literature

Cecilia

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It is a truth insufficiently acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good education may become easily dissatisfied with the prospect of matrimony and marriage.  

Miss Katherine Godbehere, known to all as Kitty, was the very exemplar of this unfortunate affliction.  She had inherited from her late father, in addition to a benevolent yearly stipend, a prodigious interest in the Sciences, and read avidly every publication put out by the Royal Society.  Perhaps as a consequence of the eye-strain caused by poring over such close-worded text, she was predisposed to a slight frown which tended to deter her peers from seeking a closer intimacy.  Kitty, in truth, had never noted this restraint on their part, seeking rather the companionship of gentlemen learned in the sciences than young women her own age.

Such it was, therefore, that Kitty's mother, who was confined to her room as an invalid, sought to arrange the event of Kitty's marriage before her mind and morals were completely ruined by association with elderly professors.  To this end, she contrived to host a number of dinner-balls, over which, while not attending, she nonetheless exercised a meticulous control.  Every eligible bachelor within six counties was listed and considered before being rejected or invited to one of a whole seasonsworth of dances the hosting of which threatened to all but exhaust Kitty's mother's modest reserves of finance and fortitude.

"But Mama," Kitty had beseeched her mother on learning of the plan, "surely I am to be allowed at least one fort-night free for my scientific pursuits?  I am currently embarked on a most promising paleontological study of comparative anatomy, with particular reference to the dromaeosaurid theropod genus in the late Cretaceous Period.  It has reached a most critical point and I feel it cannot in all conscience be neglected."

Kitty's mother, who had understood scarcely one word in three of the preceding protest, felt nevertheless just as firmly persuaded of the opposite view.  Her late husband had indulged all too readily his only child's interest in the sciences, neglecting to encourage in her the finer arts which make a young woman more easily marriageable.  Mrs Godbehere had never dissuaded her late husband in his scientific hobby, an omission she now felt keenly.  At the time, she had considered it a harmless pass-time for a gentleman of the leisured class, who could so easily turn otherwise to the solace of the gaming-tables.  Little had she considered the effect on her young daughter, who was not fated to become a profligate gentleman with time to idle away, but a mother and a wife with a household to run.  

"My mind is quite fixed upon the matter, Katherine," Mrs Godbehere asserted, "And you must of course choose some new gowns; Albert will drive you into town tomorrow to be fitted."

"But Mama, tomorrow Mr. John Walker of the Edinburgh Society is come to give a paper of botany.  I really must attend.  The topic has a number of ramifications for my own researches."

"And of course, you can listen to papers as much as you wont, once your poor mother is driven to her grave with worry at the thought of you alone in the world and penniless!  And then you shall starve, no doubt, and come to a bad end!"

At this compelling entreaty, Mrs Godbehere felt so greatly the despair of her position that she was quite given over to grief, her capacious bosom wracked with sobs at the thought of her solitary progeny's wretched fate.  For Kitty, there was no further argument to be made.  Subdued by the force of her mother's feelings on the subject, she relented with a murmur of, "Very well, mother.  I shall attend your dances."

"Now I shall rest awhile," Mrs Godbehere said by way of dismissal, recovered quite instantaneously from her anguish, "but you shall look over this list, Katherine, and see if there is any one whom I have omitted to invite to the dinners.  You may invite one or two of your Scientific friends if you chuse, but take care not to unbalance the party so that young ladies are greatly in favour over young gentlemen.  In this matter, you must have every possible advantage."  She gave a look encompassing Kitty's hair, which had escaped from its tresses, and her dress which was come down at the hem, which contrived to suggest that the girl would need every possible advantage.

Kitty, not oblivious to the reproach, snatched the list from her poor mother's enfeebled hand, and fled from the chamber, shutting the door with such a force that it was felt in the kitchens.

Retreating to her favourite position in the window-seat of her father's study, with its walls lined with books and stuffed creatures and its comforting smell of leather and tobacco, Kitty suppressed tears of rage and crushed the list in her shaking hand as she read the names thereon.  The first party was to be held on the 16th day of June, scarcely a month away.  When she thought of all the preparations that she and the household must endure before that date, she at first resolved to run to sea, then to marry a shepherd-boy, then to go and live with the Wraggle-taggle gypsies.  Finally, realising the loss to Science that any of these courses would impose, she determined rather to disrupt the proceedings as best she was able, and thus to dissuade the eligible young gentlemen from seeking her hand, which proposal she would, if proffered, feel duty-bound to her mother to accept.

-----

The day of the first dance approached.  The gown had been made and altered, the orchestra had been engaged, the dust-clothes were removed from the ballroom furniture and the invitations sent.  The house had been cleaned from cellar to attic and every member of the household, from the lowliest boot-black up to Mrs Godbehere herself, was busy from morning until night.  The food for the ball had begun arriving, and the bell at the tradesman's entrance rarely ceased ringing for two minutes in the day.

Kitty had a minimal hand in the arrangements; for all that the whole concern was for her especial benefit.  She had been measured and stuck with pins, and she had been forced to remove from one room after another with her book as the flurry of maids with dusters pursued her through the house.  She had attended daily upon her mother, who seemed to grow more revived as Kitty grew subdued.  

Kitty had added but one name to her mother's neat lists, a Miss Cecilia Perkins, which name was not previously known to her mother but which Kitty assured her was perfectly respectable nonetheless.  Mrs Godbehere was, even now, a little suspicious of her daughter's acquiescence and inclined to scrutinise her deeds closely.  But she had little of which to complain; Kitty had left the house but once for the entire period, save in the course of Arrangements for the party.  And that excursion, Albert, the footman, reported, was to the British Museum, ostensibly to personally deliver Miss Perkins' invitation. Although an odd address for a young lady, it did not seem an entirely disreputable destination, for all the Scientific associations with which it was tainted.

On the eve of the ball, Mrs Godbehere summoned her daughter to her bedside, and bade her shew the new gown, the first of four such which had been delivered a week previously in crepe paper.  The gown was of a feminine pale yellow, and showed to good advantage the natural flush of her daughter's fair complexion.  It was cut modestly but well and so enhanced Kitty's natural grace and beauty that Mrs Godbehere, much as she felt she ought to have some improving comment to impart, could think of none, save; "Do not frown so, Katherine.  The young gentlemen will be quite terrified!"  

Kitty gave a smile that rather brought her long-suffering mother to mind of one of the poor transfixed reptiles which lined the wall in her late husband's study.  Mrs Godbehere reminded Kitty yet again of the young gentleman whom she considered to be the prize at the first ball, "Now, Katherine, you must be shure to pay especial attention to The Honorable Robert Darforth, third son of the Earl of -dean.  He has an estate of some ninety acres in the county of Somerset, bequeathed him by a childless uncle, and a good income from it, so I believe.  It is a wonder he has not wed already, for I believe his mother was considered something of a beauty.  He has a stable of first-class racehorses, and has founded an orphanage and school although he is but seven-and-twenty.  He is an accomplished Latin scholar and something of a theologian, so you will have much to talk about."  Mrs Godbehere went on in this way for some time until she noted Kitty, whose attention had somewhat wandered, stifle a small yawn.

"Oh, but my dearest Katherine, you must be rested for to-morrow!  I only wish I could be well enough myself to attend the ball and assist you in securing the hand of dear, honorable Mr. Darforth.  I feel certain that if you could have but one dance with him your future would be quite assured."  Then, with her mother's blessing, Kitty left for her own chambers.

The day of the first dance dawned bright and clear, but the house itself had been awake for hours.  Indeed, it scarcely seemed to have slept.  The great fires in the kitchen were lit, and the creation of all manner of dishes and confections was underway.  On awaking, Kitty was fortunate in eventually securing the attentions of a maid who condescended to bring her a plate of smoked herrings and a pot of coffee.  She spent the morning in her father's study keeping out of the way, and began her preparations for the ball shortly after luncheon.  Once bathed, powdered, stayed and dressed - in her new silk stockings, her new gown and dainty gloves, with her hair piled in neat tresses - Kitty felt rather unlike herself.

-----

The ball was begun.   Kitty's guest, Miss Cecilia Perkins, was unfortunate in both complexion and in temperament, with an oddness to her skin and facial features that heavy powder could scarcely mask; and although the other guests were not so sufficiently ill-mannered as to remark upon it, many looked askance across the ball room.  The Honorable Robert Darforth was indeed such a gentleman as to make an especial effort to engage Miss Perkins in conversation, very much to the exclusion of the room, once Kitty had mentioned her very great care that her country friend should enjoy her first dance in town.  Miss Perkins was short, with an odd bulge to her shape visible even under her pannier and bustle.

Robert Darforth, Esq. was almost as unfortunate in his way as was Kitty's bucolic friend.  He wore eyeglasses, and in despite of his seven-and-twenty years he was balding and grossly corpulent.  His teeth were exceeding bad, and stuck out at odd angles.  He spoke with an oddly feminine lisp, and had the beginnings of gout.  Whatever the income from his estate, Kitty decided midway through the first dance as his full weight came to bear on her left foot, it could be nowhere near enough.  She held a whispered conversation with Miss Perkins at an early juncture.  Thereafter, the poor woman seemed to rather monopolize The Hon. Robert Darforth, who for his part appeared to relish the attention.

The night drew on, and although Kitty had danced a turn with each of the young gentlemen, and had made an especial effort not to frown, she professed disappointment with the virtues of the men on offer.  Not one of them had expressed an opinion worth repeating on the natural sciences, or indeed on any topic of merit, and though one or two had ventured thoughts on the current political situation, these seemed rather to be repeated from the news-paper than thought afresh.  She noticed from the corner of her vision that Cecilia and Darforth left the ball room, hand in hand, to take a turn about the garden.  Kitty, having indicated her intention to sit out the dance, slipped out after them.

The garden was filled with the scent of roses and the light of the waxing moon.  The Honorable Robert Darforth, a head shorter than any other gentleman of the company, and nearly as wide as tall, was clearly visible at the entrance to the hedge-maze.  With him was Cecilia Perkins, a short figure even by comparison, with an odd curvature to her spine.  Kitty watched, entranced, as Miss Perkins removed her wig and then, immodestly in one movement, her hooped gown.  A momentary look of rapture at the unrobing was highlighted on Darforth's imbecilic visage in the moonlight, followed by a look of confusion as Miss Perkins' reptilian tail unfurled.  In the soft light spilling from the ballroom, Kitty could plainly see the form of the velociraptor, V. mongoliensis, the subject and result of her recent studies, and lately disguised as Miss Cecilia Perkins, as it was unveiled.  The face-powder could no longer hide the scales or the leathery sheen to the skin.  The thing gave a cry of pure horrible joy, and its razor-sharp fangs shone like gravestones in the eerie light.  In one slash, it disembowelled the unfortunate Darforth, and succumbed to noises of animal delight as its muzzle was buried in entrails and blood.

Kitty, after watching the spectacle for a time, returned to the ballroom with a look of grim satisfaction on her face.  She attempted to put the matter from her mind, dancing with a number of tiresome and boorish bachelors until the ball ended, but all the while retaining a faraway and amused appearance which her peers, in truth, found scarcely less disturbing than the frown her mother was at such pains to expunge.  

As the last guest left, Kitty, who did not feel tired in the least, ascended to her mother's chamber to make her report.  Her mother professed herself so satisfied that Kitty had danced one dance with Danforth, and none of the other girls any, that she began to feel quite kindly disposed to her daughter.  She acquiesced readily to the suggestion that Miss Perkins be invited to the remainder of the balls this season, accepting Kitty's description of the unfortunate soul, so terribly shy and retiring, and pleased to note a charitable instinct in her offspring that had been absent hitherto.  

"Indeed," Mrs Godbehere said, "I shall go so far as to invite the girl to dinner, once I am better.  I really do declare I shall be well enough to leave my bedchamber soon.  I feel better than I have done in months!"

"That is wonderful news, Mama," Kitty said.  "I am quite sure she should be delighted to have your acquaintance."

Kitty glanced at the bedclothes, beneath which her mother's ample bosom and stomach rose and fell with each breath.  Suppressing a smile, she left the room and shut the door gently behind her.  With most of the Season still ahead of her, it appeared that the problem of providing fodder for her test subject would no longer prove to be quite such an insurmountable conundrum.
My entry for The Raptor Rapture contest, in honour of ^Halatia's quarter-century.

2546 words.

I should hope, dear reader, that the genre of my humble narrative should require no further explication. I beg, therefore, your indulgence in my egregious overuse of the comma.

Minor edit 17/05/2011 - Mr Darforth no longer changes name halfway through. I added a little extra foreshadowing of the shock surprise, and added a bit on the end.
© 2011 - 2024 fyoot
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IceveinMoonstone's avatar
Amazing story. I love the high-end tone, it gives the story a bit of a fancy victorian feel, perfect for the content. The ending was purely awesome, I loved it 8D If I could do such a thing, I would 8D