Reggie Bruttle's Consultation [Moriarty the Patriot / Expecting Mrs. Pentherby Fanfiction]

Albert went to open the door. Reggie Bruttle was standing there, and Albert smiled in response to seeing him.

"It is nice to see you Albert. You look just as healthy as always." said Reggie.

"Come on in." said Albert, as he stepped aside to let the guest in the house. After he let him pass, he closed the door and made his way inside. He let the person to the living room. "It was in good luck, that we managed to catch each other this time."

"Sorry about it. I don't visit London much these days." They entered the living room, and Reggie made himself conformable on one of the sofa. "Your army work would make it similar for you."

"At least it is interesting work." Albert started brewing the tea. "Do you still take your tea with cream and without sugar and milk?"

Reggie nodded, then said with the smile. "Did all your staff take vacation today? There is nobody around."

"We don't really have any staff employed, as there is no really anything for them to do." shrugged Albert, when we was waiting for the tea to step.

"So I get to be served by the count. I don't think most people get to experience this." he laughed, but it done in a good spirit.

Albert put the tea and the small cakes on the table. Then took the chair next to him and drink the tea.

Reggie also enjoyed the tea, but he was looking at the cakes on the table. While they looked delicious, there was no way to know in advance if they really were.

"The lemon ones were baked by Louis." said Albert.

With these words Reggie took the yellow cake and it was delicious. As expected by Louis, even in school his cooking was delicious. On the other hand, he always respected William for actually eating Albert food, because most of the people would declare it uneatable.

"I don't see Louis or William around?" Reggie said. "I have to admit, I was hoping I could get the consultation from our resident consultant as well."

"William and Louis when to pick out your solution to the problem." Albert said. "They are just a bit late getting back."

Reggie shook his head. "If you guys started to use your smarts for the country, maybe all of us would be able to leave better." He paused. "There must be some patriot spirit in you."

Albert just smiled at the suggestion, not saying anything. By now, the non-response of Albert to suggestion to work for the better of the country was a normal response, so Reggie was not really expecting it.

"In some way you have no changed any." said Reggie.

"Neither did you." said Albert.

It was with these words, that they heard somebody enter the room. Looking to the doors, there was Louis and William.

Next to them was a woman, that the Reggie did not recognize. She was wearing the worn clothes. She was looking around the room, while she stood a bit behind Louis.

"Welcome back." said Albert. "Is this Emma you were talking about?" He nodded to her while he smiled. "I am Albert. William and Louis brother." He then indicated in the Reggie's direction. "And this is our friend from school, Reggie Bruttle."

"Emma Evans." she bowed to Albert.

"Take a seat." said Albert, as he stood up and made his way to the tea set. "How do you take your tea?"

"Anything is fine." answered Emma.

"It is nice to see you again, Reggie." said Louis, as he took a seat. "Emma, join me here." he indicated the seat next to him.

Emma, who up until now was standing next to them, slowly made her way to the seat and sat down.

"It is quite an interesting experiment you are trying." said William as he sat down. "I do not really want to think about what it says about our society, if it succeeds."

"Most people are not like your three." said Reggie, as he shook his head.

"Sadly, I agree." said Albert, and he put the tea cups in front of William, Louis and Emma. He then retook his seat.

William took one of the seed cakes from the plate and ate it. Reggie looked at William in interest, but there was no negative reaction. He then concentrated back on the conversation.

"Even though I did not explained details in the letter, Albert said you have a solution to my problem?" Reggie asked.

"Well, you mentioned a women problem. Since I knew of your plan for The Limes, it was not hard to figure it out." He looked at Albert. "Hearing all the horror stories from Albert gave me quite a good idea."

Albert actually had the pained expression on his face. He looked like he would comment on it, but he did not say anything.

"What you need is something, that would redirect all women's quarrels away from each other." said William. "I think Emma could play this role perfectly."

Reggie looked at the woman. She was just quietly drunk tea. Her look did not make it seems she belonged here, but the actions almost did. She took one of the sweets, and ate it. But that did not make he able to do what William was implying.

"She comes from the pugnacious family, so she had been smoothing other's people quarrels her entire life. She is really good at this." Louis said. "He handling the case on the third..."

"Louis." William said.

This stopped Louis talking and therefore reminiscing of the whatever impressed Louis. That happened something, but rarely. Reggie was used to this by now, so it did not matter.

On the other hand, Louis was not easily impressed, unless it came to his brothers.

"So her job would be to smooth the quarrels?" asked Reggie. "It would be great if she could do this."

"Not exactly." said William. "He job would be to quarrel with every woman there."

Reggie was confused by what William said, and he was sure is showed.

"She will make small quarrels with every woman, so they would join together against her. As she is used to smoothing quarrels, she can control the amount if it, so it will not become a problem for you."

"But that would mean, that she would be hated by them?" Reggie then turned to Emma. "Are you alright with this?"

Emma then looked at William. He smiled at her, so she turned to Reggie. "I wouldn't mind. It would be quite relaxing knowing, that I am allowed to quarrel back." She smiled. "As far as the jobs go, it would be one of the better ones."

Reggie leaned back and looked up. He was thinking about the proposition.

"I will cover the cost of the first year, if it does not work." said Albert.

Reggie looked at Albert. "You don't have to go that far." He then turned to William. "If you are sure it will work, then it will. It is better than any of ideas I had."

He turned to Emma. "I plan to do this from October to the end of May. Are you able to live there for the entire duration."

Emma nodded. "That is not a problem, as long as finances are taken care of."

"Then I will cover your share of the costs. I should also pay you some wage. How about 50 pounds for the entire 6 months?" Reggie said.

Emma widened her eyes. She looked at Louis.

"I think that will be sufficient." said Louis instead. "We will make sure she is ready for the job by October."

"You should also invite Mike, if you did not already." said Albert. "I think he would enjoy the performance."

Louis shook his head. "I think he would want to use the fake names and similar."

"This might not be a bad idea." said William. "In this case, even if any of the women wanted to get revenge later, the would have problems finding Emma."

Emma was thinking for a second. "What about Lady Pentherby?" she asked.

Louis blinked. "Not the name I ever wanted to hear again."

"I think it is appropriate for a role of a hated person." said William. "Plus, she is already death, so it is not like it will effect her."

Louis sighed. "It is not me, that will need to hear it anyway."

Reggie wanted to ask about it, but then Albert brought the playing cards from somewhere. "What about the game of bridge then?" He turned to Emma. "I hope you can join us, Mrs Pentherby?"

This story only exists just because after I read the Expecting Mrs. Pentherby short story, my first though was that this would be a William-like solution. I should be catching up to the canon material first, but oh well.

I originally read the story story collection in Slovenian for comedy research. When I read it, my first though was that is would be an idea William would have come up with. And the Slovenian translation presupposed, that she was poor, so it seems like she would be somebody Louis and William could meet before Albert. Reading that section in English language did not give me the same feeling, but by then the story idea was already developing. So chunk this one to the translation quality..