As he had been away for more than a sennight, Dennyhad no knowledge of the tragedy which had touched the Bennets or the changes regarding the youngest two.
“They would be good for a tumble, but I could never marry any woman on so slight a temptation,” Wickham announced. “However, if they like to flirt, I have no opposition to bedding them.”
Denny said nothing of the Colonel’s rules regarding locals and no meddling with them, or for that matter, his instructions to the merchants to not issue credit to any of his men, without his personal say so. He wanted recognition for a new recruit and did not want Wickham to change his mind before he signed. “There is the one we call the ice queen. She has twenty thousand pounds and tells anyone who will listen, that she will be the next mistress of some estate named Pember something or other. Her name is Miss Caroline Bingley,” Denny told him.
Wickham asked no more questions. He would seek out this Miss Bingley as soon as may be. She had more than enough of a dowry to tempt him, and the added bonus was it seemed she was Darcy’s fiancée. How the prig escaped that termagant of an aunt of his and her demands he marry her daughter, Wickham cared not. He had not managed to avenge himself on Darcy through his sister, so now he would do it using his fiancée.
He could charm anyone, so he was sure his charisma would work on this Miss Bingley as well.
In the Colonel’s office, Wickham signed the Code of Conduct, which of course he did not read, and after being welcomed to the militia by Colonel Forster, Denny led the newest Lieutenant in the regiment to the quartermaster to receive his uniform, sabre, and other necessary items.
The new Lieutenant was well pleased he was not sleeping in a tent like a soldier. He was assigned a room in the same boarding house where Denny was billeted. It was of farbetter quality than the rundown house Karen Younge owned.
Yes, his luck had finally turned.
Chapter 13
The next day, not long after breaking their fasts and with Charlotte’s arrival, the four Bennets and one Lucas made their way upstairs to the chamber which had been shared by Jane and Elizabeth.
The morning meal had only been attended by the four sisters. Their father was taking his comestibles on a tray, and since her mad dash back to her chambers the previous day, other than some wailing when someone passed her chamber, no one had heard from the mistress of the estate.
As the first chamber on the first floor was the aforementioned lady’s, the five younger ladies were treated to the sounds of moaning and lamenting when they passed that particular door.
In order to have some peace and quiet, after everyone else entered her bedchamber, Elizabeth pushed the door closed. It was the first time she had entered the room since requesting to be able to sleep in Mary’s chamber. As she looked around the room, Elizabeth saw Jane in everything. The light blue ribbons draped over the mirror attached to the dresser, Jane’s brush on the dresser, the box of her hair pins…and on and on. It took all of her strength not to run from the room.
Seeing how Elizabeth was being affected by all of the memories of Jane in the chamber, Mary and Charlotte took charge of the packing. To say sorting through Jane’s worldly possessions did not cause tears to flow among the other four and not just Elizabeth, would have been a lie.
At one point, Mary asked their maid, Sarah, to have sometrunks brought to the bedchamber. First, each one of them chose items which were special to them, which they would keep for themselves to have a piece of Jane close at hand. Mary and Kitty chose some gowns and day dresses for themselves, Lydia who loved to pull apart and remake bonnets, claimed two of Jane’s. She did not articulate it to the others, but those were two bonnets she would never redo. They would always be as Jane had left them.
Although she claimed it was too much, Charlotte, who was the same height as Jane and of a similar build, chose two day dresses for herself. That left Elizabeth .
Even though gowns and dresses could be altered for length—Elizabeth was considerably shorter than her dearest sister had been—her bosom was quite a bit more buxom than Jane’s, thereby remaking gowns or dresses over to fit her, an impossibility. Elizabeth chose a cashmere pelisse the Gardiners had given Jane for Christmas two years previously. She also would keep Jane’s brushes and hair pins. The most important part of her sister she retained was in her heart. Until she joined Jane in His Kingdom, they would be together in her thoughts and dreams.
Thoughts of her heart made her think of Mr Darcy—and caused her to put her hand into her pocket to feel his handkerchief—who was at this moment on his way to London with Mr Bingley. The latter had sent a note, decipherable between the blots, to inform her that he and the former would be in Town for a few days, but if she felt she needed to escape to Netherfield Park, she would be welcome to do so. Elizabeth smiled when she thought of Mr Bingley’s words of approbation regarding her slap delivered to his younger sister.
She did not enjoy violence and had always thought there were better, more rational ways to solve differences than by some physical altercation. Except in this case, Elizabeth could not feel badly that she had left her handprint on the shrew’s face.
The rest of Jane’s worldly possessions were sorted into various trunks. One was for the servants, another to be distributed among the tenants, and the final ones would be delivered to Mr Pierce to be given to the needy of his parish. Elizabeth remembered the old vicar’s visit the previous evening. His words had been comforting, but there was no missing the sadness in his eyes. The melancholy had been reflected in Mrs Pierce’s countenance as well.
Mr Pierce and his wife had never been blessed with children, so the Bennets and others in the parish had become the warm couple’s surrogate sons and daughters. Due to that, Elizabeth was sure the clergyman was taking Jane’s passing as hard as any other.
Once Hill had directed the footman and groom to take the three trunks from the bedchamber, Kitty and Lydia took the items they were keeping to their own chamber, Elizabeth, Mary, and Charlotte stood looking at the half empty room. The latter could see that the sisters did not know what to do next.
“Jane would not have wanted life to stop because she is gone. Mary, you are moving in here with Eliza, are you not?” Charlotte took charge. Mary nodded. “Then let us go and bring your belongings into this room. There is no time like the present.”
Elizabeth and Mary agreed gratefully. They both understood that Charlotte was helping them move forward.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bennet was not proud of the fact he was hiding himself away from the righteous anger he was sure his second…no, his eldest…daughter now, would direct at him.
At least he was in his study and had not locked himself in his bedchamber like his wife had done. At the church service and then the graveside prayers before the interment, Bennet had experienced the disdain of many men in the neighbourhood. Seeing that he felt he deserved to be seen insuch a way, he had stood and watched his late daughter’s coffin being lowered into the cold, hard ground. He was certain Jane was in heaven. If there was ever one who deserved to spend eternity there, it was her.
He freely acknowledged it was too late for Jane, but he would never again allow his indolence to stop him from his duties as a father and landlord. In that vein, rather than wait for some undetermined point in the future, Bennet pulled a sheet of paper from the stack on his desk and wrote a long overdue letter to his distant cousin.
24 October 1810
Longbourn, Hertfordshire
