1778
Elizabeth Bennet blinked slowly at her father. The man looked down his bespectacled nose at the 6 year old child. The girl rumpled her brow.
"I'm not your daughter? You're not my father?" she questioned, a slight waver in her voice
Mr Bennet shook his head
"Janey's not my sister?"
Mr Bennet sighed
"Neither are Mary, Kitty or little newborn Lydia."
"My name's not Elizabeth Rose Bennet?" Her green eyes sparkled with confusion
"No." came the reluctant answer
Tipping her head slightly to one side the eight year old enunciated quite clearly
"I don't understand."
Mr Bennet leaned forward, study the girl.
"You are the daughter of Alexander Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton."
"Then why am I not with him?" came the timid yet intelligent voice
"Your father travels a lot, and your mother is at peace with god. He was a dear friend of mine, was Alexander, so he asked me to take care of you while he travelled."
"Oh...if my name isn't Elizabeth...then what is it?"
"Your name is Lady Skye Akira Evina Hamilton"
Elizabeth...no, Lady Hamilton blinked up at him. He sighed.
"Not only is your father the Duke of Hamilton in Scotland, but the Duke of Brandon in England amongst other titles. You are a young lady of excellent breeding and social standing. Do you understand?"
The little girl nodded
"What's going to happen to me?" she asked, bottom lip quivering ever so slightly
"Nothing, my dear, nothing. Your father has merely sent a governess for you so that you may be brought up as accomplished young lady." Mr Bennet replied.
A knock came at the door. A very subdued Mrs Bennet entered. Mr Bennet raised an eyebrow.
"I have explained to Jane, and attempted talking to Mary...I don't think she understands."
Mr Bennet nodded. He turned back to Skye.
"I am sorry that I had to be the one to tell you this, my Lady." his eyes glistened with unshed tears as he looked upon the face of the girl he had come to see as his own. He glanced at his unusually quiet wife.
"Perhaps you would like to sit in the living room until you new governess arrives, my Lady" said Mrs bennet.
The newly appointed Lady Hamilton did not move.
"Please..." her young voice broke slightly with emotion "Please, can you not call me...me...my new name....can you not treat me like you did before?" her eyes welled with tears clear as crystal.
Mrs Bennet looked shocked, but pleased. Looking at her husband she received a nod of approval.
"Of course we can El...Skye" said she.
Skye looked thoughtful for a moment
"And what will I call you?" she asked
"Call us Aunt and Uncle Bennet." said Mr Bennet gruffly
The child nodded, before throwing herself into his arms in a quick hug before dashing out of the room. He smiled as he watched her unkempt auburn locks trail behind her.
"She takes after her mother. Alexander is going to have a hard time keeping her under control once she's older....then again, knowing Alex, he'll let her run wild."
Mrs Bennet sniffed as she walked to the window, watching her foster daughter play with her eldest in the sunshine and flowers
"And until he returns from god knows where, we have to try to control her ourselves...I don't know how my poor nerves are going to survive."
Sniffing once more in disdain at the trials and tribulations ahead, she swept from the room. Mr Bennet dissolved into silent laughter behind her.
»»»»»»»skye-akira-evina-hamilton«««««««
Only a few hours later, after much yelling and screaming as was necessary, Skye Hamilton, previously Elizabeth Bennet was fitted in her best dress and sitting quietly and somewhat sulkily on the chaise in the drawing room. Red locks tamed into neat tresses, and her dress resplendently white, she looked the very image of a Scottish princess. Mrs Bennet stood at the door, foiling any attempts Skye had for an escape. The silence was interrupted by a knock on the door. Mrs Bennet hurried to a chair as they waited for their visitor to be announced.
Only a moment later, Mrs Hill, the housekeeper entered with a respectable looking lady of about 30, with pretty Italian features.
"Miss Sapienti" said Hill, bobbing a quick curtsey, before leaving the room.
"Good Morning, Mrs Bennet." she said politely.
Mrs Bennet started spouting general politenesses of little importance (as only Mrs Bennet can do), Miss Sapienti turned her gaze on the young Lady Hamilton. The young lady gazed right back.
"Mrs Bennet, may I ask that Lady Hamilton show me to my room? I am hoping we could take some time to become acquainted before we start her studies." Miss Sapienti interrupted Mrs. Bennet's tirade. The lady in question immediately acquiesced, gesturing for Skye to do as the lady asked. Jumping lightly off the chaise from which she had sat, Skye decided she liked the new tutor. Reaching up, she took the slightly surprised governess's hand, and led her to her new room up stairs.
As they walked, Miss Sapienti smiled indulgently at the child. She thought back to how she had got the appointed job of Lady Hamilton's governess.
(Flashback)
A woman stood on the side of one of Venice's many canals, staring into the depths. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared into their murky depths. The murky depths into which the lifeless body of her fiancée had been thrown. A voice tore her from her reverie.
"Are you all right Signorina?"
Turning she came face to face with a gentleman of noticeably british origins.
"No, but I will be in time." grief had altered her perceptions of what should not be said to a complete stranger...but he had a ...a listening, kind face.
"A drink perhaps?" he asked "A cup of tea?"
An unintentional smile drifts to her face.
"How very british" she says "To drink tea, while ones world crashes down around them"
He grins at her light teasing
"It is the only thing that can be done." he said ushering her into the nearest cafe.
(End flashback)
A conversation, and a few more meetings later, and the hiring of a private detective to check her background (or so she suspected), Lord Hamilton had offered her a new start to life in a new country.
"This is to be your room Miss Sapienti" the little girl said, standing at an open door. Stepping into the bright room, Miss Sapienti observed a window seat looking out across the Longbourne estate. She placed her case at the end of her bed and walked to the window, sitting down. Skye hovered at the door. Miss Sapienti patted the window seat cushion.
"Come and sit with me." she asked.
The girl pattered quickly across the room and jumped up lightly to sit next to her. They sat in silence for a moment.
"Have you met my father?" she enquired.
Miss Sapienti turned her dark eyes to meet the child's curious green ones.
"Yes, yes I have." she answered. Skye beamed
"Can you tell me about him? I've never met him...I didn't even know my father wasn't Uncle Bennet until this morning...Is he handsome? Does he have a nice smile? Does he prefer to ride a horse or ride in a carriage? Uncle says he travels...Do you think he's been to India? Has he seen a tiger, or an elephant or a..." the little girl reeled off questions one after the other.
And Miss Sapienti did something that she hadn't done since she left the memory of her dead fiancée behind. She laughed.
"Your father is a wonderful man, and in time, I am sure you will meet him and you can ask him all those questions yourself."
The girl lost a little of her smile as she nodded in understanding.
"Come now; tell me about yourself, and what you are interested in. Your father wishes you to be a very accomplished young lady." Miss Sapienti watched as the girl regained some of her earlier animation.
"I love reading! I've read some of Uncle Bennet's books about far off places. I like walking, and running and being outside."A frown creased her forehead
"What does acc-om-plish-ed mean? Uncle Bennet also told me that I was supposed to be it, but I don't understand."
Miss Sapienti laughed at the comical expression of her new charge
"It means he wants you to be able to do lots of things very well."
"Things like reading?"
"Yes, like reading. I can also teach you different languages, so you can go to far off places and understand how they speak."
The young girls eyes brightened
"To play music, that will make people laugh and cry. To ride a horse, to stitch embroidery and many other things. Does that interest you at all my Lady?"
The girl looked up at her.
"I like the idea of learning languages, and music...horses scare my slightly – my friend Miss Lucas rides one sometimes, and Janey sometimes does embroidery...but she has to sit so still to do it!" Skye exclaimed. Again Miss Sapienti laughed
"well my Lady, we shall try all these things and find things that you like to do – and I'm sure that you will come to like horses, otherwise how could you face a fearsome beast like a tiger?" she teased.
The girl grinned, before her expression turned slightly bashful.
"Miss Sapienti...I wonder if...if you could call me Skye, or Miss Skye...because...because I'm not used to being called a lady, and I'm not even used to my own name! So please...could you call me that instead?" she asked
Miss Sapienti smiled down at this child. In less than half an hour, she had shown herself to be a girl with a heart of gold, and an eager disposition, lively and intelligent.
"Of course I can, and maybe you in return will call me Miss Valentina?"
"Val-en-tin-a" the girl sounded out. "I like it. It's pretty, just like you!"
Miss Valentina blushed slightly at the girls words. At 30 it was rare that you were called pretty.
"I think you and I are going to get on famously." she said. "I think we shall be friends first, teacher and pupil second. What say you?"
"I say yes!....please?" said the girl, creating quite a comic picture as she tried to remember if the word please was supposed to be used in such a situation. Looking up into the eyes of her governess, she dissolved into giggles, and was closely followed by the governess herself.