Chapter the Ninth: The Discovery

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Once Leavitt had made his way to work, Marjorie made her way upstairs in order to search his room, but came to the realisation that she could not open the door once she made an attempt to enter the room. Oh, so this is what Montague meant when he told her to climb through the bedroom window! Goodness gracious, she possessed a strong intuition, but his intuition appeared to be clairvoyant! What a fearsome gentleman he was...

Marjorie feared that she would disturb Leavitt's bedroom in such a manner that it became evident that she had tampered with his belongings, but what must be done must be done. Surely it would be more morally acceptable to attempt to prevent such dreadful occurrences and be caught than to never investigate and to allow his dreadful machinations to continue! But although she knew she was doing what she deemed the virtuous thing to do, she feared losing her post as a maid and being cast upon the streets. And, should Montague tire of her denunciations of how he cared for his kids to such an extent that he deemed it prudent to punish her, he could inform Leavitt of how she had acted on her intuition! Oh, how she feared the prospect of retribution...

She returned down the staircase as visions of retribution raced through her mind. There was not ample time to climb through the window and thoroughly investigate the bedroom, so she must make haste! And, as she made haste, she nearly tripped over her skirts, and the only thing preventing her from falling down the stairs and breaking her neck was the swiftness of her grabbing ahold of the banister! She collided with the wall, her heart galloping like a racehorse. After this incident, she resumed her journey down the staircase with a greater degree of caution, approaching a snail's pace. This was surely not good for the lengthly tasks which she must perform...

As she passed through the front door, she inspected her surroundings to ensure that no neighbours were observing her misdeeds. Unfortunately, the neighbour, Mrs. Simmons, was tending to her garden at that very moment. Mrs. Simmons would chatter too much to bear, and the subject of her chattering would always be as uninteresting as sitting before a seedling until it grew into a flower! She meant well, but she really was a profoundly tedious woman.

"Oh, hello Marjorie!" declared Mrs. Simmons with a hospitable smile. "The sunshine is wonderful today, is it not? The incessant rain almost caused me to believe that the sun would never shine again!"

"Yes," agreed Marjorie, "it does become rather glum when it rains." She hoped for the rain to return so that Mrs. Simmons would return indoors and she would have no need to listen to the incessant chattering which would ensue!

"I wished to go for a stroll with little Norma, but the rain poured down before I could do so! I felt so terrible! I had promised her that we could go for a stroll shortly, but the rain poured down before I could do so!"

"How truly awful it is that it must rain so much," sympathised Marjorie, though she thought to herself that Mrs. Simmons was to blame as it was clear that it would rain. "The weather is glorious today, though! I do wish I could go for a stroll today rather than cleaning the house..."

"That reminds me! I have such a lot of dusting to do once I have taken Norma for a stroll... Perhaps I should leave the dusting for tomorrow and enjoy the sunshine."

"Yes," agreed Marjorie. She wished she was anywhere but near Mrs. Simmons as they discussed the most banal subject matter in the entirety of Great Britain. "You really do clean rather a lot, and you deserve a rest." Within her mind, Marjorie cast dreadful imprecations upon herself due to her inability to assert that she really must leave, for she has such a lot to do on this day. Why could she not do so? Why must she always make affability the priority rather than allowing herself time to complete her tasks without such stress?

"I suppose you're right!"

Inside the household of Mrs. Simmons, Norma began to wail, for she had fallen over.

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