15Friends of Hartfield
Chapter 3
It felt so majestic and exciting, walking the path at night, having slipped out undetected through the back entrance.
It was most exhilarating! The notion that at any moment someone might see or maybe even catch her. It was an odd sort of glee the situation produced, she likened it to sneaking cookies from under cook's nose as a young child. Needless to say it had been a long time since!
It was the smell of the wane of summer, the greenery of the trees, and the dampness result of cooler days, and her heartbeat slightly accelerated as she walked along the trail.
And it all seemed so lovely, being dressed up but not too dressed up and being out of doors at night. She thought maybe she'd plan to venture out again into the nighttime in the future and she wondered if beyond the tree coverage she would see the stars. And if she could, she wondered what would shine brighter, those very stars or George Knightley's eyes in the firelight?
And she could hear the pine needles and dry twigs snapping on the footpath as she walked. And every so often noise, of which the source could only be the party, would become louder. It was organic and changeable, a shout that seemed to echo or then feminine sounding laughter at certain moments. As she got closer the sounds became more distinct, a more boisterous masculine voice, two different tones of laughter, one lady with a high pitch laugh, and another woman whose laugh was less sharp sounding and more melodic.
Emma was abundantly curious to know what the excitement was about, she was almost counting paces in anticipation!
And then she heard a man's voice exclaiming what her ears could make out as real words — albeit senseless to her own ears and mind.
"A donkey, no! What do you mean no?"
A pause
"Well then, a rabbit!"
A pause
"No? How can it not be? Are you sure? Have you read the card right?"
It was met with silence.
"And it is still a noun?"
The same voice but more animated sounding than before, "No, no— a leprechaun!"
"What, what! It's not— ladies I am failing you as a teammate for I am out of ideas!" He announced dramatically as Emma rounded the tree line and now she could see the bodies the voices and laughter belonged too.
"A kangaroo, Edward! It was a kangaroo," one of the women announced, Emma couldn't make out the woman's face but her movements were like flowing water.
"A kangaroo! Damnit Blanche! I should have guessed a Kangaroo—do they really have big ears? I'm not nearly criminal enough to have been to Australia," he offered.
"Yes, I believe so, but certainly bigger than a leprechaun's at any rate," the woman replied with a cheeky tone, her face looking proud and almost as if she impressed herself with her own wit.
"Yes, I'll admit that was a poor guess, a wishful plea of a desperate man," he offered with a dramatic flourish, "I'll not even ask how badly it is we are losing by now, but someone promised a woods game in a few minutes so rest assured my woeful teammates, you will not have to suffer my poor theatrics much longer, you will have your relief soon ladies," he promised with a bow.
"Emma," that was George's warm voice, she knew it anywhere. And she thought for a moment that he sounded a little surprised to see her as if the whole time in the stable he had expected the whole conversation to have been a ruse. She wasn't sure suddenly how she would be received but he followed the speaking out of her name with a welcome and invitation, "Join us," he proffered.
"Ladies and gentlemen this is my neighbour Emma Woodhouse, obviously out for an evening stroll," he deadpanned, and it sounded slightly facetious and the others must have thought as much too because a few offered light chuckles. "She is the younger sister of Isabella, who you've all met earlier –who at present appears to be off with Charlotte Coles and my brother John,"
Emma tensed a little at that, the Coles were here? She hadn't known they would be and on greater inspection of the group before her she saw the elder brother Nathaniel Coles, who she only recognized from church sitting by the outdoor fireplace with the others, who had previously been occupied playing the Charades game. Their presence at this event bothered her—went clear against her greater convictions—although that very thought seemed ironic in its own right, as she was herself sneaking out for this party after all. Could she really claim any form of moral superiority to these Coles at a time such as this? Regardless, she had many reasons not to say a thing about it to her father—in hopes of attending the party lawfully next season.
"A round of quick introductions then, simply for those present," George Knightley offered, "Nathaniel Coles you know—" Emma frowned, that was not what she would have said,
"Yes, I recognize him from church," –to her it was a correction of his poor choice of words, to him it did not seem to signify and he listed off more of the names of those in the outdoor area.
"Blanche Ingram and Edward Fairfax Rochester –visiting from Millcote and the surrounds, Edward has a family connection to our own friend Jane Fairfax," he told her in an aside. Emma did not see if fitting to mention that she did not consider Jane a personal friend, so she bit her tongue and nodded.
"Charles, or Charlie Eshton, depending on the person doing addressing," he motioned, "he's a bit of a man of science and a good friend of Blanche as are the Dent twins, Beth and Mary, or is it Mary and Beth?" he paused as if stumped by it and then chuckled, clearly knowing on from the other, "Beth wears the turquoise colour,"
"A few of my wealthier tenants were invited, they mostly have kept to a group of their own, surely you'll not tell your father that either," he told her, "you know he would not approve," he cautioned.
"I would be rather complicit in doing so, would I not?" she reflected with a teasing tone, containing her own manner of cheek.
"Oh, I should have said when you get caught, don't mention that part to your father," he teased back.
She merely smiled back, focusing her attention on the glow in his eyes-sponsered by firelight and whimsy she was certain.
"Now that everyone is at attention, I thought we introduce the rules and then shortly commence the woods game, clear boundary lines have been set up -you cannot miss them. Torches are set about the perimeter as well. The game is played in two teams, the key of which is that you do not know your allies from your enemy until you confront them in the woods. Ladies, if any of you would like to twin up and be a set of two like the Dents, I'll certainly permit that, merely stand together and I will tie matching colour ribbons to your wrist when it is time for that." Several of the ladies moved then, grouping into little pods as Emma watched. She wasn't keen on having a stranger as company and she saw Isabella and Charlotte Coles, had already moved to be side by side, they had only arrived as he began mentioning the torches. Emma wondered silently if Isabella had seen her yet, she seemed a little bit occupied by her friends, as if John and Charlotte were somehow more interesting than George Knightley. Emma almost chuckled aloud at that, as if that were true –she loved that almost all the eyes were watching him with focus and the persons were aptly listening to George, as he explained the rules with his captivating presence, Emma thought she might be able to listen to him speak all night, with his warm voice and attention to every detail.
He offered, "Anyone who does not wish to play may sit by the fire while I am assigning the teams, then you must remain out of the woods and not provide any aid to either side for the duration of the game itself. "
And Emma thought to herself that he might be looking at her as he said this, as if he were suggesting she sit on the sidelines.
"Now, as to how the game works, there are three creatures –they are team less entities and their goal is to tag active members of either team. These creatures are impartial and marked by a black hood that they will wear for the duration of the game. You will know that you are a creature if you are given a black ribbon as a wrist band. Now, team members, if they tag you, you must return to the fire area and wait for a heroic rescue. The goal overall goal is that each team is looking for the components to create the light that will defeat the creatures. The components are, a two-part base candlestick, they look like this," he said and held up a ring and candlestick holder. The pieces gleamed in the firelight, and he continued "a candle, which looks exactly as you might expect, and for the weapon to work it must be fully assembled and have a flame. You may only use the fires from the perimeter torches to light the candle. Within the woods, there are four sets of each item, no single player may have more than one of each component, nor may they hide other pieces again to make them more difficult for the other team to find. Members of the red or blue team will share the pieces that each player discovers amongst their respective team. A team wins when they have defeated one of the creatures. Once defeated, the hero and the creature will return here to the center and alert my Bailiff, he will blow a horn alerting the rest to the victory. Everyone will return to the centre point when the horn is sounded. Any questions?"
The crowd seemed happy and excited, Emma felt the rules to be rather straight forward.
"If there aren't any questions I will dispense the ribbons," he offered.
"Are you sure you are wanting to play?" he asked her, when he was about to tie the blue ribbon.
"I didn't hear you ask anyone else that question," she told him, if he couldn't see the gleam of excitement in her eyes at the prospect of just such a game he was a fool.
"I thought you might be frightened of the woods, and I wondered perhaps if you didn't pair up on account of not knowing the other ladies,"
"I'm not afraid, and I'll have a hard time racing around and, more importantly winning, with any of those ladies as my partner," she whispered back, "thank you for the warning regarding the light skirt material, and to think I almost wore a brocade" she smiled conspiratorially.
"Oh, how disastrous!" he said with a very deadpan tone.
Her breathe caught up in her lungs as his fingers slipped around her wrist and gentle strokes ghosted across her skin as he nimbly tied a blue ribbon around her wrist.
She played with the ribbon once he finished tying it, looking at him doe-eyed, "Might you be on my team? I'd certainly accept you as my partner, you are fast and smart and I would feel more than safe in the woods with you at my side,"
"I'm certain you know I had ladies pair up specifically for a reason, no mixed pairs but moreover, I hid all the trinkets, and thus have assigned myself as one of the creatures," he showed her the black band around his wrist.
"Ah, in that case, now that you are a creature you can ignore what I said about feeling safer with you in the woods; you are now my archrival," she smirked, "oh and also put aside what I said about you being fast, I was merely being courteous, for I'm certain I am much quicker!" she retorted.
"Oh! Well, I suppose we might find out," he retorted with a laugh and his eyes looked almost as if he couldn't believe she had goaded him and looking so very amused at her. And she knew right then that in his heart of hearts he was happy she was at his party, she made him brighten and brim with laughter.
And she saw it amused him as he walked on, clearly to tie more ribbons on to the wrists of others.
And she would own, to her own self at least, that she felt a wee hint of jealousy as Charlotte Coles giggled as George Knightley had tied a ribbon around her wrist. How utterly classless, Emma thought to herself, if only she had been here under lawful circumstances, then she might have relayed that Isabella was becoming friends with Charlotte Coles to her father, he would not have been amused.
Thanks, each for the reviews last chapter. I hope all are doing well. I'll have to decide about writing one more chapter for this one before shifting back to DCH.
I'll see how I feel this weekend :P
This is a cross-over fiction. I forgot to list the faces as I promised.
Blanche Ingram and Edward Fairfax Rochester, and Eshton are characters from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. I believe the Dent Twins are only in the BBC version, not in the original novel.
