Page 16 of Resilience

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something that would calm the situation, but her mother continued, her voice rising righteously.

“My Jane never speaks an uncharitable word about anybody–anybody! She is not like some girls who are always running wild and disgracing the family, and then take offense when their family speaks the truth about them!”

“Mama!” Elizabeth objected, feeling a blush creeping up her neck. “You sent me to–”

“That is enough, Lizzy! Now you hush, for I will not have you upsetting Jane and our guests any further!”

“Actually, that was the very first thing that Miss Elizabeth has even attempted to say since we sat down. I am the one who upset the room.” Priscilla’s voice was firm enough to interrupt Mrs Bennet’s caterwauling.

“Well, I will not put up with anyone injuring my dear Jane when she is so put upon by her sister! It is enough to make any mother heartsick to see what her gentle heart suffers! But I assure you, Lady Priscilla, if there has been unpleasantness, Jane is never to blame. Never!”

Mrs Bennet glared at Elizabeth as if daring her to contradict her, not that Elizabeth would. Up until very recently, her mother’s words would have been entirely true.

Mr Bingley reached for Jane’s hand and patted it. “Miss Bennet, please do not weep. I am certain that none here meant any ill.”

“Indeed, Miss Bennet, you are perfection itself.” Elizabeth thought Caroline Bingley sounded entirely bewildered. Elizabeth felt quite the same.

Elizabeth watched her mother beam at the obvious affection the Bingley siblings seemed to bear Jane and realised that the entire scene had gone exactly how her elder sister intended, almost as if she had scripted it. Who is this person I have been so close with my whole life, and how did she change so quickly?

Caroline Bingley watched Jane Bennet glide through the drawing room at Lucas Lodge with her usual serenity. Jane had provided the amusement she required these last weeks while she was in Meryton, but it had not taken Caroline very long to realise that Jane was not easily led at all, and indeed, posed a far greater challenge than Caroline had ever experienced.

Charles was already devoted to Jane, and like every time Caroline had played this game before, delighted that he had his sister’s blessing. However, it seemed as if no matter how Caroline attempted to find ways to keep her brother at a slightly safe distance–he did not need to be in Jane’s reticule all the time–it seemed as if Jane always found a clever way to quite innocently include or access him, even when Caroline intended quite the opposite.

She had spent the last few weeks planning an abominable ball that her brother insisted on throwing soon, and she had used Jane Bennet shamelessly throughout the organising. Jane was only too happy to visit Netherfield almost daily and assist Caroline in planning the entire event. The silly chit had even offered to come and arrange the flowers the day before the ball.

Caroline would not take a chance that Jane would manipulate the romantic surroundings of the ball to ensure that she left with a proposal in hand. Tonight she would expose Jane’s tendency to be all too willing to engage in malice against her own sister. Even Caroline was amazed by how quickly Jane had been willing to turn on her closest sibling once presented with what appeared to be a sure suitor with a supportive sister. Charles would be heartbroken, but he would also be utterly disgusted by Jane’s malevolence when faced with it. It would be simple enough after to convince him to continue with the ball as a proper show of gratitude for the neighborhood, and then close the house permanently the next day when he was meant to visit London on business.

Elizabeth entered the room in a stunning pale rose gown. Jane had spent the entire day before complaining to Caroline about the extravagant gift that was newly arrived from London, though she confessed that she had not even yet worn the azure silk that she herself received from the same aunt only last month. Jane was wearing the blue silk tonight, and Caroline had to admit that the two eldest Bennet sisters were in fine looks as she approached Jane.

“You were silly to even think of Eliza’s new gown when she could never compare to you in blue, Jane,” Caroline complimented sweetly. “I do not even know what worried you. My brother appears ready to fall at your feet and, as usual, everyone forgets Eliza exists. Your sister could never compare, no matter what she wears.”

“Lizzy always looks well in pink,” Jane grumbled.

“Perhaps, but she is so unladylike and clumsy that she is unlikely to remain in such neat looks for long. Something will be sure to happen to that poor gown before the end of the night. Come, let us get some punch.” The two of them went to the refreshment table together.

“I am certain you are right,” Jane said thoughtfully to Caroline. “I had not considered that.”

Caroline served herself a glass of punch and stepped around the side of the table to face Jane, who was beginning to serve herself. “Why here she is now; Miss Elizabeth, how lovely you look in that shade of rose!”

She wagged her eyebrows up and down expressively to Jane, who turned with the ladle full of punch in her hand just as Elizabeth–who was walking by while deep in conversation with Miss Lucas–turned towards Caroline’s voice, and Jane’s hand.

The ladle swung. The punch splashed. The front of Elizabeth’s gown turned a deep and unattractive red.

The entire room turned as Elizabeth gasped loudly and staggered back, the crimson liquid spreading across her bodice.

“Oh, Lizzy, I am terribly sorry!” Jane cried, a blush of horror blooming in her cheeks. “I ought to have asked for help, I should never have tried to serve myself, I am so clumsy!”

Caroline had timed this scene with the strategy of a war general. Charles was just on the far side of the table perhaps ten or twelve feet away, speaking to Mr Darcy. Jane seemed unaware of his attention, but of course he was watching her closely, and ought to have seen the triumphant expression flicker across her visage before it turned cunningly to horror.

Instead, Mr Collins had approached the two gentlemen with John Lucas in his wake and Charles had turned away at just the wrong moment. Blasted men! Now that his attention had returned, along with that of the rest of the room, Caroline seized her opportunity.

“Well! I cannot imagine being incapable of being quite so near the refreshments without creating disaster!” She said, meaning Jane, not Elizabeth, hoping that Charles would see the harm Jane Bennet had caused her sister.

Jane was far too cunning to suit Caroline. “I will never forgive myself,” Jane said, shaking her head in anxiety. “Lizzy, your new gown, your gift from Aunt Gardiner. You must despise me!”

“Miss Bennet, it could never be your fault!” Sir William rushed to his guests.

“I am certain the blame must lie with the general distraction of the room,” Mr Collins added as he, Mr Bingley, and Mr Darcy joined them from nearby. “But Cousin Elizabeth’s disappointment for her gown is a shame, for it was everything lovely.”