Quiet Little Mice

[Penelope Humphrey-Mavis]

Penny wasn’t entirely sure whether her mother could sing, or indeed if she would ever be frivolous enough to do so. She certainly couldn’t imagine it but then she knew relatively little about her mother and Penny doubted she would feel the lack of her as her cousin clearly seemed to do with her own.

“It must be very difficult for you,” she commented, tact only a thin line in the distance in Penny’s world view. “I doubt I would feel quite as sorrowful if mama and papa perished.”

  

[Olivia Humphrey]

It was sad enough that she had lost her parents, but Olivia thought it sadder still that her cousin might lose hers and not miss them. Her brow furrowed in sympathy. "I think you might," she offered softly, her lips curling in a tentative smile.

  

[Penelope Humphrey-Mavis]

Truthfully Penny could not conceive of it at all but even she knew better than to push the point so soon after the other girl’s bereavement, but the simple fact of the matter was that she didn’t know them that well. It would be as immaterial to her if they died as if the gardener did.

“Perhaps… I promise you that mama will never sing though,” she smiled without humour and glanced towards the window where the light rain of the morning was finally letting up. “It’s not in her nature.”

  

[Olivia Humphrey]

That Olivia did not doubt. For all that her cousins intimidated her, her aunt absolutely petrified her. She could scarcely imagine her smiling, never mind singing. It was a terrible shame. Her own mother was so full of warmth; Lady Esterwick was positively glacial. "Do you sing?" she asked, shyly changing the subject. Olivia expected her cousin sang like a nightingale.

  

[Penelope Humphrey-Mavis]

Laughing sharply at the unexpected question Penny was soon distracted from the morose thoughts regarding her mama’s relative indifference to her – a third daughter was more of an inconvenience really wasn’t it? – and instead thought of her siblings doing anything quite so frivolous.

“No I certainly don’t do that,” she said wryly. “It’s not something we excel at in this household – all that jollity is far from being us.”

  

[Olivia Humphrey]

Olivia hadn't imagined the Countess being especially inclined to jollity, but Lady Elizabeth—or rather Cousin Elizabeth—seemed like the type who loved music and dance of every sort!

"Oh? Cousin Elizabeth seems rather prone to frivolity," Olivia replied, flushing as she realised just how awful that sounded. And oh, she was trying to befriend her cousins, not make them think she was even more uncouth than they likely already did!

  

[Penelope Humphrey-Mavis]

Rolling her eyes at Betsy was a common habit – even if she was secretly rather fond of her sister – but there was no denying that Olivia was quite right, even if the girl seemed to be regretting her admission. Oh Merlin, how she couldn’t abide that! It was bad enough at the best of times with people never saying what they meant; the very least she expected in her own home was honest relatives.

"There is a fine difference between Betsy's idea of frivolity and the rest of the world's though, you should meet some of her friends and see quite how muted she can be by comparison!"

  

[Olivia Humphrey]

Olivia didn’t think she wanted to. One Betsy was quite enough; she didn’t think she could cope with two but she supposed it was inevitable she would meet some of them. She imagined her cousin would think she was being kind thrusting her cheerfully at her friends but she would much rather avoid company altogether, tucked up with a book and a cup of tea.

Although Cousin Penelope was proving far from unwanted company.

“Do your friends visit very much?” she asked. A girl like Lady Penelope Humphrey-Mavis would surely have hundreds.

  

[Penelope Humphrey-Mavis]

Friends? Well, she had certainly heard of the species even if names did not immediately spring to mind. She had possessed acquaintances at school, girls like her who understood how things were and how they needed to remain for the world to function, but would she call any of them friends? Not especially. And now… well, now she hardly saw anybody at all apart from her family and attending parties and balls bored her incessantly.

Really she preferred a good book and the promise of solitude. Except when it was punctuated by somebody she found she did not mind too much.

“There’s a muggle philosopher – I know it’s terribly bourgeois to mention such people but there we are – and he said that those that delight in solitude are either beasts or gods,” sucking in her cheeks thoughtfully Penny eventually managed a small smile. “I think I rather like that.”

  

[Olivia Humphrey]

Olivia’s lips drifted up in a small smile. And to think she had thought Cousin Penelope the most intimidating of all her cousins; she was, in fact, turning out to have rather more in common with her than she had expected. “Aristotle?” she asked softly. “I rather like it too.”

  

[Penelope Humphrey-Mavis]

Shock registered on Penny’s face for a moment before she tempered the look, knowing how very rude it would seem if she was caught, but she could honestly say she had not expected her poor cousin to know that name. She barely expected anybody to know it – and most lived up to her every expectation – but the thought of somebody else knowing it…

“Good.” Perhaps having Olivia here wouldn’t be quite as much like Fanny Price coming to stay as she had thought?