Sorry this was delayed. I picked up a sinus infection on the 13th and it has been dragging me down. I finally got some antibiotics today though. Yeah!
Elizabeth swayed on the bench of the post carriage. She ignored the other travelers and had stared out the window for the entire ride so far. Their heads had turned her way. She saw out of the corner of her eye, then look away again. She would have done the same had a young woman rode the post with nothing but the clothes on her back. And without a jacket, bonnet or reticule. Truly, no one would think she was the daughter of a gentleman now.
Her cheeks flushed against her will as she looked down at her lap and smoothed out her dress. It had been mortifying Mr. Darcy's treatment of her after she had rejected his clumsy and disagreeable attempt at a marriage proposal. Especially after the intimacies they had shared. He had said not one word to her until he had deposited her on the ground at the post stop. Then after a perfunctory "good day", quickly mounted his horse and galloped off. He even refused to take back his jacket, though he would be riding in the elements on horseback.
The ride out of the forest and across fields had been so ill at ease that she had nearly vaulted off the horse waving when hunters had been spotted. Elizabeth had recognized none of them, but she was not sure anyone's visage from that bawdy house had imprinted on her mind. But the men had behaved respectably, and seemed to believe their story of her getting lost on a walk and Mr. Darcy finding her. They were pointed in the correct direction to the nearest public coach, the post stop, and Fox galloped to their destination without delay.
The woman next to her coughed in her mouchoir again, the woman's elbow poking in Elizabeth's side. She wished she had her reticule, anything to fiddle with, but she had only a few pence and a pound note that Mr. Darcy had given her after he paid for her fare. She dare not fidget with them and accidentally tear the bills. Even after their fight, he was still the gentleman to pay for her way and more for food and sundries.
She raised her head and looked back out the carriage's window. Her cheek grew cold against the glass. The magnitude of what could happen to her should the populace of Meryton turn on her was settling in. But that fear was preposterous as they knew her. She was not a lightskirt or a flirt. They would not treat her poorly.
But this ordeal adventure showed how tenuous a woman's reputation was. That was all she owned and it could easily be tarnished, through no fault of her own. Elizabeth felt some regret at spurning his non proposal. She was still put out Mr. Darcy had not outright asked. And what he said about her family did not even signify. She would not dwell on it.
His claims were astonishing, though. That he had admired her for some time? But she easily pushed aside those thoughts. She had done the right thing. He had been a thoroughly disagreeable man. Everyone who had come in contact with him agreed. She was sure her reputation would be safe and she would marry someone that behaved better.
The woman slid into her, squeezing her against the coach wall as it turned a fast corner. She gasped as her side was tender. She knew not how, but it had been injured during the proceedings of the day before. Elizabeth sat up when she recognized the road they were on and indeed the familiar buildings of Meryton rolled past the window.
She descended from the carriage, swiftly walking away from the mail bags thrown off the roof to the waiting men below. It was loud and chaotic, but Elizabeth stopped herself when she had stepped a few paces. She was not fully dressed and could not be seen in public. A group of young boys ran by playing with a stick and hoop. After offering them a small sum, they promised to run to the Phillips and notify them their niece was at the post stop.
Elizabeth resigned herself to waiting, but with a cheerful spirit, for soon she would be home again. The first inkling that her plan may not go as planned, were the townspeople glancing at her and muttering to their companions. She looked behind her, but there was no one else there. They had to be discussing her.
She pasted on a warm smile and addressed the nearest woman, Mrs. Ogilvy, who with her widowed neighbor Mrs. Brown, approached her but stood farther away than usual. They also were not smiling.
"Miss Bennet, we had heard that you went missing during your walk the day before and injured. All the servants of Longbourn were searching for you. But now you have arrived on the post." Elizabeth continued to smile, though she clenched the sides of her dress. "Where have you been? And without a maid or chaperone?"
Elizabeth was taken aback. No one had ever spoken her to so harshly outside of her family. These women knew her. She had always behaved with propriety and could not understand their censure. Her eyes darted over the small crowd that had gathered, but there was not a kind face on any of them. She had not expected this reception. "I am surprised at your accusations. You know me, Mrs. Ogilvy, Mrs. Brown. You have known me my entire life."
Mrs. Brown squinted. "Your youngest sister does run wild. It is not that much of a stretch to wonder about the others."
Elizabeth gaped. She had given no one the slightest reason to be concerned at her behavior and yet her arrival on the post by herself and suddenly she was under scrutiny and on her way to being a pariah. She swallowed but saw movement out of the corner of her eye that saved her from coming up with anything pleasant to say. Her aunt, Mrs. Phillips, was hurrying down High Street towards the mail coach.
She looked away from the two old women and pushed wayward curls behind her ear. Never had she felt like she was a pariah. No, that was her youngest sister, Lydia. But she did not care one whit what others thought of her. Elizabeth had always hated that attribute in her, but now she wished she could do the same. This censure was not comfortable in the slightest.
Finally, her aunt brushed through the groups of townspeople standing apart, staring at Elizabeth. Mrs. Phillips smile looked strained. "Elizabeth!" Her voice was just above a whisper. "Where have you been? Those boys said you were at the post stop. Where have you been? Your family has been looking for you since yesterday afternoon. And you are not even fully dressed!" She pulled her arm through Elizabeth's and turned, hastening back the way she had come.
"I am so glad to see you, Aunt. Can we go to your townhouse? You must have a jacket and bonnet I could use for my walk home."
Mrs Phillips stopped and stared. Elizabeth forced herself to hold her smile and tugged her aunt's arm. "I will explain all, but not until I am at Longbourn. Please, let us go to your home."
She refused to answer any questions, repeating that she would inform her parents first. Once she had put on a jacket and bonnet from the Phillips, they set off towards Longbourn, a quick walk from Meryton. But her normally effusive aunt was quiet the entire distance. Elizabeth felt waves of disapproval from her. She walked faster, eager to get home, to her room and bed.
The crunching gravel on Longbourn's driveway under her boots sounded like it was reproaching her "light skirt" "light skirt". She quickened her pace. She wanted to be away from her aunt, who had never been quiet before at anytime that Elizabeth could remember. It was not possible for anyone to know what she had done with Mr. Darcy. But it felt that they could. She bit her lip to stop a blush she could feel starting on her cheeks.
She reached out to open the front door, but Hill opened it from the inside. "Oh, Miss Elizabeth! You are home!"
Finally, someone was glad to see her. "Thank you, Hill."
"What is it? Did you say Lizzy was home?" Scraping and footsteps came from the sitting room.
Elizabeth knew she had to greet her parents, but she would rather do it after some time on her own. "Please tell Mama that I am changing. And have a bath prepared."
She felt a coward, but ran upstairs to her room, anyway. Mr. Bennet would see through her story that she had gotten lost in the woods. She had to come up with something better before she spoke to her parents.