The door to their quarters flew open then and their guest, the Lady Maximoff, trounced in and announced with a highly indignant air, "I've become a victim of the thief!" The lady threw herself rather unceremoniously into a chair, her eyes flashing and mouth pursed pettishly.
During their time together on the ship Wanda had grown to more intimate acquaintance with the Messieurs Stark and Rogers so that she no longer felt the necessity of assuming formal behavior or retaining proper comportment when alone with them. Rather, she acted around them with a friendly indifference to propriety and they were witness to her inherent vivacity of spirit and often she proved an amiable companion. She could by turns play a vexatious coquette or an virtuous ingenue. Despite the capriciousness common to members of her sex and which she shared in equal measure, the Lady was not disinclined to serious pursuits. Often she would engage the gentlemen in discourse on novels, philosophy, the sciences and even occasionally politics. Any anxiousness Wanda felt on her brother's account was apparently indulged in privacy as she rarely seemed unhappy in their presence. If ever she was engulfed in dejection this was quickly dispelled as she assumed an aspect of charming loquacity to make up for her melancholy mood.
At the moment, however, her mood was ferocious. Wanda chewed her bottom lip with bitterness and muttered darkly for a moment about a necklace and then added more loudly, "Stolen! And by an amateur!" At first she seemed too distracted by her thoughts to realize the implications of her statement, but when she realized what she'd said, Wanda took on a guiltless expression. "Or so I suspect," she continued in explanation with an added shrug, "Otherwise, I suppose they would have found my expensive jewels. I would presume that any worthwhile thief would search a lady's jewelry box for secret compartments."
Her innocent expression vanished, supplanted once more by her petulant and ireful pout. This theft was not a personal affront, but a professional offense. As a thief herself by vocation, the Lady Maximoff was quite put out that all the stringent measures she had taken to secure her own property had been breached-and for nothing more than the loss of a mere trifle! Had they taken anything of true worth she would have accepted it complacently and deferentially applauded their victory attained with skills so obviously superior to her own. As it was, the whole affair only added insult to audacious injury. It was as though they had pressed their chances once and, given the venue, found a crop ripe for the taking. While the naivete of those duped by this amateur crook initially amused her, now the situation was not so very droll.
Still, Wanda supposed she could not entirely begrudge the thief; after all, their pilfering machinations allowed a perfect cover for her own burglary. Certainly the thefts had not been entirely perpetrated by a single soul and the Lady Maximoff was now in possession of a few lovely new pieces of jewelry that would bring a fine price in any large city. She supposed that was some consolation, though it did not make the acrimony of the little defeat any more bearable.