Finding Felicity

Chapter Five

Please bare in mind I've never been to university or smoked, so this chapter was a tad hard to write!

The first three weeks of Felicity’s term at Cambridge were, for lack of a better phrase, an outstanding success. Several times she had thought to herself of how proud her parents would be, before she remembered that their reaction would in fact be one of shame and abhorrence.

Together, she and her brother had successfully avoided detection. In her second week, she received a large envelope from Luke. Enclosed were a note and a smaller envelope, addressed to Felicity Harrington, at an address in Paris. The note was from Luke.

Felicity,

I intercepted this letter before it could make its way to the post office. Be careful to write the return address as Paris when you reply, and write the date several days before you send it, to account for the time taken from Paris to Marksford. Hope all is well.

Your loving brother, Luke.

Inside the smaller envelope was a lengthy letter from her mother (dutifully signed by her father as well), enquiring after her and how she was faring in Paris. It contained the usual lines declaring how much she was missed, and gave her a brief update on what was happening at home in Marksford and in England.

Felicity hastily penned a reply informing her parents that all was well, she was having a marvellous time. She asked after Grace and Luke too. Not wanting to lie too much, she added that she had learnt so much during her few weeks so far in Paris and that she did miss her family and home terribly. Heeding her brother’s advice, she waited four days until she posted it.

Through this system, she received another letter from her parents at the end of the third week, which was still lying on her desk, waiting to be responded to. Professor Stevenson had burdened them with a heavy workload of weekly reading and essays, leaving Felicity sometimes hard-pressed for time to enjoy herself.

Four days after their first supervision with Professor Stevenson, both Ethan and Felix were instructed to attend a lecture. The lecture hall was a grand affair, with hard wooden pews arranged around large dais on which stood a podium and a rather small, furtive man with a very loud voice. He began by welcoming the students, noting with pleasure the vast numbers that had turned out to fill the room, and then launched earnestly into what was nothing more than an impassioned spiel about how much he loved law and what he had learnt from various case studies. Felicity was enthralled, the nib of her pencil flying across the paper resting in her lap.

When the end of her pencil broke off and Ethan saw the look of utter despair on her face, he lent her his. Where Felicity was entirely absorbed by the lecturer’s words, Ethan found himself bored. His gaze danced around the room, only half his mind on the lecture. His eyes always came back to Felix, the small, over-excited boy, scribbling furiously, his small pink tongue just poking out from between his lips as concentrated, eyes wide with fascination. The sleeve of his jacket was pushed up, revealing a slim and bony forearm that jerked across the paper as Felix endeavoured to keep up with the lecturer. Ethan found himself smiling at the boy; his enthusiasm was heart-warming.

Every week they attended at least two lectures, and Ethan marvelled at Felix’s stamina and passion.

Whilst her desperate enthusiasm for learning showed no signs of abating, the novelty of being all alone in a city as a man did eventually wear off. But every so often Felicity would walk through the streets after the sun had set and marvel at her newfound freedom. She began to realise that she never wanted to give it up, and as she became increasingly set in her decision to start a new life as a lawyer, her dedication to her studies grew and Ethan’s admiration for his hard-working and serious fellow also grew, as did his curiosity.