"Ah! You must be the Stockwells." The woman who opened the door to the Honeychurch home smiled. Candace assumed from her plain black dress and apron that she worked for the Honeychurches. She seemed happy though, the girl thought to herself, she was smiling when she opened the door and it seemed to be genuine.
The Stockwells followed Mary, she had introduced herself to them as she led them through the house, decorated presumably some years ago as some of the art on the walls were slightly outdated. Candace fidgeted in her tea dress, feeling slightly uncomfortable. She had only come across the Honeychurches once, the day before at church. Whereas her mother and father had met Mrs. Honeychurch before at a garden party hosted by Sir Harry, their landlord, whilst Candace chose to help Louisa unpack some of her books still leftover from their move from Southampton.
"Mr, Mrs and Miss Stockwell are here to see you," Mary told Mrs Honeychurch before letting them into the drawing room.
"Let them in, Mary." Mrs Honeychurch said, before asking her to bring the tea through to the garden where Lucy, George and Freddy were already meant to be sat. The Stockwells made their way through into the drawing room and Mrs Honeychurch greeted them.
The drawing room had a beautiful view of the Surrey countryside, the French doors leading out to the garden letting in the beautiful summer sunlight and creating intricate streaks of light as the Stockwell family stood stationary before exiting into the garden, following after Mrs Honeychurch.
"Freddy! Lucy! George! The Stockwells have arrived!" She called down to her children. Initially, she wasn't sure what to make of George, but his affection for Lucy was true - this was enough to make her treat him like one of her own. Candace, however, never felt more awkward in her life. She stood on the Honeychurches' patio with her hands folded in front of her, wishing she was anywhere but that very spot. She hated being introduced to people, yet her father insisted on her "making friends" and "looking for a husband" - she was barely nineteen, she had her whole life ahead of her and finding a husband was not her top priority.
"George, Lucy, these are the Stockwells: Mr Stockwell, Mrs Stockwell and Miss Stockwell." Mrs Honeychurch introduced her daughter and son-in-law to her new friends. "Daniel, Elizabeth, Candace," Mrs Honeychurch turned to face the Stockwells, "this is my son-in-law, George Emerson and his wife, Lucy, my daughter."
"Nice to meet you," Mr Emerson smiled, extending a hand to Mr Stockwell to shake. Once he had, George held his hand out for Mrs Stockwell and once again for Candace. This baffled the girl; nobody ever seemed interested in shaking her hand before.
"Miss Stockwell, I'm told you like art," Mrs Emerson spoke up, smiling at the girl. She reminded her of a younger version of herself, Lucy thought.
"Yes, I do." Candace spoke, her voice sounding odd compared to the slightly dazzling company she suddenly found herself in. She wasn't sure what to think of the Emersons, they seemed like the kind of people who liked everyone. She wondered who told Lucy that she liked art, it must have been Mrs Honeychurch. "I am very interested in modern art."
"Really?" George exclaimed, with curiosity more than shock. "I always found that the paintings and art of the Renaissance to be my favourite." Mr Emerson looked at his wife who was stood next to him.
"Well, I prefer art that looks nice." Freddy spoke for the first time since the Stockwells' arrival. Candace couldn't help but chuckle. Something about Freddy drew her to him. She wasn't sure whether it was his charisma or his comedic timing, but there was something about him that made Candace grin just thinking about him.
"Well, after that eloquently ended conversation," Mrs Honeychurch began, giving Freddy a pointed look, "shall we take tea?" The group began to walk towards the garden table where Mary had set up two trays of tea for them. Candace had already began to sip her cup of tea when Mrs Honeychurch addressed her.
"Miss Stockwell, do you like to read?" She had asked.
"Oh yes," Candace replied with a smile, "I enjoy reading tremendously. I am currently reading a book by Joseph Emery Prank. Although, I'm not sure it is going to be one of my favourites. It seems a bit..." She trailed off. Lucy, George and Freddy exchanged a smirk.
"Do you two have something you wish to share with Miss Stockwell?" Mrs Honeychurch asked of them.
"It's only," Lucy began before beginning to dissolve into giggles.
"It's just," George attempted to continue before joining his wife in her laughter.
"They know Joseph Emery Prank," Freddy explained, looking directly at Candace, a smile brewing on his face. "Except her name is Eleanor Lavish and she wrote about them in one of her books. It's not Under A Loggia that you're reading, is it?"
"Oh heavens no!" Candace replied, "I have a friend in Southampton who read it and she told me that I shouldn't even bother starting it. However, I wanted to see what terrible writing I was missing out on so I borrowed the one I am reading from the nearest library." She mouthed 'it's terrible' to Freddy, George and Lucy across the table as if her parents heard her insulting an author, she would never stop hearing how "she had no right to insult someone she didn't know." Candace's mimed comment caused the four younger people to all chuckle to themselves before taking another sip of tea.
Candace found that she rather liked George and Lucy; they were different to anyone she had met before. And Freddy - Freddy - she could not stop thinking about Freddy. She wasn't sure why he seemed to make her laugh more than anyone else she knew, she had only met him twice! Surely this behaviour was irrational, it was close to something out of an Eleanor Lavish novel.
A/N: hello people! i started writing this because i love E.M Forster's characters in particular Freddy Honeychurch and i wanted to investigate into writing historical fiction without trying to construct entire characters of my own accord. hope you liked it, i shall try and post soon. much love xxx
أنت تقرأ
The View From Here // freddy honeychurch, a room with a view fanfiction
التاريخية"Freddy, come down from there!" "No, Candace, you come up here! The view's wonderful." "I'm sure it is," she mumbled as she began scaling the tree. (I don't own A Room With A View)
