Snow! (open)

[jarndyceheir]

Richard has never had anything like the Mansion's park during the winter. The streets of London only offer, on the whole, limited opportunities for playing in the snow. And he has now held out as long as dignity will let him. He is out in the grounds, dressed warmly, and is very earnestly building a snow fort. Mostly though trail and error.

Comments

[edgar_huntly]

Edgar walks even in rough weather, you'll find--and so he is clad in a coat and boots today, and walking the grounds (not too far out; one can never tell when the weather will get worse, and it would be too much a familiar nightmare to be lost in the woods in the cold). He regards the snow fort--and its architect--with some humor. "Mr. Carstone?"

[jarndyceheir]

He looks up, flushed and smiling. "Mr Huntly! It has been some time. How are you, sir?"

[edgar_huntly]

"Very well! And you, sir?" He has not built a snow fort of his own for some twelve or thirteen years, but he kneels to help.

[jarndyceheir]

"Tolerably well. Things are peaceful, just now. And there is so much snow! I don't think I have ever seen so much at once before."

[edgar_huntly]

He laughs at the other man's delight. "I had heard that there was a tremendous amount of snow in England, but this is quite an ordinary snowfall, for Pennsylvania. I fear you would be stunned by a blizzard."

[jarndyceheir]

"There is much snow in England, but not much in London. And what did did fall mainly became sooty slush. But Ada wrote that Bleak House was quite like this, in the winter, on occasion."

[edgar_huntly]

"Ada?" If he has been told the name, he has forgotten it.

[jarndyceheir]

"Oh, Miss Clare. I knew her at home, and she has made her way here. I will have to introduce you."

[edgar_huntly]

"I see. None of my own acquaintances have arrived, but I find I am making new friends here--and perhaps, in time, dear ones." He smiles as he packs more snow onto the walls. "And how is Mr. Jones?"

[jarndyceheir]

This brings Richard up short. Of course, he knows that Huntly would have no way of knowing what had happened, if he hadn't been talking to Tom. Still, it has been a great deal of time since he talked to anyone who knew enough to ask, but not enough to know not to.

He careful pats some snow into place. "I...have not seen him lately, in fact. I'm not sure."

[edgar_huntly]

He is quiet for a moment, hearing the hesitation. When he speaks again, it is more gently. "Have you had a falling out, Mr. Carstone?"

[jarndyceheir]

His hands still. "Yes, I'm afraid we have. It was my fault. But... I fear it cannot be fixed."

[edgar_huntly]

"I am sorry to hear it, sir. You seemed very happy--" he begins, and then realizes too late that this is a tactless thing to say. "I am sorry," he amends, shaping snow-bricks in silence.

[jarndyceheir]

"It's alright. I..." He kneels in the snow. "I am planning to marry Miss Clare, when I can find a priest." He carefully doesn't look at Edgar.

[edgar_huntly]

"May I ask why, sir? Not why you plan to marry her--but why you fell out?"

[jarndyceheir]

"They are not unconnected. I had been... that is, Ada and I were planning to marry back home, before I came here. When she arrived, I tried, for a time, to consider continuing with them both, but our mutual temperaments made it impossible." His voice is quiet, and he's willing it to be steady.