A Night at the Opera

Prologue

Rosewood Manor

Dartmouth, Devonshire

England

May, 1854

Miss Emily Summerset was running as fast as her skirts would allow through the seemingly endless field of emerald green. Tears were streaming down her pale cheeks when at last she spotted the tall oak tree on top of the hill ahead. It would be a perilous climb, she thought, but looking back and seeing William gaining on her, she proceeded with a determined step.

“Emily!” yelled William. “Please wait!”

She quickened her pace. The satin ribbons of her bonnet came undone and she threw the cumbersome hat to the wind. At that moment Emily didn’t care about her favorite bonnet, or how inappropriate she looked running wildly through the field, holding up her skirts and revealing her knees. All she wanted to do was get away.

Finally she reached the top of the hill and began to skillfully climb the thick branches. Growing up in the country, Emily learned to be as active and agile as some of the boys, but now, at seventeen, she’d become a young lady and her father never allowed for such unsightly behavior.

As she was climbing, Emily’s pale blue dress was getting torn and soiled, but she managed to reach a threatening enough altitude before she heard William approach.

“Emily! Stop!” screamed he from below.

“Get out of here!” yelled Emily attempting to climb even higher.

“You’ll break your neck!” screamed William, irritated.

“What is it to you if I do? You care nothing for me!” retorted she angrily, wiping away a tear.

“Alright, then I’m going to have to climb up there and bring you down,” said William calmly and began removing his jacket.

“Stay where you are!” warned Emily. “Or else…or else I shall plummet to my death!”

William laughed, he couldn’t help himself. She’d always had the flair for the dramatic.

“How dare you mock me?!” said Emily, outraged at his reaction.

“Forgive me,” said Will, immediately composing himself. “Emily, I beg you, please come down from there. Your father will have my head if he finds out that your safety has been jeopardized.”

“I will not come down until…until…”

“Until what?” asked William, ready to say and do anything to get that little chit back on solid ground.

“Until you promise to take me to Rome with you,” said Emily staring down at Will’s shocked expression.

“Now, Emi, you know I can’t do that.”

“Then I shall jump,” said Emily and made a slight move with her dainty little foot, dangling it in midair.

“No!” yelled William, panicked. “Have it your way! If your father permits it, you can come. Now please come down!”

“You really mean it, Will?!” asked Emily, practically squealing with excitement.

“If you’re not down here in the next instant I shall change my mind,” he threatened. And that was enough.

Emily deftly climbed down the branches, although she managed to get her skirts caught up in the leaves a few times which, unbeknownst to her, allowed for some positively intimate glimpses.