Thus, the ember of hope that flickered so erratically in Jane’s heart was rekindled. “Yes, I believe I do see.”
Lady Ashby smiled. “Good. So! Do not allow your sister’s selfish behaviour to distress you a moment longer. No good will come of a rift between the pair of you. Suffer her as best you can, take comfort instead in our friendship, and the next time her manners or actions grieve you, bring your vexations to me. Mine will ever be a willing and sympathetic ear.”
When the visit drew to an end a few minutes later, and her new friend departed with the warmest of adieus, Jane felt vastly comforted to have secured the friendship of such a shrewd and obliging woman—and a good deal of satisfaction to have proved herself, on this occasion at least, better admired than her sister.
“Have I called at an inconvenient time, Jane?”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem determined to be displeased with me today.”
Elizabeth had called at Grosvenor Street with the hope of exchanging tales of newly wedded bliss with her dearest sister but had been there for little more than five minutes before comprehending there would be no sharing of confidences this day. Jane was uncommonly ill-tempered, inclined to take offence at most everything and find fault with all the rest.
“Forgive me, I am a little fatigued,” Jane replied. “Last night was…taxing.”
“It was? I hope nobody was uncivil to you.”
Jane’s cheeks pinked a little. “I believe it was unintentional.”
“Then youwereslighted by somebody?”
Jane shrugged slightly. “I was merely ill-prepared for the want of consideration I was shown in some quarters.”
This caught Elizabeth by surprise, though she was instantly angry with herself forbeingsurprised. The nature of her acquaintance with Darcy had afforded her an invaluable understanding of his sphere andits inherent intolerances. Moreover, he had warned her what to expect at the ball since it was his family and hisacquaintances to whom she was being introduced. Poor Jane had been given no such advantage. Elizabeth was ashamed to acknowledge she had done naught to prepare her unsuspecting sister for the contempt of those whom she herself must now call family.
“I beg you would forgive me, Jane. I was too engrossed in my own world to consider how you must have felt. It was selfish of me.”
Her sister did not smile. “I shall not say you are wrong.”
Elizabeth blinked away her surprise, for she supposed, having claimed the offence, she could hardly blame Jane for agreeing with it. “But did you manage to enjoy yourself at all? Not every person was uncivil, I hope.”
“By no means. I found Lady Ashby particularly agreeable.”
“You did?” Elizabeth said with a little laugh, wondering not for the first time at Jane’s ability to form attachments to the most insincere of people.
“Yes, Lizzy, I did! I see you think it diverting. And, of course, I must be the one at fault because nobody is as good a judge of character as you.”
Though she continued to be taken aback by her sister’s ill will, the barb served its purpose. She was duly humbled. “You are quite right. Lady Ashby showed me no great courtesy, but I do not doubt you were able to see some good in her that I was not.”
“Perhaps it was because I was more respectful of her that she showed me more courtesy than she did you.”
“Do you accuse me of being disrespectful to her?”
“Not by design, I am sure, but your teasing ran as unchecked last night as ever it did in Hertfordshire, and such irreverence could never be considered respectful. Your new family will never like you if you make no effort to please them.”
“How fortunate, then, that I do not require their approbation.”
“Do you not? You are not concerned that Mr Darcy will grow weary of the schism you have caused—that he will tire of you?”
“Are you worried Mr Bingley will tire of you?” Elizabeth threw back, incredulous at the very suggestion.
A stony veil fell across Jane’s countenance. Too late, Elizabeth realised the imprudence of using Mr Bingley’s constancy as a case in point. “Forgive me—I meant not to allude to past troubles, only todemonstrate my faith in Darcy’s affections. I have every reason to believe his esteem will endure regardless of his family’s opinion of me.”
Jane unfurled from her rigid pose and turned away to take up her embroidery. “I am sure you are right.”
An oppressive silence fell over them. Jane, her expression pinched, worked doggedly on her stitches. Elizabeth sat motionless and wretched, wondering whether their friendship might be changed forever. They had been sheltered, she recognised, growing up at Longbourn. Harmony and contentment had been easy to nurture when the greatest tribulations they faced were Mrs Bennet’s nerves and the occasional uncertainty of which gown ought to be worn to this or that dance. Exposed for but a few months to the influences of the wider world, they had both been irrevocably altered and seemed unable to rediscover an equal footing.
“Jane,” she said softly, “Darcy and I leave for Pemberley on Monday, and I know not when I shall see you again. Let us not part on bad terms. Shall we not speak of something else? What of your time left in London? What are your plans?”
