> No, Pearl is trying to strangle her -- but I think we should be told who.

This just goes to show how useful is the apostrophe, and one of my "pet peeves" is the rapid decline in its use. If Pearl were the garrotter, it should read, "Pearl's at her throat." the apostrophe, in this case, standing for the missing "i" in "is": without the apostrophe, "Pearls" is clearly plural, as you would expect. One pearl at her throat would look silly. Or mean.