What could the colonel be about? Twelve guineas? More than a month’s salary. His lips thinned.Enough for passage to America.
Pocketing the coins, he jingled them in his pocket as he strode to his barrack. He had no intention of sailing for America, but for a clever man, twelve guineas could be parlayed into a much greater figure.
Elizabethdidnotcomedown to dinner that evening. Nor did she accept the plate which Jane brought her. Jane made as if to stay with her, but after one look at Elizabeth’s deflated expression, the eyes which uncharacteristically avoided hers, she decided to withdraw. She would give Lizzy a little space, then try to gently draw out—as only a sister could—what was troubling her when they retired for the evening.
Elizabeth sat in gloomy silence, watching her father’s breathing and Mrs Cooper’s steady knitting. Her lax fingers lightly cradled the red-bound book she had carried in from her father’s library, but as yet, she had not found the energy to open it. Mrs Cooper had encouraged her to find one of her father’s favourite light novels and to read it aloud to him in her own beloved voice, but her spirits flagged.
Mrs Cooper sagely continued on with her work, silently appraising the young lady’s morose countenance. She had taken an instant liking to Miss Elizabeth. As a nurse and a doctor’s wife, she had often had occasion to witness families of patients. Loved ones exhibited behaviour running the gamut of human feeling. Most were concerned and involved in the recovery of their dear ones. Occasionally, and always to her surprise, she encountered relatives who were careless and flighty, like the younger Bennet girls appeared to be.
In her years of experience, only a precious few shared Miss Elizabeth’s determination to singlehandedly will her father back to sound health. Miss Jane was a good sort of girl too, truly concerned, but her attentions were necessarily divided between her ailing father and the demands of her mother. Mrs Cooper felt less familiar with the older sister, but she sensed Miss Elizabeth would welcome some encouragement.
“Do not fret so, Miss Bennet,” she sweetly admonished. The young woman’s glistening eyes flashed to hers in surprise.
“Pardon me, Mrs Cooper?”
“You needn’t worry your dear heart out, is all. I have been watching your father very closely, and I believe he shows every sign of waking soon.”
Relief washed over the girl’s features, but the weight-bearing her down remained. “Thank you, Mrs Cooper,” she whispered, her gaze dropping to the floor.
A little puzzled, Mrs Cooper frowned. “Is there something else troubling you, my dear? You seem rather down this evening, most unlike yourself, I daresay.” The question was improperly bold, but her assessment of Miss Elizabeth’s character had been rather quick. This was a young woman who valued outright honesty and would not be offended by bluntness.
Elizabeth blinked a few times in rapid succession. She shook her head, and with a little face of resignation, Mrs Cooper returned to her knitting. After a moment, Elizabeth’s soft voice brought her attention back. “Mrs Cooper, have you ever found that you misjudged someone?”
With a contemplative breath, she shifted the little blanket she knitted off her knees and studied Miss Elizabeth carefully. “I have, a time or two. It is a mistake we all make, I am afraid. I take it you have done so?”
Elizabeth nodded. She seemed reluctant to elaborate, though she clearly yearned to pour out her feelings. Mrs Cooper wisely decided not to pry further. If the girl needed to unburden herself, she would let her. A moment later, she did.
“I was wrong about… about two men, to be truthful. One I thought truly amiable and the victim of unfortunate circumstances now appears to me to be an utter reprobate and a deceiver. Another, whom I had judged to be arrogant and conceited, proves to be… quite the opposite.”
“Well, one cannot always judge by first impressions, so my husband says.”
Elizabeth roused herself a little. She had not intended to slip so in the company of a virtual stranger. She really ought to talk to Jane. She was aching for the morrow, which would hopefully bring her aunt Madeline. Mrs Gardiner’s advice was always welcome to her nieces. The shame of her error burned and gnawed at her. How could she forgive herself for her gross misapprehension, for her stubborn blindness? She could not.
Not wishing to remain an ill-tempered companion to Mrs Cooper, she forced herself to turn to another subject, if even for a few moments. “Dr Cooper seems a very wise man,” she murmured.
“Aye, that he is, that he is, Love,” Mrs Cooper rocked a little, picking her little blanket back up. “The very best of men, if I do say so. Though I did not always know him for that, I can tell you! I was not so impressed with him when he first came to court.” She chuckled a little, and Elizabeth almost expected to see a girlish blush staining her cheeks.
“Will you tell me, please?” Elizabeth felt a smile growing despite her gloom.
“Oh, we were childhood mates, he and I. I had only brothers, you see, no sisters with whom to play properly as a little girl ought. His family lived close by, and they had no girls either. We spent the summers wading the creeks, making mud pies, riding his pony. I caught many a frog with Daniel! When we were older, of course, he went off to school, and I only saw him on holiday. For some time, it was just the same when we saw each other.
“Then the year I turned fifteen, here he shows up in fancy clothes with a bouquet of flowers. Well, I tell you, I would have none of it at first. I had all these fine notions of what manner of man I should marry, and a little boy who made mud pies and caught frogs would not suit! Of course, in a very short time, I saw he was not that little boy I had remembered, but neither was he the dashing sort of fellow I had imagined. He was just… Daniel. He still is, my dear, and I love him the better for it.” Mrs Cooper suddenly looked bashful. “I suppose you did not wish to hear my entire tale.”
Elizabeth was smiling broadly now. “Yes, in fact, I did. I enjoyed your story very much. Thank you.”
Mrs Cooper nodded and smiled. “It’s a good life we’ve had, my dear. There may have been handsomer men, and certainly, there were lovelier ladies, but Daniel and I suit. A doctor’s life is not a glamourous one, but we have made do, and now our son wishes to take it on.” Her face beamed with pride as she glanced to Elizabeth to see if her listener were still engaged.
“Robert got his studies done last year and has been working with Daniel. They heard there was a famous surgeon lecturing in London. He thinks someday we will be able to perform surgery on the heart, if you can only imagine! It will never happen, I said. But poor Robert, after losing his Maggie, he has had a rough time of it. Daniel mostly took him to London to get his mind off his troubles.” Here she looked up to Elizabeth again. “They may be both wonderful doctors, Miss, but sometimes there is nothing you can do for a woman and a child when a delivery goes wrong. That poor lass was never strong, but my Robert still blames himself.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and blew out a breath in pity. Every woman understood the risks of childbirth. That risk would likely be hers someday as well. How bitter to face that danger for the sake of a man she could not love! Could she? An unaccountable tightness seized her breast, and she began breathing in short little gasps. Her mind began to turn over sudden new ideas. With merciless good sense, she reminded herself that not only was she strong and healthy, but her mother had always experienced smooth deliveries.
But what of the intimacy required of her? Heat flushed her cheeks as she began to contemplate the matter more deeply. Mrs Bennet had kept her daughters occupied with the necessity of marriage, but they had little idea of what went on after the vows were said. Still, Elizabeth had grown up on a farm and was probably better acquainted with the physics of the matter than a lady ought to be. Her whole body flushed in a mixture of mortification and wonder. Would Mr Darcy... and she...?
Desperately she sought to quell her scandalous thoughts before she either died of embarrassment or began to laugh outright. If Mrs Cooper noted Elizabeth’s shift in demeanour, she gave no indication. Softly Elizabeth raised her voice again, hoping her tones belied the swirling emotions inside her. “Mrs Cooper, should I read a little?”
The older woman peered sceptically at Elizabeth over the rim of her glasses and adopted her best nurse’s tone. “You look like you need rest instead. Your Papa is not going anywhere. Off to bed with you, Dearie. You can relieve me in the morning. I think your father would very much like to hear that book you brought up once you are rested.”
Elizabeth glanced to the book she held. “Oh. Yes, I… I will see you in the morning. Good night, Mrs Cooper.” She rose, carefully placing the book on a small table by the window. “Oh, and Mrs Cooper?” The woman looked back up with a warm smile. “Thank you.”
