The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

put a hand on her arm and stopped. “Let’s leave it at this, Miss Mattacascar. Your father was trouble from the day he was born. He could also charm the skin off a snake. You are well rid of him. We can’t choose who our folks are, but you can help me with Beasley, who is likely of the same ilk. Think of it as your duty. I’ll be in touch.” He lifted one of her long hands to his lips and stopped just short of kissing it.
    Lena’s breath caught.
    With a bow, the marshal disappeared down the foggy street, leaving Lena seething, sad, and utterly confused on the doorstep.
    Once in her room, she filled a basin with warm water to soak her aching feet. While her feet soaked, she wrote a postcard with a picture of the opera house to her mother and Nana Crane, describing Knoster the best she could, telling them about the magical carousel and that she had found a temporary job as a librarian. She knew that would please her mother.
    When she was finished writing, she lay back across the bed. What had her father done? The question was an itch she couldn’t keep from rubbing. She had a right to know. And how dare the marshal say her father was trouble since the day he was born! Why, the marshal hadn’t even been alive then!
    Mr. Beasley would be sending a buggy for her right afterbreakfast. She packed her few things, making sure to again fasten the last of her money and the letter from her father to the inside of her chemise. Then she readied herself for morning.
    She didn’t like being in the role of a spy, but what if Mr. Beasley was breaking the law? What would Jimson say if he knew? She was surprised by how good it had been to see him again. It was nice to see a friendly face. Her thoughts wandered, and she slept.
EAVESDROPPING LENA AT FIVE YEARS OF AGE
    Darkness. I jerked to wakefulness. Mother was screaming. I clutched Rudy, my stuffed dog, to my chest. “It’s all right, Rudy. You’re safe with me.”
    “What have you done, Saul? What did you do?” Mother’s voice rising in octaves
.
    “Be quiet or you’ll wake the neighborhood!” Poppa’s voice, slurred, sharp
.
    “Because if it’s what I’ve heard, I’ll leave you. And I’ll take Lena, and you’ll never find us again.”
    “Don’t listen to the old cow. What’s in the past has nothing to do with you and Lena.”
    There was a long wail like a teapot come to full boil. I covered my ears, Rudy fell into the covers, but still I could hear the cry
.
    “Shut up or I’ll—”
    Then I couldn’t hear anything more, because I was crying. The next day Poppa got me out of bed, whistling “Camptown Races” while he made breakfast
.
    “Your mother’s not feeling well today. Another one of her headaches. I thought you and me could go out to the park, grab a bit of sunshine.”
    “Don’t you have to go to work?”
    “I’m taking the day off to spend it with my favorite girl.”
    It was nice to have Poppa all to myself. Last night’s terrors were gone, and I tied a fresh red bow around Rudy’s neck
.

 
    LENA WAS DELIGHTED TO BE TRAVELING THE COAST ROAD AGAIN. The sun had shown up for her journey, making everything look fresh and new. She had her very first job and felt that she was well on her way to being an independent woman. It was amazing how the promise of employment could lift one’s spirits, Lena thought. Even her vague unease about spying on Tobias Beasley had evaporated with the sun. If there was anything strange going on in Zephyr House, she would discover it. The view from the two-person buggy was better than from the confines of the coach. Arthur Pollet was a quiet man, and Lena was able to revel in the passing landscape and the salt wind in her face.
    This time Mrs. Pollet greeted her with a curt nod and then led her up the polished stairway to a second-floor bedroom that Mr. Beasley had set aside for her. The room looked out over the apple trees just beyond the kitchen garden. If Lenastretched far enough, she could catch a glimpse of the