Cousin Evelyn ~ Downton Abbey

Prologue (pt.1) ~ Burn

Arthur came from a wealthy family while Marie did not - Marie was the daughter of a shoe-maker in Dublin, Ireland. Arthur fell madly in love with her while visiting and, despite the scorn he received from his family, married her a month later. Marie had always held strongly to the fact that she did not marry Arthur for his money considering she did not know of his wealth when she met him. He made the decision to hide his wealth from her to make sure it was indeed true love she felt for him and not a desire to marry rich. Marie did in fact love Arthur deeply and married him for that reason alone - the wealth was an added bonus. Arthur had told Marie about his sister, Cora, who married a man she loved when he did not love her back - at first, anyway. She hoped that one day Evelyn would not be sucked into such a scheme as marriage for money and that she would see through a man that knew of her wealth.

A soft sniff from Evelyn shook Marie from her thoughts. She smiled at her daughter before gently lowering her head onto her pillow and covering her up. She slowly slid from the bed and picked up the candlestick to blow out the flame, the only light now in the room was the white light from the moon beaming in. Marie placed a gentle kiss on her daughter's forehead before setting the candlestick down and making her way to her own room for the night.

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Evelyn was dreaming. It was a scary dream. In this dream, she was having trouble breathing as a looming, dark fog engulfed her and her teddy. She began to cough and choke and thrash around in the smoke...the smoke.

Evelyn's eyes shot open as she jolted up in her bed to see...nothing. A dark fog encased her as she began to cough violently, inhaling smoke with every gasp for air. She used her teddy to cover her mouth and nose as she quickly ran from bed to the door. The knob was hot but not hot enough that she couldn't grab it as she threw open the door and looked down the hall to see the distinct sight of roaring flames.

"Mother! Father!" She tried calling out over the turbulent dancing of the flames. She heard yells from her parent's room. Coughing and gagging, she sprinted down the hall to her parent's room and grabbed the knob. She hissed and jerked her hand away from the knob that was red hot. The flame down the hall was getting closer as the pictures on the wall began to crash to the ground, glass shards scattering. She pounded on the door with her palm and shouted to them.

"Run, Evie, Run! Get out of the house!" She heard her father call to her from inside.

"No, I can't!"

"You must! Please, Evelyn, run! We love you! Go!" Her mother shouted painfully.

Tears streamed down Evenlyn's face as she backed away from the door and looked at the stairs that had yet to be engulfed with flames. She held her teddy to her face yet again and made a mad dash down the stairs. Before she reached the front door, the burning beam fell from the ceiling, smacking into Evelyn's right shoulder and catching her dress on fire. Using her teddy, Evelyn patted desperately at her shoulder to put the fire out before it encased her. She managed to get it out before bursting through the front door and sprinting through the large front yard as fire engines sped down their driveway.

Evie collapsed on her knees in the grass as she gripped her teddy for dear life, she could not dare to look back at the house. She did not need to look back as she could see that the pitch-black night now resembled the early morning as the light from the flames shone violently.

"Evelyn! Dear, no!" She recognized the panicked voice of their neighbor, Mrs. Doffy, as she felt two arms wrap around her tightly and sob.

Evelyn was grateful for the embrace as she felt on the verge of passing out. It had yet to set in what all had happened as she felt a throbbing in her head from inhaling smoke, a sting in her hand, searing pain in her shoulder, and aching in her heart. She stared ahead of her, her eyes emotionless and dull. She soon felt stronger arms lifting her from Mrs. Doffy and carrying her away.

"We're taking you to the doctor, dear. You're going to be alright." She heard the man's voice speak to her before she closed her eyes and slept.

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~ Two weeks later ~

Evelyn sat in a dingy office next to a man by the name of Gideon Jost - the Levinson family lawyer. She glanced around at the various pictures on the wall and the tickets on the shelves as she swung her feet above the ground. Next to her were two little bags containing the stuff that was bought for her by Mrs. Doffy who insisted on replacing as much as she could for her. Her slightly burnt teddy sat in her lap comfortably while she absentmindedly rubbed his soft ear with her hand.

The man they had been waiting for came back into the room and sat behind his desk while flipping through some paperwork. Evelyn watched her intently as he pushed his large-rimmed glasses onto his nose.

The man cleared his throat. "We received a letter this morning from Mister Levinson's sister, Lady Cora Crawley, and it would seem she and Lord Grantham are more than willing to take Evelyn."

"Lady Grantham was Mister Levinson's first choice of guardian, correct?" Gideon spoke gruffly.

"She is. What she chooses to do after that is up to her family. Either way, until Evelyn is eighteen or if Lady Grantham decides she does not want her she will be living in Downton."

Evelyn did not pay much attention to the men but she did catch on to the name of her aunt and uncle. She was quite fond of her Aunt Cora and Uncle Robert as they were always so kind to her. Evelyn enjoyed playing with her cousin Sybil, who was a year younger than her. Her old two cousins, Mary and Edith, were always quite rude to her...and to each other.

"So, it's settled then. She will take a ferry to England first thing in the morning, the boat will take around thirteen days, and from there she'll be placed on the first train to Yorkshire."

Gideon raised an eyebrow. "You expect her to take this journey by herself?"

"I don't see why not. She seems to be a very mature little girl."

Evelyn did not protest nor speak up, but she was petrified - not only of boats and the ocean but of the sudden travel to her new life overseas.