Dueling with the Three Musketeers by Lisa Samson

Author:Lisa Samson [Samson, L.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310728009
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Published: 2013-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

thirteen

You Know It’s Bad When Madrigal Pierce Will Stoop to a Plan That Might Actually Be Fun

Madrigal Pierce, dressed in a brown skirt that fell almost to her ankles, brown high-heeled sandals, a yellow blouse, and her usual white summer shawl, looked so relieved when Ophelia walked into the parlor of the school, Ophelia almost thought it wasn’t Madrigal at all.

The Pierce School for Young People is housed in the old family home, as you know, but when I say “home” what I mean is mansion, and not the houses that pass for mansions these days. This house had twenty bedrooms, now dormitory rooms, and a swimming pool in the basement (still there; Clarice uses it). Senators and geniuses — Einstein himself! —made their way through the beautiful old home. Some people would call it “gracious,” a word used frequently to describe stunning homes that were built with good taste. In other words, there isn’t frou-frou, curlicues, naked babies with wings, or woodwork so heavy even the Cyclops himself would fail to lift it. Ask your language arts teacher about the Cyclops. Or your mom or dad.

Unfortunately, the Pierces seemed to have a genetic predisposition (they were born that way) for dark and gloomy colors. Ophelia looked around in delight. Dark drapes, dark wood, dark walls. Dark, dark, dark.

Excellent!

“Ophelia!” Ms. Pierce cried from her perch on the edge of a blood-red silk settee. (A settee is a small sofa, sometimes called a love seat, but what is to love about a sofa one can’t stretch out on to read?) “Come in, come in!”

They entered the room Madrigal and Johann’s grandmother had decorated back in the thirties. Deep maroons and purples prevailed, mahogany wood still glistened, polished every week without fail.

“I’d like you to meet my brother, Johann.” She gestured toward her brother. “Johann, this is Miss Ophelia Easterday.”

“Pleasure to meet you, sir.” Ophelia put out her hand.

He stood to his feet, a taller, male version of his sister. “Hello.” He ignored her hand.

She stuffed it in her pocket.

Johann turned to his sister, his mouth turned down at the corners. “My lawyer should be here in five minutes, Maddie.”

Maddie? How nice!

“I need to have a word with you, Ms. Pierce. It shouldn’t take but a minute.”

“Let’s go to my office.”

Johann looked about as pleased at this development as a mother whose child has dialed 9-1-1 for the fun of it.

Ophelia had never been in Madrigal’s office. It was nothing like the rest of the house. The walls glistened white and shining in the sunlight streaming through a large bay window, the seat supporting two large cream-colored pillows. Modern, sleek furniture sat on a blond wood floor and all the walls held colorful abstracts. “Oh my!” she said. “This is beautiful!”

“You like this?”

“I love it! Are you kidding me? It’s so different —”

“From everything else around here, including me,” Madrigal interrupted. “Yes, I know. Have a seat.”

Ophelia sat in one of the two pale yellow chairs that vaguely reminded her of a swan that sat in front of Madrigal’s desk, a thick glass affair perched on sleek wooden pillars.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.