All about Frances | Sunday Farewells @ Langdon House [after 3]

[Hope]

#1  Langdon House

Located on the south corner of Picadilly, this large house seems almost out of place with the smaller town homes further up the block. Likely it is because it predates the development of Pall Mall and St. James Square.

Though the house shows signs of age from its Tudor origins, the walled grounds of two acres are well maintained, with a nice garden in back. There is an entry gate to the front, and a gate in the rear to the stables. A military man might appreciate the security of the perimeter.

The house has 3 levels plus an attic. The ground level hosts a small ballroom, parlor,dining room and study. The second floor hosts a masters BR, Missus BR, and a guest room. The third floor has three guest rooms, with the servants sleeping in the attic.

 

The scent of freshly baked cinnamon cakes filled the house...

Frances had never felt like she had friends in high places, well except from her Guardian that was.  So when Charles had advised there were persons wanting to see to farewell her she was somewhat surprised.  Piece of carrot between fingers she turned and narrowed her eyes, but then sighing it away she returned to placing the tasty treat though the bars of Tweety's cage.

Her trunk was packed and sat in the hall ready. 

"Mrs Makin will be here by five," Frances voiced out loud, while imaging Lord Langdon would have even more ladies visiting him after that. As much as she willed it, she was unable to halt her jealousy over Charles time and attention. 

Abagail was positioned near the fire ever silent and knitting.

 

 

[Caroline Despanay]

A coach pulled up at the front gate, inside Caroline sat mentally going over what all she wished to say in the upcoming conversation with the girl. Frankly a part of her was surprised that Lord Langdon had finally managed to iron out all the details and allow this rendezvous, something Caroline had been angling for quite some time. It took her winning the man in the auction to start the ball rolling but today would be the culmination of that process.

Sitting in the drivers seat was her Irish bodyguard who now waited for some lackey to come open the bloody gate.

[Hope]

It was fortunate that Amy noticed a fine carriage parked out near the front gate - and the driver sat that looking expectant towards them.  "I wonder who that is?"  the maid said, and went out up the path (opening the gate to the footpath) as she did so.

"Can I help you?" she asked the carriage driver, who no doubt knew the wishes of the carriages inhabitant. 

 

 

[Sophia de la Cerda]

Sophia's carriage slowed as it neared Lord Langdon's residence. Peering out the window, she saw another coach ahead of it, waiting to go through the gate.

 

It looks like I'm not the only one visiting today. I wonder who that carriage belongs to.

 

[Hope]

Both sets of Carriages were admitted down the housese driveway!   

 

ooc: why dont you both converse after exiting the carriages and on the walk into the house - allowing the host CW a chance to join the thread  

[Caroline Despanay]

Her Irish bodyguard scrambled off the coach, knees that tramped on too many battlefields aching, and opened the side door for Caroline who alighted with a nod and a thank you. There was another coach there too. And who should emerge but Sophia!

"Why good day to you!  I would not have expected to see you here?" she engaged the other woman.

In truth she wasn't sure she was happy about this turn of events, it had been difficult enough to wrangle a chance finally to talk to young Frances and now was Sophia coming to do the same? So much for some private time with the girl.

[Charles Whitehurst]

Charles was inside the house, seeing to it that Frances had her bags packed.  Cook had been instructed to sneak a cake or two into the girl's satchel.  They would be cinnamon, which would be a message in itself.  It was for the best that Frances go.  One of his soldiers had asked him who was looking out for Frances and he had stopped himself from mentioning Amy, a former lady of the night; hardly a suitable companion.  No, Frances needed someone to teach her how to be a lady rather than a street rat.

Elam informed Charles that two carriages had arrived.  He suspected one might contain Sophia, but was perplexed by the identity of the other.  He gave instructions to admit the visitors when they arrived while he moved to straighten his cravat and brushed his jacket.  One needed to look presentable for lady visitors.

[Sophia de la Cerda]

Sophia saw Lady Kendishall emerge from the other carriage as her driver assisted her out of her own. She remembered that the young widow had been interested in Frances as well, and wondered if she had come to visit her too. “Good afternoon to you too, my lady. I didn't expect to see you again until tonight when we practice for our concert.

 

“Did Lord Langdon invite you over as well?” She had thought that Caroline despised the Earl, but perhaps they had finally put aside their differences and had become friends.

 

[Caroline Despanay]

"No more than I expected to see you here either," Caroline retorted, "I am here as part of a bargain with Lord Langdon that I will be able to have a conversation with young Frances. It was not easy to arrange this either. I had to win him in that auction just before court recess."

[Sophia de la Cerda]

Sophia had not paid much attention to who had won whom at the bachelor auction. Lord Chatham's company had been so enchanting … and so exciting … that she had not cared about anything but his voice, his charming smile, and the warmth of his body so close to her own.

 

“I'm here to see her too, and her mother as well. I'm hoping that music might improve her condition. Lord Langdon must have invited us both over at the same time, considering hat Frances is about to be sent away to boarding school. There should be time for both of us to speak to her alone, if that is what she wishes.”

[Hope]

OOC: I'm going to move a Whole Lot along here darlings, for the pace on this thread has been particularly slow! I'm going to use a weird little Joint Post process that I once came across - which will allow your characters to 'do their stuff' from high point to high point, which ought also swiftly move us along to any climax.  I shall then post the npc’s once more (their response to the PCs) following which you can all post your characters again tiding it all off.    

 

The ladies were both expected, and received formally at the doors by Lord Langdon himself.

<insert CW, Caroline, Sophia>

 

After which they were admitted through to the Parlour where young Francis was waiting.  The youngster had her hair tied up in pony tail and wore a lovely new dress in a mid blue, she also had shiny new black boots for school on her feet.  Her bird in it’s cage was in this room too.  “Hello Miladies.” She dipped a curtsy, with a particular smile for Caroline.  She and Caroline had forged an inexplicably strong bond that day in Westminster, and she now moved closer to her with gratitude evident.   

<insert CW, Caroline, Sophia>

 

 

The unresponsive mother was not in this room however, in seeking her Sophia was shown through to The Sun Room.  Mrs Smith was sitting there knitting, which was all the woman ever did,  though did the rhythmic click of her knitting needles pause for a moment as another arrived into the room? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

<Insert Sophia & singing?>

 

[Charles Whitehurst]

The Earl was polite to both ladies as they were admitted.  He was far less eager about the arrival of Caroline than Sophia but he had made a truce with her last season and agreed that she could call upon Frances.

He watched as Frances greeted Caroline and noted the good reaction.  He was pleased that there was no incident such as Frances dashing out and heading for Caroline's coach.  Everyone was to be on their best behavior.  Sophia was shown to see Abigail.  Perhaps there was something she might do to ease the poor woman's mind.

[Caroline Despanay]

It was Lord Langdon himself who greeted the two ladies at the door and was properly civil if hardly enthusiastic. Caroline, for her part, smiled at Charles and greeted him politely. She meant to keep her part of their post-auction bargain and it seemed he did too. If so she would give the man his due. He led them into the parlour and there was young Frances, looking well much to Caroline's relief. Frances greeted them with curtsey.

"Hello again, it has been far too long, my dear," Caroline beamed as the girl moved up to her. Caroline could not resist and swept her up in a supportive hug.

"How are you? How have you been?" she then asked but also added, "I want you to know I tried everything to see you earlier for you were always in my thoughts, child."

 

[Sophia de la Cerda]

Sophia, too, greeted Lord Langdon politely and smiled at Frances when they were shown into the parlor. She looked as if she had finally accepted her situation and perhaps she was excited about attending school with other girls her age. The petite Countess noticed the bird too, and that gave her an idea for a future excursion. “It's good to see you again, Mistress Frances,” she said. “That dress is lovely.”

 

The girl moved toward Caroline and she decided to leave them alone and seek out Frances' mother instead. Caroline had gone through a lot to arrange this meeting and deserved to speak to Frances alone for a bit. Hopefully, she would get her chance soon.

 

Shown into the room where Mrs. Smith was knitting. Sophia smiled at her.   “Good afternoon,” she said. The woman didn't answer her, and so Sophia sat down in a chair and, very softly. began to sing a soothing lullaby. It wasn't opera, for she feared that the high notes and energy of her favorite musical form might frighten the poor woman.

[Hope]

CW

Charles was able to relax as it become plain that Frances was not plotting to run away (again!), but instead sat down to talk quite nicely with Lady Kendishall. 

Caroline

"I've thought of you often too." she told Caroline, there had been some sort of 'immediate connection' between these two. It was a rare thing.  Frances did go on to assure Caroline that things were improved, and although she had dared not try contact Mark and Tony (Frances was sad of that point) she was quite excited to be attending the new school for girls; and went into a bit of detail of the prospectus that had her quite looking forward to studying there.   

It was not the sort of school that was socially acceptable, in fact, Caroline might come to realise that Charles was not as cliché as she had at first thought.  It was a daring move for him to send his ward to a school that was under a cloud of controversy.     There had been verbal and written publicity against the schooI, with just some of the arguments against Mrs Makin’s efforts in education being:  "If we bring up our Daughters to Learning no Persons will adventure to Marry them."  "When Solomon praised the good housewife no mention was made of her learning."  "Women are of ill Natures, and will abuse their Education." etc etc.

Lord Langdon was thus revealed to being a free thinker.

"Perhaps we can write? Do you write Latin, apparently I shall learn Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and Itailan. We could write and it will be good practise."  Frances was so looking forward to her daring school she even asked for Lord Langdons permission to write, extending her suggestion to include Lady Toledo too.

Sophia

Sophia meanwhile, sung beautifully for Mrs Smith.  She might not have seen them but Charles staff stole up the hallway to listen in to the beautiful songs.  Amy in particular was moved to tears, weeping openly - but then she'd been a tad emotional these days. Elam understood why, but had not said anything to his master about it yet.  Alas, Mrs Smith acted oblivious to it, her knitting needles clickety click were a metronome unbudged by the music surrounding it... The woman was too far gone.

All

It was four fourty five when Elam came into the salon where the group (excluding Mrs Smith) had gathered nearing the end of their visit. “Mrs Makin is here Milord.”  

“Good afternoon Lord Langdon.”     A down to earth woman greeted, she was dressed in navy blue and with stout hat firmly on her head moved into the room and looked about the group, her eyes finding Francis she smiled. “You have quite a send off here you lady. I take it you are all ready?”  

 

 

[Charles Whitehurst]

Frances was behaving, which caused Charles to relax.  Mrs. Smith was not responding to Sophia's music, which was an unpleasant surprise.  He would have bet a sovereign that Abigail would have acknowledged it.  How could she do knotting and not listen to music?  Knitting was much harder than listening.  It made no sense to him.  She stopped knitting to go to bed.  Maybe she needed a slap or physical jolt.  Maybe she needed sex.

Why the knitting?  He had never discovered the answer.  Surely they had not let her knit in Bedlam.  Maybe they could get her sewing and then cooking.  It was a puzzle to be sure.

There was no further time to ponder, as the carriage arrived for Frances.  Mrs. Makin had been warned of Frances friends in the gutter and her risk of flight.  Hopefully the staff would keep an eye on her.  Charles might have been cast as a free thinker but, to him, it just seemed that Frances needed some finishing school.  She was too wild a girl.  With education and etiquette he could only hope that Mrs. Makin would make the young girl into a proper young lady.

With a trunk full of clothing carried out, Charles moved to escort his ward to the coach.  "I know you will make me proud," he told her and he saw her off.  He made no efforts to deprive Caroline of accompanying her as well.

[Caroline Despanay]

Caroline then joined Frances for a pleasant enough sit down chat, the girl looked well, seemed content even happy with her lot now unless she was a very good actor. But Caroline thought she sounded and acted quite genuine as the conversation continued. It made Caroline feel good to know Frances had missed her also. She nodded as the girl admitted not having contacted her street urchin friends. Understandable really, while Caroline probably was one of the more liberal people in regards to such sort of unfortunates, it was for the best Frances not mix below her station too deeply. She had a future to think of and indeed she was now excited about going to a fine school of all things. Well, Caroline had not expected the dour Lord Langdon to even allow such a thing? It was a pleasant surprise though.

"Good for you! I hope you do well there. I know you are a very intelligent young lady," Caroline praised her.

Frances wished to write letters back and forth. She also mentioned several languages. Caroline winced a bit at overkill.

"Well, I would be happy to exchange letters, my dear but can we keep it to English or French. Even my French is not the best anymore as I so seldom get a chance to use it. As for those Romans and Greeks, they are long dead and have nothing to say to me so I never bothered to learn," she smiled.

"But I promise you, if you write me then I will definitely reply. We should always remain friends, Frances. Everyone needs friends you know."

[Sophia de la Cerda]

Mrs Smith didn't respond at all to Sophia's singing, which disappointed her, but didn't dissuade her from trying again with the patients at Bedlam. After singing three lullabies, she gave up and bid the woman farewell, going back to the parlor where Caroline was talking with Frances. Instead of interrupting them, she just listened but when Frances spoke of writing letters, she spoke up. “You and I can correspond in Italian,” she said. “I became fluent when I lived in Venice. And after you can speak it well enough, I can teach you to sing arias from Italian operas, if you would like."