The Pavillion, Wycherley House
>>5682949>>5682950-I have good tidings, and tidings less than pleasant,
Cyril Darnay murmurs, as he approaches the impatient figure of Lord Huntingtower,
-Which would you like to hear first? It seems that Lady Temperance's Water Banquet has been ruined. Upon my Oath, nothing that involved me at all, I swear! There was a terrible scene, I am given to understand that some woman fell into the river and drowned. Nobody even made any effort to recover her...
Lord Huntingtower turns to Cyril Darnay, seething in a silent fury:
-This does not interest me at all! Out with it, now! - what is this that I hear has occurred outside the Star Chamber of Witenagemot House! Mortmain - ? What is this travesty -
-Now if you would just permit me to finish,
Cyril Darnay replies smoothly, soothingly,
-You see, one event follows another. The sight of that drowning, the spectacle of it, finally did for Lord Mortmain. He just keeled over, dead. Some seizure or aneurysm! To think of it, having survived all the wars against the Great Powers and endured the Old Armistice... only to just collapse and give out entirely in his old age, at the sight of some drowning woman. It is indeed all very sudden. But the most curious circumstances arose after the announcement and tragic confirmation of the Lord High Intelligencer's demise. You see, who should step forth, other than Beatrice - I should now say, Lady Beatrice - for it appears that her lineage has been finally revealed. She is Lord Mortmain's daughter! Indeed, the records at the Orphanage of the Benevolent Institute confirm and attest to the veracity of her parentage. Isambard Wentworth, who had raised her as his own, is now in despair. He has lost his factory, which is apparently being sold and reestablished in the colonies to continue provisioning ordinance for the war. It does seem like everything is moving to the colonies these days...
Lord Huntingtower is grasping his own face in shock and bitterness:
-Are you saying... Lady Beatrice Mortmain... she... she plans to ascend to the Star Chamber of Witenagemot House? A woman?! A woman in the Inner Court, of the Witenagemot, a woman governing over the laws, our laws; the Lex Mercatoria, the Judicature of our realm...?!
Cyril Darnay observes the discomfiture of Lord Huntingtower, and concludes with a shared tone of bitterness,
-It does seem that way, yes. You would think Lady Blanche Fotheringay-Smythe would be pleased, but I know privately that she is furious. For some reason she had always imagined that if any woman were to ascend the steps of the Star Chamber, well, that woman would have been her. But rest assured, Lord Huntingtower. I have spoken with Lady Mortmain. An understanding has occurred, and I believe very little will change under her governance. We are the Sempiternal Empire. We have ended history, and we shall always prevail. There is nothing after us.
