Jest Chapter 14, a pride and prejudice fanfic

~~J~~

Resolutions

At Rosings, others also considered their conscience. The previous evening, Lady Catherine had been devastated to learn that her family considered her capable of attempting to murder her daughter.

She spent a restless night wondering how that had come about.

For several years, she had employed doctor after doctor, until she arrived at Doctor Brown, who appeared to achieve an improvement in Anne. Therefore, when he prescribed his tonics, Lady Catherine would not allow anything or anyone to derail the slow recovery of her daughter. Particularly not Anne.

Having tasted the tonic herself, she knew that the flavour was vile. Because of that, it had not come as a surprise when Anne baulked at taking the medicine. But Lady Catherine had browbeaten her daughter into doing what she perceived was best for Anne.

On consideration it seemed likely that Anne had started to recover from her initial illness at about the time when Doctor Brown had taken over her case. If Lady Catherine had not been so desperate to see her daughter cured, it might have happened without the intervention of Doctor Brown.

Now it appeared that she had been so very wrong. Instead of improving Anne's health, that tonic had made her daughter suffer years of misery. Was it surprising that Anne had come to the conclusion that her mother was trying to harm her? Indeed not.

The irony did not escape her.

Of course, in the eyes of her family it did not help that she had schemed to hold onto control of Rosings.

The idea had seemed so perfect. All she had to do, was to ensure that Anne recovered her health, and did not ask too many awkward questions about her father's Will. Lady Catherine censored Anne's correspondence to keep her ignorant of the terms of that document.

Lady Catherine had thought that her nephew would be gentle with her daughter, but also keep her far away from Rosings. He was also rich enough in his own right, not to need the income from Rosings Park.

When George Darcy died, leaving Fitzwilliam in charge of Pemberley, the opportunity to marry Anne off to her cousin was too good to resist, since Darcy Senior was not around to contradict her claims of a cradle engagement.

But by pushing Darcy to marry Anne, she had made a mistake. That combination of events had put her into her current precarious postion, when all her chickens had come home to roost. Forgery was a major crime, for which she could be sent to the colonies.

She peripherally thought about Mrs Jenkinson, who currently slept in her dressing room, to keep both of them confined in one place.

Lady Catherine could not decide whether to be grateful to have one completely loyal supporter, or to be furious with the woman for attempting to harm Anne.

Eventually she decided that Mrs Jenkinson's actions were another crime which could be inadvertently blamed on herself.

Her only hope was that her brother would want to avoid a scandal.

~~J~~

Darcy safely delivered Elizabeth to the parsonage, before returning to Rosings Park. He arrived just before a middle-aged, balding and somewhat corpulent man was shown into the study, where he had found his uncle and his cousin, Richard.

The butler announced, 'Doctor Brown.'

The doctor bustled into the room, exclaiming, 'Good morning, gentlemen. I do hope Miss de Bourgh has not taken a turn for the worse.'

'Not at all, Miss de Bourgh is in the pink of health,' said the Earl, after introductions had been completed. 'We simply wanted to discuss your treatment of my niece.'

'In the pink of health, you say? That is most pleasing for me to hear. I was hoping that she would make a breakthrough sooner rather than later,' the doctor enthused.

'I would not call eight years to be sooner,' Darcy grated.

Doctor Brown looked uncomfortably between the three men, before directing his gaze firmly to the desk. 'Ah… yes, I agree it was a long time coming, but considering that genteel ladies tend to be rather delicate, it is not to be wondered at that they do not have the strength to bounce back in the way of gentlemen, or even women of lower birth.'

'Will you tell us of the progress of Miss de Bourgh's illness, your treatment and her recovery?' The Earl asked with interest.

'As I presume you know, Miss de Bourgh suffered a debilitating fever when she was but a child. She survived, but it left her weak and easily fatigued. Nothing which my predecessors tried, seemed to have had any effect. When Lady Catherine engaged me to take over the treatment of her daughter, I prescribed some herbal medicines. Within months, there was a marked improvement in her overall health, but Miss de Bourgh continued to suffer from tiredness and nausea. I have been treating this general malaise with a tonic to counteract those symptoms.' Now he smiled in relief. 'I am exceedingly glad to hear that this treatment has at last been effective.'

'What was that tonic which you prescribed?' Richard asked with an innocent expression.

'It is a compound of gentian, clove and cardamom.'

'It is very conscientious of you to go to so much trouble to produce this tonic for my cousin.' Richard watched the doctor as he made his bland statement. When the doctor looked decidedly uncomfortable, he added, 'would you not find it easier to simply procure Dr Harris' pick-me-up.'

Doctor Brown raised his eyes to meet the Colonel's, and admitted, 'Dr Harris' tonic has proved most efficacious to many people…'

'Unfortunately for you, that particular concoction was the reason for my niece's continued fatigue and nausea, which only stopped three years ago, when she stopped taking the tonic.'

Doctor Brown was aghast. 'Miss de Bourgh has been well for three years? But why did not Lady Catherine inform me? She always reported most meticulously on her daughter's state of health.'

'Did you ever ask Miss de Bourgh directly about how she felt, or did you get your information only from Lady Catherine.'

'Miss de Bourgh did on occasion tell me that she felt that she did not need the tonic anymore, but Lady Catherine insisted that it was simply Miss de Bourgh's dislike of the taste, which made her make that claim. Since the ingredients are only restorative, and perfectly harmless to a healthy person, I acquiesced to Lady Catherine.' The doctor looked stricken, mortified that he had caused a patient to suffer needlessly.

The Earl decided to take control of the conversation again. 'So, what you are saying is that you believed Lady Catherine but not your patient, even though your patient is an adult, and fully capable of noting her own state of health.'

'Ah…'

'I need to tell you that your toadying to Lady Catherine, made Miss de Bourgh think that you were deliberately poisoning her. Therefore, I doubt that she has confidence in your abilities as a doctor. I suggest that you find somewhere else to peddle your potions.'

The doctor's shoulders slumped as he gave the Earl a distressed look. 'My Lord, I did what I thought was right, but it seems that I did break my Hippocratic oath, which obliges me to do no harm. Please convey to Miss de Bourgh my most profound apologies.'

Doctor Brown shuffled out of the study, seemingly a broken man.

'Father, perhaps you were a little harsh with the man…' suggested Richard. 'After all, there are few people who can stand up to Aunt Cat, especially when her claws are out.'

'If he had listened to Anne, he could have told Catherine that Anne was cured, instead of peddling more of that potion.'

'Speaking of Aunt Catherine, what are you going to do about her?' Darcy asked his uncle.

The Earl of Matlock sighed. 'I do not want a scandal. I own a small estate in Ireland. I believe that would be a good place for Catherine to live, and she can take Mrs Jenkinson with her.'

'Are you not letting that woman off lightly?' Darcy was still incensed about the state in which they had found the maid.

His uncle chuckled. 'You have never been to Craghill. The house is dismal and fits perfectly into the surrounding area, which is bleak. It is miles from anywhere and only has a minimal staff. There will be few luxuries for them to enjoy. Certainly not the kind of foods which Catherine favours. I expect Mrs Jenkinson will earn her keep with hard labour.'

The cousins exchanged satisfied glances. 'Very well, Uncle, I shall bow to your greater experience.'

~~J~~