Chapter 13

Mr. Darcy returned almost as soon as Lydia finished her statement. He gave a small smile. "I see that Miss Lydia has figured out how the ring works."

"Yes," Lydia replied bouncing up and down, "Now all we need to do is make Lizzy big again too." Lydia glanced around the room and found Lizzy pouting by the window. Lydia handed Prissy to Mr. Darcy and grabbed her sister. She slid the ring on Elizabeth's wrist. Elizabeth was finally back to her normal size.

Lizzy quickly hugged her sister and then darted out of the room. She did not even acknowledge the other's presence. She did not show any gratitude to any except maybe her little sister. Mr. Darcy was somewhat surprised by her actions but they happened too fast for him to make any comment.

Miss Bingley followed her at a more sedate pace, uttering a quick thank you on the way out. Lydia gave Mr. Darcy a look he couldn't understand and then ran after her sister. This left Mr. Darcy in the sitting room with only Prissy for company.

Mr. Darcy looked at the miniature pig in his hand. He gently petted her. Prissy squirmed in his hand. "You want to run and play," Mr. Darcy observed. He placed the pig on the sitting room floor and spent the next several minutes playing with her.

"Lydia?" Kitty poked her head into the sitting room. "Oh! Mr. Darcy!"

Mr. Darcy stood up and bowed, "Miss Catherine."

"Excuse me, Mr. Darcy, have you seen my sister Lydia? I thought I heard her in here." Kitty asked nervously.

"Your sister was in here with me a little while ago. She left the room a few minutes. I have no idea where she went." As Mr. Darcy finished his sentence, Prissy squealed.

"What do have in your hand?" Kitty's curiosity overcame her nervousness.

Mr. Darcy held out his hands showing her the little pig. It didn't take long for the two to begin playing together with Prissy on the floor. There was much laughter involved.

XXX

Lydia saw that Miss Bingley had grabbed the ring. Lydia was sure that Miss Bingley had something she wanted to do with it that was not what the ring was intended for. Possibly for a dinner party or something similar.

Lydia knew that this was not one of the purposes for which the ring was designed. The ring was either for good or for evil. If it was made for a hero to do good in secret, Lydia needed to return it to the owner. If it was made for evil to hurt people, Lydia needed to make certain it didn't cause any further harm.

Without donning any outerwear, she chased Miss Bingley out of the house. She caught up with Miss Bingley out in front of the house on the drive. She was clearly meaning to walk home to Netherfield with the ring. Lydia was not going to let that happen.

"Miss Bingley," she called out as she ran after her friend, "Give back the ring. It does not belong to you and it is not known to be safe!" If the ring had unknown evil properties, Lydia did not want Miss Bingley to get hurt.

"I shall wear it if I want!" Miss Bingley replied rebelliously. She took it out of her pocket and placed it on her finger. Lydia was surprised nothing magical happened. The ring must have been turned to neutral without her noticing.

The two began to fight. Lydia trying to get the ring off of Miss Bingley's finger, and Miss Bingley trying to get the girl off of her. Neither was very successful. They continued to struggle until Jane appeared and asked what all the fuss was about.

"Well, Jane, you see she took the ring that shrunk Lizzy-"

"No! Miss Bennet, it is her fault!"

"It is not, I am simply trying-"

"I found the ring, therefore-"

"That may be but that doesn't mean it is yours!"

"Lydia," Jane hissed in an attempt to stop the argument. Neither young lady paid her any heed.

"Yes, it does. It caused much pain-"

"Exactly! We must protect future victims."

"To me. It was I who was pained-"

"Not just you. Lizzy-"

"Lydia, Miss Bingley, maybe we need to listen before we talk?" Still nothing.

Lydia and Miss Bingley continued to bicker until a carriage pulled up on the front drive. All three women watched in silence as a young man exited the carriage. He was tall with serious air about him. He was wearing clerical garb and carrying a suitcase. He bowed and tipped his hat to the young laddies before knocking on Longborn's door.

Mrs. Hill answered the door. She seemed just as surprised by his appearance as the three girls were. Nevertheless, she lead him into the house and out of the ladies' line of sight.

"Who do you think that could be, Jane?" Lydia asked her sister the instant she was certain the young man was out of listening range.

"I do not know."

"He looked like he planned to stay quite some time based on the amount of stuff he brought with him." Lydia inferred.

"Indeed"

Miss Bingley looked like she was about to say something about the visitor. She opened her mouth to begin. Her thoughts on the matter were quickly lost when Lydia snuck the ring off her finger. "Give it back, please." despite the word please there was no politeness about this statement.

"I don't think I will." Lydia replied and began to walk away.

Miss Bingley made to follow her. Jane gently placed her hand on Miss Bingley's arm. "If you explain what is going on, I may be able to help you."

Miss Bingley told her version of the events of the last couple days. This version painted her in an angelic light and Lydia in a very poor one. Lydia may have helped her, but that didn't mean it was currently in Miss Bingley's best interest to make her look well. What she need now was to convince the kindly Miss Bennet to steal the ring back on her behalf. She ended her tale with, "so, will you help me?"

XXX

Lizzy darted out of the room and headed toward Netherfield. She was unwilling to acknowledge that Mr. Darcy may have helped her get back to her normal size. Mr. Darcy had left a poor first impression. To admit that this might not be his true character would be admitting that she wasn't as good at reading people as she thought. She wasn't ready to do that yet. Her own pride wouldn't let her.

To put aside thoughts of personal change she was heading back to Netherfeild to find the friends who had helped her. The friends whom she had been right about the whole time. Surely seeing that evidence of her good ability to read characters would put her back to right.

When she arrived at Netherfield, she was shown into the sitting room where Mrs. Hurst was working on a piece of embroidery.

"Good morning Miss Eliza, how good of you to call," She said as though she had never even known that Elizabeth was missing. This was just a normal morning call.

"Good morning Mrs. Hurst."

"Caroline – Miss Bingley – is out this morning. It is only me." she gestured to the footman for tea to be brought. "How is your family?"

"Where is Jane?" Elizabeth said tartly.

"Oh, dear Jane. I was such a pleasure to have her with us those few days even if she was so terribly sick. I so despise being sick." Mrs. Hurst invitingly patted the seat on the sofa next to her own. "Are you meeting dear Jane here? Does this mean she changed her mind and accepted our invitation to tea?"

"Where is my sister?"

Before Mrs. Hurst could reply, the butler announced, "Miss Bennet and Miss Lydia." The two ladies walked in followed by Miss Bingley. All five ladies greeted each other curtsied before sitting down.

Lydia opened her hand to Elizabeth to reveal the ring. She glanced at Miss Bingley who nodded. "Lizzy, we have decided that you should be the one to decide what happens to the ring. You were the first one to be shrunk."