Page 16 of A Lesson in Propriety (Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies #1)
Sixteen
It quickly became apparent that rescuing Mrs. Merriweather wasn’t going to be your run-of-the-mill uneventful rescue attempt, especially not when Drusilla’s mother all but launched herself at him when Rhenick got within a foot of her, almost taking him to the ground in the process.
Stumbling immediately commenced, unaided by the fact that Mrs. Merriweather now had her arms wrapped around his neck, which left her feet dangling in the air, until he finally found his balance, set her on her feet, and then found himself on the receiving end of an incredibly bright smile.
“My dear Mr. Whittenbecker,” Mrs. Merriweather breathed as she took hold of his arm. “I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I am to see you again, and can only pray that you’ve returned because you want to give my darling, and need I add, occasionally stubborn daughter, another opportunity to reconsider your marriage proposition. Before we get into that, though, allow me to correct a grave error between us since we weren’t properly introduced when Drusilla chased you off with a rifle the last time you were here, or perhaps it was the ferrets that had you on the run. Whatever the reason, though, I was unable to meet you formally, so know that I am Mrs. Morton Merriweather, Drusilla’s mother, but you may certainly call me Irma, as I feel we’re soon to be the best of friends.”
“And you must call me Rhenick” was all he could think to respond, since he knew full well that a friendship with the mother of a lady who might try to shoot him again was probably not going to happen anytime soon.
Irma’s smile turned downright blinding in its intensity. “You are a charming man, my dear, as well as obviously brave since I’m sure you were somewhat apprehensive about approaching Drusilla again.” Irma leaned closer. “What you should know right off the bat is that since we’ve learned the house is truly haunted, which I can personally attest to as I distinctly saw an apparition of my departed sister-in-law, as well as infested with rats and snakes, I’m convinced my daughter is now ready to admit she’s in way over her head.” Irma leaned closer still. “You mark my words, while Drusilla might have given you the impression she’s reluctant to marry you, if you don’t give up on her, she’ll come around in the end.”
“I don’t believe chasing me off with a rifle suggested your daughter was only a bit reluctant to entertain the thought of marriage to me.”
“But she didn’t shoot you, did she, dear? I think you should take that as an encouraging sign.”
“Given that your daughter didn’t know how to operate that rifle, I’m not sure she wasn’t actually trying to lodge a bullet in me.”
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. “You must 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 to death 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’ve devised 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.
“Who in the world is that?” Drusilla asked.
“It’s not a developer, if that’s your concern,” Rhenick hurried to say. “It’s my mother, Wilhelmine Whittenbecker, who was supposed to wait at the gate until I rode down there to fetch her if I thought you’d be receptive to hearing us out, but who must have been worried that my initial meeting with you wasn’t going well since I’ve left her waiting for quite some time.”
Before he could add any sort of explanation regarding why he and his mother wanted Drusilla to hear them out, the carriage came to a stop, the door swung open, and his mother stepped out, although Wilhelmine hesitated right beside the carriage door, obviously waiting for him to send her some sort of sign that it was safe for her to approach them.
Given the way Drusilla’s eyes had taken to flashing, quite like her mother’s had recently done, he wasn’t completely convinced it was safe for his mother just yet, which was why he sent Wilhelmine a discreet shake of his head before he redirected his attention to Drusilla, who rose to her feet and took a step closer to him.
“While I was certainly willing, given how you intervened with the ravens on my behalf, to extend you a brief moment to hear what you came to say,” she began, “I’m not certain that’s still the case. You’ve obviously decided to try out some new tactic in order to get your hands on my land, but if you’ve brought your mother with you so that she can attempt to convince me to marry you, know that while I won’t pull a rifle on anyone’s mother, I won’t hesitate to aim another one at you.”