In which James meets Lady Beatrice. 2
James sat on the bed, contemplating his situation. He had been in Mister Partridge's office, and a man - Kingston - had come. He'd said he'd take him to his father... and the man who James thought was his father was not. It was all very confusing. And then Kingston had stuffed a rank rag against his face that had knocked him out cold - most likely chloroform, he concluded. 3
[Note: I'm assuming that Peter Pan was set in the time the author wrote it, which is after 1831. It was in 1831 that chloroform was invented, if my source is correct - so I'm also assuming that chloroform could be used for such a purpose as it was used on James. Correct me if I'm wrong. I just didn't want Kingston to punch the poor kid - he's nicer than that, methinks. And I'm not too knowledgeable on the whole subject of kidnapping, as you should well know.
]4"Bad form," James whispered aloud. But the room he awoke in was furnished well, and his new clothes much more gentle on the eye than his previous wear; so perhaps he was not so badly off.5
Wait - there were footsteps outside the door. If he was not mistaken, they were coming towards his room. Quickly, he cast his eye about for a weapon, and settled on a poker in the fireplace. He pricked his finger with it to test its sharpness, and found a drop of blood squeezing out with hardly any pressure at all. Perfect. 6
The doorknob turned. James tensed, poker at the ready - and then a woman's voice: "James, are you awake?" He decided he would not harm the woman - bad form! - unless she made any sort of harmful movement towards his own person - and hid the poker behind his back. A lovely face peeked at James, sparsely lined and curiously happy. The face was framed by straight, golden hair, which was braided and wound around the woman's head like a crown. Her eyes were a homely brown, her mouth small and sweet. The body followed, and James surmised that the woman was perhaps eight months pregnant. 7
He bowed deeply, which he thought quite cavalier; the woman laughed lightly, like the most beautiful wind chimes. He was enchanted. "I am Lady Beatrice," she said softly. James didn't think she was the sort to ever raise her voice, and thought her to not have a mean bone in her body. "Kingston brought you here. Do you remember?"8
"How could I not?" James said, rather indignantly. "But what do you have to do with it, if I may ask?"9
"You may; indeed, you already have." Beatrice laughed again. "Kingston - did he tell you that you were to be brought to your father?"10
"He did, my Lady."11
"I am... your mother." She waited for his reaction.12
James found he didn't mind. She was a beautiful, kind woman, he thought, deserving to be a Queen; what could be wrong with her as a matron figure? "I am pleased to learn that, my Lady." James hesitated. "But... who was the woman who raised me?"13
"My sister." Beatrice sighed, but seemed disinclined to say more.14
"Ah." James nodded as if it all made perfect sense. "And my father?"15
"He is Lord D - oh, but he does not allow us to say his name. 'The walls have ears,' he believes. Forgive his paranoia, James - he has had a hard life."16
Suddenly James' eyes took on a slightly red hue. "Why - why did you give me to your sister and that - that other man, who called himself my father? If you had to disown me, couldn't you at least have bestowed me with a kinder foster father? And why didn't you take me from the orphanage? Do you know how I suffered there? There were bedbugs in the mattresses. We had one meal every day. Boys were flogged. Mister Partridge - I cannot find words to describe his lowliness."17
Beatrice's lip quivered. "I - I - oh!" She left the room in a hurry, slamming the door behind her.18
"I'm sorry," James whispered to the air. That speech - hardly tactful. He would have to go about it slowly, and he had no more wish to torment Lady Beatrice. Anyway, he had already forgiven her, hadn't she? He noticed she had left a tray on the desk. On it were two croissants, a glass of milk, half a loaf of bread, and some butter. James stared at it. A meal fit for kings! I am a growing boy, he thought. This is hardly enough to satisfy me - but I accept. And he dug in with considerable enthusiasm. 19
[to be continued in Untitled - Chapter 1 - Seg. 4.
]
Adding your comment:
I too am not at all knowledgeable about kidnapping xD Or 1831, actually. I think I learned about that 'History' thing for about one semester and called it quits for fear of dying of boredom. I don't watch the news either, so I never know what's going on in the world until someone I know brings it up and I ask what they're talking about ^^" I'm just cool that way, lol xD
