Notes: Once again, thank you to everyone who left a comment. I'm a bit vain: I love reviews.
No mystery to be solved this time. Instead, our heroes deal with staying at Longbourn before a wedding while Elizabeth endeavours to Avoid The Talk. Sounds familiar?
Another Interlude
Longbourn, Thursday 28 May
The Darcys' journey had suffered no disturbance, much to Elizabeth's disappointment. Her mother had received them enthusiastically; her father, after greeting her and her husband with pleasure, had absconded with the latter in his library. Though she had been annoyed at the men's desertion, Elizabeth decided to make the most of that opportunity and give her mother a warning about George Wickham's character. It soon appeared that she should not have worried.
"Why do you feel you have to warn us against the officers, Lizzy?"
"Maybe not all the officers, Mama. Some of them, and Mr Wickham amongst them, are merely fortune hunters."
"Your sisters have no fortune," Mrs Bennet shrugged. "Such men would not be interested in marrying them—and do not try to suggest that your sisters could be susceptible to other offers."
Elizabeth, who was just about to express such an opinion, immediately voiced another one.
"They may lack fortunes, but with my marriage, and soon Jane's, they will gain connections. These could appeal to the officers."
Mrs Bennet sniffed.
"My daughters can do better than marry a mere captain. It is such a shame that Colonel Johnson is married! He might have done very well for Kitty or Mary."
"Not Lydia?"
"Oh, no, he is not quite dashing enough. Will you take Lydia to London with you? I am sure she would meet more interesting young men than she does in Hertfordshire. The society here is so unvarying!"
Amazed at hearing her mother profess the exact opposite of the opinion she held half a year previously, Elizabeth could only blink while her mother continued on the next subject.
"Now, Lizzy, you have been married for one month. Are you satisfied with how Mr Darcy treats you?"
"Yes, Mama. I am convinced he is the best of men."
"Good. This is a relief—you will not mind sharing your old room with him? With your uncle and aunt coming from London, I could not give you two rooms, and though Mr Bingley has offered to host you, it would not do to have my own daughter residing at Netherfield when she visits the area!"
"Actually, Mama," Elizabeth said haltingly, "I thought that maybe I could share Jane's room."
This brought Mrs Bennet's seemingly unstoppable ramblings to a halt.
For a couple of heartbeats.
"You just told me that your husband treated you well!"
"He does! I have no complaints."
"Why, then, do you wish to avoid him?"
"It is not that I want to avoid him, but I am melancholy at the thought of Jane marrying and going away."
"Netherfield is not so far away from Longbourn, and you are already married, it cannot be such a change for you!"
"Perhaps," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "However, this will be my last opportunity to share rooms with Jane as we did when we were girls, and I want to seize the occasion."
"As you wish, Lizzy—if your husband doesn't object, it is not my place to do so."
Elizabeth's former room, later that evening
Elizabeth and Darcy were dressed for dinner, but there was still time before they would be called downstairs and they had decided to stay upstairs in order to—according to Elizabeth—build Darcy's tolerance for the ambient silliness.
"Did you manage to warn my father about Mr Wickham? I tried to tell my mother about him specifically but could never get to the point of saying his name. She says she would not encourage her daughters to go after officers, but I do not know whether it will be enough."
"I am afraid your father was eager to get back to his book and waved away my concerns. He appeared to believe that your sisters were either too staid to have their heads turned by officers, or too silly to be of any interest to them."
Elizabeth frowned.
"I really dislike it when my mother's reaction is more sensible than my father's."
"What did she say?" asked her husband.
"That my sisters should aim for no less than a Colonel."
Darcy looked at her blankly.
"It is not as if they were many of them around!"
"No, but you do realise it will make my cousin wary of visiting us."
"It does not strike me as a great loss."
A square of fabric fluttered in her general direction before landing on the carpet. She looked at it with curiosity.
"Is that your handkerchief?"
"It is," was the frustrated answer. "I thought it would be ungentlemanly to throw anything heavier at you, but the trajectory suffered as a result. Be that as it may, you do not get to disparage my cousin."
Longbourn, Saturday 30 May
The days had been spent between visits and wedding preparations. That night, when she retired, Elizabeth found that Jane was not in their room. She joined her soon afterwards, though, and Elizabeth was about to blow the last candle when her sister halted her.
"Lizzy, may I ask you something?"
"Of course, Jane!"
"It is somewhat delicate …" Jane fidgeted with the coverlet, drew a breath, and spoke at last. "Mama spoke to me just now about marital intimacy."
Elizabeth froze. In the dimness of the room, Jane did not notice her sister's stillness and went on.
"It was all very puzzling, and sometimes a little startling. Did you find there was much truth in what she said?"
"Do you truly want me to answer this?"
Jane nodded.
"Wait."
Elizabeth rose, grabbed her robe, and exited the room. A handful of second later, she entered her husband's.
"Elizabeth?" a drowsy voice greeted her. "Is everything well?"
"No!"
Bedclothes rustled.
"What is the matter?" The voice was sharper as well.
"Jane wants me to talk to her!"
Her cry was met with silence only.
"Mr Darcy?"
"I had been under the impression that this was precisely the reason why you wished to share a room with her."
"Do not make sport of me!"
"I would not dare. You are wearing slippers and have a remarkable aim."
Elizabeth huffed.
"She wants me to tell her about marriage! More specifically, the consummation part!"
"So?"
"This is all you have to say?"
"It is late, Elizabeth. If you do not have an answer from a book, claim tiredness and elude her as best as you can until you can locate something in the library."
"Do you have any more bright ideas? May I remind you that I do not have one moment of peace during the day? When Mama does not want my advice on her choices for the wedding breakfast or Jane's dress, Lydia and Kitty plague me about the latest London fashions. Where would I have the time to investigate my father's library?"
"I could endeavour to locate one volume for you."
"Truly?"
"Truly."
"That would be lovely, thank you!"
Elizabeth practically skipped back to Jane's room and was relieved to see that Jane had fallen asleep while waiting for her.
Longbourn, Monday 1 June
Elizabeth had been granted a reprieve the day before. When they had awoken, she had assured her elder sister that she had not forgotten her question, but did not quite know how to answer it, and would talk to her once her thoughts were organised.
Then they all went to church, where Mrs Bennet showed off her daughters; the afternoon was spent in the midst of the family. When it was time to change for dinner, Darcy had handed Elizabeth a book, and she had hidden in her childhood room to read it once they all retired for the night, only going back to Jane's once she was reasonably certain her sister was asleep.
Avoidance could not last forever, and she steeled herself for an awkward conversation, when relief came in the form of a tea given by her mother to all the local matrons but one. Their Aunt Philips had volunteered to host Mary, Kitty, and Lydia, while the gentlemen had gone fishing.
Elizabeth thought nothing much of the fact that of all the assembled ladies, only Jane was unmarried, until—much to her relief—the conversation veered on the very subject she had tried to avoid. Her first thought was that so many ladies would impart their knowledge that her not saying anything would pass unnoticed. She was wrong, but her blushing and mumbling that she could really not say anything appeared to satisfy their company. How they could believe that she had gained some shyness and modesty upon her marriage, Elizabeth did not know, but she was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. More importantly, a look at Jane allowed her to see that no more questions would come from that quarter—and indeed, that night, after confirming that the discussion had answered most of her interrogations, Jane apologised for having brought up the subject with her when she knew Elizabeth did not speak easily of personal matters. Elizabeth, in turn, entreated her to communicate with her husband—if anything, the diversity of opinions shared that afternoon hinted at the fact that not one married couple dealt with intimacy in an identical fashion.
Longbourn, Tuesday 2 June
The day passed much as the previous ones had, and Elizabeth anticipated a bedtime conversation with Jane regarding their hopes for the future interspersed with reminiscences of their childhood, but Mrs Bennet had other plans for her daughters. Jane was sent to bed early with camomile tea, in anticipation of her rising sooner than was her wont, for her mother was of the mind that no less than three hours would be needed to dress Jane and coiff her to perfection. Elizabeth would have followed her, but was instead led to her mother's room where she was offered a seat and a glass of wine.
"Now, Elizabeth, I didn't want to ask you this yesterday, because it would be far too soon for you to experiment much—at least, I hope so!" she began. "In any case, though you would speak of your mother about this, the rest of the world can wait before you need to hint at such news. Well, I dare say your husband may be informed. Your housekeeper as well, it will make it easier to arrange things to your satisfaction that way."
Elizabeth looked at her blankly.
"Of course," continued Mrs Bennet, "certain hints do come early, though you will never know for sure until the quickening."
On understanding what her mother was speaking about, Elizabeth endeavoured to find a way to extricate herself from the situation as quickly as she could.
"Mrs Gardiner—"
"—has had a hard time with her pregnancies and lying-ins, and her accounts would only serve to frighten you."
Blast! Try again, Elizabeth.
"Lady Catherine—"
"—has only one daughter." said Mrs Bennet with a sniff.
"Yes, but she takes an extraordinary interest in the happenings of her parish. She is exceedingly well informed about a wide range of subjects, and, er, takes delight in educating her neighbour."
"Is it so?"
"Yes, Mama."
"It is very vexing that you should have already been told this when it should be your mother's place to do so!" huffed Mrs Bennet. "I imagine that you could not do otherwise than indulge her, since she is your husband's aunt. Still, I will be very cross if you do not write to me whenever you suspect you are increasing."
"I ... I do not think such a letter will be forthcoming for now, Mama." On seeing that her mother appeared worried, and wanting to prevent further questioning, she hastened to add: "I promise you will be the first I shall write to in that eventuality."
That appeared to appease Mrs Bennet, whose worry morphed into mere disappointment, and Elizabeth was released. Before she went to sleep, though, she made a detour to her husband's room in order to extract from him the promise to never willingly put Mrs Bennet and the Earl of — in each other's presence.
Longbourn, Wednesday 3 June
Mrs Bennet had never been as elated than on the day on which she got rid of her eldest daughter. One would have imagined that Elizabeth's wedding would have pleased her more, but it did not account for the young people's disposition. Mr Darcy may be the richer of the two, but he was less likely to yield to her entreaties than the amiable Mr Bingley. Likewise, Jane, peace-maker that she was, would not oppose her as strongly as Elizabeth would. That the Bingleys would be settled only three miles away from Longbourn further pleased Mrs Bennet. Not being the favourites suited the Darcys very well. However, they wondered how many months would pass before the Bingleys would talk about not renewing the lease.
That's it for now. Case #8 should be posted in about two weeks if all goes well (longer depending on how busy my Wonderful Beta Team is. You don't want to know how many typos they manage to catch. They're awesome - and yet I still fidle with things once they're done and typos fatally worm their way in again). I have yet to decide what comes just next, though. I may also post another story (already complete) before I resume adding chapters on this one.