“My mother will appreciate that, and it was very kind of you to think of giving Harriet some jewelry.”
“Zut!” Pierre squawked again before she gave Louisa a bit of a peck.
“Bless her heart. I think Pierre wants some jewelry as well, and I might just have a few diamond hairpins we could add to that tuft on top of her head, but...” She waggled a finger at Pierre. “You’ll need to watch your language in order to get that jewelry, and if you’re determined to speak French, you should say things likeje ne sais quoi.Now you try.”
“Pierre’s a bonny lass.”
“Bless her heart again, she’s already learned her new name.” Louisa turned to Seth. “Isn’t that impressive?”
“Indeed, although I find myself more impressed that you speak French.”
“It’s amazing what one can pick up while convalescing due to a horrible case of scurvy.”
“You learned French on your own?”
“It’s not a difficult language to learn,” Louisa said before she moved into motion again, pausing once she reached the side of the castle. “I’m going to fetch that jewelry for Harriet and then I’ll meet you... ?”
“The right turret should be scent-free,” Annaliese said, earning a nod from Louisa, who rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, Harriet scrambling to catch up with her, the monkey clutching the brooch Louisa had given her as if she was never going to let it go.
“I need to check on the students, as well as the other instructors, before we meet with your mother,” Annaliese said, ignoring the steps that led to the back courtyard and following Louisa instead.
To Annaliese’s concern, after reaching the front of the castle, instead of finding Louisa heading for her carriage, she discovered the lady standing in the middle of the drive, shading her eyes with her hand as she peered at something in the distance.
“What is it?” Annaliese asked as she stopped beside Louisa.
“Someone’s coming up fast.”
Directing her attention to where Louisa was peering, Annaliese felt apprehension crawl through her when she realized Flick, the strongman from the fair, was galloping up the drive, and while wearing a sleeveless shirt that exposed his muscular arms, something that was evidently responsible for more than a few young ladies gawking at him. More concerning than the sight of a man with no sleeves, though, was the sight of Velma sitting behind him on his horse, and more concerning than that was the fact that Norma Jean was nowhere in sight.
Fifteen
Seth was bolting down the drive the moment he spotted Velma, reaching Flick just as that man swung from the saddle and lifted Velma down beside him.
One glance at Velma’s tear-stained face sent alarm bells clanging off in Seth’s mind as he took a step closer to her. “Where’s Norma Jean?”
Instead of answering, Velma buried her face in her hands and began sobbing.
“She’s been doing that ever since I found her sitting on a bench at the train station,” Flick said, giving Velma an awkward pat on the back, which only made her sob harder, until Annaliese stepped forward and drew the girl into her arms, not saying a word as Velma took to hiccupping as she kept her head firmly buried in Annaliese’s shoulder.
“You found her at the train station?” Seth repeated.
Flick nodded. “The fair’s heading south for the winter, and everyone takes a train to get there. I’ve parted company with the fair because people have gotten chilly toward me ever since I didn’t help Paulie with what Marvel the Magician told everyone would have been a substantial windfall.” He shook his head. “Everyone seemed to believe Paulie would have shared that windfall, even though I know if he had been successful withextracting funds from you, he would have taken the money and run.”
Seth’s stomach clenched. “Please tell me that you’re not going to disclose that Paulie got his hands on my sister.”
“I haven’t seen Paulie since he ran off after that grenade exploded,” Flick admitted. “That’s why I helped myself to his horse, which he stole about a month ago, knowing he’s probably already stolen another one.” He gave his horse a pat. “Me and Fleet, that’s what I named this darling, are going to head south as well so I can look for work, but we moseyed on over to the train station so I could say goodbye to a few folks I’m going to miss, specifically Miranda, the mermaid lady.”
“And you saw Velma once you got to the train station?” Annaliese asked.
“Yep,” Flick said. “I wasn’t able to say goodbye to Miranda though, because I got the train schedule wrong—not being able to read real good and all. But it turned out to be a fortunate thing because I spotted Velma on my way out of the train station and recognized her.” He shook his head. “I thought it was odd she’d be by herself after what happened at the fair and decided to check on her.
“It didn’t take much prodding to find out what was wrong because, after I said hello, she blurted out the entire story—something that revolved around a diversion plan, then a mad dash to the train station, where her friend, Norma Jean, got them tickets out of town.” Flick gave his ear a tug. “Velma evidently got cold feet and told Norma Jean she couldn’t go off on some adventure because that would earn her a year’s worth of cleaning out retiring rooms once they got caught.
“Norma Jean then got mad and told Velma she was going with or without her, at which point Velma told Norma Jean she couldn’t go traipsing off without a chaperone, which could ruin Norma Jean’s reputation.” Flick’s eyes clouded with what seemed to be a trace of bewilderment. “I was a little unclear howtheir reputations would have remained intact if two young girls ran away together without a chaperone, but when I asked that, Velma didn’t answer because she’d taken to weeping again.”
“Their reputations would have certainly suffered if word got out they made it out of town without a chaperone,” Annaliese said.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing that Norma Jean hired herself one—that being Miranda, the mermaid lady I was going to say goodbye to,” Flick said.
