Act II: Wedded Bliss
He was not invited to the wedding, but he decided to attend anyway. It was a nice enough ceremony at St. Dunstan's. People dressed in lace and silk, dripping jewels, peering over at one another to see if they could spot someone famous. Eustace felt he would gag from the overpowering scent of must and flowers, but he managed to survive.
At last, he heard the bridal march on the organ. The woman playing it, possibly in her eighties, was slipping away from most of the keys, causing the organ to play mostly minor notes and created a foreboding sense of doom.
Tabitha was like a pastry in her cream coloured gown, a pure confectionary delight. Eustace watched her trudge down the aisle, her nails digging into her father's arm, and her misty eyes brimming with tears.
"Look at the poor girl, she must miss her family already." clucked a matronly woman in black.
"Nonsense," replied the other in grey, "She is just so virtuous that she's crying on her own wedding day."
Although he hated to admit it, Eustace also came to see her future husband. Not only was he young and part of the gentry, he was beautiful. He had an air of confidence and poise that perfectly complimented his delicate, but divine features. He had the countenance of an angel, but a rather sinister disposition hidden in the edge of his smile. He smirked contemptuously at throughout the whole ceremony. He had no family, so no one from the upper class was present for the joyous event. It was convenient for Eustace that half the church was empty, it was how he even found a seat undetected, but it felt odd.
"Miss," whispered the priest, "You are supposed to say 'I do.'" Tabitha was frozen, still unsure whether or not she made the right choice. She turn to Eustace, who shook his head.
"She says 'yes,'" snapped Crawford.
"Very well, do you…"
"Yes, yes, all of it, I do. Now, can we get on with it?"
"You may now kiss the bride." The priest said tonelessly. They shared, a quick, impersonal kiss.
Behind him, he could hear some shrill woman whispering to her husband.
"Look at the size of that ring! What do they think, that they're better than us, just cause they snagged some lord? Well, we'll show them. No one gets away with snubbing the Van Dorts! Our Victor's going to marry a lady one day!"
"But dear, Victor is only two years old."
"You know perfectly well what I mean!"
After the ceremony, people stood up from the pews, moving to and fro to gossip loudly and heading towards the reception. Crawford, who already seemed a bit tipsy, roughly grabbed his new bride about the waist and kissed her.
Deciding that he had enough of the ordeal, Eustace wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.