Page 68
Book 3 Chapter 3
“Welcome home Miss Elizabeth. We were not expecting you until closer to Advent.”
“Thank you, Hill. I am here to help Mary. Is she at home?”
“She is with Mrs. Bennet in the parlour.”
“I will go there directly and let them know I am home. Could you ask Mrs. Hill for a basin of water to wash the worst of the road dust off me?”
“At once Miss Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth Bennet took a deep breath and opened the door to the parlour.
“Lizzie, what are you do here? Has something happened to Jane or Edward?”
Elizabeth ignored her mother and pulled Mary to her feet and engulfed her in a hug. Without letting go of her sister she twisted and spoke to her mother.
“Everyone is in rude health. There are days when Edward appears to have grown overnight. He is an active child already, not yet walking but trying to pull himself up onto his feet. He takes after his father with his active disposition. Jane is blooming, pregnancy suits her. I am here at the request of Mary.”
Without another word she was off out the room, Mary dragged along behind her.
“Lizzie, where are we going? And I did not request you return.”
“I know that Mary. Let us wait to continue this conversation in my room.”
A bowl of warm water was awaiting her and Elizabeth washed up and then changed her dress.
“When I received your letter, and especially when I noticed the tear stains I resolved to return immediately. And I had Jane’s full support. If she did not have young Edward she would have been here herself. Now tell me all about this Mr. Darcy.”
Mary felt herself relax. Elizabeth was here, full of energy, and she now had support. Most of the following 40 minutes were nothing more than a repeat of what she had written. But inevitably there were additional details that had been omitted from the letter.
“He did not apologise that evening and there has been no apology since?”
Mary shook her head.
“Has there been any sign of the others of the party?”
“Mr. Bingley has returned Papa’s visit. He ended up staying twice as long as is appropriate, it was in excess of 30 minutes, but you know Mama never cares about such things. What was hilarious, or at least it would be if it was not our own family, was the behaviour of Mr. Bingley, Mama and Lydia.”
“Oh goodness, what happened?”
“Mr. Bingley has shown a preference for Kitty. Now she is not yet 17 and he is at least a decade older but he is much taken with her. Or so it appears to me.”
She sighed.
“You know that Mama favours Lydia and therefore Mama was pushing Lydia forward, well not physically but you know what I mean. She kept interrupting the conversations between Mr. Bingley and Kitty with all sorts of idiotic comments trying to paint Lydia in the best light. Without much success. Because not only was Mr. Bingley uninterested but neither was Lydia. There are rumours of a Militia regiment being stationed in the district and Lydia is now only interested in officers. Like I said, hilarious if you were not related to two thirds of the participants.”
“I can understand the embarrassment but we need not concern ourselves with them at present. A boy could not cope with this, a man will deal with it. We all have Sir David to measure other gentlemen against. He would tell Mama to pipe down, and with only fractionally more measured words.”
Mary laughed in agreement. And Elizabeth was right. Sir David was the standard against which all other gentlemen were measured. There were few gentlemen of their acquaintance that measured up well against this new standard. Mr. Bingley did not know it but he needed to prove that he was a man not a boy.
“The rest of the party?”
“There has been no sign of this Mr. Hurst. The servant’s gossip from Netherfield is he is a slave to his belly. Provide him with good food, and plenty of it, as well as a sufficiency of wine, port and brandy, and all is well. The two sisters have been in Meryton once. Yesterday, no sorry, the day before yesterday so Tuesday. They bought nothing and appeared to do nothing but sneer in every shop they visited. They made a poor impression on Saturday at the dance and just reinforced it with their behaviour this week.”
“Which leaves the villain of the piece.”
“Mr. Darcy. Do you know of him?”
