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The constable raised his stick. “’Ere now, what do you mean by waving that about in front of ladies?”
Edgar was poised to intervene when Miss Perkins took matters into her own hands.
Literally.
She grabbed the snake from Michel and stuffed it into her reticule, closing the clasp.
“Thank you ever so much, Michel. This will be very useful for our herpetology lesson tomorrow,” she said.
The constable eyed her with exactly the same wary expression Edgar must have used earlier. “Youasked’em to bring you a snake?”
“Why, of course.” Miss Perkins regarded the constable as if it were the most common request in the world. “And they found me a splendid example of a grass snake, ornatrix natrix, isn’t that right, children?”
Michel nodded, gazing up at Miss Perkins. “Is that his name? Natrix?”
“We’ll call him Trix,” announced Adele with a toss of her tangled black curls.
“Is he venomous?” asked Mrs. Fairfield in a trembling voice.
“Not in the least,” said Miss Perkins. “Grass snakes are a peaceful, water-loving breed, as I informed the children. The only reptile native to England that must be avoided at all costs is the adder, or common viper. But those are usually only found on the moorlands or in bogs.”
“We found Trix by the Serpentine,” said Michel proudly.
Miss Perkins nodded. “Very appropriate.”
“They were all alone,” the constable said, scratching his chin. “Two children tearing through Hyde Park. Splashing about in the water.”
“Yes,” she nodded. “We’ve already established that they were hunting snakes. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
She was always at the ready with a proverb.
The constable frowned. “They said as their father was a duke but, you’ll excuse me, miss, I had my doubts.”
“Why should you have had doubts?”
“They was all covered in river mud. And they’re not exactly fair complexioned to begin with, now are they?”
“True,” said Miss Perkins, in her lilting, cheery voice. “But then neither are you, Constable. Fair complexioned, that is. To my eye you’re rather a plummy sort of shade, especially about the nose.” She peered closer, examining the appendage in question. “Almost as if you overindulged in the tipple of an evening?” She leaned forward and sniffed at his breath. “Or an afternoon. Tut, tut.”
“I beg your pardon,” sputtered the constable. “I never.”
Michel and Adele grinned at Miss Perkins.
India snorted. “She’s perfect,” she whispered in Edgar’s ear.
“Why, because she orders me about and keeps snakes in her purse?”
“Because she stands up for the children.”
“Thank you for bringing the children safely home, Constable,” said Miss Perkins. “Cook will have something for you in the kitchens. Off you go then,” she said with a stern look. “Mrs. Fairfield will show you the way.”
The constable knew when he’d been dispatched.
He followed the housekeeper out of the entrance hall with a dazed expression.
“Are you going to be our new governess?” Michel asked Miss Perkins when he was gone.
“That’s for your father to decide.” She straightened and turned toward Edgar.
