In Distant Fields They Lay - Chapter One

IN DISTANT FIELDS THEY LAY
Chapter One

When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, an Admiral who had served honorably throughout the battles and who had proved his worth many times over was removed from his position and forced into retirement. At fifty-five, Jonathan was considered by the Royal Navy too old to properly perform his duties, so they presented him with a parting gift of a completely unnecessary ten thousand pounds and asked him to relinquish his title as Admiral of the British Royal Navy. Being extremely wealthy, the former Admiral simply put the ten thousand pounds at the disposal of his twenty-five year wife, Isabella, who took the money and spent it on the improvement of the west wing of their estate, Summergrove Park.
         Jonathan was left without anything to do after his removal. He considered himself degraded and dishonored, and for several months was too humiliated to spend time with the society within and surrounding his estate, and restricted himself to contact with his immediate family and his servants. The rest of the world was dull and cruel to him. He had served his purpose, and now that his years in the Navy were over, his usefulness was expired. He saw the world though a foggy window, and was blind to all the joy on Earth, except for the joy that the two dearest creatures in his life could inspire; the joy brought on by his two daughters, Cassandra and Julia Kensington.
         Cassandra, having lived for twenty-one years, was the elder daughter and the most spirited. She was unpredictable and spontaneous, and subject to the desire of the moment, or to the fancy that presented itself as the result of idle reveries and imaginings. She was not morally unsteady. Indeed, her only evil was that she could see no evil in anyone. She was young and inexperienced, and despite being raised in the best of homes, and educated in the best manner possible, and steadied with only the firmest of good principles, was never the less stubborn and determined. Perhaps, if she had been an only child she would have been worse, but as she had to share her good looks- her dark hair, her lively eyes, her shapely mouth and her flawless complexion- with her sister, who was younger by only a year, she was never praised so much that she grew arrogant, never loved so singularly that she thought herself to be the pride of Summergrove.
         Julia was everything her sister was not, just as Cassandra was everything Julia could never be. Perhaps because they were each what the other lacked, their parents never noticed that neither girl was in her own right completely perfect. However, when they were together, no society could reject them, no suitor turn away from them, no parent disapprove of them. They were each the accessory that best suited the other, and together they were as amiable and talented as anyone could ever expect.
         Julia was quiet and contemplative. She played the piano forte very well, and wrote in such a way that her letters were treasured as true gifts by her friends. Where Cassandra spoke she thought, where Cassandra acted she remained still, and where Cassandra laughed she only blushed. Her beauty lay in the tilt of her head, in the flutter of her eyelashes- she was a creature of silence and was fluent in the language of the body. She was shy when shyness was most becoming, and had the intuition of timing and of delicacy, which her sister, despite Cassandra’s positive intentions and caring nature, lacked.
         The two sisters were the Admiral’s pride. He would have Julia sing for him, would have Cassandra paint something to hang in his parlor. He spoke to them in French and Spanish, languages of which his wife, the grand and impressive Mrs. Isabella Kensington, was ignorant of.
         Isabella was a middle child. Her father had been a merchant in the East India Trading Company, and as such had become extremely wealthy and well connected. His acquaintances and friends had helped secure for his daughter a handsome, well-off husband with whom she could be happy and healthy. Her older brother’s name was Thomas Ward, and her younger sister was Maria Ward. They lived in London and in Bath, respectively, and were as of yet little involved in the lives of any of the Kensingtons, excluding Mrs. Kensington herself. Cassandra could count upon a lovely dress from Ms. Ward at her birthday, and Julia would look eagerly for her uncle’s traditional gift of a book, which she could expect at Christmastime, but apart from letters and presents, the Kensingtons lived apart from the Wards.
         Mrs. Kensington was impressive and dominating; she called attention to herself as a bakery calls attention to passers-by. Her long black hair, luminous and shiny, like obsidian, was always done up above her head, and she was so laden with silk and jewels and so scented by perfumes that you would have thought she was a walking wardrobe. Her eyes were dark and danced merrily, for she had nothing to make her unhappy- her life was easy and she had no trouble but the trouble of directing well trained servants, which is really no difficulty at all. Her days were a blend of relaxation and luxury; Summergrove Park itself was at her disposal, and she was not the kind to go without pampering herself as much as she could without somehow causing herself to have to do actual work.
         Such was life at Summergrove Park; Mr. Kensington lived in misery, Mrs. Kensington was self-indulgent and dominated over all, Cassandra followed her heart’s desires and Julia’s heart desired nothing more than quiet. For two months after the disposal of Admiral Kensington the family lived in relative comfort, blissfully ignorant of the whispers that flitted from house to house outside of their four walls. The people of Summergrove Park were not used to silence from the highest family in their social order. The Kensingtons should have been drawing attention to themselves, strutting through the streets, Isabella happily declaring her own importance, Jonathan all smiles and salutes, and the two daughters dressed as well as money could dress them and cheerful as could be. Little did the people realize the state of the Kensington family, or the nature of the surprise- and the change- which was fast approaching. It was inevitable, it was exciting, it was the cause of much worry- and it was truly the beginning of things.