Title: Fidelity
Summary: 'Yellow Admiral', 'The Surgeon's Mate' spoilers. Sophia Aubrey, faithful to the last, is grievously injured at a sudden discovery.
Note: Gah. I was just doodling, and this comes to me. oo; I am a slave to my pen – honestly. I was just about to go to sleep, too... -Sighs- More or less will be continued until the end of 'The Yellow Admiral', possibly in two parts.
Dedications: For SilentTrainConductor. I am, as always, a slave to my favoured readers' wants, and hence whipped up a good book-verse tale. Ditto goes for Arwen Lune. Also, for Thig (Dray was going to be Bonden, but he wouldn't have been there... =Tear slides down cheek= Sorry, love. Next chapter, probably, or the next.)
'Which I don't WANT to be off to Ulster – which I want to stay HERE!'
'Ay! 'Tisn't none of our business about the goings on in your soppy Ireland! None of that!'
Sophie sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Now, girls – what will Auntie Frankie say to that? She had set up for you two to come in, for her new girls's school.' She smiled benignly, never once stopping the consistent click of her needles, the embroidery in her lap.
Fanny and Charlotte glared at their mother, identical in their fury. 'Auntie Frankie can bloody sod off,' answered Fanny (or conceivably Charlotte) with scathing fervour.
'SOPHIA!'
A seaman entered the drawing room, looking rather wilted and resigned. Dray bowed his grey head and tried to look useful. 'Which your mother, Mrs Williams, is in, marm,' he said, stating the obvious.
At that, a puffed up looking elder woman flounced in, clutching a parcel of letters in her hand and hair all chaos – her cheeks were a flaring scarlet, full of righteous indignation. 'SOPHIA!' she cried again, positively lewd. Dray, greatly suppressed by the arrival of this older, shrieking woman, was reminded of a banshee and quickly made his exit.
'What is it, Mama?' asked Sophie, looking perplexed. 'Girls, just run along, then...' The girls remained, 'though a little more subdued, but both mother and grandmother were far too preoccupied to notice.
'Your HUSBAND!' Mrs Williams said in a fierce tone. 'Has had an affair – gotten some paramour in Halifax with CHILD!' Charlotte and Fanny looked at each other, both as confused as their mother.
Sophie, who had gone quite red with surprise, now paled considerably; the colour drained from her face in a matter of moments, and her hands began to shake terribly. The needlework fell and clattered on the floor loudly. 'I – I beg your – what?' the poor woman stuttered, and her mother grimaced.
'Your husband,' she repeated, voice low with vehemence, 'has committed the unforgivable sin of fornication with some Halifax – WOMAN!' Charlotte raised an eyebrow and muttered something to her sister about what but did Grandmam expect, but for him to have done fornication with a dame. Fanny hushed her and continued to listen. 'Your husband,' Mrs Williams continued, 'went and got that Nova Scotia – /female/ - with child!'
Sophie did not reply, but her hands wrung themselves of their own accord. Mrs Williams, quite red in the face, heaved and huffed, looking like an elderly puffer fish with very dark, angular eyebrows. 'Well?' she shouted. 'What are you going to do about it, Sophia?'
Sophie's lip quivered. Charlotte was on the verge of telling her grandmother to sod off, but Fanny placed a hand over her sister's mouth. 'Are you not positively appalled?' asked Mrs Williams, aghast. 'Not perfectly LIVID at this gross betrayal?'
'B-betrayal?' stammered Sophie. 'I – I would not quite say a betrayal –'
'This is an injustice!' Mrs Williams interjected with deliberation. 'An act of treachery – of infidelity!' She leered at her daughter menacingly, willing her to grow as angry as she.
'I – I daresay he will apologise...' was the only reply, timorous and subdued in a low whisper.
'APOLOGISE!' repeated Mrs Williams. 'He does not deserve the OPPORTUNITY to apologise!' Charlotte was now growing quite difficult to maintain – her cheeks were red, and her eyes were narrowed with fury. Fanny, too, was extremely irritated; but being the more sensible of the two (if not less spirited), she controlled her temper, as well as Charlotte's.
A little colour rose in Sophie's cheeks. 'He... He did do a grievous wrong.'
'I DARESAY HE DID!' Mrs Williams cried. 'Doubtless a regular purveyor of the world's BROTHELS!' Charlotte muttered something low, muffled by the palm of Fanny's hand. Fanny was an unsurpassed shade of crimson, and she was glaring with amazing deliberation of loathing for this meddling grandmother of hers. Both kept silent (or at least stifled). However, sheer hate, mostly out of loyalty to their father, showed through the narrow slits of their eyes.
'I cannot b-believe he would do such a thing to me!' said Sophie, a little louder. Her eyes shown with tears.
'But he did!' responded Mrs Williams with venom. 'He did a horrid, horrid thing – he betrayed you, he betrayed the children! An act against justice! An act against your family!'
'He did a wicked, wicked thing!' Sophie said. The tears were flowing freely now, a mixture of mourning and self-righteousness.
'Yes!' brayed Mrs Williams. 'You have every right to be angry – any lady with pride – SELF RESPECT! – would be!'
Jealousy easily swayed Sophie Aubrey's sweet little heart; and so it did then. Sophie's cheeks reddened suddenly, the only slight show of pink turning into a furious scarlet. 'HOW DARE HE!' she cried, and with that, left the drawing room with surprising haste. She slammed the door shut behind her, and the following echoes seemed to send the room into darkness.
Mrs Williams wore an unbelievably complaisant smirk on her worn and wrinkled features. She still did not notice the presence of the two little girls who had witnessed this sudden change in their lives – the possible destruction of their family. Charlotte was being restrained, now by Dray, who had snuck back in, as well as a half-hearted Fanny, the words 'KEEP TO YOUR OWN, YOU HORRID GODDAMNED SHREW!' only just unformed on her lips.
Summary: 'Yellow Admiral', 'The Surgeon's Mate' spoilers. Sophia Aubrey, faithful to the last, is grievously injured at a sudden discovery.
Note: Gah. I was just doodling, and this comes to me. oo; I am a slave to my pen – honestly. I was just about to go to sleep, too... -Sighs- More or less will be continued until the end of 'The Yellow Admiral', possibly in two parts.
Dedications: For SilentTrainConductor. I am, as always, a slave to my favoured readers' wants, and hence whipped up a good book-verse tale. Ditto goes for Arwen Lune. Also, for Thig (Dray was going to be Bonden, but he wouldn't have been there... =Tear slides down cheek= Sorry, love. Next chapter, probably, or the next.)
'Which I don't WANT to be off to Ulster – which I want to stay HERE!'
'Ay! 'Tisn't none of our business about the goings on in your soppy Ireland! None of that!'
Sophie sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Now, girls – what will Auntie Frankie say to that? She had set up for you two to come in, for her new girls's school.' She smiled benignly, never once stopping the consistent click of her needles, the embroidery in her lap.
Fanny and Charlotte glared at their mother, identical in their fury. 'Auntie Frankie can bloody sod off,' answered Fanny (or conceivably Charlotte) with scathing fervour.
'SOPHIA!'
A seaman entered the drawing room, looking rather wilted and resigned. Dray bowed his grey head and tried to look useful. 'Which your mother, Mrs Williams, is in, marm,' he said, stating the obvious.
At that, a puffed up looking elder woman flounced in, clutching a parcel of letters in her hand and hair all chaos – her cheeks were a flaring scarlet, full of righteous indignation. 'SOPHIA!' she cried again, positively lewd. Dray, greatly suppressed by the arrival of this older, shrieking woman, was reminded of a banshee and quickly made his exit.
'What is it, Mama?' asked Sophie, looking perplexed. 'Girls, just run along, then...' The girls remained, 'though a little more subdued, but both mother and grandmother were far too preoccupied to notice.
'Your HUSBAND!' Mrs Williams said in a fierce tone. 'Has had an affair – gotten some paramour in Halifax with CHILD!' Charlotte and Fanny looked at each other, both as confused as their mother.
Sophie, who had gone quite red with surprise, now paled considerably; the colour drained from her face in a matter of moments, and her hands began to shake terribly. The needlework fell and clattered on the floor loudly. 'I – I beg your – what?' the poor woman stuttered, and her mother grimaced.
'Your husband,' she repeated, voice low with vehemence, 'has committed the unforgivable sin of fornication with some Halifax – WOMAN!' Charlotte raised an eyebrow and muttered something to her sister about what but did Grandmam expect, but for him to have done fornication with a dame. Fanny hushed her and continued to listen. 'Your husband,' Mrs Williams continued, 'went and got that Nova Scotia – /female/ - with child!'
Sophie did not reply, but her hands wrung themselves of their own accord. Mrs Williams, quite red in the face, heaved and huffed, looking like an elderly puffer fish with very dark, angular eyebrows. 'Well?' she shouted. 'What are you going to do about it, Sophia?'
Sophie's lip quivered. Charlotte was on the verge of telling her grandmother to sod off, but Fanny placed a hand over her sister's mouth. 'Are you not positively appalled?' asked Mrs Williams, aghast. 'Not perfectly LIVID at this gross betrayal?'
'B-betrayal?' stammered Sophie. 'I – I would not quite say a betrayal –'
'This is an injustice!' Mrs Williams interjected with deliberation. 'An act of treachery – of infidelity!' She leered at her daughter menacingly, willing her to grow as angry as she.
'I – I daresay he will apologise...' was the only reply, timorous and subdued in a low whisper.
'APOLOGISE!' repeated Mrs Williams. 'He does not deserve the OPPORTUNITY to apologise!' Charlotte was now growing quite difficult to maintain – her cheeks were red, and her eyes were narrowed with fury. Fanny, too, was extremely irritated; but being the more sensible of the two (if not less spirited), she controlled her temper, as well as Charlotte's.
A little colour rose in Sophie's cheeks. 'He... He did do a grievous wrong.'
'I DARESAY HE DID!' Mrs Williams cried. 'Doubtless a regular purveyor of the world's BROTHELS!' Charlotte muttered something low, muffled by the palm of Fanny's hand. Fanny was an unsurpassed shade of crimson, and she was glaring with amazing deliberation of loathing for this meddling grandmother of hers. Both kept silent (or at least stifled). However, sheer hate, mostly out of loyalty to their father, showed through the narrow slits of their eyes.
'I cannot b-believe he would do such a thing to me!' said Sophie, a little louder. Her eyes shown with tears.
'But he did!' responded Mrs Williams with venom. 'He did a horrid, horrid thing – he betrayed you, he betrayed the children! An act against justice! An act against your family!'
'He did a wicked, wicked thing!' Sophie said. The tears were flowing freely now, a mixture of mourning and self-righteousness.
'Yes!' brayed Mrs Williams. 'You have every right to be angry – any lady with pride – SELF RESPECT! – would be!'
Jealousy easily swayed Sophie Aubrey's sweet little heart; and so it did then. Sophie's cheeks reddened suddenly, the only slight show of pink turning into a furious scarlet. 'HOW DARE HE!' she cried, and with that, left the drawing room with surprising haste. She slammed the door shut behind her, and the following echoes seemed to send the room into darkness.
Mrs Williams wore an unbelievably complaisant smirk on her worn and wrinkled features. She still did not notice the presence of the two little girls who had witnessed this sudden change in their lives – the possible destruction of their family. Charlotte was being restrained, now by Dray, who had snuck back in, as well as a half-hearted Fanny, the words 'KEEP TO YOUR OWN, YOU HORRID GODDAMNED SHREW!' only just unformed on her lips.