Work Text:
Few people remembered it, but there was once a time when Gilbert Norrell was a young man, even if he had never really seemed it. And as a young man, he once came closer to marriage than he had ever wanted, though this had been quite a surprise to him at the time.
“Ah, Catherine. Like Catherine of Winchester!” he had thought to himself, as if Catherine was an uncommon name, when he first met this young lady, named as Miss Catherine Rowntree in order to distinguish her from her sister, at a ball his uncle had absolutely insisted he’d attend.
Mr Norrell did not enjoy dancing, but he found that he could not entirely avoid it in this circumstance, his uncle monitoring him closely, and Miss Rowntree proved to be an acceptable partner for him. She was graceful and lively enough to distract from his clumsiness, and demur and coy enough to not frighten him too badly. That he danced with her more than once (indeed, she was his only partner the entire night), had inadvertently given her a strong signal of intention.
He hadn’t meant to, of course. He had simply not seen the necessity to be further introduced to anyone else, but no one aside from himself could discern that, and his uncle certainly pursued the idea of this particular young lady. She seemed quite willing, after all, and his uncle could not reasonably hope for more.
Subsequently, his uncle had made an excuse for them to call upon the lady after, dragging Mr Norrell with him, bobbing and smiling to her family, and propping his nephew up as a preeminent scholar of sober and good bearing, just the makings of a safe and secure husband, never mind the magic. Mr Norrell, however, was largely unaware of this, having failed to listen to most of the conversation in the least.
And, of course, other social engagements were attended wherein Miss Rowntree was also in attendance. Indeed, at any social event Mr Norrell was made to present himself, Miss Rowntree was the only person he spoke to in any substantial way, enjoying her non threatening conversation well enough, given that he had little choice in the matter, and so naturally everyone involved expected a proposal any day now. Well, excepting Mr Norrell, of course.
He had never been very adept at understanding social signaling, and therefore had very little concept of what his actions signified or what the actions of others could reveal to him.
He did not understand all the visits, all the conversations, all the dances to mean anything other than fulfilling his uncle’s commands in the most agreeable ways he could manage.
“Gilbert,” his uncle had said, “it’s time you’ve thought of the future.” And Mr Norrell was thinking of the future, constantly, in fact, only it hadn’t included Miss Rowntree.
And then his uncle had died, and Mr Norrell was no longer compelled to attend any function he did not wish to. It all might have ended there, but Miss Rowntree was a little more determined than she had any right to be.
Mr Norrell was invited to her house, and though he could have refused, he didn’t, perhaps out of some deeply seated politeness his uncle had cultivated in him or perhaps in some small measure of gratitude to Miss Rowntree for allowing herself to be the only lady he had ever had to speak to, he could not have said.
What he expected at this visit, he also could not have said, but he had never expected what actually occurred.
They were not left alone together, but they may as well have been for the distance, and averted eyes, her sister kept.
Miss Rowntree, in the course of this visit, then did something excessively bold, extraordinarily bold even.
She indicated in clear terms, that Mr Norrell could understand, that she would welcome a proposal from him, and then went even further to inquire when she may expect it. They had been seriously courting for quite some time, in her estimation, and now that he had come into considerable inheritance, she did not see any more need for delay.
Mr Norrell was dumbfounded for a rather long time. He did not understand either how she had come to this conclusion or why she had been so brazen as to speak it out loud.
When he did finally answer her, she had not been pleased with the result.
“I have always thought you would be given to marrying the other gentleman, what is his name? You know the one who always snatches you up the moment he can,” he had said to her, and she had been horrified. How could he notice that, but not notice how she was always glancing back at him instead, waiting for him to intervene, she had asked.
He had had no answer for that.
“No,” she had said emphatically, “this has never been my inclination.”
This, of course, made no sense at all to Mr Norrell.
Surely ladies were prone to marrying tall, dashing young captains over small, nervous aspiring magicians. Well, at least they should be.
And he had most ungraciously said as much to her right then.
She had hurried from him and out of the room altogether.
He never saw her again.
He had heard from some neighbor or other that she had, in fact, married that tall, dashing captain and the two of them had moved somewhere far away.
He very rarely wondered what had become of them. Very, very rarely. He had thought once of asking Childermass to find out, but discarded the idea quickly. He had thought another time of what would happen if they somehow ran into each other, as at a dinner or some party in London. What would she think of him now? Surely nothing charitable. He was very glad it had never happened.
Yet, on some nights, when he lay awake in his bed, fearing what would become of his precious library when he died without an heir, such wonderings crept up onto him and he could not dispel them by any conventional means. What would have happened if he had conceded, and married her, as everyone had seemed to want?
Surely she would have been obedient to his wishes for solemn study and a quiet house. She had not been a boisterous or frivolous person. Had she?
He could not remember.
Perhaps he had never known.
Perhaps he would simply endeavor not to die at all. Other magicians had managed it, he supposed, so why not he? And that should solve the issue in the end.