Crossovers100-Dracula 089.-"She"
Title: Visitors
Claim Dracula: General Novel
Fandom: Dracula: General Novel/The Woman in White
Characters: John Seward, Percival Glyde, Laura Fairlie, and a few passing mentions
Prompt: 089. She
Word Count: 1243
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Table here. Glyde is a pretentious jerk, Laura probably needs a psychoanalyst after all this, and I absolutely love writing Drac/WiW crossovers, so expect lots more. On with the brain-breaking.
Doctor John Seward disliked Sir Percival Glyde from the start. His tone was condescending, his eyes had a scheming glint, and there was something violently irritating about the way the man kept coughing into his handkerchief. Still, against his better judgment, Seward had agreed to speak with the man about the asylum’s newest patent, Glyde’s ward Anne Catherick.
“In all formal technicality she’s not my ward, but I do pay for her care and so on, and her mother has all but relinquished her parental rights, so I feel it’s my duty to act in the role of guardian to her, poor girl,” explained Glyde.
Seward nodded patiently from the other side of the desk. He just wanted to answer whatever questions this bothersome man had so that he could get on with the mountains of paperwork stacked about his cluttered office. “I quite understand, Sir Percival. I dare say Miss Catherick’s case is far from the most unusual I’ve had in my time as proprietor here. Are there any questions you have concerning her care?”
“Only a question of visitation. Are your patients allowed to receive visitors?”
“Only at my discretion, sir,” said Seward.
Glyde frowned slightly. “It seems to me it were a decision better placed in the hands of the patient’s guardian, or a near relative, or whoever committed them. After all, some patients could be dangerously violent toward certain visitors.” He was speaking in that condescending, slightly nasal way that made Seward want to throw a hefty book at him. The doctor sighed and leaned forward on the desk.
“Sir Percival,” he said, trying to keep his tone civil, but serious, “I do respect your concerns about the safety of visitors here, as well as patients. However, I am a doctor of medicine and psychology. I believe my training and my study of each patient’s individual case will allow me to make the proper decisions about every individual visitation.”
The baronet’s eyes narrowed, and Seward was sure he saw him shift uncomfortably. He already felt there was something odd about Miss Catherick’s case, and Glyde’s behavior was not assuring him to the contrary. He hadn’t liked Glyde’s associate who had brought the girl either, a fat Italian named Fosco, if he recalled.
“Doctor Seward, you force me to be blunt,” said Glyde, rising from his seat. “I must ask that, regardless of your appraisal of Miss Catherick’s case, you deny any visitors who might come to see her. Believe me, sir, it is in the best interest of all parties involved. The girl is very unstable, given to unpredictable fits.”
“Do you mean to tell me how to do my job, sir?” said Seward, also rising. He had long ago lost patience with this man, and now saw no reason to continue with the pretence of it.
“I mean only to leave you with a warning,” said Glyde, putting on his hat and gloves and making his way to the door. “I suggest you do as I have said, or we shall all regret it.” The threat in his words lingered long after the door had closed.
Seward spent the next hour reading over the file he had sent for from a colleague. There were too many anomalies in Miss Catherick’s behaviors. In her files from the first asylum where she had bee committed, she had been polite and quiet save for a few violent outbursts and several attempts to run away. Here under Seward’s care she had continued to be mostly polite and quiet, but had not once attempted to run away. She had been violent only once, and that was when she had first been admitted. New, however, was her insistence that her name was not Anne Catherick.
Seward found the frail blond girl with a nurse out in the garden. She looked a little startled to see him, but he wore his warm gentle smile and moved slowly, so as not to seem threatening. He recalled that when she had first been admitted there had been signs of some physical abuse, but she could not be made to speak of it. He came to the bench where the two women sat and offered his arm.
“Miss Catherick, I was wondering if I could speak to you a few moments in private. I thought we might take a brief walk about the garden. Would that be all right?” The girl hesitated a moment, but the doctor had always been kind to her, and nothing in his eyes suggested anything to fear. Tentatively she nodded and took his arm, her white dress loose on her thin body.
They strolled slowly along the path that lead around the enclosed grounds. Once Seward felt they were a sufficient way out of earshot of anyone else, he spoke. “Miss Catherick,” he said lightly, “I know this may seem an odd request, but I would be grateful if you would humor me. Since you arrival, you have insisted that your name is not, indeed, Anne Catherick. That being the case, would you be so kind as to please recount for me who you are?”
The girl stopped walking and gave him a startled look. Seward quickly went on. “Please, I don’t mean to mock or offend. It would simply be very helpful for me to hear what you have to say, without any nosy nurses about and such.”
She looked and the ground and began to wring her hands. After a long silence, she spoke, the words pouring out very quickly. “My name is Laura Fairlie-no, Glyde, Lady Laura Glyde. Sir Percival Glyde is my husband. My uncle is Mr. Frederick Fairlie of Limmeridge Estate. I’m not mad, I know it. There’s something terrible that’s happened, I’m sure of it-”
Seward reached out gently and put his hands around her. “Calm yourself, it’s quite all right.” He waited while she took a breath. Her blue eyes were pleading with him to believe her. Something about her earnestness, combined with Glyde’s strange behaviors earlier, made him push from his mind the obituary which had run some weeks prior for a Lady Laura Glyde. Instead of mentioning that, he met the girl’s gaze very carefully. “All I’ve heard so far is to the contrary of what you claim. So you must tell me, it’s very important: is there anyone who would be able to come here and corroborate your story?”
“My sister,” she said, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “My sister, Marian Halcombe. Oh, but I don’t know where she is now! I was ill, and she left while I was gone-” She stopped suddenly. She did not want to babble like the other madwomen did. Seward nodded carefully, and with a gentle warning not to excite herself, he returned her to the nurse.
Two days later, he watched quietly from an upstairs window as a dark-haired woman with a plain face but lovely figure slipped into the garden. The nurse had seemed startled when Doctor Seward had told her to accept the bribe the mysterious woman had offered, but she trusted her employer. Now, unknown to the figures below, he watched as the transaction was completed and the dark-haired woman slipped away, the Woman in White in tow.
Seward made a note as he sat down at his desk that someday he should try to meet this Miss Marian Halcombe. Any woman with that much audacity had to be worth meeting.
Claim Dracula: General Novel
Fandom: Dracula: General Novel/The Woman in White
Characters: John Seward, Percival Glyde, Laura Fairlie, and a few passing mentions
Prompt: 089. She
Word Count: 1243
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Table here. Glyde is a pretentious jerk, Laura probably needs a psychoanalyst after all this, and I absolutely love writing Drac/WiW crossovers, so expect lots more. On with the brain-breaking.
Doctor John Seward disliked Sir Percival Glyde from the start. His tone was condescending, his eyes had a scheming glint, and there was something violently irritating about the way the man kept coughing into his handkerchief. Still, against his better judgment, Seward had agreed to speak with the man about the asylum’s newest patent, Glyde’s ward Anne Catherick.
“In all formal technicality she’s not my ward, but I do pay for her care and so on, and her mother has all but relinquished her parental rights, so I feel it’s my duty to act in the role of guardian to her, poor girl,” explained Glyde.
Seward nodded patiently from the other side of the desk. He just wanted to answer whatever questions this bothersome man had so that he could get on with the mountains of paperwork stacked about his cluttered office. “I quite understand, Sir Percival. I dare say Miss Catherick’s case is far from the most unusual I’ve had in my time as proprietor here. Are there any questions you have concerning her care?”
“Only a question of visitation. Are your patients allowed to receive visitors?”
“Only at my discretion, sir,” said Seward.
Glyde frowned slightly. “It seems to me it were a decision better placed in the hands of the patient’s guardian, or a near relative, or whoever committed them. After all, some patients could be dangerously violent toward certain visitors.” He was speaking in that condescending, slightly nasal way that made Seward want to throw a hefty book at him. The doctor sighed and leaned forward on the desk.
“Sir Percival,” he said, trying to keep his tone civil, but serious, “I do respect your concerns about the safety of visitors here, as well as patients. However, I am a doctor of medicine and psychology. I believe my training and my study of each patient’s individual case will allow me to make the proper decisions about every individual visitation.”
The baronet’s eyes narrowed, and Seward was sure he saw him shift uncomfortably. He already felt there was something odd about Miss Catherick’s case, and Glyde’s behavior was not assuring him to the contrary. He hadn’t liked Glyde’s associate who had brought the girl either, a fat Italian named Fosco, if he recalled.
“Doctor Seward, you force me to be blunt,” said Glyde, rising from his seat. “I must ask that, regardless of your appraisal of Miss Catherick’s case, you deny any visitors who might come to see her. Believe me, sir, it is in the best interest of all parties involved. The girl is very unstable, given to unpredictable fits.”
“Do you mean to tell me how to do my job, sir?” said Seward, also rising. He had long ago lost patience with this man, and now saw no reason to continue with the pretence of it.
“I mean only to leave you with a warning,” said Glyde, putting on his hat and gloves and making his way to the door. “I suggest you do as I have said, or we shall all regret it.” The threat in his words lingered long after the door had closed.
Seward spent the next hour reading over the file he had sent for from a colleague. There were too many anomalies in Miss Catherick’s behaviors. In her files from the first asylum where she had bee committed, she had been polite and quiet save for a few violent outbursts and several attempts to run away. Here under Seward’s care she had continued to be mostly polite and quiet, but had not once attempted to run away. She had been violent only once, and that was when she had first been admitted. New, however, was her insistence that her name was not Anne Catherick.
Seward found the frail blond girl with a nurse out in the garden. She looked a little startled to see him, but he wore his warm gentle smile and moved slowly, so as not to seem threatening. He recalled that when she had first been admitted there had been signs of some physical abuse, but she could not be made to speak of it. He came to the bench where the two women sat and offered his arm.
“Miss Catherick, I was wondering if I could speak to you a few moments in private. I thought we might take a brief walk about the garden. Would that be all right?” The girl hesitated a moment, but the doctor had always been kind to her, and nothing in his eyes suggested anything to fear. Tentatively she nodded and took his arm, her white dress loose on her thin body.
They strolled slowly along the path that lead around the enclosed grounds. Once Seward felt they were a sufficient way out of earshot of anyone else, he spoke. “Miss Catherick,” he said lightly, “I know this may seem an odd request, but I would be grateful if you would humor me. Since you arrival, you have insisted that your name is not, indeed, Anne Catherick. That being the case, would you be so kind as to please recount for me who you are?”
The girl stopped walking and gave him a startled look. Seward quickly went on. “Please, I don’t mean to mock or offend. It would simply be very helpful for me to hear what you have to say, without any nosy nurses about and such.”
She looked and the ground and began to wring her hands. After a long silence, she spoke, the words pouring out very quickly. “My name is Laura Fairlie-no, Glyde, Lady Laura Glyde. Sir Percival Glyde is my husband. My uncle is Mr. Frederick Fairlie of Limmeridge Estate. I’m not mad, I know it. There’s something terrible that’s happened, I’m sure of it-”
Seward reached out gently and put his hands around her. “Calm yourself, it’s quite all right.” He waited while she took a breath. Her blue eyes were pleading with him to believe her. Something about her earnestness, combined with Glyde’s strange behaviors earlier, made him push from his mind the obituary which had run some weeks prior for a Lady Laura Glyde. Instead of mentioning that, he met the girl’s gaze very carefully. “All I’ve heard so far is to the contrary of what you claim. So you must tell me, it’s very important: is there anyone who would be able to come here and corroborate your story?”
“My sister,” she said, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “My sister, Marian Halcombe. Oh, but I don’t know where she is now! I was ill, and she left while I was gone-” She stopped suddenly. She did not want to babble like the other madwomen did. Seward nodded carefully, and with a gentle warning not to excite herself, he returned her to the nurse.
Two days later, he watched quietly from an upstairs window as a dark-haired woman with a plain face but lovely figure slipped into the garden. The nurse had seemed startled when Doctor Seward had told her to accept the bribe the mysterious woman had offered, but she trusted her employer. Now, unknown to the figures below, he watched as the transaction was completed and the dark-haired woman slipped away, the Woman in White in tow.
Seward made a note as he sat down at his desk that someday he should try to meet this Miss Marian Halcombe. Any woman with that much audacity had to be worth meeting.