Jest Chapter 13, a pride and prejudice fanfic

I'm pleased that most of you are happy that LC is not a homicidal maniac. There was only one exception. Too bad. Not everyone will like everything.

You'll be starting to see more of D&E again. Enjoy.

~~J~~

Aftermath

Silence reigned in the drawing-room for several minutes after Lady Catherine retired, with everyone digesting the scene they had witnessed.

Eventually, the Earl of Matlock addressed Anne. 'I suppose the first order of business should be to inform the staff that you are now the Mistress of Rosings. Then we need to consider how to deal with my sister and Mrs Jenkinson.'

'And Doctor Brown,' Doctor Humphries reminded the Earl.

'Doctor Brown? Whatever for?'

'He was the doctor who prescribed the tonic to Miss de Bourgh. I believe an interview with the gentleman is warranted.'

The Earl rubbed his forehead. 'Yet another suspect. I wonder if he will turn out to be evil, or simply a sycophantic incompetent.'

Anne came out of her own reverie and suggested, 'based on everything that happened today, I strongly suspect the latter.' She added in a chagrined tone of voice, 'I was convinced that Mother wanted me drugged deliberately. It never occurred to me that she could have a foolish faith in Doctor Brown.'

Richard chuckled. 'I suspect that she told the doctor to make you better and expected him to do so. After all, no one goes against her stated wishes.' He grinned. 'Then it was simply a matter for her to insist that you should take the medicine which had been prescribed.'

'But I told her that it was making me ill,' Anne ground out in frustration.

'Anne, you do not have a degree in medicine. You cannot possibly know what is good for you. Now be quiet and take your medicine, and no more back-talk. I will not tolerate your insubordination,' Richard declared in near perfect mimicry of Lady Catherine.

'It sounds almost as if you had been in the room at the time.' Richard's antics raised a small smile on Anne's lips.

The Colonel eyed the bottle which the doctor was still holding. 'Doctor, have you checked the contents of the bottle yet?'

'I had a sniff, but could not detect anything obviously dangerous.'

'I would like to try an experiment. Might I have the bottle,' Richard requested, holding out his hand.

Once the doctor handed over the bottle, Richard removed the stopper and sniffed. After looking thoughtful for a moment, he raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip. The doctor let out a gasp, to which Richard replied with a smile, 'I know, it is bad form to drink directly from a bottle.'

'That was not why I was concerned.'

'Anne was supposed to have a dose every day. One sip was not going to hurt me. But I had to confirm my suspicion, since it smells exactly like the vile concoction peddled by Doctor D.R. Harris in St James Street, as a pick-me-up. The taste confirmed it.'

'But it kills pot-plants…'

'Alcohol will do that every time.'

'But if it is harmless, why did it make me ill? It cannot be a pick-me-up, since it made me nauseous and tired.' Anne asked in confusion.

Richard shrugged. 'It is mainly used as a stimulant by gentlemen who overindulged the night before. Since you did not overindulge…'

Anne fumed, 'I am going to kill that incompetent doctor…'

'Miss de Bourgh, there may be another factor to consider,' Doctor Humphries interrupted the incipient tirade.

'Which factor?'

'Some of my colleagues have been conducting a new research. It seems that for some people, substances which are perfectly harmless for the majority of people, can make them ill… even kill some of them. Perhaps that is the situation we have here.'

'What kind of substances?'

'Have you heard of rose catarrh? Some people have renamed it to hay-fever. While that is a relatively harmless variant it is most distressing to the sufferers. One colleague told me about a patient who died after eating fish stew.'

'Tainted fish can do that,' the Earl remarked phlegmatically.

'There was no tainted fish involved. Several people ate the same stew, and all the ingredients had been finely chopped. It was statistically impossible for only one person to have received all the pieces of fish that were tainted, and no one else to have received any. That man had only a few mouthfuls, before he keeled over and died.'

Anne asked feeling rather curious, 'and you are saying that everyone else who ate the stew was perfectly fine? Not the slightest symptoms of food poisoning?'

Doctor Humphries nodded. 'Precisely. Which means that it is likely that one of the ingredients disagrees with you. Obviously not fatally, but enough to make you feel ill and tired.'

Darcy had listened quietly to the exchange, opined, 'while the tonic might be harmless, it was not doing Anne any good, since it did not improve her health. Why would Doctor Brown continue to prescribe it for all these years? To my mind, that is sheer incompetence.'

'Perhaps the tonics changed over the years, but since I was not taking them, I would not know.'

'Darcy, you know how overbearing your aunt can be. She expected the doctor to cure Anne, therefore he had to prescribe something. I doubt she would have accepted it, if he had said that somethings only time can heal.' The Earl was getting tired of this discussion.

While he was relieved that his sister was not attempting to murder her daughter, he was disconcerted that he had believed her to be capable of such an action. The realisation of how low his opinion of Lady Catherine was, troubled the Earl. Living amongst London society had made him overly cynical if he could contemplate such an action. This knowledge did not sit well with him.

'But there is nothing more we can do about the doctor tonight. Therefore I think it wise to call your senior staff to attend us. They can pass the message onto the others. There is a new Mistress at Rosings.

~~J~~

Early the following morning, Darcy went for a walk, disregarding a heavy fog, or possibly a light drizzle. It was hard to tell the difference. But despite the weather, it felt good to be outside in the clean air. The atmosphere inside the house had been stifling, after the revelations of the previous evening.

He had just passed the gates to Rosings, when he spied two ladies taking a stroll. His heart skipped a beat when he recognised Elizabeth. On seeing her, he admitted to himself that he had hoped to encounter the lady. He needed a sympathetic ear to discuss the latest happenings, particularly with one who had an outside perspective.

He increased his pace and soon caught up with the women, who turned at the sound of his approaching footsteps.

'Good morning, Mrs Collins, Miss Bennet,' he greeted them as he politely tipped his hat and bowed.

The ladies returned his greeting, and Charlotte invited Darcy to join them in their walk. He was pleased to offer his arms to the ladies as they continued down the lane.

'How is your family, Mr Darcy?' Elizabeth asked obliquely.

'Well enough.' Darcy started, but then did not know how to continue.

Charlotte observed his hesitation and offered, 'Mr Darcy, we are already aware of at least part of the situation. I can assure you of our discretion, if you should wish to unburden yourself.'

'Thank you, Mrs Collins. I admit to feeling unsettled. Part of me is perturbed because Lady Catherine did indeed try to usurp Anne's inheritance. But according to her, she thought that the medicine, which Anne refused to take, would improve her health. Apparently, she wished for Anne to be in perfect health, so that I would marry her and take her to Pemberley, leaving my aunt in charge of Rosings.'

'It must be a relief to know that Lady Catherine was not trying to harm your cousin,' Elizabeth suggested, although she was surprised at the stab of pain caused by his casual mention of Lady Catherine's desire for him to marry his cousin.

'We still have to prove that the medicine was harmless, but I am inclined to believe it to be so.'

'Then what is it that troubles you, Mr Darcy?'

Darcy sighed, and admitted, 'I am troubled that I could so easily believe that my aunt would harm her daughter.'

'Mr Darcy, your cousin believed that her mother was trying to harm her. Anne was given this tonic for years, and when she discovered that it was the medicine which was making her ill, Lady Catherine still insisted that she should take it. What was your cousin supposed to think? Only a fool would insist that Anne should continue taking a tonic which was doing her harm, unless there was a more sinister reason. And Lady Catherine seems to be quite intelligent.'

'Unfortunately, she is also extremely opinionated and refuses to have her decisions questioned. And even when she is proven wrong, she finds it difficult to reverse her position. I suppose that does make her a fool. But other things came to light as well,' he mentioned, before proceeding to relate the events of the previous evening regarding Mrs Jenkinson.

'Poor Daisy. How is she? I should go and see her,' exclaimed Charlotte.

'She was improving last night, and Doctor Humphries is looking after her. He feels that she should be completely recovered in a day or two.'

'Thank heavens. I had not thought that Mrs Jenkinson could do such a thing. She seemed so quiet and subservient that I barely noticed her presence.' Elizabeth was relieved and confused. She mused, 'lately everyone seems to be quite different from what I thought of them on first impression. I wonder if my judgment has always been this bad? I used to pride myself on the accuracy of my observations.'

'Miss Elizabeth, I have no wish to offend, but have you considered that your experience is quite limited? As your mother said, you dine with four and twenty families, and of course you are familiar with your tenants, as well as the merchants in Meryton. But other than that, you have not met a great number of people.'

Elizabeth sighed. 'I feel almost like Jane, whom I always considered naïve, compared to my cynical outlook. Our neighbours led me to believe that most people are moderately nice. They have their quirks and foibles, but the worst character traits I have previously encountered were ignorance, pride and arrogance.' She gave him a sly look, before turning serious again, and sighed. 'That of course was before Mr Wickham. But even he did not prepare me for the kind of machinations which seem to be common in your circle of society, Mr Darcy.'

'Miss Elizabeth, let me assure you, even in my circle of society, as you call it, deliberate poisonings are rare. But there are a fair number of opinionated people in my acquaintance.' Now it was his turn to give his companion a sly look. 'And some of these people belong to the gentry even…'

'Touché, Mr Darcy.' Elizabeth laughed delightedly at the tease.

'Although I will admit that greed and a lust for power are much too common for my liking.' Honesty forced Darcy to concede the point.

Charlotte added, 'Mr Darcy, you may not be aware, but that greed and lust for power is not confined to the first circles. Even ordinary people succumb to it, albeit in minor ways compared to the level of society which you frequent.'

'In what way, Mrs Collins? I would not have thought that ordinary people could gain much power.'

'It is true that most ordinary men have little power over their lives. Because of that, some become tyrannical in their own households, since their wives have no rights under the law. As long as he does not kill his wife, a man may do just about anything he pleases.' She sighed. 'I see it much too often amongst the parishioners.'

Charlotte shook her head to dispel the gloom which had come over her. 'Pardon me for bringing up such an unpleasant subject. But it reminded me that I promised Mrs Baker that I would visit her this morning.' She smiled as she released Darcy's arm. 'If you would be so good as to see my friend safely back to the parsonage, I can keep my promise now.'

'You may rely on me to do my utmost to protect Miss Bennet,' Darcy replied with a smile, wondering if Mrs Baker really expected a visit.

~~J~~

Once Charlotte strode off, turning off their current path towards the village, Darcy asked Elizabeth, 'Would you like to continue this walk, or would you prefer to return to the parsonage immediately?'

'My cousin is ensconced in his study, working on a sermon. I would not wish to disturb him,' Elizabeth replied.

'I wonder what subject he will use for Sunday services.'

'I believe he searched his conscience and decided that forgiveness seemed appropriate.'

~~J~~

Did you know?

* JA never used the word Sabbath, she always called the day Sunday.

* She also did not use 'book-room', she called it a library. Gentlemen had studies and libraries. Gentlemen might have had book-rooms, to keep estate ledgers and to conduct business – after all, one cannot have tradesman traipsing through the house… For personal business and pleasure they had the aforementioned study and/or library. Tradesmen had book-rooms, where they kept their account books.

* And of course, as I mentioned before, she did not use the word betrothed. That word was popular during Elizabethan times, and Shakespeare used it.

~~J~~