A/N

Apologies for the long delay. Had to work on my thesis defence (Thankfully done successfully :).. now only a few formalities left ! So I should not be taking such a long break)

Now back to the story, The Netherfield visit seems to go on and on .. :(

(nearly 8K words) I am uploading it in two parts. This chapter and the next one hopefully on few hours. Do read in correct order. Getting back to storytelling after a month long hiatus was really challenging for me.. took nearly double the time to write this compared to the last chapters, but I had most fun writing these two chapters :). Some of you may find them juvenile but I do hope you like them !

There are many reflections and soliloquies, I seriously thought of renaming the story "Reflections and realizations" ; -))

Folks from Derbyshire do let me know if waters of river Wye are clear or not.. If they are not will remove the lyrical twist I added at one place : )

As always, to all readers/reviewers, thanks for reading and giving feedback, it is much appreciated. I am especially grateful to folks who kept visiting the story more than a month after I last posted. Kept me charged and motivated to press on as you guys are keen to know how we go on!

Reader CSgtKA -This goes out specially for you :)

TC

Book 2 - Chapter 7 (Part 3)

By the time the sun went down, Kitty's foot had swelled considerably and had started aching in earnest. Not wanting to leave her alone, Elizabeth took her dinner on a tray in Kitty's room. Night fell, but Kitty was too restless to sleep because of the pain. Maybe if I read aloud to her, it would help her to sleep, Elizabeth thought. In her quest to find something suitable to read, she decided to visit the Netherfield library. This late at night, she was expecting to find it empty but when she entered she found it occupied, by Mr. Darcy. He was standing next to a bookshelf perusing its contents and looked up as she came in.

He immediately came forward to meet her and enquired, "Good evening, Miss Elizabeth. How is Miss Catherine now? I hope she is more comfortable than earlier."

Elizabeth shook her head, "Sadly, no Mr. Darcy, her leg is paining a lot and she is having difficulty in sleeping."

"That is too bad." He smiled in sympathy, "Were you planning to read to her? Whenever Georgie is unwell, she finds it comforting if I read aloud to her."

Elizabeth was once again struck by his kindness to those under his care as she replied, "You are right, I did come down looking for something to read to her."

"Unfortunately, Bingley's library is not too well-stocked. Maybe I could help you locate something suitable. So, what it is that Miss Catherine finds interesting? Does she admire Wordsworth too, like her sister?" he raised his brow enquiringly.

"Not really, Sir. It is Janey and I, who are his admirers in the Bennet family." Elizabeth smiled impishly. "Kitty is rather more enamoured of Bard's comedies."

"Fortunately then, you have an easy choice before you, Madam." Darcy said ruefully, "There are only 'Much ado about nothing' and 'Twelfth Night' to choose from."

"I will take the 'Twelfth Night'. Elizabeth said. "It is too long ago since we sisters enacted the play together. Though I do hope, unlike previously, this time Kitty will find Viola's adventures soporific." She grinned.

Darcy chuckled and went to pick out the volume from the bookshelf. "Here you are." He said, offering it to Elizabeth. "I must say this is the first I am hearing of someone planning to use the play as a lullaby."

"Even I am trying the experiment for the first time, Sir. Wish me luck." Elizabeth said wryly as she took the book from him.

"Oh, I am sure you can do anything you put your mind to, Miss Elizabeth, even expertly turn a comedy into a soporific." He said, tongue firmly in cheek.

"I am overwhelmed at the faith you repose in me." Elizabeth twinkled up at him, "Anyway, thank you so much for your help and I will bid you good night." She curtsied and turned to leave but before she could reach the door, he called her back.

"Miss Elizabeth."

As she turned to look at him, she saw him pick another book from a nearby table. "I recently bought this from Mr. Templeton in Meryton. I hope it will give you some pleasure when you get a little time free from your nursing duties." He said, holding out the book to her.

As Elizabeth took it, she noticed it was one of her favourite volumes of Wordsworth. "But if you bought it recently would you not want to read it yourself?" She asked doubtfully.

"Please do not worry, I bought a few more books I was planning to read. I would offer them to you, but I don't think you would find 'The Complete English Farmer' as interesting." He smiled mischievously.

Shaking her head in amusement, she replied, "Then I will keep this book and thank you once again for your kindness. Good Night, Mr. Darcy."

"Good Night, Miss Elizabeth, and I sincerely hope that Miss Catherine starts feeling better soon." He said gently.

Hugging the books to her, Elizabeth hurried away with a dreamy smile. Near the staircase, she met Mr. Bingley.

He looked concerned at finding her downstairs. "Miss Elizabeth, Is everything well? How is Miss Catherine? Do you need anything?"

Elizabeth was touched at his apparent anxiety and tried to comfort him, "Please do not be disturbed Mr. Bingley, everything is under control. Kitty is having some trouble sleeping due to the discomfort. So, I came down to pick up something from the library that I can read to her."

He looked at the books in her arms and said, "I do hope you found something interesting. Regrettably, the library here leaves much to be desired."

"No need to worry, Sir. Mr. Darcy helped me find just the right book." Elizabeth smiled.

"That is alright then," Said a relieved Bingley. "If you need anything during the night, please do not hesitate to ask. I have also instructed Mrs. Nichols to assign a maid for Miss Catherine for the night."

"Yes, we have already met Molly." Elizabeth smiled, "Kitty and I are very grateful to you and Miss Bingley for your kind consideration," She added, though she believed that Miss Bingley had nothing to do with the excellent care they were receiving from the Netherfield staff. If Miss Bingley had her way, most probably they would have been left to survive on bread and water, she thought cheekily.

"Please do not mention it. This is the least I.. umm.. we could do." Bingley hesitated as if wanted to say something more, but then contented himself with wishing her a good night.

~oooOOooo~

An irritated Darcy decided to retire almost an hour after Elizabeth had left. In all that time, he had turned but two pages of the book in front of him. He had been too busy reminiscing about their meeting and how her smile turned her eyes into warm pools of honey in which he would not mind taking a long dip. He grimaced at the besotted trend his thoughts had taken and got up to leave. You really need to get a grip on yourself, Darcy, he muttered as he picked up the candle. The good intentions, however, lasted only as long as it took him to reach the blue room on the way to his chamber. While walking past Miss Catherine's room, he heard Elizabeth humming a song very softly, and involuntarily his steps slowed. Well, well! even Elizabeth is not inventive enough to induce somnolence through Bard's comedies, he grinned. Soon, however, his attention shifted to the song. Though he could not hear the words, he was enchanted by the lilting tune. Without thinking about how his actions might be construed, he leaned towards the door and closed his eyes to hear more clearly. Suddenly, he was assailed by an image of Elizabeth, sitting in the library at Pemberley and singing so, to a dark-haired, dark-eyed child in her arms. The longing he felt, the desire for the image to be real, was so acute that his eyes sprang open andhe unconsciously took a step back in his agitation. His father had told him that his heart would know when he found the woman meant for him. Well, his heart had been speaking for a while now, it was his mind that had been suppressing the voice, urging him to be cautious. After all, his father had not told him what to do if the one woman he wanted with all his being, not be acceptable as Mrs. Darcy to his friends, family, and society. However, it now appeared that his ever cautious self was losing the battle, roundly, if his subconscious longings were anything to go by.

~oooOOooo~

The next morning Mrs. Bennet, along with Mary, visited Netherfield ostensibly to enquire after Kitty's health. In reality, she mostly wanted to assess Kitty's condition, and if possible, hurry her daughters back home. For, there would be no chance of the gentlemen visiting Longbourn till the time Kitty and Lizzy were stuck here at Netherfield. And to think Jane and Mr. Bingley's courtship had been coming along so nicely, she thought in vexation. Now Jane too was suffering from this strange affliction. For herself, she could not see any signs of a cold, but Janey had kept to her chambers since last night and had refused to visit here today. Was it too much for a mother to expect her daughters to take better care of themselves? First Kitty sprained her ankle, and now Jane and her cold. These girls have no care for my poor nerves, she muttered as she got down from the carriage at Netherfield.

Sensing her irritation, Mary tried to be as inconspicuous as possible to prevent exacerbating her temper, hoping to avoid any embarrassing incidents during their visit. Miss Bingley was anyway intolerably rude and condescending. God forbid if Mama's behaviour gave her any further ammunition, she shuddered inwardly as the butler led them to the drawing room and announced their arrival. She looked around the room and noticed that, as expected, both her sisters were absent.

Bingley came forward to greet them, "Good Morning, Mrs. Bennet, Miss Mary."

When the greetings had been exchanged he continued, "I know you would be eager to meet Miss Catherine and see how she is doing. I would take you to her as soon as you have taken some refreshments. In the meanwhile, I am happy to inform you that she is feeling much better since yesterday."

"I was confident that you and your family would take excellent care of my daughters, Mr. Bingley. Though, I wish we had not inconvenienced you all in such a manner." Gushed, Mrs. Bennet.

"It is no trouble at all Madam. Truth be told, it is Miss Elizabeth who has been caring so diligently for her sister." He continued pensively, "I only rue that I could not prevent the mishap and save Miss Catherine from all the pain and distress."

Mary shook her head reprovingly, "It is not at all your fault, Sir. Kitty herself mentioned that she was not paying attention when the accident occurred." After a little hesitation she continued, "Mr. Bingley, if possible, we would first like to visit with Kitty and Lizzy ."

"Of course, Miss Mary, please come along." Bingley said, as he started towards the door.

~oooOOooo~

When they entered Kitty's room, they found her taking a nap and Elizabeth sitting in a nearby chair, reading.

"How is she ?" Mrs. Bennet asked Elizabeth. In consideration to her sleeping daughter, she had tried to keep her voice down. Unfortunately, she was inherently incapable of whispering, and her voice came out loud enough to wake Kitty up from her slumber.

"She is much better today, last night though, she was very restless and had disturbed sleep," Elizabeth replied.

"Yes, the pain had reduced quite a lot since last night," Added Kitty groggily. "Though, it ached dreadfully earlier today, when I accidentally poked the sore foot with the other one." She smiled sheepishly.

"Do take more care Kitty dear," Mrs. Bennet admonished, "It is good that you are getting better. Please do not do anything that sets your recovery back in any manner. The longer you both stay here, the longer poor Mr. Bingley would have to stay away from Longbourn and dear Jane."

Elizabeth saw Kitty's suddenly white face and wished there were some way to stop her mother from forever prosing on about her misplaced hopes for Janey and Mr. Bingley.

Unfortunately, their mother has not finished as yet and carried on in a similar vein, "Had Jane been staying here with you, I would have wished you to stay here as long as possible but she just had to get a cold right at this time. Though, I could not see any signs of it." She said in annoyance.

At that, Elizabeth looked at Mary with a raised brow, who smiled back innocently.

"Could we not take Kitty back with us today? I will ask John coachman to be extra careful while driving the carriage." Mrs. Bennet said hopefully

There was a shocked silence after her statement. Then a horrified Mary could not prevent herself from exclaiming, "You cannot be serious, Mama! It is all of three miles. Mr. Jones had insisted that we keep Kitty's foot immobile. We cannot jeopardise her wellbeing for your impatience for something which may exist only in your hopes."

Mary came to a halt realising her mistake. But before she could apologise to her mother, Mrs. Bennet burst out in anger, "How dare you speak so to me, Miss? It is disgraceful that you have no respect for your elders and betters. But no matter, I will have my say and the least I can expect is to be obeyed by my daughters."

It was left to Elizabeth to smoothen out things in the interest of keeping the peace and preventing a noisy scene in someone else's home. "We all know Mama that you want only the best for us, but Mr. Jones did ask Kitty to keep her foot as still as possible. Even a small jolt while travelling may cause irreparable harm."

Despite her almost fanatic obsession for getting things settled between Jane and Mr. Bingley, Mrs. Bennet was not lost to all sense. And though she often gave impressions to the contrary, she did care about the wellbeing of her daughters. Elizabeth pressed in with her advantage, as she saw her mother waver, "In any case, we should be home in another three or four days. And people do say, absence makes the heart grow fonder," She jested weakly, "Who knows this enforced absence may make Mr. Bingley understand his heart that much sooner."

They all waited in a tense silence till Mrs. Bennet nodded and said, "You may well be right Lizzy, anyway we cannot comprise on Kitty's health," she sniffed as she glanced at Mary, who grimaced apologetically. Ignoring her, Mrs. Bennet went to Kitty's side. Brushing her hair back from her forehead she said, "Now you take care, my dear. Get well soon and come back home."

Asking a maid to sit with Kitty, Elizabeth accompanied her mother and Mary downstairs. As they were leaving Kitty's room, Mary caught hold of Elizabeth's hand and mouthed a thank you to her for so deftly handling a situation she had almost ruined in her frustration. Elizabeth gave her a smile and a quick hug and then the sisters followed their mother to the drawing room.

~oooOOooo~

As soon as Mrs. Bennet and Miss Mary had left with Bingley for Miss Catherine's chamber, Miss Bingley had started her diatribe against the 'encroaching' lady and her 'deplorable' manners. Frankly, Darcy could not understand why Miss Bingley was going on in this manner. He had not observed anything exceptionable in poor Mrs Bennet's conduct today. Unable to bear her malicious tirade for more than a few minutes, he excused himself on the pretext of getting a book he had promised to lend Miss Mary. In reality, he had not made any such promise. Yesterday, while walking in the rose garden, he had entered into a discussion with her on the legends associated with Poseidon. She had expressed an interest when he had mentioned that he was reading one such in the play 'Hippolytus'. She may very well appreciate the book, he thought, as he made good his escape.

When he was coming back from his room with the all-important book, the silence in the corridor was suddenly shattered by Mrs. Bennet's angry voice. Her strident tones and what she said was so reminiscent of his Aunt Lady Catherine that for a moment he felt stunned. It was an epiphanic moment for him. He was assailed by so many thoughts and emotions at once that he decided to step back in his room for a while, to sit and contemplate a little.

Few sentences of an angry tirade not even meant for his ears was all it took for Fitzwilliam Darcy to realize what a hypocrite he had been all this while, even if unconsciously. A tirade, which made him realize that in essentials how much alike his aunt, Mrs. Bennet, and so many society ladies were, grasping at any chance fate put in their way, to settle the future of their offspring and their own. Because that is how their society forced them to behave. Truth be told, his aunt, and many other society matrons from the upper ten thousand had much less justification to behave the way they did than someone like Mrs. Bennet. She at least was facing the very real possibility of being left destitute in the future, along with her daughters, because someone, sometime had been extremely unfair to entail away her home and only means of survival. What need his aunt had to connive for a marriage between him and Anne, two completely disinterested and incompatible individuals, other than greed and ambition? And while he had never looked at his aunt with approbation, it was also true that he had never looked at her with the disdain he had reserved for Mrs. Bennet initially. Society was completely accepting of his aunt and her compatriots for the same behaviour they deplored in Mrs. Bennet. The reality was, while Uncle Henry would today look askance at Mrs. Bennet and her scheming ways, he would have gladly accepted Darcy's marriage to the conniving Lady Westmore's daughter last year, just because Lord Westmore was his crony from student days. And he himself had been part of this hypocrisy and double standards so naturally, all the while feeling proud of himself for being fairly just and open minded!

Now he could only shake his head in amazement at his misplaced pride. And to think all this while he had been condescending enough to believe that he would be doing Elizabeth a favour if he ever deigned to offer her marriage. That he would be lowering the Darcy name if he connected himself to someone as ill-bred as Mrs. Bennet. Oh lord, the sheer arrogance of the thought!

The stark truth was, if ever Elizabeth deigned to marry him, she would have the bad luck of connecting herself to someone like his aunt who was every bit as materialistic as Mrs. Bennet without an iota of her kindness and empathy! Unlike Elizabeth, at least he would have the good fortune to know that he was genuinely accepted, and for himself. For all his material endowments, even Mrs. Bennet had held him in aversion till he had proved himself worthy, he chuckled to himself. She was becoming his favourite person all of a sudden. Not only had she made him realize a number of misconceptions about himself, but inadvertently she had also cleared his misgivings and worries regarding his heart's desire.

His path was now clear, Fitzwilliam Darcy would no longer be worrying about the expectations of a brazenly hypocritical society. He would follow the path that would lead to his and Georgie's happiness. While he knew that Elizabeth was the one for him, he also believed and hoped that the Bennet sisters together would help Georgie come out of her shell.

The only problem now was for him to find the way to please a woman really worthy of being pleased. But he had always been determined if nothing else, and he had faith that by the time he was done with his efforts, Elizabeth would also know that he was the only one for her.

He would do it too, as he encouraged himself, his gaze fell on his watch. He had been sitting here for nearly half an hour! The guests may even have left as he sat here reflecting. He got up hurriedly and went out of his room.

When he entered the drawing room, his gaze immediately sought Elizabeth. She too looked at the door at the same time and their gazes met and held. With his doubts laid to rest, it was as clear to him as the waters of river Wye, that he was contemplating the future Mistress of Pemberley. Now, he could only rue his foolish misgivings and the time he had wasted in his vacillations. No matter, thanks to Mrs. Bennet he was now on the right course, he smiled at the thought.

Elizabeth had looked up as Mr. Darcy entered, as their gazes collided she felt a shiver go down her spine. There was an unfamiliar intensity in his gaze today, he was looking at her almost as if… he was seeing her for the very first time. As she tried to make sense of his behaviour, he suddenly smiled at her. Elizabeth smiled back almost involuntarily.

The brief interlude was ruined by Miss Bingley's piercing voice as she called out to him, "Mr. Darcy, how late you are, Sir, and where is the book you went to get?"

For a moment he was nonplussed, he had totally forgotten about the book in his hurry to get here! "Er.. I seem to have misplaced the book; I was searching for it and.. lost track of the time."

"How strange! I will check with the maid who cleans your room. She may have kept it somewhere after dusting," Miss Bingley replied.

"There is no need for that, Miss Bingley. Maybe I left it in Bingley's study last time or Hughes might have keep it somewhere. I am sure it would soon be located." He said firmly as he certainly did not want a poor maid to be importuned for his dissembling.

Not wanting to discuss the matter any further, he made his way towards the other side of the room, near Bingley and .. Mrs. Bennet.

When he reached their side, Mrs Bennet was holding forth on her favourite topic - Miss Bennet! She was saying, "..and it is too bad dear Jane is suffering from a cold otherwise she could have stayed here with Kitty to look after her. She is the one who usually cares for her sisters whenever any of them is feeling under the weather. She has so much of tender regard for her sisters."

For a moment Darcy was affronted for Elizabeth who was caring so diligently for her sister, then he remembered the good turn the lady had done him and his good humour was restored.

As Bingley gave Mrs. Bennet only a polite smile in response to her eulogy of Miss Bennet, he took it upon to address her, "You madam, must feel very proud to have raised five such accomplished, empathetic and lovely daughters. All of them are uniquely talented, whether it is knowledge of Greek classics," he quirked a smile at Mary and continued, "or even the knowledge of farming practices. But according to me, their greatest virtue is their empathy for their fellow beings and love and care for each other. And for that Madam you are to be commended to have brought all of them up in such a manner. You really do not need to worry; Miss Elizabeth is looking after Miss Catherine with complete care."

When Darcy had started his defence of Elizabeth and her other sisters, he did not know that he will also get the very rare privilege of striking Mrs. Bennet speechless. But he did achieve the feat, even if inadvertently.

Poor Mrs. Bennet could not decide whether he was taunting her by talking about Greek and farming, knowledge of which no self-respecting mother would ever acknowledge in her daughters or was really praising her for her daughters kindness and accomplishments. She tried to read the truth from his expression and could only discern sincerity and admiration. Feeling very confused, she thanked him for his kindness in a subdued voice and she and Mary took their leave soon after.

~oooOOooo~

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