19th April, 1895 — Nott Collection Open House
Callista had supposedly come for society reasons, because she needed to advertise that she was still on the market for marriage, and very available, whatever offers she had turned down – but her brother had long since gone on ahead for refreshments in the patio without her, because she had already spent much too long browsing one of the other wood-panelled rooms, which was presently filled with rare plant specimens that had threatened to bore him to death.
Not that she minded his absence. It was better to have no distractions, and she had been unconscious of anyone else in the room, appropriately unobtrusive as they had been: she had peered through a selection of botanical sketches as long as some people be able to consider fashion plates or masterpieces of artwork, and had finally moved on to examining what looked to be a very ugly tropical weed, preserved alive in a temperate glass case.
She was just trying to decide what the orangeish pustules decorating its leaves might be – perhaps a poisonous defence from predators? – when she felt a strange sensation at her ankle. Callista tried to move it, but it seemed oddly weighted down; she folded her skirts a little better out of the way, to try and see underneath her dress, and – ah. It seemed the taxidermied snake on the windowsill behind her had not, in fact, been taxidermied and displayed at all – it had been sunning itself of its own accord, and had now slithered down the wall and around her leg.
She was not afraid of snakes, by and large: but she could not see it well enough under her skirts as one she confidently recognised as native to Cambridgeshire or Nigeria, so who knew what it might be inclined to; it already seemed a little unhappy at the intrusion of its room, because it was winding its body more tightly around her other ankle now too, and emitting a faint hiss. “Excuse me,” Callista said carefully, once she had stood stock still for a patient three minutes, to no avail, and finally given in to making eye contact with the other current occupant in the room in a plea for help. (She might be able to prise the snake off her herself, but – it felt rather large, and it might be safer to have an extra pair of hands, just in case it was venomous as well as unwieldly. If the extra pair of hands were willing, that was. “Would you – spare a moment to assist me?”
Not that she minded his absence. It was better to have no distractions, and she had been unconscious of anyone else in the room, appropriately unobtrusive as they had been: she had peered through a selection of botanical sketches as long as some people be able to consider fashion plates or masterpieces of artwork, and had finally moved on to examining what looked to be a very ugly tropical weed, preserved alive in a temperate glass case.
She was just trying to decide what the orangeish pustules decorating its leaves might be – perhaps a poisonous defence from predators? – when she felt a strange sensation at her ankle. Callista tried to move it, but it seemed oddly weighted down; she folded her skirts a little better out of the way, to try and see underneath her dress, and – ah. It seemed the taxidermied snake on the windowsill behind her had not, in fact, been taxidermied and displayed at all – it had been sunning itself of its own accord, and had now slithered down the wall and around her leg.
She was not afraid of snakes, by and large: but she could not see it well enough under her skirts as one she confidently recognised as native to Cambridgeshire or Nigeria, so who knew what it might be inclined to; it already seemed a little unhappy at the intrusion of its room, because it was winding its body more tightly around her other ankle now too, and emitting a faint hiss. “Excuse me,” Callista said carefully, once she had stood stock still for a patient three minutes, to no avail, and finally given in to making eye contact with the other current occupant in the room in a plea for help. (She might be able to prise the snake off her herself, but – it felt rather large, and it might be safer to have an extra pair of hands, just in case it was venomous as well as unwieldly. If the extra pair of hands were willing, that was. “Would you – spare a moment to assist me?”
