Sing Sweet Nightingale

"Mama, look!" Adeline cried, pointing to the butterfly that had fluttered a few feet above her head. "Pretty."

Before Annabelle Tremaine could look, her eldest ran over to where her sister was sat in the grass and startled the butterfly, making it disappear. "I wanted to catch it," Drucilla whined, stomping her foot.

"You were being mean!"

"Were not."

"Were too!"

"Were not!"

"Girls," Annabelle interrupted, making the twins look towards her. "Where is all this pettiness coming from?"

Adeline climbed to her feet and ran over to her mother, shooting a glare towards her sister. "Drucilla was being mean! She never lets me show you anything!"

With a soft sigh, she beckoned her other daughter over and sat the two four year-olds on her lap, thankful that the chair she was sat on had wooden arms to stop them falling. "Sisters aren't supposed to be mean to each one," she said, looking between the two girls. "They're supposed to love each other and be their closest companion."

"I wasn't being mean, Mama," Drucilla protested, crossing her arms and pouting.

"You weren't being very nice."

"I never get to show Daddy anything!"

Annabelle shifted in her seat so that her youngest was pressed more into her and she could look at her eldest more clearly. "Your Daddy would love to hear of anything pretty that you find, but he has to be gone to let us live in this big house and wear these pretty dresses. Would you want to give up your favourite purple tulle dress?"

"No!" Drucilla shouted, her eyes wide in horror.

"Then we must let Daddy work in the day and tell him all about what you do when he returns. Can you do that?"

The girl nodded frantically. "I promise. Can I keep my dress?"

"Of course," she said, a smile gracing her features. "Now, let's go sit by the fire so I can continue making your dolly's dress." She helped her daughters off her lap and watched as Drucilla ran into the house, leaving her younger twin to cling at her dress. Annabelle gently grasped the girl's hand and they both entered the house. They had just reached the door to the lounge when the front door was opened and in walked Lord Robert Tremaine. Just as she was about to let go of her youngest's hand, she noticed the man that followed after her husband and stopped, not wanting to cause any disruption.

Instead, she ushered the girl into the lounge and lingered in the doorway, watching as the men removed their coats. "You're home early," she said quietly.

"Doctor Sevane wanted to meet the girls," her husband explained, gesturing to the man he was with.

"A doctor?"

"Of Science, Lady Tremaine," the foreign man elaborated, making her frown at him distastefully.

Her husband gave a chuckle. "I'm afraid my wife doesn't hold much liking to this new phenomenon."

"Of what interest are my girls to this science?" she asked briskly.

"They are identical, yes? Twins are a rarity, especially for a mother to survive labour, but never have I come across twins that are identical in appearance."

The longer she looked at this man, the more she distrusted him. She was already sceptical to the new claims of science but that had only heightened at this man's want to meet her daughters. Instead of giving him a reply, she just looked between the two before turning her back on them and entering the lounge, going over to where her chair sat by the fire and sitting down with one daughter either side of her legs. She had no say in the matter of the man meeting her daughters, but that didn't mean she had to let him get close to them.

She had just picked up her needlework and had started on the pattern of the dress when the men entered the room, drawing the attention of Drucilla from her doll. "Daddy!" she exclaimed, dropping her doll before running over to him and wrapping her arms around his legs. "Mama's making my dolly a dress!"

"That's nice of her," he said, indulging his favourite daughter. "Would you like a new dress?"

"Can it be purple?"

He smiled. "Anything for you, my dear." He detached her from his legs and brought her over to the settee with him, hoisting her onto his lap while the man sat to his side, glancing between her and Adeline. "You must let this man speak to you if you want the dress."

Drucilla nodded before looking over at him. "Mama says you should never wear a hat inside," she said.

The man bent his head and removed his hat, revealing the fact that there was no hair on the crown of his head. "I have no hair."

The girl covered her mouth as she giggled. "You look funny!"

Annabelle stubbornly kept her eyes on her work, not wanting to see her daughter interacting with that man. Adeline didn't like strangers all that much and had leaned closer to her, keeping her head low in an attempt to blend in with her mother's dress. She regretted bringing the girls in from the garden.

"Your Daddy tells me that you and your sister look alike. Is that true?" the man asked, making Annabelle looked up briefly from her work.

Drucilla wrinkled her nose. "Adeline likes pink. I don't."

"Would you stand next to her so that I may see?"

The girl climbed off her father's lap and ran over to her sister, grabbing her hands in an attempt to pull her up from the floor. "No!" Adeline cried, turning to look at their mother. "Mama!"

"She doesn't want to get up," she told Drucilla softly.

"Come now, Adeline. Do as you are told," their father commanded.

Annabelle looked at him sharply. "She doesn't want to get up," she repeated briskly. "Don't upset our daughter to indulge a heretic's work."

She ignored the look her husband was giving her and rose to her feet, taking Adeline's hand. "Are you coming, Drucilla?" The girl shook her head and rushed over to her father, climbing back onto his lap. "Very well," she said before leaving the room with her youngest daughter. Though she didn't want to leave her eldest with the strange man, she knew very well that she wouldn't be able force the girl to do anything with her father around, especially as he was the one who invited the man in.

To ensure that neither she nor Adeline would have to encounter the man again, she put her daughter in her coat and left the house with her, taking a stroll down the lane. The idea of science wasn't one that many people spoke about - it was a very new idea, one that many dismissed and would make a person be ostracised from society if they publicly showed interested. She didn't know much about it but she had heard of several different branches of it, of which one was called human science. Why her husband was associating with men involved in it was beyond her. She could handle him tarnishing their reputation, albeit it would be harmful for the future of her daughters, but to bring one of those men to their house was just preposterous.

They stayed out until just before dusk and she ended up carrying her daughter back to the house. The lounge was empty when they entered and when dinner was announced, only Drucilla appeared, babbling away that her father had gone off with the man who had been sad about not being able to meet Adeline. Annabelle could only bristle at the thought.

When their bedtime arrived, she put each girl to bed soundly and then readied herself for bed, retiring for the night before her husband had returned home. She hoped that her husband's interest in science would wane and he wouldn't associate with that man again after that day, but regardless of his actions, she resolved to be firm and forceful in her decision that her daughters wouldn't be around that man. She did not trust him for some odd reason but that was enough for her. Intuition had always guided her own mother right.

She was awoken by a maid as per usual and dressed before leaving her room and heading towards the girls' room. Waking the two had always been a duty she had taken upon herself, wanting to be the first thing her daughters saw each morning, but when she opened the door to their room, her heart dropped heavily in her chest.

Her daughters were missing from their beds.