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Apr. 20th, 2006 01:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labellementeuseProper edited-up version of the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell piece I wrote for my bookcase meme. Posting for, you know, tags and so forth.
Title: Spinster’s Epilogue
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
labellementeuse
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Rating: G
Summary: After the bother with Mr. Strange, Aunt Greysteel quite despaired of her Niece.
Author’s Note: Written under the auspices of a drabble challenge. I ended up picking the Misses Greysteel, just two of the many women who I loved in this book. Betalove todeutscheami and thanks to disturbed_kiwi
Spinster’s Epilogue
After the bother with Mr. Strange (as she referred to it in her own mind, being possessed of a sense that the mere thought of magic or magician might be enough to call him back) Miss Greysteel quite despaired of her Niece. Flora had never been what one might call a biddable child; but after Mr. Strange, which her Aunt suspected she thought of as an adventure, she had become quite unpredictable. Naturally Mrs. Strange was a welcome addition to their household and yet, thought the elder Miss Greysteel, her attitude seemed somewhat odd for a woman who had lost her husband. On the family's return to England that summer, Mrs. Strange lost no time before visiting all her friends and acquaintances in London. As Aunt Greysteel remarked to a particular friend of hers, "Of course, my dears, it is very commendable of her to be so brave, with Mr. Strange so far away--" this is how ladies of a certain disposition liked to refer to Mr. Strange and Mr. Norrell, as if they had merely taken an extended trip to the Continent-- "And yet, do you know, Mrs. Strange sometimes seems not brave but quite unconcerned!"
But of far more concern to Aunt Greysteel was the company Arabella persisted in introducing Flora too. Ordinarily Lady Pole, by virtue of her marriage, should have been considered quite the cream of society; and yet since the histories of Lady Pole and Arabella's troubles with the thistle-headed gentleman were somehow the gossip of London within hours of their return to England, both women were considered to be terribly fashionable and not a little disrespectable. Further, Lady Pole's apparent disregard for convention and her insistence on behaving in an independent manner that quite offended the elderly matrons of London- well, Aunt Greysteel certainly did not consider herself conservative, and naturally she only wished for what would make Flora happy- yet for every moment that Flora spent with Lady Pole Aunt Greysteel imagined her becoming more intractable and less respectable- and hence less likely to make a good marriage. (In this she was quite mistaken; Flora, Lady Pole and Mrs. Strange being so fashionable, and Flora being the only unmarried woman among them, the younger Miss Greysteel found herself quite beset with offers of marriage; and not all of them would have wholly offended her Aunt.)
It is necessary at this point to recall that Aunt Greysteel was still Miss Greysteel; that is she had never married and, being so concerned for her niece without mother to influence her, and imagining Flora as so much like herself (for she had no children of her own), she could imagine no fate worse for Flora, so beautiful and clever, than her own spinsterhood. So you can see that she must have viewed Flora's developing independence with increasing alarm; yet there was nothing to be done, as it was undeniable that Flora grew happier and more beautiful daily in her companionship with the two other women. So Aunt Greysteel's concerns were of no effect; it was marked only by the way, as soon as anyone in her companionship brought up the topic of the ever-interesting English Magic, she could be heard straightaway to say that "Certainly it's all very patriotic: but we must consider our young ladies!" before chusing a subject she found to be more tasteful.
Title: Spinster’s Epilogue
Author:
labellementeuseFandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Rating: G
Summary: After the bother with Mr. Strange, Aunt Greysteel quite despaired of her Niece.
Author’s Note: Written under the auspices of a drabble challenge. I ended up picking the Misses Greysteel, just two of the many women who I loved in this book. Betalove to
deutscheami and thanks to disturbed_kiwiSpinster’s Epilogue
After the bother with Mr. Strange (as she referred to it in her own mind, being possessed of a sense that the mere thought of magic or magician might be enough to call him back) Miss Greysteel quite despaired of her Niece. Flora had never been what one might call a biddable child; but after Mr. Strange, which her Aunt suspected she thought of as an adventure, she had become quite unpredictable. Naturally Mrs. Strange was a welcome addition to their household and yet, thought the elder Miss Greysteel, her attitude seemed somewhat odd for a woman who had lost her husband. On the family's return to England that summer, Mrs. Strange lost no time before visiting all her friends and acquaintances in London. As Aunt Greysteel remarked to a particular friend of hers, "Of course, my dears, it is very commendable of her to be so brave, with Mr. Strange so far away--" this is how ladies of a certain disposition liked to refer to Mr. Strange and Mr. Norrell, as if they had merely taken an extended trip to the Continent-- "And yet, do you know, Mrs. Strange sometimes seems not brave but quite unconcerned!"
But of far more concern to Aunt Greysteel was the company Arabella persisted in introducing Flora too. Ordinarily Lady Pole, by virtue of her marriage, should have been considered quite the cream of society; and yet since the histories of Lady Pole and Arabella's troubles with the thistle-headed gentleman were somehow the gossip of London within hours of their return to England, both women were considered to be terribly fashionable and not a little disrespectable. Further, Lady Pole's apparent disregard for convention and her insistence on behaving in an independent manner that quite offended the elderly matrons of London- well, Aunt Greysteel certainly did not consider herself conservative, and naturally she only wished for what would make Flora happy- yet for every moment that Flora spent with Lady Pole Aunt Greysteel imagined her becoming more intractable and less respectable- and hence less likely to make a good marriage. (In this she was quite mistaken; Flora, Lady Pole and Mrs. Strange being so fashionable, and Flora being the only unmarried woman among them, the younger Miss Greysteel found herself quite beset with offers of marriage; and not all of them would have wholly offended her Aunt.)
It is necessary at this point to recall that Aunt Greysteel was still Miss Greysteel; that is she had never married and, being so concerned for her niece without mother to influence her, and imagining Flora as so much like herself (for she had no children of her own), she could imagine no fate worse for Flora, so beautiful and clever, than her own spinsterhood. So you can see that she must have viewed Flora's developing independence with increasing alarm; yet there was nothing to be done, as it was undeniable that Flora grew happier and more beautiful daily in her companionship with the two other women. So Aunt Greysteel's concerns were of no effect; it was marked only by the way, as soon as anyone in her companionship brought up the topic of the ever-interesting English Magic, she could be heard straightaway to say that "Certainly it's all very patriotic: but we must consider our young ladies!" before chusing a subject she found to be more tasteful.
