“That may be,” Jane replied, “but you have done enough for one day.”
Mary nodded in agreement. “Regular rest is essential to recovery. You must be cautious not to undo what progress you have already made.”
“I shall endeavour to deserve your approval,” Elizabeth said.
Jane left the room for a few moments and soon returned with a tray. She placed it within Elizabeth’s reach and arranged it with quiet care. “You have had no proper supper,” she said. “You must take something now.”
Elizabeth thanked her and tried to eat, though she had no appetite. The familiar comfort of the room and of her sisters’ presence did more for her ease than anything else.
For a short time, no one spoke. Jane remained near her, attentive but not pressing her with questions, while Mary sat with composed patience, as if waiting for the proper moment to inquire.
It did not come immediately. Elizabeth knew she would have to tell them in the end. The circumstances were too sudden and too irregular not to explain. Yet she hardly knew how to explain what had happened, still less what she ought to say, and what she ought to conceal.
At length, Jane spoke. “Lizzy, you must tell us what has happened. Why have you come back a fortnight before we expected you?”
Elizabeth sighed. “I did not intend to return so soon,” she said at last. “And certainly not at night and without my trunk. I had every expectation of remaining at Hunsford for the time first agreed upon. Nothing had occurred to make me wish it otherwise.”
Jane’s brow creased in concern. “Then something must have happened,” she said gently.
Elizabeth inclined her head. “Yes. Something did.” She paused for a moment, struggling to think how she might explain events that remained astonishing even to herself. “Lady Catherine came to the parsonage to speak with me, attended by Mr Collins, but she did not come as a visitor. She came to dismiss me. Perhaps I might better say, to banish me.”
“Tobanishyou?” Jane repeated faintly. “Lizzy, what on earth can you mean?”
“She declared I was no longer welcome in the neighbourhood, and that I must leave it immediately. All my protests went unheeded. I told her that I was Mr Collin’s guest, not hers. That gained me nothing. He only said that he would obey her will. I told her I must have time at least to pack my trunk and arrange for my return with my uncle, but this too was denied. I was put into Lady Catherine’s carriage at once, and told that my trunk would be packed and sent to me.”
“This is everything shocking,” Mary said gravely. “I can hardly believe it of a noblewoman and a patron of the church. Why did Lady Catherine take so extraordinary a step?”
Elizabeth took a deep, steadying breath. “She accused me of — excuse me, I can hardly bear to say the word — of enticing Mr Darcy.”
Both her sisters gasped.
Elizabeth smiled crookedly. “I am sure I do not need to deny it toyou, but naturally I immediately informed Lady Catherine I had done no such thing. She did not believe me, because she did not wish to believe me. She was determined to believe that I had drawn him in by design, and that it was necessary to remove me before the consequences became more serious.”
Jane shook her head. “It is most unjust. You could not have done anything to deserve such treatment.”
“I think not,” Elizabeth said. “But it was not a matter in which my opinion was of any consequence.”
“And Mr Collins?” Mary asked.
“He would not oppose her,” Elizabeth replied. “Our cousin had no thought of dignity, of his own rights as the master of the house, or of what he might owe to me as his cousin and his guest. He allowed Lady Catherine her own way in everything.”
Jane said nothing for a moment, but her concern was evident.
“And you were made to leave at once?”
“Yes. You can well judge the time Lady Catherine spoke to me, for it was before I returned home by the exact length of the journey between Kent andHertfordshire.”
Jane looked at her with renewed concern. “How harshly you have been used.”
Elizabeth gave a small shrug. “It was not comfortable, but it is over.”
“It is past all understanding,” Mary said, shaking her head. “How could Lady Catherine possibly have thought such a thing? As your sister, I am most insulted by the slight to your character, but beyond this, to fear that Mr Darcy might marry you? How could Lady Catherine ever think it?”
Elizabeth did not answer.
“Lizzy?” Mary said hesitantly as the silence lengthened. “Lizzy, there is not some reason Lady Catherine would think Mr Darcy in love with you, is there?”
Jane reached for her hand. “Lizzy, you may tell us everything. There is nothing you need conceal from us.”
