The End of the World, Part #3

[a1653 77]

At an unknown time and place, three beings are having a conversation.

'Isn't the news just wonderful?', said one being. There was a murmur of agreement from the other two. 'Do you think they're going to make a national holiday out of the fulfilling of the prophecy and the days leading up and directly following said fulfilment?', asked another being. 'Probably', said the other two. 'One would think you're twins! You respond to questions as if you were both thinking the same thing!', exclaimed the oldest being. There followed a bout of laughter from the two other beings, followed shortly after by a new addition to the conversation.  
'You never know, seeing as my cousin and I's family history is very vague. We don't even know the identities of our parents', said one of the younger beings. 'So you have told me', said the older of the beings, whose voice could not help but reveal disinterest in the subject, since he was the sort of person who does not want to consume information that is already known. 

Back to that glorious green desert - unique in that it contains numerous buildings, all spread sporadically over the expansive landscape - that is Dartmoor. More specifically, back to Davison hall, and to a new time: 9:20 am, the day of Lord Charles Davison's birthday.

Lord Davison continued up the flamboyantly decorated vestibule^fn1 and pushed open the mahogany gold gilt doors that served as the entrance to the rest of the first floor of the right-wing^fn2 of Davison Hall. He then walked - and, it must, of course, be noted talked - his way over to his bedroom, noticing that his wife, Lady Eleanor Davison, was nowhere to be seen. Upon seeing a servant, he asked where her Ladyship might be. 'I do not know, your Lordship', the servant replied. 'Good morning James', was the farewell given. 

Upon getting to his bedroom, Lord Davison spent the next half-an-hour or so getting ready for his birthday party. At 10:05 am, or thereabouts, he came out of his bedroom and made his way to the conservatory^fn3. Just after getting into the conservatory, his wife, Lady Eleanor Davison, came into the room. Lady Eleanor was dressed in an ivory and gold silken dress, matching ivory opera gloves, a pair of ivory shoes, and a red velvet jacket.  They exchanged greetings and conversation, and then she plopped down on the sofa nearest to him, and they both relaxed for a few minutes. They then made their way to the front entrance of the Hall, in preparation for greeting the birthday's attendees.
At 10:20 am, the first brougham^fn4 came into view. Once the driver had halted at the front steps, there alighted from the hansom a man and a woman. The man, who was to use his full title, His Grace The Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, Colonel Herbrand Russell, was in his 60s. Tavistock was a small town that was situated a few kilometres away from the western border of Dartmoor and was the nearest town to Davison Hall, whilst Bedford was a town quite far above London. The Duke was dressed in military full dress uniform, which was comprised of a tight-fitting bright red coatee with gold epaulettes and a golden high neck collar and gold accents, black pants with two red stripes, a flamboyant black beaver hat with gold accents and chinstrap, white gloves, a red satin masquerade mask, black, mirror-polished dress shoes, with a ceremonial sword and scabbard hanging by his side. His wife, Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford, Marchioness of Tavistock, Mary Russell, was in her 50s and was a remarkable woman, who would later learn that Japanese martial art, jujutsu, and who would also become a record-breaking aviator. But, back to the story.
The Duchess was dressed in a black lace dress with a high necked collar and long sleeves, a pair of black satin opera gloves, a black lace masquerade mask, a flamboyant black hat with plumes of black feathers, and a pair of black shoes. Attached to her dress and her dress' sleeves were two separate - one on each side - pieces of black fabric. When she opened her arms wide, she would appear to have strange, bat-like wings. At this, the Davisons's were surprised, as opening one's arms wide when one was of the upper class was unheard of, although it sometimes did happen when one got very emotional and embraced another. But then, why the pieces of fabric? There was only one answer. A performance. That night. At Lord Davison's party. All this flashed through Lord and Lady Davison's minds in a matter of seconds, such do our minds work. Both of the Davisons knew that the Duchess was a well-known opera singer on the London stage, so the conclusion of there being a performance at the party that night was well justified. The two couples exchanged greetings and conversation, Lady Eleanor inviting them out of the cold evening air and into the house as the couples talked. They walked up the main steps, the visiting couple congratulating Lord Davison on the decorations and the marvellous signs that adorned the front gate of the driveway and the roof of the main entrance to the Hall. Lord Davison replied, 'They were my wife's doing', at which the visiting couple congratulated Lady Eleanor. The conversation veered off onto other paths after that - politics, art, the general state of affairs in Britain and beyond, etc., were all topics that graced the stage of that conversational ball. They passed through the vestibule and made their way to the sitting room, where they continued their conversation. 

Spoiler

 

fn1: A vestibule is a antechamber, hall, or lobby that one enters through the main door of a building. A clearer illustration of what I'm talking about may be seen below:

Do see the 'Grand Vestibule' down the bottom? Look if you don't.
 

fn2: As seen in the image above, Victorian mansions had two separate wings: one for the family, and one for the servants. 
 

fn3: Almost all Victorian mansions housed either a conservatory or a sun parlour, which are both the same thing, by the way. A conservatory is a basically a lounge, but with lots of windows, and sometimes - local and more often exotic - plants and trees, and sometimes animals. Most conservatories were at the back of the building. Here are some pictures of conservatories:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Conservatories can still be found attached to Victorian, Edwardian, and even some modern houses to this day. 

 

fn4: Broughams were horse drawn carriages that were popular with both the middle class and the upper class. They were drawn by one horse, were four wheeled, and seated two. Here are some pictures of broughams:

 

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by a1653

[Venerable 2,967]

Approved!

And the story progresses... There's still a lot more to come, I can sense that. I'm quite intrigued now - how will this story pan out? How will you bring about "The End of the World"? Who're the three mysterious beings (interesting word choice there)? A lot of questions. Well, let's wait for the next part(s) to find the answers to some, if not all, of these questions.

I liked those pictures in the end; very useful! One still needs a dictionary by one's side, if not a Google tab or Wiktionary, while reading. Ahem. Please include smaller pictures in the future, or at least put them in a spoiler. You can change the dimensions of the pictures by double clicking on them. Don't forget to check the "Keep original aspect ratio" box!

Edits: Very minor, just a few typos; added a spoiler (and a few spoilers within the spoiler).

[Lose 881]

I like where this story is going, excited for the next part!

[a1653 77]

On 7/6/2021 at 9:46 PM, Venerable said:

Approved!

And the story progresses... There's still a lot more to come, I can sense that. I'm quite intrigued now - how will this story pan out? How will you bring about "The End of the World"? Who're the three mysterious beings (interesting word choice there)? A lot of questions. Well, let's wait for the next part(s) to find the answers to some, if not all, of these questions.

I liked those pictures in the end; very useful! One still needs a dictionary by one's side, if not a Google tab or Wiktionary, while reading. Ahem. Please include smaller pictures in the future, or at least put them in a spoiler. You can change the dimensions of the pictures by double clicking on them. Don't forget to check the "Keep original aspect ratio" box!

Edits: Very minor, just a few typos; added a spoiler (and a few spoilers within the spoiler).

Thank you. You will see soon enough that my choice of the word 'beings' is justified, as it implies something more than mere humans. Also, it keeps you in suspense.

On 7/6/2021 at 10:07 PM, Lose said:

I like where this story is going, excited for the next part!

Thank you, @Lose

[Merovingian 656]

Nice story. Funny that I do live in Bedford :) and in that town a road is called Tavistock Street and a park called Russell Park 

[a1653 77]

On 7/21/2021 at 3:04 AM, Merovingian said:

Nice story. Funny that I do live in Bedford :) and in that town a road is called Tavistock Street and a park called Russell Park 

I did actually base the story's locations off google maps, you see.