hair clippings and delicate trinkets-of-love the women of the town had given him. Why should he want to share such photos with me? The men gathered around to gawk. There must have been at least a dozen portraits of those brazen women. Oh, it was too offensive.
I left the men behind in the dining car and went to Mrs. Bamfield ' s cabin. I had not spoken to her for any length since this ordeal began, and I was in need of some advice. I approached her door and gave it a determined tap. Perhaps she would understand how poorly Mr. Longville was behaving towards me.
" I know you are within, Mrs Bamfield, and I must speak with you. An emergency situation has arisen."
She opened her door a crack, and then, to my great surprise, threw it open wide enough to pull me inside.
" Whatever it is," she said. " It cannot be a greater emergency than the one that stands before me! I am at my wits end. My husband is the very devil!"
" Do you mean your sister ' s husband?" I asked.
" I have no need to conceal it anymore. He is my husband!" she exclaimed. " And whatever am I to do about this?! I must catch some infernal beast before the demon devours me! My liberty— my very life— is at risk if I do not recover something before we arrive in San Francisco! I had hoped to take that blob to his doorstep, but it has sailed away into the sky with that gorgeous pirate captain. Oh, what shall I do with so little time remaining?"
" Mrs. Bamfield," I said. " I know you regret the loss of your specimen, but I really think you must calm your nerves!"
" There is a demon who haunts my dreams!" She exclaimed. " His name it is Ahrimanes, he hides in people ' s chim-en-ees! He came to
England to steal some trade secrets regarding monster hunting routes. He lowered himself into my home one evening, around midnight, and with his evil glances he stole my heart!"
A demon! In chimneys? Brunhilde married to a demon? I wished I could speak of this to Percy... but of course I wished never to speak to that man about anything, ever again.
" We were wed by his infernal devices," she continued. " But he is exceedingly cruel. I have obtained his permission for a divorce, for it would be his pleasure to force me to such a shameful act. Me, a divorcée, and at the tender age of twenty-one!"
I thought the estimate a little low, but I was now realizing that Brunhilde had more than a few of her own, personal, feminine, secrets. " He will grant my request only if I can procure any rare creature that he most particularly desires for his collection! And you cannot imagine how he laughed at me when I declared my intention to go on this tour to complete the task. He said: ' In that case, my dear, you cannot object if I prepare the Red Room in anticipation of your return. There you will find yourself, should you fail.'"
She would not tell me the significance of this evil sounding " red room ", but I feared tortures of every kind and I felt quite resolved to aid her in avoiding it.
" We are scheduled to go on a gremlin hunting excursion at our next stop!" Mrs. Bamfield continued. " You must help me find a beast for that demon ' s collection, or my fate is surely sealed!"
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