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Note: This is Thursday morning. The assembly was on Tuesday the week prior.
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The day had dawned clear and unexpectedly warm and mild for so late in the season. Being as such, one of the maids had opened many of the windows to the front parlor. They would remain so until the time advanced to the time when callers may arrive. The parlor's windows looked upon the gravel approach directly. It was crucial that the room be refreshed before the lingering odors of John's indisposition affected the room more fully.
'Jane?' Kitty, calling her softly to attention.
'Yes, Kitty?' Jane responded.
'Would you be so kind as to request a moment of time to speak with your uncle on my behalf? ...and would you attend with me? With Mama being so grievously ill… I would like to be apprised of who would be my guardian should she…when she… I do not believe that Mr. Bennett would be amenable to remain as my guardian. I am well aware that I will go where I am told…but…?' Kitty said haltingly while grappling with the enormity of all before her.
'I understand, dearest. I do have a fair idea of what may come to pass from the times when Uncle has asked for my assistance when his copy clerks were overburdened. Even so, he would know best, and might be able to better assist you with an improved arrangement of some sort. I have every faith that he will wish to speak with you. It is my fondest hope to keep the Bennett sisters together for as long standing as we might.' comforted Jane. 'Is that a carriage I hear?' Jane asked, as she moved with haste towards the nearest window. 'It is far early for callers. I pray nothing is amiss.' mumbled Jane. She had scarcely had time to recognize the carriage as belonging to the gentlemen currently at Netherfield before a commotion from the front parlor drew her attention.
…***...
Once more, Charlotte was greatly overwrought. She had spent some moments debating within her mind if she might be able to become faint from the severity of emotional fluctuations over the past hours.
Currently, she was exceptionally cross. Agitated at her father for not coming to attend his only son and heir. Vexed at her mother for not requiring that her father come to attend him. Exasperated at her brother for whatever fool notion had led him to risk himself in such a fashion. Piqued at Jonathon for dying, as if he had any choice in the matter. If she were fully candid, she might confess that she was just the slightest bit displeased with God Himself. She was nearly a trifle tetchy at her dearest friends, the Bennett sisters. However, before that flower had opportunity to bloom, she chastised herself, 'They have been nothing but kind. Oh! I must be having a hysteria.' It was at that moment she had ceased her walking about the room and, in err, stopped upon John's most guarded spot.
'Not you! No! God's teeth! Not you!' John shouted in yet another irascible outburst.
Charlotte could no longer contain her sensibilities. 'John Robert Lucas, I care little what is hagering your wits! You will not vociferate at me like a pig in the garden!' She called back at her brother, just as violently as he had expressed to her. At once, she was in utter chagrin at her behavior.
Charlotte was immediately further laden with feelings of consternation and self-censure. She made every effort to make all due haste from the room, her usually calm countenance was quite dismantled. Although it was her every intent to flee, her attempt landed her firmly in the various arms of the Bennett sisters, who had made an equal level of haste to assist their friend.
…***...
The gentlemen's party had scarcely had the opportunity to leave the carriage when James approached, making all due speed.
Jimmy bowed to the gentlemen, 'Pardon me gentlemen, but I do not believe that the Bennetts are receiving callers as of yet.'
Fitzwilliam Darcy turned slightly towards Charles, the mild smirk apparent.
Before any further measures could be taken, a harsh voice could be easily discerned through the open windows. 'Not you! No! God's teeth! Not you!'
For but a moment, all men held their place. James was the first to act. He called to the driver of the carriage to secure the horses as he turned heel, then broke into a run around the corner without further comment.
Charles stepped forward to assist the driver in the horses' securement.
'John Robert Lucas, I care little what is hagering your wits, you will not vociferate at me like a pig in the garden!' was heard by all through the windows.
Richard was, at once, intrigued.
The remaining men stood at a loss, as useful as an unsorted knot. There was little inclination to alert the house of their untimely arrival. Their eager ebullience in paying call so dreadfully early resulted in their bearing witness to an incident that would have been better left unseen. It was clearly a matter of the family, better left unobserved. Yet, what to do? If there was a man standing who had an inkling of how to extricate them from their rather peculiar predicament, unnoticed, he remained mute. Standing silent with the sounds of their withdrawing carriage being their only sounds about them. Although, it was clear that the incident within the household was clear from over.
…***...
In her haste, Charlotte collided with her friends. A tangle of arms and hands and skirts ensued. Hands reaching out in hope of providing some easement in her distress.
Yet one of the Bennett sisters did not join the others in their circle of succor about their dear friend, as Miss Elizabeth had been able to skirt Charlotte's retreat. Her focus was addressing the recent display of rough manners of one John Lucas. To her way of looking upon the matter, if he was sufficiently well to sit in company, then he was right enough to keep a civil tongue. Choler filled, Lizzy was prepared fully to unleash the fullness of her ire upon the man who dared speak to her dear, sweet Charlotte in such a brutish manner.
She turned to face him, her feet set firm upon the place upon the floor that John had been protecting so firmly.
The change in John's countenance was swift and undeniable. His abrupt change in manner was as clear as it was alarming. In less than the time it took for Lizzy to fully discern his transformation of demeanor, John stood. His legs trembled minutely, as if his knees might fail him. Even so, he stood tall in a manner that one might not take note of his prior injuries. He appeared to take little note of any person beyond that of the woman who had charmed him beyond all reason. 'You are here, my love!' he said, his words more discernible than they had been. As if it had been possible to shock the persons within the room further, John proceeded to kneel in front of her and reached to clasp her hands. 'I held such dread that the waters had taken you from me.' John's words were not as clear as they were in his own mind, but were most certainly sufficiently succinct that no question could be had about his full meaning.
Elizabeth stood as if struck dumb. Duly convinced that his mind was quite addled. Even so, she knew not how to proceed without the possibility of further provoking his madness. She made her utmost attempt at fixing a countenance of peace about her. Her eyes flit to each of the rooms' occupants, a silent plea of assistance to each. Each gaze had been returned with equal astonishment. The exception was Mary. Her countenance bore a heartbreaking mix of outrage and misery.
'In vain I have struggled! It will not do! I cannot allow matters to continue as they are. My feelings will no longer be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. In declaring myself thus I am fully aware that I will be going expressly against the wishes of your brother, and that of your defenders. I beg of you, Mary Bennett. Will you end my suffering and become my wife?'
Elizabeth was aghast. She knew at once how she must act. Although she was not fully certain how her actions would be received about the room. Then she saw it. A glimpse of a gentleman's coat outside the window. There were further witnesses to this imbroglio. She was utterly ruined, and not even Mischief would be capable of extricating her from this debacle.
There was but one thing to do. She straightened her back, took a deep breath, and released his hands. Then, took three clear steps back, giving a more acceptable distance. 'At times such as these, I believe it is expected that I should thank your compliments. I am very sensible at the honor of your proposal, but it is impossible for me to accept.'
'Why ever not, my dearest Mary?'
With this, Elizabeth looked across the room at Mary and was most alarmed at what she saw. If she had thought to have witnessed her sister in a state of utmost agitation previously, she was most mistaken. She stood fully colored up, from the neckline of her morning gown to her hairline and even the tips of her ears, a shade nearest to purple as she had ever seen. At once she was uncertain if she was more concerned about the well being of her sister or what behavior she might exhibit towards John, if given the opportunity. Her eyes then drifted to Charlotte and glimpsed a display as equally alarming.
'As I am over here! ...You…. You…noxious cur!' Mary shrieked in a most unladylike manner as she began to pitch the nearest cushions at him. At his head, most likely, although her aim has haphazard at best. Once she had run out of cushions and had reached out towards the figurines, Mrs. Annesley appeared as if from the ether and half pulled, half carried her from the room.
…***...
While John was speaking, the room was quiet as a pin. Not a sound was heard as the women at the door had entered fully. It remained as such as Lizzy responded to his maladroit proposal. The results of the fiasco were still, as yet, shockingly tame as Mary launched into a rightly deserved fit of pique fully aimed at one John Lucas.
It was only once Mrs. Annesley had forcibly removed Mary from the room, after she was interrupted from seeking an improvement in munitions, that the consequences of what had been seen and heard were made more clear.
The words were intended to be soft spoken, to be sure, but were said in such a quiet moment as to echo through the room as thunder. 'Charles? I fear our appearance may add complexity to an already delicate matter.' said a man's voice from the other side of the window.
In a hasty rush of skirts, the women flew into action. All remaining Bennett girls made haste to pull the sashes down. 'Jane, go dress to receive Mr. Bingley. Kitty, you go as well, we cannot possibly turn them away now. I can finish here.' insisted Lizzy. 'I shall check on Mary, and we may be quickly behind you.' she said as Jane and Kitty made their way above stairs.
Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment. Her hands shook. She must have been trembling elsewhere as well, as she could hear the rustling of her skirts. She made every attempt to not focus on the colossal dysfunction that was occurring about them.
John sat upon the floor in a most ungraceful manner. His back leaning against front of a settee, knees raised, wrists on legs, head in hands. Nearly every cushion that had been placed with such thought about the room were scattered closely about him. 'What have I done?' John moaned. His words were not as clear as they were before, but Charlotte understood enough.
Charlotte had stood watch as the kerfuffle unfolded. Her calm had been in a state of high vexation for some hours. Her customary good nature and insights were not currently in good order. She had witnessed in abject horror as her dear brother may have lay waste to nearly all. He had most certainly had quashed and good will held towards him in the most discomfiting manner imaginable. It would not shock her in the least if they gave them both the cut direct. In the very least, her brother would no longer be greeted warmly within the lands of Longbourn. In a fit of most unfortunate timing, had he also lay waste to any intentions that may have been by the gentlemen who were calling? She heard him moan, 'What have I done?', and was shaken from her silence.
'What have you done? How can you make such an offer, and not already grasp the meaning? You have taken what can honestly be held as a high point in the life of every young woman and sullied it! ...and if proposing to a woman in full view of her family is not sufficient disgrace, you queried the wrong one! What in the name of all that is Holy is the matter with you? How can you be as a brother to them, to Jonathon, and not know one from the other? There is not a person who lives in all of Merryton that was not aware of which girl you held such fondness for! ...and carrying on like a bleater! How can you be so beastly! If Jonathon were here, he would call out, and you would rightly have earned it! By Jove! I would clean the barking irons! Although I do believe there would be many hands to aid me.' Charlotte raged, her composure clearly cast to shreds.
Somewhere within her tirade, Elizabeth stirred from her introspection and watched the scene before her unfold. 'Charlotte. Take heed! I beg you to look at your brother. His mind is yet very much addled.' Elizabeth pleaded, the windows forgotten.
Charlotte looked fully at her brother,his eyes looking very much as the look of a child; a crestfallen child. 'Oh heavens! You are not as returned to us as fully as I had imagined, still very much the slow-top you are. Oh! Could this be any further mucked?'
Elizabeth stood with one hand at her waist, her other hand firmly placed at the bridge of her nose. 'Charlotte, do you believe it wise to further challenge the fates?' she asked flatly.
The ladies looked only to each other. The stare did not last long before the strain could no longer be withstood. It is uncertain which of the two began to giggle at the absurdity. A failed attempt was made to suppress such behavior. It did not last long, and the two were able to regain their composure soon enough.
'Do you believe he is well enough to travel home? He cannot remain here.'
'You are right, he cannot. If he is not sufficiently sound to make the way home, perhaps he could be moved to the tack room?' Elizabeth said quietly as the two left the room.
Left fully to himself, John remained seated on the floor. Eyes down, head in hands, as a tear slipped free. 'Johnathon, forgive me, as I have been a fool.' he whispered.
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Glossary:
Irascible - having or showing a tendency to be easily angered
Vociferate - shout, complain, or argue loudly or vehemently
Tripe - nonsense
Choler - anger or irascibility
Imbroglio - an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation
Maladroit - ineffective or bungling
Bleater - speaking blindly without paying attention, like a sheep would
Barking irons - dueling pistols
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A very large credit and nod to the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in this chapter.
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** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. However, the original characters, plot, story, authors notes, and comments are copyright protected and all rights are retained by the author. Permission is NOT granted for use on any other website. The download of this story, sharing it, or discussing of it on other websites is also prohibited by copyright protection. **
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