Her hands clasped gently in front of her as she looked with graveness upon the mound burying her step father. He'd been her step father for nearly three months, but she had not more than tolerably cared for him. He had rarely been at home, and when he was, her own mother was very strict in their learning of all the arts and upholding the best education. When they were not learning from her, she was with him in the nether regions of the house. It was best not to inquire further, they had learned quickly. She unclasped her fingers, moving the slender digits to rest soothingly upon her mother's shoulder as she wept. The manor belonged to her mother now, as well as the two lazy step sisters who could hardly be bothered to stir for their own father's funeral. Their lackadaisical approach to life was sickening, and they were nothing but sycophants of society who wished for nothing more than a prudent marriage of money, so that they might continue on in their languid ways.
"Come Eleanor, we must be about this no longer."
"Yes, let us go in now. We're quite sure Eleanor has to practice or some such silly thing. Papa did like to hear you play, after all. He loved to use it against us. To wave it in front of our faces, saying, look here, your step sister is ever SO accomplished! What are you still doing by the table?"
"Enough girls… do not disgrace yourselves in such a manner."
"Yes, Step mother. As you wish. We shall take ourselves inside." Christine said snootily, turning on heel with Caroline as they marched haughtily back into the house, or in Caroline's case, wobbled. Eleanor sighed inwardly, her arm now supporting her mother as they walked sedately back to the house, and she reflected that the only one who had truly cared about the man was her mother. Certainly his insipid daughters had never endeared themselves to him, so he did not likewise try to please them other than to indulge them in their vices so they might leave him alone, and he may not have to see them in society proper… where she must venture to make a marriage of her own…