Tuesday March 25, 2025

Dandy's Discovery, Scene 5

Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. Occasionally, I will also publish some of my shorter fiction in this newsletter to read for free.

Daily Diary, Day 1665:

Brief check-in: Yesterday walked twice and had a lovely afternoon sitting outside chatting with a friend about writing and publishing. Started out in sun, but fog rolled in.

Today, you are getting the fifth scene in Dandy’s Discovery, the sixth short story in my Victorian San Francisco mystery series, but if you would like to first read the short posts I did on why I wrote this short story, and historical tidbits on both dogs and cats as pets in the Victorian era, click HERE, or HERE.

Dandy’s Discovery
by M. Louisa Locke
Copyright 2020

Scene 5:

A few minutes later, Annie stood at the side of the house, looking at the ivy that started right below the window to Tilly and Kathleen’s room and rose all the way up to the roof. The three children stood beside her, craning their necks to look upward. Dandy, who Jamie had put on a leash, sat and looked at the three children and then over to the house with a puzzled expression furrowing his forehead.

He’d sniffed along the bottom of the ivy when Jamie pointed his finger there, but he showed no particular interest in anything.

Annie said, “Poor dear, he doesn’t know what we want him to do.”

Emmaline exclaimed, “I know what he needs, something that the rat chewed on. I just remembered. I have started working on a quilt, something my nanna Charlotte taught me how to do. Anyway, last week I was looking for some cotton batting for it in the workroom. I discovered that a corner of the brown paper wrapping was loose, and some of the batting was missing.”

Annie said, “You think a rat had been at it?”

“Now, I do. My aunts assumed the batting had been damaged in transit, and since they didn’t need to use it right away, they hadn’t looked at it closely. But it could have been a rat. I’ll go get some of it. That would give Dandy something to track.”

Emmaline ran towards the front of the house. Annie had suggested they avoid going in and out through the kitchen, so they wouldn’t interrupt Beatrice in the midst of getting dinner ready. Actually, she didn’t want to have to explain to Beatrice what they were doing until she had a better idea if Dandy was going to be able to find a trail.

While they waited for Emmaline to return, she let her daughter touch the ivy. Abigail seemed happy to be outside. The sun wouldn’t be setting for a couple of hours, but this eastern side of the house had been in shade for long enough to make it cooler, and there was a slight breeze.

The wooden gate to the back yard opened, and Tilly appeared. She said, “Ma’am, I ran into Miss Emmaline on the back stairs. She says that Dandy’s going to find the rat. I never said there was a rat. Mrs. O’Rourke will…”

Annie broke in. “Don’t worry, Tilly. I know you didn’t say anything to me about a rat. And we aren’t sure there is one. But the boys had the good idea that if there was one, Dandy might be able to find it. I won’t sleep a wink until I’m sure one way or the other.”

Annie was glad to see a look of relief sweep over the young servant’s face.

Emmaline appeared around the corner from the front of the house, skidded to a stop, and held out a white square of batting. She said, “Here, Mrs. Dawson, I’ve got a piece of the cotton. You can see along this edge that something chewed on it.”

Annie handed the cotton over to Jamie.

Ian was practically dancing in anticipation as he said, “Jamie, give him a good sniff and tell him to fetch.”

They all watched as Jamie knelt down and put the cotton in front of Dandy’s tiny nose. Dandy snuffled all over the cotton then concentrated on the edge that had been gnawed on. Annie thought he looked like some wine aficionado as he inhaled, paused, and then inhaled again. Jamie pointed to the ivy and said, “Fetch.”

Dandy took one last sniff and turned and sniffed all around the base of the ivy, yipped, and then started leaping up, as if he was trying to climb up the side of the house.

Ian said, “There you go. The rat did go up that ivy. Let’s go to Tilly’s room see if he locates the smell anywhere in there.”

Since they were now going to have to go through the kitchen, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep the news they were on a rat hunt from Beatrice any longer, so she didn’t try to get everyone to go in through the front.

As they trooped through the back yard to the kitchen door, Annie noticed the apricot tree, which was bowed by the weight of the fruit ripening on the branches. She had a sudden vision of a large brown rat, naked tail, beady eyes, and prehensile little paws, climbing up the tree to gorge on the apricots, and her skin crawled. That was it; whether or not they found a rat’s nest in the house, they were going to have to get a cat.

Annie went in the door first to encounter Beatrice standing with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face, Kathleen hovering behind her.

Annie said, “We think that a rat or some other animal may be getting into the house through the ivy. Emmaline found some cotton quilting material that has been chewed on, and of course the ivy goes right past a window in the Moffets’ workroom. We thought we would start with Tilly’s room.”

“Look, Mrs. Dawson, Dandy seems to have found something. He’s heading to the pantry,” Ian broke in.

Sure enough, his nose pressed to the floor, the terrier was making a beeline toward the pantry door, where he started to scratch frantically.

“Saints preserve us! There’s no rat in there.” Beatrice scowled down at the dog. “I’ve spent the last two days cleaning out that pantry. Stop him. He’ll ruin the wood.”

Jamie pulled Dandy away, and Annie said, “Beatrice, has there been any other signs, besides the cheese that was nibbled on last weekend, that a mouse or some other rodent had gotten in, even if they’re gone now?”

Beatrice glared and said, “No, no droppings, no hole in the baseboards. I can assure you I know the signs.”

Beatrice paused and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, dearie. I’ve no reason to snap at you. I’ve been just that upset at the idea of something getting in. Kathleen and Tilly do an excellent job of keeping the house clean, but once there’s an infestation, the pests can be so hard to get rid of. But so far, I’ve not seen the usual signs.”

Kathleen spoke up at this point. “I haven’t seen a thing in any of the rooms we’ve been through. Yet, if that cotton came from the workroom, it’s possible we missed something. We didn’t go through all the different swatches of material and sewing things they have stored up there. So if Dandy does smell something, it makes sense to go there after we finish down here.”

Beatrice made a small tsking sound, but then she said, “Hand over that child, Annie, if you insist on stomping all throughs the house. No need to take her with you. And you might as well start with the pantry, prove to yourself it’s rat-free.”

Jamie let Dandy off his leash, while Ian opened the door to the pantry. After Annie gave Abigail to Beatrice, she followed behind Dandy, who was sniffing the pantry floor excitedly, going around in circles. Kathleen leaned in and lit the lamp that stayed on the pantry shelf so they could see better.

When Dandy got to the back of the pantry, he used one of the boxes on the floor to leap up so he could reach one of the shelves, where he sniffed for a long time in one spot. Then he turned around and looked expectantly at Annie and Kathleen, giving a little yip.

“My stars, if that isn’t where the cheese was sitting,” Kathleen exclaimed. “Good boy, Dandy. Let’s go to our room. See what he finds there.”

Jamie called Dandy, and the boy and his dog trotted behind Kathleen as she went to the small room she now shared with Tilly. Jamie again gave Dandy the cotton to sniff before pointing into the room and telling him to fetch. The dog obediently ran into the room, sniffing everywhere. However, this time, he didn’t seem to find anything worth noting, finally coming back to Jamie to sit at his feet, giving him his wide doggie smile.

Emmaline, who had stayed in the hallway with Tilly and Annie, said quietly, “There now. I think you can rest easier, Tilly. No sign of anything nesting in your room.”

Jamie and Ian came out into the hallway, and Kathleen said, “That’s a relief, although that window’s getting shut tonight, heat or no heat. Boys, take Dandy up to Miss Minnie and Miss Millie’s workroom, see if he goes to where the cotton batting was stored.”

Annie followed the three children and the dog over to the back stairs. She knew Kathleen and Tilly wanted to go, but she also knew that they needed to keep working on dinner. As she passed by, she told them that she would send one of the children right down if they discovered anything.

Then feeling very much like someone following the Pied Piper, she started the climb up the back stairs to the attic. Once at the workroom, Jamie followed the same pattern with Dandy, giving him another chance to sniff the cotton and then letting him loose in the room to “fetch.”

This time, unlike in Tilly and Kathleen’s room, Dandy went right for the window overlooking the side yard. He stretched to his fullest, which permitted him to get his nose right under the window. He leaped excitedly, then put his nose to the floor, and ran around sniffing in corners and the edges of furniture.

Annie said, “You know that Kathleen and Tilly polished all the furniture and scrubbed the floors in this room yesterday. They could have removed all the scent. Wait, he’s sniffing the bottom drawer of that cabinet.”

Emmaline leaned over and opened the drawer. Dandy put his paws on the edge of the drawer and leaned in to sniff, looking like he might actually try to climb in. She pulled him away and said, “No, boy, don’t. You’ll get your dirty paws over everything, and my aunts would not be pleased. But aren’t you a clever boy?”

Emmaline looked up at Annie and said, “That’s the drawer that holds the cotton batting. I really don’t think I believed Jamie and Ian about how good Dandy is at following a scent! But he went right to the one place we know the rat’s been. And I think it must be a rat, not mice, because mice wouldn’t be large enough to actually drag one of these sheets of cotton away.”

“Yes, Dandy really is remarkable,” Annie said. “Hopefully, the rat’s been and gone, since Kathleen and Tilly didn’t find any signs of a nest in this room. Although, after dinner, I will ask Kathleen to go through all the drawers, now that we know what we are looking for. And I know it will be stifling, but you should keep the window closed until we have this all sorted out.”

Emmaline slept in a small cot in this workroom, and the last thing Annie wanted was for her to lay awake at night the way Tilly had been doing, imagining rats running around her room.

“That’s all right, Mrs. Dawson. If need be, I can move the cot into my aunts’ room. In fact, when they hear about this, I’m sure that’s what they will insist on.”

Annie gave her a smile then turned to the boys and said, “Next, I would like to go down and check the rooms on the second floor on this side of the house that haven’t been cleaned yet. And, if you all don’t mind, let’s start with my room.”

What Annie didn’t say was that even though the ivy didn’t go past the windows in Nate and her room, she was afraid if a rat was in the house somewhere, it could squeeze under doors and have the run of the house at night. She was going to have to think about what sort of bolster they could put under all the doors to everyone’s bedrooms until the rat was found.

Ian said as they left the workroom and headed for the back stairs, “Jamie and I can work at making a trap tonight after dinner. I bet if we put some cheese in it and put it in the kitchen, we’d catch the rat.”

Emmaline said, “I believe the Silver Strike sells rat and mouse traps. Maybe we should try to go buy a couple, right after dinner?”

Annie told Emmaline she thought that an excellent idea, although she knew this wouldn’t stop the boys from trying to build their own.

Then, as she and the young girl turned into the second-floor hallway, they saw that Dandy was in a complete frenzy, jumping up and down in front of the door to the room that David Chapman and Spencer Harvey had vacated just last week.

“Wait, Jamie. Don’t let him in yet. Why didn’t we think about this room first? The ivy goes right past the window, the room’s been vacant, and probably neither Kathleen nor Tilly has been in it this past week. I wouldn’t be surprised if the window’s been left open, at least a crack. And a rat could nip right down the back stairs at night, check out the kitchen, and it could even get into the workroom, since no one is there during the day. But do you think if there’s a rat in there, Dandy can actually kill it? Those things can be vicious, and I don’t want him hurt.”

Jamie pulled Dandy to his chest and said, “Mrs. Dawson, I’ll not let him loose until we’ve looked around. I suspect, given all the noise he’s just made, the rat would have gone back down the ivy by now. We should’ve thought about that. One of us could have stood down there to see if anything came out of one of the windows.”

“You’re right. So you think Dandy’s just excited because of the smell?”

Ian nodded. “If we let him in now, I’m sure he will lead us right to where the rat’s been holed up. But if you want, Mrs. Dawson, Jamie and I will go in alone. Just in case.”

This was an attractive idea, but she was the adult in this situation, and she should act accordingly. So she said, “No, I’ll go in with you.”

Annie reached out and slowly opened the door to the room, which was in semi-darkness at this time of day. Ridiculous to be so scared of a rodent. She was glad to see that a lamp was on the bureau right by the door, with matches sitting next to it. She quickly took off the glass chimney and lit the wick. Once it began to burn, she put the chimney back on and turned the wick to get more light. She walked into the room, holding up the lamp, while Jamie came in, Dandy wiggling in his arms. She began to search for any obvious signs that a rat had been there.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose when she heard a distinct rustling. She looked over at the window, which was, as she suspected, open about six inches. Plenty of room for a rat to enter, but the rustling didn’t seem to emanate in that direction.

She held the lamp up higher and pointed at the bare mattress on the bed to her left. Ian nodded and quietly went over and lifted up the mattress. There was nothing there, no hole, no bits of cotton on the floor. He then went and lifted up the other mattress. Again, no sign that it had been home to a rat.

This left the bureau and the wardrobe, which were the only other two pieces of furniture in the room. The drawers of the bureau were closed, so, unless there was a hole in the back of it, she didn’t see how anything could get in and out. This left the wardrobe, and sure enough, one of the two doors was open slightly.

She could swear that was where the rustling sound came from.

Her heart sped up as she started to tiptoe to the wardrobe, then she heard Jamie say, “No Dandy, you’ll hurt yourself.”

She turned and saw that the small dog had wriggled out of Jamie’s arms. He ran in front of her and nosed the door all the way open. Then Dandy backed up quickly, letting out a surprised yelp.

With a feeling of dread, Annie looked inside to see a skinny gray tabby cat, all puffed up and hissing, curled protectively around four tiny kittens.

To be continued…

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