Page 8 of Dropping the Ball

Lord Cedric looked deadly serious, though his eyes sparkled with mirth, as he answered her, “Oh, yes, there are.”

Bernadette could not tell if he was teasing her or if Lord Alden truly did keep alligators, along with all his other specimens, as he’d called them, somewhere in his house. She was determined to find out as soon as possible, though, and once she’d waved her dear friends away, watching until their carriage was out of sight at the end of the drive, she headed back into the house to discover for herself.

Part of Bernadette thought she should wait for Lord Alden to explore the terrarium again. Lord Alden had been called away on a matter of great importance by one of his tenant farmers shortly after breakfast, though. Bernadette suspected that had something to do with the rats he’d mentioned those farmers’ sons catching for him. She had taken the time to write to Norway, then to hand her letter over to Mr. Smythe to be posted. Now she was eager to see precisely what the terrarium contained and whether it could be used in some small way as part of the days-long festivities Lord Alden wanted for his ball.

Of course, the other reason Bernadette slowly pushed open the door to the vast and incredible room, slipped inside, and firmly shut the door behind her was a deep belief that if she was going to be of any use to Lord Alden at all, and if she was to reside under his roof and under his employment for any length of time, she would need to overcome her fear of anything scaley or slimy.

“This is beautiful,” she told herself, one hand pressed to her stomach, as she took a few more tentative steps into the terrarium. “Lord Alden has created something unique and extraordinary, and I should marvel at it.”

She breathed in the humid, fragrant air and took a few more steps along the path. There really were a myriad of things to be impressed with. How Lord Alden had managed to grow so many plants and trees that were not native to Britannia was a mystery to her. The greenery was lush and exotic, and the flowers that appeared on several of the plants were unlike anything Bernadette had ever seen before. Even the birds were–

Bernadette screamed and dropped into a half crouch as a brilliant red, green, and blue parrot swooped close to her as it flew from one perch to another, calling out. As soon as she determined that it was not intent on attacking her, she laughed anxiously and stood straight again.

“I dare say Lord Alden rescued you from the shoulder of some dread pirate,” she told the parrot, following it deeper into the remarkable room.

Everything around her was alive and wonderful. The stream that flowed from the fountain in one corner of the room was astounding in its clarity and the precision of the course it flowed. It was as if Lord Alden had mapped exactly where it needed to run to both water all of the flora and provide a home for the fauna. Bernadette leaned over the pond where much of the water gathered before flowing on to the other side of the room and observed several varieties of fish, quite a few frogs and tortoises, and even a set of large, beady eyes staring out from–

“Good God!” she exclaimed, jumping back and clapping a hand to her chest. “There really are alligators!”

She swallowed, breathing rapidly, and forced herself to look harder, so that she might make out the beast in question. It was smaller than she had thought at first, only a yard long. It mustnot have been fully grown. That did not mean she wished to wade into the pond to play with it, however.

She inched away from the pond slowly, walking on and glancing up at the glass ceiling and the canopy of leaves and vines from the trees instead. Lord Alden had not been exaggerating when he said that the terrarium housed hundreds of species. The more Bernadette looked, the more she saw. There were small lizards and brightly colored frogs, a dozen kinds of birds, and even buzzing insects of a sort she’d never seen before. It was as if Lord Alden had carved a slice out of the Amazon and plunked it down in Wessex.

Once she reached the center of the terrarium, she drew in a breath to steel her courage and turned in a circle, gazing around at the whole. It was possible to see hints of the ballroom the room had once been, but Lord Alden had made a great many adjustments and additions, as he’d said. It would have been spectacular to hold a ball in the room now, although there would have been very little space for dancing, as the path wasn’t wide enough for most dance forms.

Bernadette turned to the tall, glass wall that made up one side of the room, separating it from the garden beyond. The garden would be the best location for the ball itself, but it would be lovely if there were a way to allow for guests to move freely in and out of the terrarium during the event.

She started along the path that ran beside the glass wall, but was arrested when she came face to face with a thick, green bush of some sort that seemed to be the home for the most magnificent collection of frogs she’d ever seen. They were tucked into the joints of branches or partially hidden under leaves, but their bright colors made them obvious.

“How extraordinary,” she said, smiling at the blue, yellow, green, and red frogs. “I’ve never seen anything like you in all of Britannia,” she said, reaching out for one of the blue frogs.

Her intention was to bravely pet the frog, as if it were a cat or a dog. But just before her fingertips made contact with the curious, vibrant thing, Lord Alden cried out, “Don’t touch it!”

Bernadette yelped and leapt back, heart racing. She hadn’t heard her employer enter the terrarium, and the ferocity of his shout had her shaking in her now-damp shoes.

“I–I’m so sorry,” she stammered, reeling a few more steps back as Lord Alden strode hurriedly along the path towards her, his expression full of alarm. “I should have asked you before entering.”

“That is a poison dart frog,” Lord Alden said, marching right up to her and grasping her wrist. He turned it up, as if to check her fingertips to be certain she was unharmed. “They are highly poisonous,” he went on. “Some species have enough toxins in their skin to kill ten men.”

“Oh!” Bernadette gasped, belatedly terrified of what might have happened.

“I doubt the individuals I have here could have done that much harm,” Lord Alden went on, relaxing a bit. “Frogs have a short life-span, and these ones were spawned here in Wessex. It is not the frogs themselves so much as the native insects that they consume that give them their toxicity. But I have taken great care to import South American insects as well, and it is enough to render the frogs just poisonous enough to make you miserable should you touch them.”

“I will not touch them, then,” Bernadette said, her voice shaking a little. She was grateful that Lord Alden continued to hold her wrist. His grip was reassuring, and his presence made her feel far more confident about the strange world around her.

Lord Alden seemed to become aware that he was still holding onto Bernadette. He blinked, drew in a breath, then let her wrist go with a soft, “I am terribly sorry. I did not mean to accost your person in such a way.”

“I do not mind,” Bernadette said, forcing some strength back into her voice. “I should have waited for you before entering the terrarium. It is just that I know I must grow used to your specimens, as you called them, if I am to stay here for any length of time with you and oversee improvements, and I–oh!”

Bernadette gasped as the same, green lizard that had crawled up her arm the day before appeared from the sleeve of Lord Alden’s jacket. Not only that, the creature leapt across to Bernadette, catching onto her skirts before scurrying up to perch on her shoulder.

“It appears as though Egbert has a new favorite,” Lord Alden said with a broad smile.

Bernadette turned her head and craned her neck to look gingerly at the lizard. As soon as she blinked at it, the green thing flickered its long tongue at her.

“Yes, he definitely likes you,” Lord Alden laughed. “Here. Allow me.”

He reached forward, as if he would remove Egbert from her neck.

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