ELIZABETH FELT NUMB.
She stayed in her chair for a very long time, and then she took up the comb and began to work it through her hair. She was able to get the tangles free without too much effort. Carefully, she braided her hair in a tight and tidy braid. Then, she dressed herself methodically.
She paused to find some of the sausage on the plate Mr. Darcy had brought her and ate it. Fortified, she left the room.
She found Mrs. Hurst and Caroline in the morning room, frantically having a discussion.
When Elizabeth appeared in the doorway, they both stopped talking immediately.
It was entirely silent.
Mrs. Hurst, who had obviously been writing a letter, went over to the desk and capped the inkwell. She regarded Elizabeth. “I have been telling my sister that my husband is set on this child. So, we must go back to the cottage, I think, since she seems to think Mr. Darcy is going to turn us all out now.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, all right. I am in agreement.”
Mrs. Hurst nodded, too. “Very well, then.”
It was quiet for several moments.
“I suppose we must pack,” said Mrs. Hurst. “Can you see to yourself, Eliza?”
“I always do these days,” said Elizabeth faintly.
“Good,” said Mrs. Hurst. “That is best, I think.”
“Hmm,” said Elizabeth.
Caroline spoke up. “You have not forgiven me, Eliza. You said nothing when I gave you my apology.”
Elizabeth did not know what to make of whatever it was that Caroline had said to her. Did Caroline truly repent? Even if she did, it didn’t matter in some ways. The damage was done. But if she was to be shut up in that small cottage with these women for another four months, it would not do to breed even more conflict. “Of course I forgive you, Caroline,” she said.
“Good,” said Mrs. Hurst again.
Mrs. Hurst did not apologize, though she had been just as complicit in a number of elements of Elizabeth’s discomfort.
“Well, I am off to speak to the servants about packing our trunks,” said Mrs. Hurst, moving towards the doorway.
Elizabeth was obliged to back out to allow the woman through. But as she backed up into the hallway, she could see that Mabel was coming towards them both.
“Mr. Darcy is here,” said Mabel. “He wishes all of you to join him in the sitting room.”
All of them?
Elizabeth did not know what to make of that.
“Well, of course, he is our host,” said Louisa, casting a look back at Caroline.
Caroline grimaced, looking ashamed of herself. “I am sorry that I told him. I did not think—”
“Hush, Caroline,” said Louisa, sighing. She led the way down the hallway towards the sitting room.
In the room, Mr. Darcy was staring into the fireplace, his expression inscrutable. He did not look up as they came in. “Sit down,” he said in a strangled sort of voice.
They sat.
“The first thing that is going to happen, Miss Bingley,” he said, “is that you are going to move out of my grandmother’s old bedchamber and cede it to Miss Bennet, because you’ve already terrorized a woman who’s been victimized quite enough.”
Elizabeth had not been expecting that. She sat up straighter on the couch.
