Lydia reached the carriage first, flinging the door open so forcefully I half expected it to come off its hinges. “Jane! Lizzy!Tell us everything!” She seized my hand and nearly yanked me out of the carriage in her eagerness. “Did Mr. Bingley propose yet? Oh, Iknowhe did. He must’ve!”
Kitty, breathless and wide-eyed, bounced beside her. “Did he, Jane? Or was it someone else? Oh, you have to tell us!”
Jane, pale but smiling as ever, shook her head as she descended gracefully. “No, nothing of the sort, I’m afraid,” she said, though the blush that crept into her cheeks at the mention of Mr. Bingley didn’t go unnoticed—least of all by Lydia.
“Oh, he will soon enough,” Lydia declared, with all the certainty of someone who had never been wrong in her life. “Isn’t that right, Mama?”
Mama, who had been hovering in the doorway, rushed forward, flapping her hands like a mother hen, seeing her chicks return to the nest. “Oh, my poor Jane! You look so pale! Mr. Bingley had better make good on his attentions after all you’ve suffered, I’ll say that much! Did they feed you enough at Netherfield? Were the rooms warm enough? And the company—well, I don’t doubt the company was tolerable, but oh, if only Mr. Bingley had been quicker about it!”
“Mama, I’m perfectly well,” Jane insisted, though her soft voice was almost lost under the tide of our mother’s fretting.
At last, my father appeared in the hallway, wearing his usual expression of wry amusement, as if the entire household were some great entertainment put on just for him. He didn’t rush forward like the others but simply raised an eyebrow as we came inside.
“Well, well,” he said, “Jane, it is good to see you on your feet again. And Lizzy, it seems you’ve returned just in time.”
Jane and I exchanged confused looks. “In time for what, Papa?” I asked.
“To meet Mr. Collins. He’ll be arriving by evening, and I confess I’m on the edge of my seat to discover if the man has any sense whatsoever. Though I dearly hope not.”
I blinked. “Mr. Collins? Your cousin, Mr. Collins? I hadn’t realized he was coming.”
“Oh, yes. You’re in for a treat. You may recall, my dear, that my esteemed cousin is now a parson, and the man who will inherit this house when I’m gone. He has come to avail himself of the opportunity to look over his future inheritance.” He delivered this news with the same casual tone he might use to describe the weather.
The room went silent for a moment as we all took this in.
“I hope he’s tall,” Kitty muttered.
“I hope he’s handsome,” Lydia added, her eyes gleaming with the possibilities.
Mary cleared her throat as if she had already prepared a sermon on the virtues of cousins. “It is fortunate, indeed, to meet such relations. The fact that he is a parson is quite fortuitous, for he shall be a man of principle. I, for one, shall look forward to hearing his opinions on important matters.”
Jane offered a diplomatic, “I’m sure we’ll find Mr. Collins perfectly agreeable.”
“Oh, I’ve no doubt that he will be far from all expectations, Jane,” Papa said.
I simply sighed. “Well, let’s hope he’s not a complete bore.”
“Not to worry,” Papa said with a gleam in his eye. “If he’s anything less than perfectly absurd, I’ll be sorely disappointed.”
With that unsettling prospect hanging in the air, I grabbed Jane’s arm. “Come, Jane, let’s get you upstairs. You need some rest before we have to entertain the heir to Longbourn.”
Jane protested that she was perfectly well, but when Lydia and Kitty cried that Jane should stay and tell them all about Mr. Bingley, she relented and allowed me to lead her upstairs. Oncewe were safely in her room, I shut the door behind us and ran the bolt.
“Now,” I insisted, “to bed with you, Jane. You are already pale from a cold ride in the carriage, and this evening promises to be equally taxing. You ought to preserve your strength.”
She chuckled but let me guide her to the bed. “Lizzy, you’ve done nothing but look after me for days now. You needn’t fuss over me anymore.”
“Perhaps not,” I replied, fluffing the pillow behind her as if it were my mission in life, “but I’m going to fuss anyway. After all, you’ve only just recovered, and you’ve been through enough without dealing with all this chaos downstairs. Now, rest.”
“Rest,” she repeated, her smile widening. “Lizzy, I’ve hardly been able to stop you from hovering over me this whole time.”
I laughed, though I wasn’t ready to give up my role as the responsible sister just yet. “Not hovering, Jane—merely keeping an eye on you.”
“And here I thought you must have spent the entire time at Netherfield tending to me,” she said, teasingly. “Though I suppose youdidhave many hours to spend with the others in the house.”
I hesitated, half-wondering how much I should tell her, but Jane’s warm expression made it clear she was genuinely curious. “Well, yes,” I said slowly. “There were many hours with the others.”
“And how did you find them? What are your impressions, after spending so much time with them?”
