Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Words on a page


C
ecilia Olivia Moore had never once met with disappointment. She sat by her sister Rebecca's bed for hours the night the girl first had her heart broken. Ceci herself maintained the good fortune of a young heart still intact, but all the same she declared to her sister her fixed hatred for all members of the wealthy class and stubbornly refused to characterize them as anything but heartless, self-centered snobs. From that day, she vowed never to associate with anyone claiming the status, and for a long time easily fulfilled the promise. The wrong endured by her elder sister at the hands of a young gentleman (perpetually bedecked in ridiculous finery in Ceci's memory) was fresh in Ceci's mind even after Becca was taken up by a young lawyer and swept off to the coast of Ireland.
Such was Ceci's worst fault: that of stubborn, unforgiving prejudice induced by any disappointment suffered by the ones she loved. Not such a terrible vice, perhaps, especially given her reasoning.

In any case, Miss Cecilia Moore was the daughter of a middle-class gentleman. Mr. Timothy Moore boasted two most noteworthy treasures: a remarkably large library for so small a household space and an impressive acreage of meadow, farm and wooded land. The first was mainly on account of the interests of his daughter Ceci, the second thanks to an inheritance that spanned five generations. The land Mr. Moore retained had been Moore land for as long as the eldest grandfathers of the town could remember; it was a burdensome honor that would be passed to Quincy, Mr. Moore's eldest son and youngest child.

Though Ceci loved her father's land much more than her little brother Quincy, she recognized her fate from an early age. She would receive little to no inheritance--money or land; thus her primary duty was to secure a successful husband who might offer her comfort and protection. If she succeeded in that scheme, she would be expected to provide grandchildren.
Still, at nineteen, she did not fret. As yet she had no reason; she had never once been disappointed.

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