“I am glad to see it,” she said, not sounding glad at all. “Why do not you come home?”
“Mr Jones has not given the word yet,” Elizabeth interjected. “Jane has been very ill, and she has yet not recovered sufficiently.”
Mrs Bennet narrowed her eyes. “Well, you do not appear to me to be at death’s door. You look well enough, I think.”
“I am certain it will not be long before Mr Jones gives his approval. As soon as Jane can keep her meals down a bit more regularly. She has lost half a stone, at least. She is pale and weak, and needs time, Mama.”
As usual, Mrs Bennet ignored Elizabeth in favour of her own opinions. “You were putting on a bit too much weight, Jane, and the loss becomes you.”
Jane winced.
“Mama! She is always beautiful, and I am certain you do not mean to say that Mr Collins would prefer she appear sickly!”
Mrs Bennet finally faced Elizabeth, as she had meant her to do. “Oh, what do you know about men, Lizzy? Your husband was an antique, and you probably looked as good to him as any female, what with his aged eyes. I have always said that Jane’s beauty would have been wasted upon Ashwood. All he had was Stoke to recommend him, and you could not even manage one measly son, or even a daughter, so you could keep it!One babe!That is all it would have taken! Did I not tell you to get with child quickly, before it was too late? I warned you that he was a leaky bucket, and you must act quickly to catch the trickle. Did you not remember to hold your legs high in the air for at least thirty minutes after he left your bed, so that his ancient seed might find its way to your womb?”
Elizabeth planted her hands upon her hips. “Yes, you did. What iswrongwith you? Why in the world would you terrify a young girl that way? I swear, when my younger sisters marry, I shall lock you in the cellar if that is what it takes to prevent you from horrifying them, as you did me.”
Her mother turned nearly purple with anger. “You think you are so wise and all-knowing! Let me tell you, Lizzy, Itoldyour father not to let you fill your head with all that nonsense from his book-room! It is a known fact that women who read too much cannot bear children. I warned you! You did not listen, and now you pay the price! You have brought your fate upon yourself, and so I inform anyone who complains to me about your situation.”
With an effort, Elizabeth controlled her outrage; she had not allowed her mother to get under her skin in years. “Heaven forbid you defendme, your own daughter. That is too much to ask, I suppose, and is more than I expect of you.” Fear had ruled her mother for too long—nearly everything she thought and said was a product of it. Gentling her own tone, she continued, “It is of no import. What matters is that Jane is recovering—slowly, but surely.”
“Hmph,” Mrs Bennet shrugged, turning back to her eldest daughter. “I suggest you speed your slow recovery. Do you know who has suddenly returned to Meryton? Who has abruptly come home, after all this time, andonlyafter discovering thatyouhave abandoned your husband? Who has, coincidentally, commenced a friendship with Mary, a girl a decade her junior? Miss Charlotte Lucas, that is who. Friendship isnother motive.”
“Mama, Lady Lucas told us Charlotte would be visiting soon,” Jane protested. “Doubtless Mary has talked her into helping with her Christmas charity baskets, or some such worthy cause.”
“Charity baskets, my eye. Charlotte is aiming to be the next mistress of Longbourn, is what she’s doing. Mark my words, Jane, she is hoping you have one foot in the grave, and she is positioning herself to take your place.”
“That is ridiculous,” Elizabeth countered.
“I knewyouwould say so. Hopefully Jane will not be so stupid. Neither of you have seen the way she simpers at Mr Collins, agreeing with his every word, begging him to read aloud fromFordyce’s Sermons! It makes me sick to watch it.”
Since Mama’s sole tactic with Mr Collins was to attempt to browbeat him into doing whatever she desired, she would always disapprove of Charlotte’s methods of dealing with men—unabashedly agreeing with everything said, no matter her personal feelings on the matter. “Well, Jane’s feet are nowhere near the cemetery, so the point of whether Charlotte is or is not ‘positioning herself’ is a moot one.”
“Do not so be thick-headed for once! Jane is beautiful, but what men truly want is adoration. Everyone knows that old man Goulding is carrying on with Mrs Buford. He has a wife who is half his age, who thinks herself the prettiest girl in the country, and yet who does he turn to? A woman ten years his senior, who bakes him pies with her own hands and treats him like the king of her cottage. Is that how you want to live, Jane? Knowing everyone is whispering behind their hands about you and your marriage, pitying you?”
Jane’s expression crumpled as Mrs Bennet mercilessly exploited her weakness. Jane cared far too much for the opinions of others.
“Tell me, Mama, just where is Mr Collins supposed to carry on this lurid affair?” Elizabeth interjected hotly, again drawing her mother’s attention away from Jane. “Do you suppose he will be welcomed into Lucas Lodge and shown up to Charlotte’s bedchamber? And why would any man as devoted and caring as Mr Collins abandon his wife merely because she suffers a brief illness? I daresay his affection can withstand years of infirmity! The only rumoursIhave heardare those declaring Lydia trifles shamelessly with the officers and is building quite a reputation as a flirt. Perhaps you ought to turn to her with your warnings! It would not hurt Lydia to listen to a little more Fordyce and a little less from the redcoats.”
Mrs Bennet folded her skinny arms across her chest and purposely gave her back to Elizabeth. “Fine. Do not listen to me. Who am I, but your aged, widowed mother? Just ignore thatIwas happily married for many years! Never think of how I keptmyhusband content at his own hearthside for the whole of it! Stay here, in another man’s house, where folks are already whispering of Mr Bingley’s interest in you asmorethan a houseguest! At least Lizzy is here to lend you what little semblance of propriety she is able. But when you lose all the respect of your husband and he turns to another, do not say I did not warn you.” Without waiting for any rebuttal of her wild accusations, she marched from the room.
20
A HAPPY INTERLUDE
It was another hour before Elizabeth had calmed Jane sufficiently, reassuring her that she would remain beside her, and that no one would ever believe there was any impropriety; she reminded her that Mr Jones spoke to anyone who would listen about the severity of her symptoms. She also insisted Jane listen to one of the letters Mr Collins had sent. As suspected, it was full of his concern and devotion. It was thirty minutes beyond that before Jane was sleeping, in truth this time.
Unable to settle to her book, Elizabeth decided to walk in the garden until she had shed enough of her frustration with their mother. Donning coat, hat and gloves, she made her way to the garden.
She was not searching for Darcy; she did not expect to see him wandering the plantings by himself, not in the slightest. But when she turned down a pathway only to see him leaning against an oak, arms folded across the breadth of hischest, and his expression changed from brooding to a glad wonder…her heart lifted.
“Elizabeth,” he said coming to her immediately, offering his arm. “This is a happy surprise. May I walk with you? Or were you yearning for the privacy of your own thoughts?”
“As a matter of fact, I find my thoughts exceptionally tedious at the moment, and would be pleased for company. Unless I am disturbing yours?”
“Not at all. I heard that your mother arrived for a visit. It did not go well?”
How like him, to be so direct. She glanced up, and saw only concern upon his handsome mien. Well, he might as well know the worst of the relations to whom he had offered to connect himself.
