Disclaimer – Jane Austen obviously came up with the characters.
Chapter 1
'Dear,' said Mrs Bertram, in a slightly more affected tone than usual. 'My dear come and have a look at this!'
The 'dear' in question was her husband, of nearly twenty years, who strode across their newly decorated kitchen with trepidation. He knew his wife's tendencies to get excited over a shoe sale, or information about the new designer outfits coming to their local shopping centre, so had no need to hurry. To his surprise, when he was close enough to see exactly what she was reading, he found that it was the morning's national paper. She seemed riveted by an article about a fire, with a rather gruesome picture of the remaining charred infrastructure of a tiny house, along with a family photo of the former occupants.
'Terrible isn't it,' he remarked, patting her on the head condescendingly. 'Apparently the children survived, both of them, but the parents got trapped in their room. What a waste of precious life!' He was conscious of sounding exactly like he did when he made an impassioned speech on the news, or debated in the House of Commons, and wondered how he would react to such tales if he were not a politician.
'She was my friend,' commented his wife, still transfixed by the photo. 'We were like sisters at school.'
'Oh my poppet!' cried he, with slightly more genuine feeling than before. 'I shall get your sister to call a few contacts and find out what is being done with the children and to find out anything else that she can.'
True to his promise, Mr Bertram contacted Mrs Bertram's sister, a Miss Norris. She was his personal assistant and was shrewd and economical, perfect for the help of an ambitious politician. She also had the added advantage of being a very willing babysitter who had doted on his four children ever since their infancy.
When he returned from work that evening, Mr Bertram filled in his wife on the situation of the unfortunate family.
'I was right, I'm afraid,' he began, eying up his wife to see how she bore the news. 'It appears that only the son and daughter survived. He's eighteen and is off to join the army and she's fifteen and is going into care until she is older, as there are no family able to provide for her.'
'To care!' exclaimed Miss Norris, with an air of incredulity. 'She won't survive a month! Have you seen her in that picture, poor little lamb. She looks in need of a good meal which she won't get in care. The very thought of it! Is there nothing we can do?'
'I shall have a think,' responded Mr Bertram and he duly went off to mull it over. He strolled through the garden, searching for inspiration. He then moved on to the upper floor of their three-story Georgian home, circling each room before he moved on. As he wandered through the third spare bedroom, an idea began to form. The children were now starting to move out, Ed was to university that summer and Tom had been at Oxford for a year and a half now. The twins, Maria and Julia, were only a little older than the girl, a Francesca Price, and, in his experience, were kind and outgoing. At the back of his mind was also a small voice, who he called his inner politician, which reminded him that taking in an orphan would be great publicity, and would ensure that his re-election would go off without a hitch. All things considered, he bounded down the stairs to inform his family of his decision.
And that was how Franny Price came to live with the Bertram family.
Hey, hope you like the beginning. I am determined not to compromise the Fanny Price character that Jane Austen wrote about, but will try to make her more understandable. Most people hate her which is a shame. Anyway, have lots of work so can't guarantee it will be updated often, but I will try my best. I haven't really written much so be lenient with my lack of writing style. Work in progress!