“I know nothing about publishing.”
“You didn’t know anything about being a decorum instructor either, but you’ve done remarkably well teaching students the rudimentary skills of civility.”
“I’m currently in the process of pursuing—and across the country, at that—a young lady who sat in my civility class,” Annaliese pointed out. “I’m relatively certain that competent civility instructors aren’t required to pursue civility in quite the same fashion I seem to be pursuing it right now.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re incompetent as an instructor.”
“It certainly doesn’t suggest I’m going to win any instructor of the year awards either.”
“A somewhat fair point, but if you ask me, your heart has never been in the instruction business in the first place, and you only took up your current role out of necessity.”
“Drusilla and I do enjoy eating, and opening an academy on a shoestring budget required both of us, along with Seraphina and my mother, to take on roles we’d never anticipated.”
“But now that the Merriweather fortune has been restored,and you also came into that trust your aunt Ottilie set up for you, it’s no longer necessary for you to continue on at the academy since there’s more than enough money to hire decorum instructors who actually enjoy that position.”
“Drusilla did point that out to me before she left with Rhenick.”
Seth gave his jaw a rub. “Then I’m afraid I don’t understand why you keep worrying about your inadequacies as an instructor or why you aren’t making plans to do something besides continuing on at the academy.”
It was a question she’d frequently asked herself, and in all honesty, there was a simple explanation to explain the why of it:
She’d never been expected to succeed at much, especially not after everyone in her family had come to realize that she wasn’t going to follow in Drusilla’s footsteps and become a more-than-proper lady, her dismal debut proving that without a shadow of a doubt.
Nevertheless, there was a part of her that wanted to find her true place in the world, but...
“What if I’m inadequate with whatever I might choose to do next?” she heard slip out of her mouth before she could stop herself, earning a blink from Seth in return before he scooted closer to Louisa, then patted the spot beside him on the settee. He then waited until she took a seat next to him before he opened his mouth.
“Have you not noticed how some of my inventions don’t go according to plan at first?” he began.
“It would have been difficult to miss the exploding flame thrower a few months back.”
His eyes twinkled. “Indeed, but you see, inventing is one of my passions in life. That’s why I keep inventing even though I’ve suffered more than my fair share of failures over the years.” He leaned closer. “You need to follow your passions, Annaliese. And yes, you might experience some failures along the way, buttake it from someone who’s seen many failures, when it involves something you love, failures simply make you stronger.”
Annaliese took a moment to consider that before she frowned. “I don’t believe running a publishing house would be a passion of mine. But I can’t say that the thought of finding a way to publish and then distribute information about insects, or drawing attention to the plight of so many bird species that are being decimated by plume hunters, as well as beavers and the like by fur traders, doesn’t hold a certain appeal.”
“You could always hire people to open a publishing house for you.”
“An excellent idea,” Louisa proclaimed before she turned her attention to the train window. “However, I’m afraid further talk of publishing will need to wait because, if the two of you have neglected to notice, we’re slowing down.”
The sound of the brakes squealing took that moment to reverberate around the Pullman car, and a few moments later, the train shuddered to a stop. Annaliese moved to the Pullman door and muscled it open before she stuck her head out, discovering in the process that the reason for the stop was because there was another train parked on the tracks several yards in front of them.
“Think it broke down?” she asked as Seth joined her.
“I’ll go ask,” he said before he moved through the door and jumped to the ground, Flick following him, both men striding over to join a group of people who were standing outside the train, some of the ladies blotting their faces with handkerchiefs.
“That’s never a good sign,” Annaliese said, stepping from the train but deciding not to follow Seth as he was already in the process of speaking to a man wearing a uniform. Seth then nodded, turned, and with Flick by his side, began striding back to the Pullman car, the expression on their faces lending the distinct impression that something was seriously amiss.
“There was a train robbery,” Seth said once he drew close enough for her to hear him.
Annaliese’s brow furrowed. “A train robbery? Out here? In the middle of nowhere?”
“A very unusual circumstance, more unusual because, of course, this is the train Norma Jean was on.”
“Was...?”
Flick nodded. “Unbelievable luck we seem to be having because not only was this the train Norma Jean was on, but the only reason she and Miranda aren’t on it now is this—It seems that Paulie, the brute from the fair, made off with Norma Jean and Miranda just a short time ago, or at least it sounded like Paulie from the description the conductor just gave me of the robber.” Flick dashed a hand through his hair, leaving it standing on end. “The conductor said that Paulie boarded the train bound for Pensacola and took a seat, not in the passenger car Miranda and Norma Jean were in, but one directly behind it.”
“He just happened to board the same train as Miranda and Norma Jean?” Annaliese asked.
