm’s length will not see you happy, especially not when a man like Rhenick Whittenbecker would be only too happy to get closer to you.”
“Rhenickiscloser to me than any gentleman has ever been because we’ve become friends.”
“After being privy to the conversation you and Mr. Whittenbeck just shared—and no, I won’t be apologizing for eavesdropping as I was manning the door and couldn’t avoid it—it seems to me as if Mr. Whittenbecker was hedging around a little, waiting to see what your response would be to him explaining that a lady like you deserved a proper proposal, but you made no response at all.”
“Because I had no ideahowto respond.”
“You could have said that you’ve come to the realization that you may have been a little hasty demanding that he never speak about marriage with you again.”
Drusilla blinked. “That would have been completely untoward, as well as forward of me, and besides that, I don’t recall ever mentioning anything to you or Mrs. O’Sullivan about me changing my mind regarding the whole marriage business.”
Mr. Grimsby moved to where he’d left some polishing rags beside a suit of armor. “The only reason you haven’t admitted that you might have changed your mind is because you’re stubborn and don’t want to admit that you were wrong when you decided to lump all gentlemen into a they’re-all-cads category. Clearly Mr. Whittenbecker is nothing of the sort, just as, clearly, you like him and enjoy spending time in his company.”
“As I already mentioned, we’ve become friends. Of course I like him.”
Mr. Grimsby picked up a cloth, squinted at the suit of armor, then took to polishing what looked to be a fingerprint off it. “In my humble opinion, starting off a relationship as friendsis the best way to begin. And how could you not be friends with Rhenick since he’s a very impressive man with ambitions that I know will see him eventually become one of the most sought-after architects in Chicago? More importantly than that, though, and what has impressed me and Mrs. O’Sullivan the most about him is that he’s incredibly caring and protective of his mother and sisters. He’s also a gentleman who respects women in general, and that right there speaks to who he truly is at heart.”
Before Drusilla could respond to that, although she wasn’t certain how to respond as it certainly hadn’t escaped her notice how dedicated Rhenick was to his family, or how he truly did seem to respect her opinions, Seraphina and Annaliese came striding up the hallway, the sound of the bells Annaliese had attached to her ferrets’ collars jingling merrily away.
“I think they’re going to be alright with the bells,” Annaliese said, stopping beside Drusilla and sending a fond look to her ferrets, who were now scampering in and around the suits of armor, looking quite as if they were in the midst of a ferret game of hide-and-seek. “I’m not sure they’ll continue to be alright, though, if we bring the goats back into the house, as Fidget doesn’t seem to care for goats, nor does she care for Mother Goose because I caught her chasing the goose around the backyard the other day, obviously with the intent of chasing her right off the castle grounds.”
Drusilla winced. “Since the last thing we need right now is a goat, ferret, and goose war, we’ll keep the goats and goose outside for now, but I am going to have Riley leave the barn door open at night from this point forward since the goats could alert us if anyone takes to snooping around the grounds.”
“You think Norbert might come back?” Seraphina asked.
“I’m not sure what to think about Norbert, especially after I found his keys on my office desk.”
Seraphina frowned. “That’s rather odd.”
“Everything about our lives seems odd these days,” Annaliese muttered. “But oddness aside, I think I’ll go check in with Mother, who curiously enough, seems as if she’s in good spirits, even knowing Sanford may be on his way to Chicago to do her in. After that, I’m going to head off to bed, as I could certainly use some sleep.”
“I could use some sleep, as well,” Seraphina said. “But given that we seem to be incurring more threats against us on an hourly basis, I’m fairly sure, even with Rhenick returning later to take turns with Riley on patrols around the grounds tonight, I’ll be sleeping with one eye open.”
“One would think,” Drusilla began as she headed for the stairs, Seraphina falling into step on her right with Annaliese doing the same on her left, “given how much we’ve dealt with today, that the odds of us experiencing additional drama would be slim to none, which means we should be able to enjoy a very peaceful night of sleep indeed.”
Thirty-One
The sound of her door creaking open had Drusilla waking with a start, but before she could do more than swing her legs over the side of the four-poster bed and jump to the ground, Annaliese was stealing into her room, candle in hand and a finger to her lips.
“What is it?” Drusilla whispered.
“There’s a suit of armor strolling around the great hall.”
“What?”
“Shhh ... you heard me. A suit of armor is moseying around the castle.”
