Skitter and Jitter
- Helena decides to back up her story a bit and give us some more family background. Apparently Helena wasn't always the oldest sis—back in the day she had two older sisters, Vicky and Alice. Sadly, these two girls and their mother are all dead—but Helena won't tell us the story yet. She does give us a hint, though: "it involves water" (2.2).
- After that quick detour Helena gets back to telling us about Lamont. They're eating lunch (a.k.a. crumbs they've collected from the kitchen), and Lamont has already heard the news that the Upstairs Cranstons are moving to Europe. Poor Beatrice gets a big shock when Lamont lets slip that they'll need to sail there—she's seriously afraid of water.
- So after lunch Lamont heads out, and the sisters have a new intrigue: someone is at the Upstairs Cranstons' door. Louise goes to check it out.
- When Louise comes back, she has quite a story. Some lady named Mrs. Minturn has just visited the Cranstons. While visiting, Mrs. M spent her time inspecting Olive—and apparently this Mrs. Minturn is going to give the Cranstons advice on how to nab a husband for Olive in Europe.
- So Mrs. Cranston gave Mrs. M a fat stack of cash. Looks like they are pretty serious about putting Olive on the marriage market.
- All of a sudden, Lamont scrambles back in—and watch out, because the poor guy has lost part of his tail. Ouch.