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Chapter 3
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~ Cambridge 1870 ~

"Permit me to offer my deepest sympathies, Pratt." The dean was sincere in his condolences. Young William Pratt was one of the more promising scholars and not prone to troublemaking as was his older brother. "Your father was a fine man and a credit to this institution."

William knew he should be more shocked than he was, but the news that his father had succumbed to a heart attack actually came as little surprise. Henry Pratt had been working feverishly to replenish the family coffers that years of Cameron's antics and bad luck had drained. The past six years had seen a return to comfortable status for the family and the hope that the future might see in increase to actual ease. Sadly, now Henry would not see that day.

"Yes, thank you. He was indeed a fine man, sir." William spoke mechanically, his mind already on the new responsibilities his father's death had thrust upon him. He had his mother's welfare to see to, as well as his sister Sophia.

The dean was still speaking as William's mind traveled the distance to London and home. "Naturally, your teachers will all welcome you back as soon as the situation permits. With your proven abilities, you should have little difficulty catching up with your class."

William was humbled by the compliment. "I appreciate your faith in my talents, sir, and can but hope to live up to it." .

"Do give my sympathies to your mother, William," the dean added in uncharacteristic familiarity. "I knew her when she was still little Annie Macrorie from the Derwent Fells. We all envied your father for winning her heart and then her hand."

"Indeed, sir, I did not realize you were familiar with my mother, but I shall pass on your sentiments," William promised. "Have I your leave to go then, sir?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I assume you shall be traveling by rail?"

"That would be the quickest way home," William agreed.

"I shall send my coach then to transport you and your baggage. Godspeed, Mr. Pratt."

~~~

Anne and Sophie were in the morning room when William arrived. "Thank you, Hobbs," he said as he offered his coat to the butler. "Please have Mrs. Lamb make my room ready for me."

"Quite so, Master William, I believe she already has a fire laid in your room in anticipation of your arrival," the old retainer replied.

"Mother, Sophie…I cannot say how sorry I am that this has happened while I was away at University. I made haste to return home as soon as I received word."

"William, I am so relieved to see you!" Sophia threw herself in her brother's arms. "Mother is quite beside herself."

Indeed, William had never seen his mother so pale, so still. Anne had always been a lively woman filled with energy and good cheer. Only the deepest of sorrows had ever brought her this low. "Mother, I am but a poor substitute for Rather, but I vow you will never need shoulder your burdens alone. I am, as ever, yours to command."

Anne smiled tenderly on her only remaining son and pondered how odd that they had all thought him to be the weakest of the family. His quiet strength had always been there through the years and now she knew she could rely on him without question.

"I'll not have you sacrifice your plans for us, William," she assured him in a quiet, grief-filled voice. "Once everything is settled, you shall be returning to University and your studies. You are but eighteen and have your whole life ahead of you."

"Nonsense, dear one. What good would be my dreams if they didn't include my special ladies?"
Indeed, none of William's plans had ever excluded his beloved family members. "We'll hear no more of sacrifice on behalf of any of us. We are family and shall persevere together. Is that not the way of it?"

"I am no useless flibbertigibbet either," Sophia added. "Madame Deveroux's Academy is right here in London and I shan't need to live there to continue teaching. I shall be delighted to move back home and away from that pack of spoiled, unruly girls to help here with my family."
The last thing Sophia wished was for her brother to give up on his studies. He was a scholar and belonged in school. "Mother and I can easily send for you should the need arise."

"Yes, but what of the business?" William pointed out. "Father had just begun to show a profit again and I'll not have either of you in want."

"That very attitude is what took your dear father from me," Anne reminded her children. "Your father has a very capable man of business who has proven to be honest and clever. I am certain he will continue to see us prosper without your having to end your education before you've really begun." Anne looked at her daughter fondly. "And as for you moving back here, Sophia, I would like nothing better. I have spent many a wakeful night in worry about your safety living
away from the security of your own home."

Sophia began to protest lightly about her ability to tend to her own safety. She had grown up heavily influenced by the writings of Mrs. Wollstonecraft and was no simpering miss. William smiled in approval of his sister's independence and spunk.

"Yes, but it would be of great help to me nonetheless. Aside from the loss of your father," Anne reminded her, "Your Uncle Christie is sending Margaret down to us to straighten out. She's run quite wild there among the Fells and he and Rosamund despair of her ever attracting a man of quality for a husband. You are quite used to dealing with young misses like Maggie and I expect it will take both of us to keep the child out of mischief."

William smiled at the memory of his younger cousin and the many scrapes she managed to encounter. The girl was headstrong and he could not imagine even two such stalwarts as his mother and sister being able to ever reign her in properly. The girl would more likely run off with the first inappropriate suitor to take her fancy.

The discussion continued through the evening with no real resolution to the future. All parties had a tendency to put the needs of the others over their own and it only caused a situation of
cross-purposes. Anne's decisions would, of course, prevail and her children were her whole world. There would be no disruption of their lives beyond the necessary if she had anything to say about it.

"We shall not solve our problems, much less those of the world, on little sleep," Anne chided gently as the hour grew ever late. "I suggest we all get rest to prepare for the long days ahead. All will be for the best."



~~~

The dream was a bit different that night. There was no bloodied field and fallen brothers. Instead the dark princess came from the shadows of an alleyway, her penetrating gaze as compelling yet repellant as that of a snake. "My William is now the man of the 'ouse, is 'e?"

William merely nodded in reply. He wondered at his apprehension in the company of this beautiful woman. She had been a part of his dream-life for so many years that there was a familiarity about her, unlike most females of his acquaintance aside from family.

She was a beauty, no question of that. William wondered in his waking moments why he should feel the desire to flee such a one who clearly desired him. He knew the meaning of her hints and promises now, even if inexperienced in the ways of men and women. He was no longer
ignorant or a child.

"My man soon enough. Daddy forgets 'is special girl to play with grandmum. I need to seek my pleasures where I can; 's only fair. Still, there's time yet before I make you mine forever.
Got a new brother, not like that naughty Penn. This one makes Grandmum all testy, like someone spoiled 'er puddin'! I'll not make 'im my prince though, don't you worry. 'E won't last. Such a good daddy I 'ave. 'Spare the rod and spoil the child', 'e knows the way.

The woman drew ever near to William as he backed slowly away from her. "You're mine, William, only mine. All been planned from the beginning, because I'm such a very good girl."

"You may have been a good girl once, but that was a long time ago, Drusilla," the golden one spoke as she appeared between the advancing woman and William. "Now you're just a crazy 'ho with too much power for anyone's safety."

William felt safer with his goddess there to fend off the dark princess. He was no coward but somehow knew himself to be defenseless in the clutches of the sloe-eyed woman.

"You go tossing out stuff about destiny, but you don't have a clue," the glowing blonde continued. "Real destiny lasts longer than a century. Real destiny is the stuff of prophecy and the Powers don't do prophecy for nut jobs like you, except maybe a dusty end." As she
said these odd words, she rammed a piece of fencing into the dark one's chest and once more all that remained was ash.

William was trembling as he tried to catch his breath. "Don't worry, William. A good man like you are isn't going to be tied to THAT as a reward. She is not your destiny, even if she says she is. You are meant to be in the light, no matter how many dark tunnels you have to go through to get there. We complete each other. She's nothing but a means to an end."

"Who are you?" William dared to ask for the first time. In truth, this was the most the fair lady had ever said to him.

"I'm your biggest pain and greatest joy." With that she placed the lightest of kisses on his lips and faded out of view.

William woke with a great ache in his chest. The sense of loss he felt had more to do with the lovely woman of his dreams and less the grief over his beloved but distant father. "Fine son I am to mourn a figment rather than he who molded me."

For the first time, William tried to turn his dream into something lasting. He crossed the room to his small secretary and opened his inkwell. He had always loved poetry and if there were ever an inspiration for the words that so often eluded him, it was this glowing champion from his visions. If he had but the skill to pour out his adoration for her, his questing heart would beat proud. But just as before, the words danced just out of his grasp.

~~~

In the end, William returned to his studies and the world righted itself as much as possible after such a series of losses. He changed his area of study to better prepare to take the reigns of his father's holdings and interests, setting aside his beloved verses. "When I was a
child, I thought as a child," he mused. "Time to put aside childish dreams and become a man of practicality. I will never be a Wordsworth or a Shelley. Doubt I'll even construct a decent limerick for sharing in a dockside pub."

While he gave up his pursuit of beauty in the written form, at least formally, he would never give up his golden muse. William would never stop writing his little bits of poetry, but he had finally realized his future was more mundane than that of a potential poet laureate. More
than one professor sighed in relief. William was generally well-liked by his teachers and they hated to destroy his ambitions, but the sad truth was he just did not have the natural talent to match his heart's desire.

Late at night as he sought the arms of Morpheus, he tried to imagine what name went with his shining angel. He tried to fit every lovely name he had ever heard and none did her justice. If they fit her strength and prowess in battle, they were too hard. If they reflected her beauty and allure, they were too weak. He consigned her to the title of 'Destiny' and longed to embrace her in truth as well as vision.

When his more congenial classmates attempted to lure William into joining them in learning the ways of women at nearby taverns and brothels, he held to his dream of perfection and his determination to hold himself for her alone. For such a woman he would wait forever.

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