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“I am sure that my heart will be beating furiously at the moment but right now I am not nervous at all.”

She pulled her sister over to the couch where they were warm and could talk more comfortably.

“There are three or four strands all plaited together with this. The first, and probably the most important, is that I have absolutely no interest in this Mr. Bingley. He has shown his true colours, as have the rest of his pernicious family. And the second flows on from that. There is no one, such as our mother, who will force me to have to deal with him, or worse potentially marry him. He is different man than Mr. Collins yet there are similarities. Foremost that I do not want to marry either of them. And although this sentiment is unchristian, I am pleased that Lydia was forced to marry Collins. She was so proud of her bosom, and her dresses showed it to her advantage, yet it ended up capturing the one person that our mother would not let her decline.”

Kitty was surprised that Mary made no comment, merely nodded in agreement. She raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I will not say it myself, but I will not condemn you for expressing my own thoughts on the matter.”

Kitty smiled at her sister’s attitude.

“The strands really are all interwoven. Because I have no interest in the man, and know that I will not be forced into a marriage with him, I can be blunt with him. I do not care if he takes offence. He can hardly tell the truth if asked to explain his anger.

‘I am disgusted with the words of Gardiner’s niece Catherine. She told me that I am thought of as a gelded milquetoast who lets his sister wear the breeches. Who does she think she is making these aspersions against the noble house of Bingley!’

He would be the laughing stock of the entire city if he said such a thing.”

Even Mary could not stifle her laughter.

“And I can think of few better compliments than to be thought of as like my sister Elizabeth. I think it is that confidence, that attitude, that permeates through the whole thing.”

She sat back momentarily but then leaned forward one final time.

“Oh, I forgot the one part that is not so intertwined. I want to tell him that his ruse of using a fellow tradesman as a landed gentleman has been found out.”

“But it is nothing more than conjecture.”

“I know that and I talked about it with Lizzie. There are two options. The first is as I have just stated, and Bingley will be mortified that his name is completely blown in Hertfordshire. We are here in London, but we are not the only family with connections here. The other alternative is even worse. If this man Darcy is in fact a landed gentleman and really has an estate in Derbyshire, what will be the reaction of Bingley to the whole neighbourhood thinking this Darcy was a tradesman. Again, the news will reach London that Darcy was thought to be a former tradesman unable to act like a gentleman.”

Mary pulled Kitty up and hugged her.

“I think you might surpass Lizzie in ruthlessness. And I was not sure that was possible. I almost feel sorry for Mr. Bingley.”

--

“Sophia is growing so tall.”

Jane Oliphant, five months pregnant with her second child, nodded. The ever-present calmness of her youth was gone but she managed a genuine smile when talking about her daughter. Elizabeth looked at her in concern. Marriage had not been kind to her oldest sister.

“How are you Janie?”

“Coping as best I can Lizzie. This is my life and I must make the best of it.”

“I know I am a maiden, but is there nothing that you can share with me?”

Jane stared at Elizabeth for a long time, clearly deciding how much to share. Eventually she shrugged.

“It comes down to one word. The wedding vows that the woman recites includes the word ‘obey’. Wives have to obey their husbands. And my husband wants an heir, as a matter of urgency. His brother, the baronet, is once again not a well man. My husband returned to the Manor and I had to obey. It will seem like the wrong word but fortunately I caught quickly. He has returned to London, his part in the process complete.”

Elizabeth could not find the words. What could she say to sweet kind Jane Bennet that would make this better. That person no longer existed. Jane Oliphant was not living a life that could be called sweet or kind.