Story Snip from Larksong: Chapter 34, and an Insect Hotel
ow!
We're nearing the end of the story.
I'm going to try to post right up until the end of June, which will mark a full year of sharing snips!
Larksong is set in Montreal, July 1914.
In chapter 1, Alice arrived at the family cottage to take care of her grandmother's aviary, following her grandmother's funeral, only to find that her parents had already leased the cottage to another family for the summer. The only way she could have one more summer in her favourite place was to surreptitiously take on the role of governess to the two young girls...
In chapter 2, we met George, laid up at the hospital with a broken leg. Instead of joining his friends on a Grand Tour of Europe, he's being sent off to recuperate at a rented cottage in the country...
In chapters 3 and 4, we returned to Alice's point of view, and saw her bonding with George's younger sisters. Then she got a surprise -- George was arriving at the cottage that very day! We saw a hint that Alice finds George attractive and interesting -- but also unbearably rude.
In chapters 5 to 10, they had their first argument, then argued once more, but the stakes were higher: war is on the horizon. Then George attempted a rapprochement. Alice had some feelings stirring... During their first evening together, they began to suss each other out over a card game, and they reached a détente of sorts before going their separate ways for the night.
In chapters 11 and 12, we started the next morning in George's point of view, with his dawning realization of his attraction to Alice. Yet this realization did not lead to greater friendliness.
In chapter 13 (which I mistakenly also labelled as 12!), a new complication arose, in the form of the arrival of Albert, George's younger, and rather rude, brother. Meanwhile, George was busy with inappropriate (as he thinks) thoughts of Alice. (I skipped a scene where Alice takes the girls down to the lake and needs to pretend with a neighbour, Mrs Chase, that she is not a governess, but simply helping out with the girls. Then, while Alice is distracted, trying to spin her web of half-truths and discussing the threat of war on the horizon, Lucy gets up on a rickety boat tied up at the dock and fell off into the water.)
In chapter 14, on returning from the lake, Alice and the girls overheard an argument that ended with this outburst from George to his brother Albert: "I don't need your tales of self-pity. The question is, what are you going to do about it, now that you've f***ed it all up?"
In chapters 15 to 19, we witnessed the fallout from the argument, then shared a moment between Alice and George in the garden. Alice left George and resumed her governess role, and decided not to join the brothers that evening in the parlour. Then, early the next morning, Alice went out, only to find George rowing on the lake, and joined him.
In chapter 20, following their early morning idyll, we finally had a true rapprochement. Alice, making up her mind in an instant, called out to George's sisters: "We're going on an expedition with your brother." (I skipped the rest of chapter 20, in which we take a trip through the woods with Alice, George, and his sisters. There are friendly chats, the girls sign their brother's cast, and George begins work on a sketch of Alice. When they return home, the girls help Alice feed the birds in the aviary and clean it in preparation for the arrival of Mr Palmer, a prospective buyer visiting from Boston. Mr Palmer says he will make his decision on purchasing the aviary and return the next day. Throughout the day, there are hints of the gathering storms of war.)
In chapters 21 and 22, as Alice saw Mr Palmer off at the gate, a new complication emerged, in the arrival of Albert's friends from university. Alice and George came close to admitting their attraction, but then George unwittingly insulted the birds and the aviary and Alice's affection for her grandmother's pets.
In chapter 23, following omitted scenes (a bit of George's reflections on Alice, and his feelings for her (as well as memories of unfavourable reactions from his parents about his hobby of sketching and painting); at the end, he decides that it might be a lark to try to lure Pixie away from his brother. He proceeds to do just that before dinner as she plays up her role of nurse and guides George through some exercises in the front parlour. This leads to an arm wrestling match between all the boys, involving both wagers for a few coins--and kisses for the winner from Pixie. That evening, they all gather in the front parlour, and agree to attend the ball and bonfire at the Hatley Manor hotel the next night. George catches Albert and Pixie canoodling in the kitchen, but decides he's in no position to say anything because he was ready to embrace Alice the governess), the next day, the crowd slept in, all except Alice, who took her charges into the village to watch a magic lantern show. On their return, George decided to show them his secret--the full extent of his artistry. It was revealed that Eleanor is also a budding artist, and the siblings agreed to continue to develop their talent and to hide it from their disapproving parents.
In chapters 24 and 25, the girls returned to the house, and Alice and George, alone in the enclosed garden, sat side by side on the bench... They kissed, and Alice revealed her true identity to George. They talked, perhaps all too briefly, about what they would do with their newfound feelings.
In chapter 26, George watches her with Mr Palmer (who's returned to inspect the aviary and agree on its purchase) and thinks about how he's actually looking forward to the big party at the fancy hotel that night, now that he'll have Alice on his arm. I've skipped this bit, and a bit where they discuss Alice's attachment to the cottage and the birds, as well as the fact that Alice isn't really a governess and what they might have to tell his family, if anything. Also a part where, seated side-by-side and hand-in-hand on the porch, they talk of George's hopes and plans for his future career, in despite of his father. Then she asked him if he meant to return to England, but Albert interrupted.
In chapter 27 and 28, in the evening, they all made their way to the banquet and dance at Hatley Manor. Alice juggled her governess duties with advances from Albert--and affairs of the heart (I've left out a bit of conversation with other partygoers from the village and the interlude when Elsie arrives to pick up the girls)
In chapters 29 to 32, Alice and George returned to the house together (I've left out the bit of their conversation about Albert and his friends, and their journey to the house, with George in his chair--but his crutches have been lost), and they grew closer than ever before, until Albert interrupted them! I've omitted the argument between George and his brother, Albert's unwanted advances on Alice, and an interlude in which George and Alice, in his bedroom, take their relationship further than they have before, until George says the wrong thing and Alice storms upstairs to bed) and, the next morning, Alice woke to find all the birds gone from the aviary! She went out seeking them, speculating as to who might have released them (I've omitted a breakfast interlude in which Pixie pretends to perform nursing duties towards George)...
In chapter 33, she argued with George on the path, about his sisters, about the birds, about Alice sticking to the story of herself as governess. (I've skipped the bit where she catches up with Eleanor, and between the two of them, they coax most of the birds back to the aviary).
Now, just when Alice thinks all might be salvaged, things take a turn for the worse...
Alice counted the birds twice--and once more--before she allowed herself a sigh of relief. Only the mynah pair were left, and those two wouldn't have gone far. They were picky eaters and likely were already near the house, waiting for someone to appear with the honey-coated seeds they preferred. Alice refilled the two cages and strung them up on the lawn where she could keep an eye on them, then finally took a breather, settling onto the verandah swing.
Laughter rang out through the open windows of the dining room behind her, and on its heels came Pixie's jeering tone. "I wish you hadn't found that parrot, girlie. I can hear its squawking all the way from here."
"I didn't find it, Nurse." Eleanor's cheerful voice sounded even more excited than usual. Any day of mayhem was a day of fun for the girls. "He followed me home!"
More laughter greeted that remark.
"Fancy keeping a clutch of birds as pets," Neil commented. "No dog or cat, not even a rabbit hutch. Whoever owned this house must've been an eccentric old man indeed."
"What makes you think it was a man?" George asked, so quietly that Alice had to strain to hear him over the sounds clinking cutlery and the clatter of a knife being set down on a plate. She planted her feet on the floor to keep the swing from creaking.
"Old ladies keep cats," Lucy said, and everyone laughed uproariously.
"Aren't the birds to be sold anyway?" That was Albert. "Less fuss and bother for everyone when they were gone. Why anyone would waste an entire morning chasing birds is beyond me."
"Miss Alice likes the birds," Eleanor said.
"I know," Albert replied. "I've watched her coo over them in that drafty cage she calls an aviary. But they've nothing to do with her, just like she has nothing to do with this house -- or anyone in it."
She knew, then, that it was Albert who'd released them. He'd seen her with George, and couldn't bear that she would care for his brother more than himself, and so had lashed out at the other creatures he'd noticed she cared for.
"That's where you're wrong, brother," George said.
His voice was still so quiet she could barely hear him over the twittering of the sparrows in the garden, over the calls of merrymakers down by the lakeshore. She craned her neck towards the window, heedless now of whether they noticed her presence. It made little difference, if George was about to betray her. She might run in and stop him -- but no, it was too late.
"This house -- and its birds -- means more to Alice than to any one of us."
"What are you talking about?" Albert asked.
She still had a chance. Scrambling to her feet, she tore along the porch and through the front door, but by the time she'd reached the hall, George had bared her secret.
"--and it's her grandmother who kept the aviary. So you see, even old ladies don't always keep cats."
Alice looked around, as if Gran herself might be striding down the stairs, ready to rescue her. She clenched her hands, holding them before her, as though to ward off the next few moments -- the next few days -- with her fists.
One strike at the door and she'd be through into the dining room.
But no, she forced her fingers to unclench and took a deep breath. Barging in would do her no good.
Albert was in full swing, demanding explanations from George, amidst the others' exclamations of surprise and confusion. If she burst in, Albert would simply direct his interrogation at her.
She had no intention of fielding his accusations -- or of witnessing George's righteous anger on her behalf -- on top of all she'd gone through that morning, since discovering the breach of the aviary.
Worst of all, heat flooded her cheeks, her entire body, at the shame of having her lies exposed -- and the fact that it was George who had told the others. They'd all realise now how close she'd let herself get to him.
What if the story spread? She fell against the wall, weak-kneed at the thought of how little Pixie could be trusted. Neil and Colin also owed her no allegiances. Soon all of Montreal would know how the youngest McKerrow daughter had taken on the role of governess to the Cunnick girls. Crazed from mourning, they'd say, if they were charitable. Couldn't face the loss of her grandmother and went a bit soft in the head. The less charitable might refer to her as another madwoman, echoing Neil's talk of batty old ladies.
To think she'd done it all merely to stay close to Gran and the birds for that much longer. Now the house was in the hands of this miserable family and their ruthless friends, none of whom had any empathy in them whatsoever.
At that moment, Pixie's cackle echoed through the door. "All this over a few birds!" Neil and Colin laughed with her.
No, it was not to be borne. Alice raced up the stairs and threw her clothes into her grip, willy-nilly.
George had betrayed her confidence. She would stay long enough to return the mynahs to the aviary, then leave him to deal with Mr. Palmer. It was the least he could do in amends.
I hope you're enjoying the story!
Wisteria, and an insect hotel that we helped put together in the school garden.
Comments
I'e never built an insect house ... but probably because I've always been lucky enough to have lived in houses with enough homes for them anyway, without the need for a special build - though great fun for the kids to do.
Lovely post - thank you ... cheers Hilary