At last, Elizabeth woke.
Mr. Bennet lifted his exhausted head, his eyes widening as she stirred for the first time since those horrible fits. The doctor stood, going to her side, and Mr. Bennet stood as well, his hand pressed over his mouth. He dared not take a step away from the hard wooden chair he had just risen from lest his shaky knees betray him.
The doctor turned and looked at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Mr. Bennet's breath left him in a woosh and he fell backwards into his chair, his earlier supposition of his knees proven correct.
"She… she will recover?" Mr. Bennet croaked, his voice unused for many hours and tight with suppressed tears.
"Aye," the doctor said with a satisfied sigh, "She is stirring now, and I believe she will awake soon. I do not know what other effects the blow, and indeed the whole circumstance, will have on her, but she lives and that's all we can ask of the Good Lord for the moment."
"More than enough," Mr. Bennet said, dashing the traitorous tears of relief from his eyes, "I must inform the ladies; they will be much relieved."
The doctor nodded.
"I will stay with her and call out if she rouses before you return. Please, only bring one of the ladies back with you, so as not to overwhelm her when she wakes."
After a handful of minutes and a great deal of loud exclamations, Mr. Bennet returned with his eldest daughter. Jane had put herself forward, unusually vehemently for her, and Mr. Bennet was only too happy to let his most serene daughter attend him.
He may have regretted his choice, as the blonde-haired beauty promptly threw herself across her sister, her arms wrapping around her tightly. Mr. Bennet nor the doctor could bring themselves to reprove her as her whispered exclamations of love and grief were all too clear in the small room.
"Come now, child," Mr. Bennet said at last, drawing her gently away. Jane obediently ceased her tears but would not release Elizabeth's hand.
It seemed if her sister's words had some effect, as Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open to look about her in dazed confusion.
"Father?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, "Why are you…?" She caught sight of the doctor and her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Have I been ill?" she asked, looking over at Jane.
Jane let out a sob, her hand covering her mouth as the tears poured forth once again.
"Yes," Jane hiccupped, "Yes, you have been very poor indeed. We feared you would never wake."
Elizabeth frowned and then winced, raising her hand to touch the bandage on her head.
"Did I fall?" she asked, her eyes moving side to side as if searching her memories.
"What is the last thing you remember?" The doctor cut in before Mr. Bennet or Jane could reply.
"I… I had just sat down to breakfast and Mother was telling us that Netherfield Park had been let at last," Elizabeth said slowly.
"But," Jane gasped, "That was weeks ago! Surely…"
"Hush," Mr. Bennet admonished too late.
"Weeks?!" Elizabeth exclaimed, attempting to sit up, "I have been in bed for weeks?"
"No, no," the doctor stepped in, gently urging her to lay back down, "It is common to lose some memories when struck in the head. You have been unconscious for only a day, and not even a full one as yet."
Elizabeth frowned but complied, coughing lightly.
The doctor gestured for Jane to help her sister drink some water mixed with a powder to reduce pain. While the young ladies were thus occupied, the doctor pulled Mr. Bennet aside.
"So, there indeed seems to be some effect. A few weeks of memory is not bad at all, and spares her the pain of remembering her assault. You may, of course, disclose to her what occurred. But I suggest a… softer revelation of events."
"Yes," Mr. Bennet said pensively, thinking of his wife and younger daughters, "I will be sure to heed your advice."
With a nod and a small smile, the doctor turned back to his patient. Her hand still enclosed in Jane's, Elizabeth submitted to a quick examination of her facilities of remembrance and movement. The doctor urged her to keep abed as much as possible, watch for dizziness and nausea, and, with an eye to Mr. Bennet, report any changes in speech or movement abilities to him at once.
His duties discharged, the doctor took his leave, as did Mr. Bennet, after a whisper in Jane's ear to postpone a full explanation of the events of Elizabeth's injuries to a later date.
As he left, he could hear Jane, in her sweet way, catching Elizabeth up to current events in the neighborhood- including the identities of their new neighbors.
