Jane Bennet
"Jane?" My mother's voice called for me with a curious tremor that I wasn't used to hearing, one of confusion and disdain all at once. Hill raced into the hall as I shed my coat.
"You'd best get into the sitting room, ma'am. There is someone who has been waiting for you the better part of an hour, and it would appear your mother is at a loss for words." Well, that could not mean anything good. I handed her my hat and coat, and shook any remaining snow from my hem, smoothing my hair before stepping through the door.
"Mr. Darcy?" I said, more in shock than anything else. How long had it been since I had thought of this man? He stood immediately, bowing low, as any gentleman might to a lady of his equal. That too was a touch odd. I certainly wasn't his equal in any way that mattered.
"Madam, forgive my haste in rushing through pleasantries and getting straight to the point," he began. My mother sat back down, staring enraptured at the man, huffing out something that sounded an awful lot like 'finally'.
"Go on, sir."
"I have been visiting my aunt at Rosings." I stood up straighter and involuntarily took a step forward.
"You've seen Lizzy!" I gasped, my heart jumping into my throat at the word. My sister had become like a ghost to me, and I was desperate for any news he might share.
"Yes, Miss Bennet. I have a letter for you and one for your father when he arrives home." I dropped the purse I had been carrying to instantly snatch up the offered parchment.
"Jane, really," My mother snapped, picking up after me.
"No, by all means. Read it now," He encouraged me, shifting awkwardly. I sped through the opening, frowning.
My Dearest sister,
I am sending this letter with Mr. Darcy in the morning. He has business that will take him to Hertfordshire and then on to London in the morning and oddly enough, that business has an awful lot to do with you. I wish I had the time to write a longer missive, but alas, we are rather starved for time at the moment. If anyone besides yourself and Mr. Darcy is present, please do your best to not react at the following. Things in Kent have gone from bad to worse. I have done my best to protect the rest of you from my husband but certain realities have made going forward in this way an impossibility. There is more that must be done for the safety of my beloved sisters and our dear mother and father. I wish I could carry out these steps myself, but alas, I must call upon my best Seargent—you, my dear Jane—to act in my stead and save our family. Mr. Darcy will no doubt be able to fill you in on some of the particulars, but I shall summarize the whole of it here. You must convince papa to buy the townhouse my esteemed patroness Lady Catherine De Bourg wishes to sell to him. It will sound odd to him no matter how I attempt to explain it in my missive to him, but it must be done. The price is beyond reasonable, mama shall be thrilled beyond belief at the location and relative grandeur. It can easily be run on what the estate makes when it is in your hands, and papa can begin to set up a trust to help with the running of it all in case anything should happen to him. It is crucial that our family not rely on Mr. Collins for any sort of support or livelihood, no matter how small going forward. I have some small money saved away that I would be happy to put towards whatever moving costs papa will fret over. I know it shall be hard for you and for papa my dear, leaving your home, but I would not ask it of you if it were not absolutely paramount. Mama and the others will be more easily convinced. Lydia and Kitty will have a field day with mama when they find out where they are to live, to say nothing of the spectacle of the place itself. Mary will be happy as soon as she learns of the grand piano that comes with the house.
I know what you are no thinking, and I must insist: Do not fret for me, my dear. My patroness Catherine is keeping a watchful eye over me and my wellbeing just now.
I looked up from the missive smiling serenely at Mr. Darcy. Though not even halfway through, there was too much she wasn't telling me. "Mr. Darcy. Excuse my bad manners. You must be sore after your journey all morning. Perhaps a walk outside would help?"
"Jane, don't be ridiculous. It is snowing!" Mama insisted.
"You are right," I nodded to her assuredly. "The others won't wish to go. I'll take you myself, Mr. Darcy. I seem to recall that you enjoyed the path that leads from here towards Netherfield." I did my best not to wince at the estate's name, but the look on Mr. Darcy's face told me I had failed miserably at that task. "It is even more delightful with the trees and hedges covered in snow."
"That sounds like just the thing. Perhaps Mr. Bennet will have returned by the time we are back so that I might deliver his letter."
"I can pass it along to him, Mr. Darcy," My mother suggested, eyeing the pocket he had withdrawn my letter from.
"I couldn't possibly trouble you with that," he insisted strongly. "Especially when I should also like to get a recommendation on a book for my sister. He always had a knack for picking out books Li-Mrs. Collins enjoyed and I should like his advice on raising a similarly remarkable woman." That left my mother truly speechless as we donned our outerwear and gloves and stepped back out into the snow and cold.
"Have you finished the letter?" he asked quietly as we marched hurriedly away from any curious ears.
"Not in entirety, but I enough to know that something is truly wrong and I must know the truth immediately. Tell me honestly Mr. Darcy, how much danger has my sister been in this past year?" The look of anguish on his face told me all I needed to know. I shook my head, miserably.
"It should have been me. I am the oldest, he asked for me in the first place." I brought my hand to my lips. "I let her go like a lamb to the slaughter in my place, all for the foolish notion that a handsome boy was anything more. Forgive me, Mr. Darcy, in speaking so out of turn, but if you are involved in this scheme she mentions and more aware of her present situation than I, I have but no choice in being frank in finding the truth."
"She is not so alone as you might think. My aunt has taken a particular interest in her. Their relationship is..." he frowned. " I do not know how to describe it."
"The fearsome Lady Catherine De Bourg?" I asked, trying to rectify the fearsome woman whose reputation had been well known even before my cousin Collins's ramblings and a person whom Lizzy might enter into a positive relationship with.
"Your sister calls her Cate. It alarms my cousin and me at times, but the pair of them are, or lack of a better phrase, thick as thieves." My eyebrows rose.
"But she does need protection from him," I said, almost a question, seeking clarification. The look on his face was all I needed to know.
"I beg of you, I do not know how much protest your father will put up at my offer, particularly given Lizzy's insistence that we not tell him the whole story. You must convince him to take up the property."
"Lizzy does not wish father to know?" I pursed my lips for a moment, but I did not need him to explain in order to understand. "She is worried he will feel compelled to call Collins out. He would be killed."
"I believe that is her worry, yes."
"Can we at least tell him part of the truth? Suggest that Collins has made it clear this family won't be protected after he inherits. Focus on the financials of it all, leave Lizzy out of it?" Mr. Darcy nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes, yes that may work. Would you like to come with me to your father? Or simply speak with him afterward?"
"If you do not mind my presence, I'd like to be there, if only to help speed the process along. I don't like the thought of this all taking a minute longer than necessary, knowing that Lizzy's safety depends on it." Mr. Darcy agreed emphatically, but I could tell he was holding something back.
"Now, what aren't you telling me, Mr. Darcy?" He paused for quite some time before slowing to a halt and turning to face me.
"There are two things I feel compelled to tell you that I know your sister will not share. They are so clearly divergent from one another and of such different matters I do not know where to start. I suppose I may go about it by importance or chronologically, though I do not-"
"Mr. Darcy. Please. Just tell me."
"Your sister is expecting." Never had such delightful words filled me with such dread. I didn't need to know the whole story to understand why this was heartwrenching for Lizzy."
"She would never allow someone she loved to be put into a circumstance like the one you've intimated. If there is anything else I might do to help-"
"I will not hesitate to reach out."
"Thank you, sir."
"And the other thing?" He cleared his throat.
"You touched on it earlier, actually. When I am in London, preparing the townhouse for sale and inhabitation, I intend to visit my friend, Bingley. Though how much longer he will count me as a friend is... well... I'm afraid I must apologize to you, Miss Bennet. I allowed my own feelings and prejudices to affect the advice I gave my friend. He is sitting in a townhouse, still entirely in love with you, disparing in the thought that you do not, and never have felt similarly for him." I froze.
"I see."
"I intend to set things right when I see him. He deserves to know the truth of the matter." I slowly took a step forward as I inhaled deeply.
"I wish you the best of luck then, Mr. Darcy, for I hardly know what the truth is myself anymore. It was so long ago. A summer fancy, I fear. I would almost rather you say nothing, for I cannot promise any sort of reception if he were to return."
"All I ask is that you allow me to clear my conscious, and tell the truth as I know it, Miss Bennet. What happens after is entirely up to the pair of you, as it should have been then."
"I suppose I can hardly stop you from clearing your conscience, sir. Please, do not promise the gentleman anything."
"Of course, Miss Bennet."
"Forgive me for cutting this short, but if we turn back now, my father should be home." The gentleman immediately turned on the spot and took my arm, guiding me, that I may finish the letter from Lizzy as he led us to my home.
"I've news," My father said over the hubub of our meal. Mr. Darcy had been weakly implored by my mother to stay for dinner and she didn't seem to mind a whit when he declined the invitation. My father and I had closed ourselves off in his office for the remaining time between the gentleman's departure and the dinner bell, and I was pleased to see that my father had no intention of wasting time and getting to the matter at hand. We were barely bites into the first course.
"Is it to do with that awful man?'
"That awful man, my dear, has been instrumental in offering us a very generous business proposition of sorts from his aunt, our Lizzy's patroness.
"Are we finally to be allowed to visit Rosings?" My mother perked up at this. To tell her friends that she was to be a guest at the home of the famous, or at least infamous, Lady Catherine DeBourg would put quite the feather in her cap, but the reality, oh this was another matter entirely. I put down my fork to watch the reaction, knowing that as twisted as my stomach was at present, I wouldn't be eating much anyway.
"Lady Catherine and her brother are selling a townhouse." Lydia and Kitty immediately went from looking vaguely interested at the prospect of a trip to being bored once more and returned to their own conversation.
"I shall summarize in order to satisfy everyone's short attention spans. Lizzy is a friend to Lady Catherine's daughter, and Lady Catherine would like her to accompany Lady Anne into town as she comes out in the season. SHe thought we may wish to be closer to Lizzy during that time period, and has offered to sell us the townhouse." Forks clattered to the table.
"But..."
"The price is affordable, and the running of the place would be doable with the excess of our current home after a few changes are made to the budget."
"I don't understand," mama said finally, looking thoroughly confused.
"Congratulate us, my dear, we are the current owners of a townhouse on Berkeley Street." I thought my mother may forget to breathe for a moment, but the silence that had followed my father's proclamation was immediately gone as three silly women began to screech.
Lizzy was right. As soon as mama learned the address and thought about the access to the ton masters for her remaining unmarried children, she hadn't as much as asked the question of how we had afforded such an opulent purchase, and it hadn't occurred to Lydia or Kitty either. Mary still looked concerned but did not outright question our father particularly after I mentioned that Lizzy had written of a grand piano that came with the home.
"You may tell your friends on the marrow, but I have a desire to move as quickly as possible, so there will not be much time to revel in their jealousy, my dear," my father said callously. "I intend to move the majority of our household by the week's end.
"Six days?!" My mother shrieked.
"You all may as well begin packing this very night."
"Why so quickly?"
"I thought we ought to do it before I changed my mind." He returned. My mother did not question the timeline again after a comment like that. I sighed, thinking back to the conversation Mr. Darcy and I had had with papa. He did not believe us that there wasn't more to the story, not with both a near stranger and his eldest daughter so intent on a plan that affected them so very little, but he trusted the emphatic nature of Lizzy's letter, and Mr. Darcy's admittance that he had heard Mr. Collins make a callous statement about his disinterest in supporting his cousins after his father-in-law's passing. I was certain he still questioned why Mr. Darcy had chosen to get involved, but he had seen how much of a bargain this offer was, not to mention the eventual profit he could turn by moving his interests into town. I admit, I did not fully understand that part of the discussion between Mr. Darcy and my father, but it made sense to them, and papa had eventually agreed. Lizzy had asked me to ensure he would and he had. That was all that mattered to me.