The Derring Sisters

One



         "And just as the dastardly king had planned, he drew up his sword in the air like a trident of glimmering evil and cast it down upon all the peasants below."
         "Yield, commoners!" Eliza cried, her best attempt at a man's throaty voice. "Can you not see that you've taken all of my jewels and coins already? I am an empty man, and you must all return home at once."
         Heather, who was always a realist, examined her script thoroughly for errors before speaking. "Aye, sir!" she crowed, striding across the lawn with every bit of courage and nobility of a foreign princess come to persuade a nasty king. "I cannot allow you to treat your people thus. I demand you step down from the throne so that the worthy prince can avenge the country against you."
         "Alas, the common have won," Eliza continued, her hand on her forehead in despair. "But first," her eyes gleamed maliciously with the turn of events, "I challenge you to a duel!"
         Lillian could not contain her giggling, and we were all forced to abandon our scripts.
         "I couldn't help it, Emma," she called to me. "Eliza is such an actress, I could not hold a laugh."
         Alice patted my back. "I love the story, sister. You shall be such an accomplished writer some day. Libraries will be filled with all of your novels!"
         "Dear Alice," I replied. "You know I am not much of a novelist. Why, it is your lovely artwork that will make a name for the Derring's." Alice laughed, but I could tell she was pleased. My four sisters and I collapsed on a hill facing Callough Manor.
         "There goes young Mr. Callough!" Eliza mused. I glanced in the direction of her gaze, and indeed the elder Mr. John Callough and the young Mr. Wesley Callough were both outside in the fields today. "I have half a mind to travel down there and see how the sunflowers fair. Mr. Callough promised me as many as I desired, you know, and I think they would look lovely planted under my window. I trust you'll come too, Lillian."
         "Mother wanted me to borrow some tomatoes for the cook," Heather remembered. "Shall we make an outing of it, then?" Alice and I, with little else to do for entertainment, agreed to accompany our younger sisters to Callough Manor. The walk is a short distance away, with our plots separated only by a thin stream which leads to the woods we share.
         "Hello, ladies," Wesley Callough greeted us, shading his eyes from the sun. "I thought you would have come sooner, with your brother departed to Fleurlind this morning."
         "David is in town?" Alice inquired. "Where is he staying? He's not come to Rosehedge. He did not even write to tell us he's coming."
         David and his family are staying with us- your father does know. Our home holds only two people, after all, and there is a good deal of room to spare. They did not want to out any of you ladies from your bedrooms."
         My sisters immediately ran up the porch into the house, and I began to follow them, but Wesley stopped me. "Emma, how are you lately? I haven't seen you at all...you mostly stay with Alice and Heather, I understand, who likes to visit the Elfords."
         "That is correct observation," I replied warmly. "It is Heather who visits the Elfords; Alice and I merely have nothing else to do at Rosehedge, and we oblige to follow her. With my brother's family in town, however, I daresay I won't be seeing much of my sisters. Alice and Heather enjoy Anne's company and my two youngest follow Anne's little sister Harriet."
         "Yes, I rather think they all like each other...you excluded." I smiled.
         "It is known I dislike Harriet Mills," I said. "I'd much prefer your company, Wesley, to hers."
         He raised his eyebrows, clear blue eyes amused. "Is that so, Miss Derring? I'd like to see you oftener than I do now, you are wonderful entertainment."
         "I suppose we shall see how the summer unravels," I said, sliding past him through the fence. He followed me into the wood. The young Mr. Callough, three years my senior, had been our neighbor when we were young. After Mrs. Callough died, they moved to Cassadior (near my aunt and uncle, actually) until last spring, where they appeared once again as the inhabitants of Callough Manor. It goes without saying that the young Mr. Callough's appearance was much changed since he was nine, and his name aroused a lot of interest in our house, but his poor prospects soon diminished everything else. Despite his honesty, warmness, and humble intelligence, my mother would never consider a man with any less than two thousand a year for one of her daughters. My mother's expectations of course were a bit high for our position in life, and that is why I am nineteen, and Alice is twenty, and we are both single and without beaus.
         "I saw you up on the hill, doing a bit of acting," he replied, putting his hands in his pockets.
         "My, Mr. Callough, haven't you got any farming to do?" He couldn't see my grin from in front of him, but I sensed a pause before he spoke. "You sure are a liberated man, I suppose, working for yourself."
         "But you are wrong, Miss Derring!" he corrected me. "I work for the earth; I am at its mercy. But every now and then I see no objection to a walk with my neighbor. I find the weather very fine today. You cannot disagree."
         "I wouldn't dare," I responded, turning to lean on a mossy tree in the entrance of the wood. "Who am I to argue with an expert? You are out of doors all day long. I envy you."
         Mr. Callough laughed and joined me at my tree. "You're not at leisure enough to do so as well?"
         I pretended to be offended, but he knew I was not. "Upon my word, if women could do such things, I would be marching in the front line with them. As it is, we are to sew and play piano to pass the day. Can you imagine?" I pulled a flower from the ground and picked at its petals. I walked back up the path, where he followed suit. "Your sarcasm, Mr. Callough, is well-received. I know the labor from men is not matched to accomplishments of woman. Many of our daily doings are useless in comparison- they do nothing for the world."
         "You have given this a lot of thought, Miss Derring. You punish yourself."
         I smiled and thought aloud, "You know, I am not going to be one of those women who spend their lives chasing after husbands and then grow to be an old nag who pushes her daughters on other amiable young men. That is not the life for me, and I certainly think I am capable of sustaining myself without a man at all." Mr. Callough raised his eyebrows and wiped a strand of dark blonde hair from his forehead. "You think I'm ridiculous because the female sex has always depended on your kind."
         "No," he argued, smiling. "I think you're ridiculous for trying to resist any young man you respect, who would ask you for your hand."
         "I am a woman of my word!" I declared, marching up the pasture towards his porch. "You are only trying to get a rise out of me. I know very well I have few options, with no wealth. No man would ever want to marry a Derring, regardless of how much he truly liked her. That being said, I would not accept an offer from any man, even if he had ten estates."
         "So you are saying then that if a man asked your hand, even if he possessed tremendous wealth, you would tell him nay?"
         I thought for a moment. "Yes. I suppose that is the truth."
         "I cannot make you out, Miss Derring," he said after we had reached the porch and Alice was in the doorway conversing eagerly with Anne. "Either you are very independent, and genuinely so, or your outward defiance makes you stubborn, and you will eventually give way to the modern designs of the world."
         "There you have it, Mr. Callough," I told him, bowing. "My solemn promise to be lonely forever." He bowed in return, and I managed to part Alice and our sister-in-law, so that I might convince them all to come back to the house.








Two



         "How very lovely it has been outdoors this morning," Mother muttered sarcastically. "Not that I have any business there, but it would be splendid to toss you girls out for an afternoon or two." She sipped her coffee and sighed. "Breakfast and rain do not mix well with my poor stomach. I think I ought to lay down for a bit." She left, with a good deal of elaborate sighs and groans, and we were none the better.
         "I'm bored," Lillian announced, scowling. "Eliza, I want to see your old China Doll."
         "Aren't you a little old for dolls?" Heather inquired, glancing up from her bacon. Showers of rain beat against the roof and windows. I could imagine Mother upstairs, glaring at the foul weather from her iron-post bed.
         Lillian meant to kick Heather under the table, but missed and got Eliza instead. Eliza pulled on Lillian's ribbons, and the bickering only escalated. Rather than punish his ill-behaved little girls, Father decided he would much rather retire to his bedroom and join his wife in self-pity.
         A knock sounded at the door, and Alice went to answer it. When she returned, her face was very pink. "I'm to accompany my brother's good friend Mr. Meichals to the fair in Cassadior tomorrow." Her voice was barely audible, and I could tell she was thrilled. It is no secret between us sisters that Alice very much likes David's merchant friend, and has for many months.
         "Was that him at the door?" Eliza questioned, dropping her fork. "Have we any guests?"
         "Of course not," I told her. "It's a Sunday. And besides, it's raining. The only one who might be out today is the servants, and Mr. Callough has but one, and she is too old. I imagine one of Mr. Meichals' servants came in a carriage, or perhaps Harriet if she were bored."
         Heather rolled her eyes. "Harriet would not take the trouble."
         I laughed, but Alice caught me. "Actually, Mr. Meichals' did not take the trouble of sending a letter with his servant either. The young Mr. Callough walked with the news, and is at the door. He requests a private word with you, Emma."
I stared at her. "Is he inside?"
         "He declined the invitation."
         I stood up and pushed my chair in. As I shut the dining room door behind me, I heard Eliza shriek, "He walked in this weather? I would not do that. I would demand Mr. Meichals do his own calling."
         I approached the door very cautiously, as though he was going to fling it open from the other side. But when I opened it, he was at the end of the porch, staring over the hill to our barn. "Yes, Mr. Callough?" I asked, a bit curious.
         He jumped and turned about. He gave a low bow, which I hastily returned. "Good morning."
         I folded my arms apprehensively. "I understand you came here to tell my sister that Mr. Meichals wants her to join him at the Cassadior Fair."
         "You are not mistaken," he answered. "Your brother's friend enjoys her company. He thinks she is quite charming."
         "My sister is not partial to scheming designs of matrimony," I stated, "but if charming is the least he feels, then he had better leave her well alone. His removal from Fleurlind last spring left her devastated."
         "Calm your fears, please," Mr. Callough said. "I know how close you eldest sisters are. I happen to know that his intentions are more pleasing to her than that. Although I heard nothing of a proposal, is it not comforting to hear that he finds her exceptionally pretty?"
         I cocked my head. "I suppose it is the same old worry with those caught up in young love. I am certainly thankful I've vowed not to expose myself to such vulnerability and disappointment."
         Mr. Callough's pretty blue eyes seemed to look right through me. "Or so you claim."
         I scoffed at him. "Why exactly is it that you delivered this message instead of Mr. Meichals or one of his servants?" I demanded to know. "It is not right that they make you trudge up here in the rain to ask for him."
         "Well..." Wesley started. "I offered. I don't mind the weather- I would be in it anyway."
         "Not on a Sunday," I argued.
         He was stumped. Momentarily. "Mr. Meichals was busy, and when your brother told me of his intentions, I volunteered to call on the Derrings myself. There was nothing else for me to do, and I thought I might as well ask another Miss Derring if she would like to join me...to the fair...with the others."
         "Is that so?" I remarked, chin in hand. And then I could not resist. "May I ask which Miss Derring? I must confess, despite your feelings, that Heather has developed an affection for our neighbor Mr. Elford. Unless you are strikingly gentleman-like, I doubt your abilities to charm her. She is very much in love with him, you see."
         "Well, actually-"
         "Eliza and Lillian are both very young, so you would absolutely require the permission of my father. My mother would not mind in the least, for she thinks their fair share of amusement is quite admissible."
         "Miss Derring," he hesitated.
         "And Alice!" I interrupted him again. "That is a very sly move, Mr. Callough. I imagine that is the real reason why you volunteered- to mask Mr. Meichals' intentions and swoop in on her yourself. I agree, she is a lovely girl. It might be a bit of a mess now though, that you've exposed your plan."
         "Emma, you know very well that I meant you."
         "I did not know that," I exclaimed, drawing back in mock surprise. "Or else I would have told you right away that I had no plans at all of attending the fair. Your invitation, had I known it was meant for me, would have been immediately rejected."
         "You cannot deter me from my own fun," he sported. "You owe me the entertainment. How could an amateur playwright turn down an offer for inspiration? Everyone loves the fair; it is a necessary event, although useless."
         "You said it yourself," I argued. "It is useless. But I never decided I would not go at all. I simply said that I would decline to come with you. But you are still here. Alas, you've wasted my playful banter. I've not enough wit for more, you know."
         "Oh, I am sure you have quite enough words left to reject me again," he answered. "How about it? Another round of me wasting your morning and you making me feel worthless? I only wanted a friend to go with, and won't rest until I have one."
         "Ha!" I laughed. "And here is a surprise to you, Mr. Callough. I accept your invitation. Now what have you to say?"
         "Only that I got my wish," he smiled. "I'll let you believe you have won, however."
         I frowned. "Well, to punish you, we will take a separate carriage to Cassadior than the others, and then you won't have the pleasure of their company." I turned to retreat inside.
         "Alright, if you've convinced yourself that is punishment. You know what would really show me the error of my ways? If we also strayed far from the others during the course of tomorrow's fair. Yes, I would definitely despise that treatment."
         "Good-bye, Mr. Callough," I laughed, and left. He bowed, pleased with himself, and I shut the door.
         When I entered the house once again, I found all my sisters gathered at the upstairs window which overlooked our porch. We went into the bedroom I shared with Alice and fell in a heap on the bed. "You've all got very big noses," I murmured, my face buried in a pillow. "It's impossible to have a private discussion anywhere around here, even outside."
         "Don't worry," Eliza remarked sourly. "You didn't raise your voice a bit, and we couldn't hear anything. You were out there for a good while, though. Alice thinks he asked you to the fair, and you declined."
         "But I disagreed," Heather decided, "because you were conversing for a lengthy period, and if you had rejected him, it would have been quicker. You are not one for tormenting others."
         Alice and I laughed. We know that is not at all true.
         "On the contrary," Lillian spoke up. "Our sister delights in those sort of situations. Isn't she admirable?" Eliza laughed along with her until I pushed the both of them off the bed.
         "As a matter of fact, I did accept. As fascinating as I find Rosehedge, any diversion is well-received. Let us hope it does not rain tomorrow."
         "Mother told us we are allowed to go, so long as we stay close to Heather," Lillian said of her and Eliza.
         Heather didn't seem any more pleased than they did. "I was hoping to find our neighbor Sam Elford...it has been too long since we've last spoken."
         "Four days?" our youngest asked incredulously.
         I left them and stood near the window. Mr. Callough's figure was very blurry in the rain, but I could see that he had already crossed the bridge into his pastures. "I told him I had no intentions of going to the fair," I whispered to Alice when she joined me. A knock sounded at the downstairs door, and the others ran to it.
         "It's only Mr. Elford's servant," Alice replied when I jumped. "Come to ask Heather to join him at the fair tomorrow. Mr. Elford told me yesterday he planned to ask her. Our sister will be very happy at this news, I think."
         I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Living in the country, we Derrings lead very small lives. I would like to leave this town and travel all over the world. I don't want to be like Heather, waiting for the invitation of some man to grant me happiness."
         Alice bit her lip to refrain from smiling. Brushing aside the curtain to gain a better view of our surroundings, I watched a grin form on her face. "What? What are you smiling about?" I demanded. I marched over to my wardrobe and began searching for what I wanted to wear tomorrow. "You smile as if you've observed something I am unaware of, which, if I can guess correctly, is entirely wrong."
         "If you have any guesses in your head, then the idea must have started there," she sang.
         "I do not feel inclined to marry anyone," I defended, hands on my hips. Giggles from our sisters rose upstairs, and I knew it wouldn't be long before Mother scurried down to join them. "Just because females are at disadvantage for establishing their own income does not mean I shall join the rest of you in your race to marriage. Firstly, I haven't a dowry at all, and second, why would I want to be anyone's Mrs. when I could retain my own name?"
         Alice narrowed her eyes at me, and I knew she was not believing anything I said to her.
         "It does not matter," I threw up my hand in her direction. "You will all see."
         "We will see what, my sister?" Lillian shrieked, bumping through our doorway with Eliza hot on her heels. A very mild, yet excited Heather calmly followed suit. "Don't you know that our Heather has got an opportunity with Mr. Elford?"
         "We don't know that!" Heather shouted over the two youngest. "We know nothing except he likes my company."
         "And very well, because everyone knows how you enjoy his!" Eliza retorted. "Oh, how very unfair for the rest of us who have no one. Alice has her prospects with Mr. Meichals, Heather has Mr. Elford, who surely is in love with her. Lillian, Emma, and myself haven't an admirer in the world."
         "One will come, I am sure," Heather consoled her. "You and Lillian are so young that it does not matter whether young men like you. Poor Emma, with her beauty and wit, shan't have any beaus because she chooses so. Alice and I, desperate in love-"
         "Not quite desperate!" Alice interrupted.
         "-are forced to roam on the boundaries of satisfaction without ever tasting it," Heather finished. She groaned and seated herself before our mirror. "I have no idea how my hair should be done for tomorrow."
         "Not too exotic, for the sky threatens rain," Eliza warned. "I wish I had someone to wear my hair for. Of course, there will be plenty of young men at the fair. I daresay Mr. Callough will find my new dress very pleasing."
         "Mr. Callough will undoubtedly get lots of attention from the ladies of our county," Alice mused. "Although he is accompanying Emma, I can see him capturing the eye of someone else. There is much to be gained when you're in civilized company, I say. We've all to benefit from the activities of tomorrow."
         "Except for us," Lillian complained. "Eliza and I have got to tag along after Heather. How much fun that should be." She rolled her eyes.
         Heather, surprisingly, said something that was not very obedient of her. Heather is naturally abiding of our parents, and scarcely questions rules. "If you two wander away from us, I will not remember it when we get home."
         Eliza embraced her sister, who accepted it rather stiffly. Heather, however, was just grateful to be rid of them and remain alone with Mr. Elford for an afternoon. "You all are very depressing to me," I murmured from my seat at the window. "You make me out to be an old maid, which I am not yet. I never intend to be crossed in love, with all its frustrations, as the rest of you do. That does not mean I plan to ignore men altogether."
         "On the contrary," Heather added. "you rather entice them."
         "Who does what, my love?" It was Mother, staring at us from across the hall. "I want to know what all this conversation is about. Why do you exclude your poor mother?"
         I sighed under my breath, but as always, Eliza and Lillian eagerly told all. Heather was very red in the face by the time they were finished altering the day's events, and Alice seemed no better.
         "Pointedly, my three eldest girls all have men escorting them to the fair!" she beamed. "Of course, nothing profitable could come from Mr. Elford or Mr. Callough, but Mr. Meichals is quite rich! I rather think you should push this matter, my dear Alice. My daughters put me in such an imposition that I confess I am impatient."
         "You're not the only one," Lillian went on, ignoring Alice's horrified expression. "Alice wants to marry him immediately."
         "She said no such thing!" I exclaimed, standing up. "That is degrading."
         "Oh hush, Emma," Eliza scorned. Her smile was quite wide. "Not everyone is as arrogant as you. My, I'm sure our Alice could not deny her wishes to marry Mr. Meichals. And who could blame her? He is a wealthy man, and she wouldn't have to bear the country anymore."
         Mother was offended at the country bit, but said nothing about it. Instead, she turned on Heather and me. "Girls, I advise that while you are mingling with the townspeople, you should make the acquaintance of any man who looks the least bit rich. I'd love to have all my daughters married off to fine men with pockets full of money. Lillian and Eliza have a few years left before they become such a burden, but you others must hurry."
         It was the same sense of urgency in her voice that I had heard since I turned sixteen. Her greatest desire has always been to dispose of her eligible daughters, and her high expectations made sure, every time, that she was yet to be content.
         "I wish you would leave," I told them all. "The yelling is giving me a great headache. Don't we have a sitting room for this purpose?"
         "There aren't any mirrors in the sitting room, lovely," Mother acknowledged. "Eliza is fond of her reflection."
         Eliza pursed her lips, turning quickly from the mirror where she had been playing with her hair and striking poses for the last few minutes. "I am not vain, Mama."
         "Surely not," her mother oozed. "You are too beautiful. I'm sure when you are sixteen you will do your part to find a suitable husband." I felt her iciness directed towards me. "And absolutely by nineteen or twenty, you will have your own house and not rely on your poor old mother."
         Alice was growing tired of her as well. "We have to discuss our outfits for tomorrow, Mother. The rest of you should go downstairs and examine Father's letter from our brother. Anne and David will be joining us tomorrow, of course."
         Her curiosity won over, and Eliza and Lillian followed, chatting gaily. Heather also left to play at the piano in the dining room. We shut the door, our heads foggy with our mother's demands for marriage. "You can see," I stated slowly. "How this has put a damper on my plan of solitude."