Page 17 of Dear Friend

“I thought she was improving,” Mrs. Bennet said. All her earlier irritation had vanished. “Lizzy, I am certain you told us the fever had abated.”

“It had. At first.”

Jane turned towards her and laid a hand upon her shoulder. “Lizzy?”

Elizabeth forced herself to meet her sister’s eyes. “She had begun to improve. The fever lessened at first, and Mrs. Tunley believed the worst of the scarlet fever was past. But these last several days...” She stopped and gathered herself. “When I saw Mrs. Tunley last week, she told me Julia had become delirious and that the apothecary feared the fever might have returned and was affecting her brain.”

Jane’s face lost colour.

“Mrs. Tunley meant to take her to London if she grew worse, that she might be attended by a physician there,” Elizabeth continued. “At least, that is what she told me. She said nothing about leaving Meryton. Nothing about her father.”

Mary closed the book she was reading upon one finger. “A fever of the brain after so severe an illness must be a grave complaint.”

“Mary,” Jane said quietly.

“I only mean there may have been good reason for their haste,” Mary said, returning her attention to her book.

Elizabeth knew Mary intended no cruelty. Ordinarily she might have been impatient with her sister’s solemn manner, but she had no room for impatience now.

“Her father is in Somerset,” she said absently.

Mrs. Bennet stared. “Somerset! Surely, they cannot mean to carry a sick girl all that distance.”

That was the thought Elizabeth had been refusing to form.

She rose abruptly and went to the window. Outside, Longbourn looked offensively unchanged. The bare trees stirred in the winter wind, and beyond the lawn a servant crossed towards the stable yard, intent upon some ordinary business.

Why would anyone take Julia to Somerset in such a condition?

Perhaps she had improved. Elizabeth seized upon the possibility, but it brought little comfort. If Julia had been well enough to undertake so considerable a journey, why had Mrs. Tunley sent no word? For nearly two months Elizabeth had been informed of every alteration in her condition. A better night, a little broth taken, an hour of sleep, a return of fever. Mrs. Tunley knew how anxiously she waited for any intelligence.

And now they had gone without a word.

“Perhaps Julia was well enough to travel,” Kitty ventured.

Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly. “Perhaps.”

She wanted very much to believe it.

“If she was not...” Kitty began.

“Do not, Kitty,” Lydia said, with an unusual seriousness that made Elizabeth glance towards her.

Kitty coloured and lowered her eyes.

Jane joined Elizabeth at the window. “There must be some explanation for their leaving so suddenly, Lizzy.”

“There must be one.”

The answer came more sharply than Elizabeth intended. She turned towards her sister, her expression softening. “I beg your pardon, Jane.”

“There is nothing to pardon.”

“But I cannot understand it.” Elizabeth pressed her hands together. “Mrs. Tunley knew how anxiously I waited for news of Julia. How can they have gone to her father in Somerset without leaving so much as a note?”

“Perhaps the decision was made suddenly.”

“Then a few words might have been left. Only enough to tell me where they had gone.”