Louis Killington Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 While awaiting the results of his manservant's trip to the docks, Louis decided to call upon his uncle Heneage to reveal the lovelorn plans of his son. It being a Thursday, the Earl was fairly certain that the Chancellor would be hard at work in his offices. The man rarely gave into distractions after all. The offices of the Royal Chancellor were well-appointed, given that it was one of the highest offices in the land. In search of one of the jurist's clerks, the Earl sought to see if Finch was available to see him on a matter of some urgency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 Finch was indeed in his offices, though there was no secretary at his usual post; a desk outside the inner ofice. The appointment book and paraphernalia was somewhere locked away - there would seem to be no meetings scheduled for the day. Louis might guess easily enough that the Chancellor had let his man go to enjoy some of the seasonal festivities with his family. While Heneage snr did not feel the draw of frivolity as strongly as most, he did not begrudge some fun for others. The door to his office was ajar, so he could hear if anyone arrived. "Is that you Hen?" The older man called, looking up from the tome he was studying - quill poised from the notes he was taking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted June 30, 2017 Author Share Posted June 30, 2017 Louis moved with ease into the older man's office. "Sorry to disappoint Lord Chancellor," Louis intoned with feigned seriousness before breaking into a smile. "Actually, if you spare me a minute, I would speak to you about him. Is he due to arrive shortly? I should not want to be seen here with you if that is the case," he offered softly as he moved forward to give Finch a handshake in greeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 "He was supposed to pick this up yesterday," he indicated a box on a side table. "but never showed, then was not at the house last night. I thought perhaps he got the dates mixed... it's not like him at all." Daventry replied. "Hmm." he shrugged of it, though the question of where his son might be had not left his expression. Returning Louis gesture, he indicated a chair. "Well that is the way to make a Father curious?" he waited for Louis to say more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 Once the situation was made clear, Louis moved to shut the outer office door, as well as the inner one. "A bit of quiet perhaps," is the only explanation he could offer as he went through the motions of trying to gain privacy. "Your son plans to marry the Irish girl on New Years Day and he wants me as his best man. I did what I could to ask him to reconsider but he impregnated her, apparently, and he claims he has never been more happy. I came to you as soon as I could." Louis decided not to color the news more harshly. Perhaps the old man would not be too perturbed about it. Then again, perhaps the Pope would convert to Anglican. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 The Lord Chancellor was a composed man, he knew how to keep his emotion and expression in check. But everyone has their limit - and his youngest son (the good one) seemed to be his. Spluttering with some surprise he blinked and shook his head. "Louis, this must be some sort of prank he is playing on you. He's said nothing to me. Nothing at all! No, this cannot be correct. It cannot be correct at all." "I know he went through a bit of a a rough path after Jane, but really that was for the better if you ask me. She was too savvy for him, he needs a nice caring girl, not one with politics pumping through her veins..." it was easier to talk about Jane, while his mind was wrestling with what Louis had just said. "This will be some sort of new years eve prank he's playing." Hen was not the pranking sort, even when he'd been up to mischeif as a lad, that had been more Blount's doing than his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 "Hen is not the type to pull such a prank," Basildon sought to clarify. "You should see him with his Irish miss. He is quite enamored with her. She has him upon puppet strings I fear. He thinks he is wildly happy," Louis clarified quietly as he leaned forward in his chair, as if worried that Hen might be listening at the closed door. "He is prepared to not comply with the reading of the banns, trusting that she is not married already," Louis thought to add. He was not sure if there was some legal recourse that the Chancellor might concoct. "I could not stop him, but I am pondering a prank of my own," he confessed quietly. "I told him that I would arrange the ceremony and preacher, because it would give me some measure of control overthe event." Louis enjoyed exercising control. "I was pondering hiring an actor to play the role of a preacher, so perhaps the marriage would notbe legal and Hen might be able to distance himself from it if and when he changes his mind in the future." He looked at the legal scholar to see if that might work legally. Could one be married legally if no priest had performed the service? Louis was pretty sure that it would draw the marriage into question, at the least. It might allow the courts, who were subject to his father, to declare the marriage null and void. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 "She must have him under some spell indeed, for him to act so out of character." It was not like Hen to consider breeching laws, the bans served an important purpose, quite aside from the traditional protocols of contact making. "A prank of your own?" still mentally wrestling with the news, he allowed Louis to speak on of a plan he had made to thwart Hen's own. "That would be a farce, a greater farce than it already is." his colour was rising. "Who is this woman that he is considering. He introduced her to me briefly at the ball, yet I had no idea that he was serious. What do you know of her Louis. Who is her family. I have half a mind to lave him to it, if he would throw his life away like that. But he is my son, even if he has forgotten it, so I cannot allow this fools match to stain the family!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 "Her name is Siobhen Devine, she has been in England three to four months but Devine is not her last name. It is Hen's pet name for her. She was careful not to provide her last name," he explained. "She acted as if a woman with something to hide frankly. That something might just be that she is from a poor common family. That is the best of hopes. You could imagine far worse." He did not need to give voice to it. The Irish chit might be a criminal or a bigamist. "She claims to have stayed in an inn in Chelsea. I might be able to ascertain a last name if she provided one. Yet, it would not surprise me if she registered under an assumed name." If the Chancellor would forbid his prank, then there was little that could be done to stop the wedding, short of abducting one of the two of them. "Then it is up to you. I would visit him or summon him. Unless you have him incarcerated, I doubt you will be able to stop him." Daniel might be the type to kidnap his brother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 "Devin." The Chancellor supplied the last name he had been given when he had met, though Louis uptake was that it may not have been her surname at all. "It was good to see a brightness about my son, it's been lacking for months, but it is far from pleasing that it would lead to abject idiocy." he stated in an exceedingly plain fashion (not like the Chancellor at all) that might reveal just how dismayed he was. "She duped him into a proposal no doubt, such haste is common to corrupt motive. She is a but a confidence woman, thinking herself upon an easy mark, but shall find herself thwarted." Humourlessly he spoke on. No, he did not think Louis playful trickery had any place in his own sons life. Rather, he lacked any mirth on the subject. "The Inn at Chelsea, the Saint Georges Inn? Well, you surely have the where with all to identify her then?" Louis owned the Inn. Did the young Earl really think his Father in Law was unaware? "No marriage can take place without a bride. Find her and bring her, I would have her stood before me, we shall find out what her price is." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted July 14, 2017 Author Share Posted July 14, 2017 "I quite agree with your concern," Louis noted. The Irish chit's motives were plain." "I shall see what I can learn." He had just been to the George Inn in search of a meeting with Danby. He had presented the twins with their Christmas gold. Now, he supposed, they would need to earn a bonus. He would send Thomas. "You wish me to kidnap her?" Louis asked in surprise. His uncle-in-law was not the type to suggest something unlawful. It was ironic that the Chancellor had dismissed a sham wedding in favor of kidnapping. "Perhaps you should just go there and confront her. I can get you the key," he suggested as an alternative "if she is still at the inn." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 "I would not call it kidnapping." He frowned, protectiveness of his family's interests had him neglect the thought that others might see it in that light. "Rather, arrive to relay her to prospective father in law to visit." A plan had developed in his own mind, and he revealed the rest of it to Louis now. "If you bring her here, I have it in my mind that meanwhile I shall find Hen and tell him plainly what I suspect. He in his smitten state shall likely deny any possibility that she is only after the family wealth. I shall then set him in secret to listen in to my discussion with the girl when you get her here. "I shall offer her a payment to exit our lives. When Hen hears her acceptance of a bribe, his eyes shall be opened." This was the hastily made plan that he'd come up with on the fly - perhaps Louis had extra ideas to refine it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted July 22, 2017 Author Share Posted July 22, 2017 "If the chit marries Hen, uncle, she will be a Countess and entitled to at least a third of everything Hen owns now or will ever own. She will become a key member of one of the most respected families in England," Louis explained. "How much could you offer her to forego that? Ten thousand pounds? Fifty thousand pounds? She will turn down your offer and Hen's love for her will only grow," the Earl warned. "There is a good chance this will backfire." He paused to let the realization sink in. The Lord Chancellor was better at black letter law than bribery. "No, I think we need some skullduggery. Perhaps an anonymous letter suggesting that she is already married in Ireland? It might be a reason to delay the marriage to do an investigation of her," Louis offered as an example. It was not a brilliant idea but might cause there to be a pause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 "She's not going to marry him." the father frowned towards Louis. Something was being lost in communication here! "I shall not let her. I'll off her 5hundred pounds to board a ship for Ireland tomorrow, and she'll be gone." But Louis thought she'd hold out for the bigger picture. "So what would you suggest?" he listened as Louis put forth an idea. "That would buy us some time. What next?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted July 27, 2017 Author Share Posted July 27, 2017 "How shall you prevent it sir?" Louis asked with rare deference. "Your son could elope and marry the girl in the next town or shire. He's old enough not to need your consent surely?" Louis paused for confirmation. "You could threaten to disown him but when has that every stopped a lad in love? Or one who thinks he is in love. It is only when the blossom of it fades that he will be able to reflect soberly on the cost. That may not be for many years." He allowed the gravity of losing a son weigh heavily for a moment before trying to add some levity. "As for me, I was disowned for everything but love ... or perhaps more accurately for loving so much," he chuckled. "I managed on my own, though not as well as I might like. Hen will feel the same. We are in a tricky position uncle." "I am thinking a purported letter to our Irish lass, perhaps from a relation, falling into Hen's hands accidentally could be the only thing to make him pause." The letter would be full of bald lies of course, but that need not be shared with the Chancellor. He might find that repugnant. "We just need him to pause, hoping he will come to his senses." The end would justify the means certainly, or so the young schemer concluded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 It was grave. Worse for the fact that he'd never had to worry about his younger son so much - oh Hen had some misfortune finding a match, but it seemed to the olderman that those were minor hiccups, inevitable bends in a young mans road as he figured out his path forwards. It had always been Daniel who persistently visited grief upon the family. Drawing in a lengthy breath, he sat in the silence of thought. "I am loath to leave any aspect of 'chance' in this equation." he thought multipronged would serve best. "If you arrange this letter to arrive to my sons hands. I shall go myself to the Chelsea Inn and speak with the girl." He was not entirely happy with either or any of the options they’d come up with thus far, but perhaps it was simply one of those awful situations where there was no pleasant way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted August 3, 2017 Author Share Posted August 3, 2017 "I will arrange a letter," Louis pledged. Thomas would draft it and one of his French sisters would deliver it by mistake to Hen. "You had best go no later than tomorrow afternoon for they are apt to be married shortly thereafter, absent some intervening event." It was clear that Finch was troubled. It was a sad prospect to lose one's son over a woman. Louis was determined not to experience the same. No son of his would be unprepared for the wiles of women. They were dangerous creatures and needed to be treated as such, at least by the uninitiated. "I had best take my leave then." It would not be good if Louis was caught by Hen being with his father. "It would be best if you tried to protect me as your source. Your son will be most unhappy with me if he were to think I came to warn you." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 "I shall attend to the visit this afternoon." Finch replied. It was too near and dear to home to contemplate doing anything other. Arising, he moved it Louis to the door. Upon a final frown he asked, "If our best efforts of prevention are unsuccessful, have you the time and location of this marriage?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Killington Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Making a move towards the door Louis paused to hear the last question posed by the Chancellor. "I do not know the timing as of yet. I suspect that Hen shall have to contact me again. I know the girl wanted it to be on the first." It made Louis think that he should be receiving a message from Hen soon enough. "I will let you know when I hear something." With that, the Earl opened the door and prepared to exit. With luck, Hen would not be on the other side. If there were no other questions, Louis was ready to take his leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 "Hmm... yes he's been most absent this season." the Chancellor murmured to himself as much as Louis, as the young earl took his leave. If Louis might recall, the Daventry had mentioned his son not picking up the parcel yesterday, nor bing at the house last night, and absent again today. Hen jr. was not approaching as Louis left the office, nor did Louis spot him along the halls as he made his way out. OOC: Super progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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