They did not serve her in any way, not fetching her food or drink, but insisting she go and carry these things herself, which Elizabeth did not mind, she supposed, and they were no help with her hair, though they braided each other’s hair. Instead, they left her to sit and struggle with it herself.
That night, however, they huddled together on one side of the bed and gave Elizabeth a great deal of room to move about herself, so she was happy of that.
She wondered, however, what it was going to be like at this cottage that her aunt’s family owned, with these two women as their servants. The cottage itself was only staffed with a husband and wife who would see to their food and comfort. Elizabeth’s aunt’s family was not well-to-do, and Elizabeth understood that the cottage only stood empty because it had been the home of an elderly spinster in the family. She’d had no one to pass it on to, and there was enough money to take care of the man and woman who ran the place, and the family used it now and again when people visited the area, which did happen, for the family lived close by.
Elizabeth had been told that if anyone from her aunt’s family came to look in on them, and Elizabeth was far enough along to be showing, she would have to hide, for her aunt had not shared with them the real reason for the use of the cottage.
Elizabeth was getting used to being something so shameful that people did not want to be near her, she supposed. The maids thought it and her aunt’s family would, too.
When they arrived at the cottage later that day, however, Elizabeth took a bit too much delight in how appalled the Bingley sisters were by it. It really was a cottage. It had only three bedrooms. The servants who tended to the house lived nearby in their own small house. There was a sitting room and a kitchen. There were some attic rooms that would do for the maids.
The husband and wife who saw to the place were called Mr. and Mrs. Birch, and they were obviously a bit put out at the way Caroline and Louisa went about the place, exclaiming in dismay at everything they saw.
“One wardrobe to share between these two rooms?” said Caroline to Louisa. “How will our dresses fit?”
“The upstairs attic room is drafty, and I think Jennifer will freeze,” said Louisa. “Are there extra quilts?”
“Where will we write letters in the morning?” said Caroline. “Are there no writing desks?”
“This looking glass is entirely cloudy! I shall have to use yours.”
“We certainly cannot have guests for dinner,” said Caroline. “Imagine inviting the Darcyshere.”
“How am I to convince anyone I wished to bear a child here?” said Louisa. “This does not make any sense at all, Caroline.”
At this point, the two sisters were in the midst of the sitting room, both gazing into the fireplace, which was blazing cheerily, since it was a bit cooler here in the north than it had been in Hertfordshire, with expressions of despair on their faces.
Elizabeth was hovering on the other side of the room, watching them both and enjoying herself a bit too much, she had to admit.
Caroline rounded on her sister. “What do you mean?”
Louisa huffed. “We must do it elsewhere. There is the house that my husband’s family has, after all—”
“No, it is in Surrey,” said Caroline. “Absolutely not.”
“You think I do not see through you?” said Louisa. “You wish to call upon Miss Darcy, you say. It’s been too long since you have seen her. You miss her company. Or so you say. But I know why you are here, and I think it is foolish.”
Caroline’s nostrils flared.
“In all honesty,” said Louisa, turning to look at Elizabeth, “I have become happy enough with the idea of childlessness.”
Elizabeth’s stomach turned over.
“Caroline, you have contrived this entire mess of a scheme, all over that man who has never been interested in you,” said Louisa.
Elizabeth stepped closer. “Mrs. Hurst, if you are not at all that interested in motherhood, perhaps there could be some kind of arrangement. Perhaps the babe can reside somewhere, and I could stay on, as a sort of companion or governess or nurse or whatever the case might be. But we would be entirely out of sight, and we would not impede upon you or on society. No one would pay us much mind.”
Louisa looked at Elizabeth and there was pity in her gaze. “Perhaps,” she said. “My husband, I must say, is rather pleased with the idea. But then, as the fault is with him, I suppose he felt the weight of all of it more strongly than I have. He dearly hopes for a boy. You must see, if it is a boy, your companionship would need to end much sooner.”
“When he went to school,” said Elizabeth, who knew that boys often left for school when they were eleven or twelve, but that would be true in any case, and this boy, if she was carrying a boy, would be Mr. Hurst’s heir, and there would be opportunity in that. “Of course.”
“I am making no promises,” said Louisa.
Elizabeth bowed her head.
Louisa turned back to Caroline. “I should like to go to Surrey.”
“Oh, let us give it a bit of time,” said Caroline, letting out a breath. “Perhaps we shall find it cozy if we grow accustomed to the place.”
