“Seeing as my advice, which was kindly meant, is to be rejected, I will retire,” Miss Bingley spat out. “Come Louisa!” Mrs Hurst stood obediently and followed her sister out of the drawing room.
“Well, that is far more pleasant,” Hurst observed once the virago had removed herself from the company of the three men.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That evening, once the two eldest Bennet daughters had changed for bed, they took turns to brush one another’s hair.
“It is pleasing that you have forgiven Mr Darcy for his intemperate words at the assembly,” Jane opined as she ran the brush through her sister’s wild hair. “Had you not, you would not have danced with him at Lucas Lodge or sat and spoken with him at the two events we attended in common since then.”
“You know me too well,” Elizabeth responded. “Had I not, I would have unleashed my acerbic wit against him.” She never felt more relaxed than she did when Janey brushed her hair.
“Has he apologised yet?” Jane enquired as she placed the brush back on the dresser and the sisters switched places.
“Not in so many words, but I get the idea when wehave some relative privacy, he will. There are occasions we have been in company that I have been able to see past the forbidding, and I dare say, sad mask he wears at times, and beneath is a man, who like your Mr Bingley is everything a man should be.” Elizabeth’s task was much easier than Jane’s as her older sister had straight blonde hair without the waves and tangles her own hair had.
“It does not hurt that Mr Darcy is rather handsome…” Jane coughed two or three times as Elizabeth completed brushing her hair.
“Jane Lydia Bennet, do you have another cold?” Elizabeth demanded concernedly as soon as she placed Jane’s brush on the dresser next to her own. “You know your colds begin with you coughing as you are now. You know how much I worry…”
Jane shook her head and reached for the glass of water near her side of the bed. She drained the glass. “Not a cold, Lizzy dear; it is but a dry throat.”
Elizabeth accepted what Jane claimed knowing Janey did in fact suffer from dry throats and was not one to prevaricate. Ever since Mr Jones had shared his fears regarding Jane’s lungs, any cough Jane had, frightened her greatly. However, she accepted Jane’s word seeing that after she drank the water the coughing ceased.
“What of your Mr Bingley?” Elizabeth asked. “Whenever he sees you in a room he is at your side.”
“He is notmyMr Bingley,” Jane protested weakly.
“I beg to differ sister dearest; he is very much yours. If he does not declare himself in the next month, then my name will no longer be Elizabeth Rose Bennet.”
“Nothing in this life is certain. That being said, I hope you are right, Lizzy. I think I am falling in love with him,” Jane admitted. She blushed a deep scarlet at her admission.
“It had not escaped my notice that you have tender feelings for him,” Elizabeth owned. “With the markedattention he pays you, I am sure my name is safe.”
“Until he speaks, I will keep hoping,” Jane insisted. “What of you and Mr Darcy? I am not the only Bennet sister receiving attention from a man. And do not think I have missed how Miss Bingley shoots daggers at you whenever Mr Darcy speaks with you or is in your company, even when others are present.”
“It seems everyone knows Mr Darcy has no interest in her except, of course, for Miss Bingley herself. I am sure Mrs Hurst knows, but she will do nothing to contradict her sister.” Elizabeth pointedly ignored Jane’s assertions about Mr Darcy. She was developing tender feelings for the man, but given his social status and wealth, she did not believe he would offer for an impecunious country girl. She needed to guard her heart.
The sisters shrugged out of their dressing gowns and climbed beneath the covers of their shared bed. After wishing one another a good night’s sleep, each one blew the candle on her side of the bed out.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
One afternoon, Mr Bennet sat in his study marvelling at the fact the letter he was reading was from a man who had an education. The writer had taken Orders and been preferred to a living, however, the manner of his expressing himself convinced Bennet his distant cousin must be one of the most entertaining characters ever.
To make sure he had not imagined the words, Bennet read the missive a second time.
8 October 1810
Hunsford Parsonage, bordering on the great estate of Rosings Park
Near Westerham, Kent
Dear Sir,
The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my latehonoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have had the misfortune to lose him 2 years previously, I have frequently wished to heal the breach in our family. However, for some time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.
My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England.
As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence, and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of the Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive-branch.
