Chapter 24

October had come and there was still no word from Mr. Rawlins. Mary began to think that her plan had been a very bad idea. She would have no way of knowing if Mr. Rawlins had even received the letter yet. And, if he had, he could have chosen not to come to her and she would have no way of knowing that either. If only she had though to ask the store owner to send word once the letter was delivered. All she could do was wait, and that was proving to be a most difficult thing, especially with Kitty leaving.

Kitty had gotten a letter from Jane explaining that the Wickham children would be arriving on the Friday of the first week of October. She asked if Kitty could arrive on Wednesday to help Jane with preparations for their coming. Kitty thought this a great idea because it would allow her to get settled before the children arrived so she could help them unpack.

Of course Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were sad to see her leave again, but Mary felt it most acutely. With Kitty gone, she would have nothing but silence all the time to think about Mr. Rawlins. Kitty however, was excited to go. She had missed her nieces and nephews and would be glad for the company. The children would keep her busy and would keep her mind off Mr. Cadogan. She did fell badly for Mary, and even invited her to come, but Mary said no. She wanted to make sure she would be at Longbourne in case Mr. Rawlins came to call. But she did make sure to send Gullivers Travels with Kitty for Charles Jr.

Kitty said goodbye to her family and arrived at Clinton Hall just before lunch. Jane ushered her inside and instructed the servants to place Kitty's thing in her room. The young Bingley boys rushed in and wrapped their arms around Kitty's legs. Lunch was lively and exciting as the boys recounted the past two months to their Aunt. Edward, who was only two, didn't speak much, but added to the conversation with laughter. After lunch Jane wanted to show Kitty the rooms she had prepared for the children.

"I readied two separate rooms for the girls, but I know they are used to sleeping together, so if they would like to share a room the servants can move a bed. And then there is a third room for Albert." Jane explained as they walked the great hall.

"They might be frightened to sleep alone at first, but they might enjoy a bit of privacy. The size of their rooms is what will shock them, Lydia's house is ever so small."

"Well anyway let me show you." Jane said, slowly opening a door. "This will be Sarah's room."

"Oh, it looks lovely, she will love it. Where did you get this doll? Surely it isn't Charles or Edwards." Kitty laughed, picking up the frail doll that was placed carefully on the pillow.

"We brought it in London for Sarah. We got one for Beth as well. Sarah's has blonde hair and Beth's brown, each to match their own color, or at least, that is what color hair I was told they have. We bought Albert a toy wooden ship, I wasn't really sure what he liked, but wanted to make sure I had something for him as well." Jane smiled.

"That was very thoughtful of you Jane, they will absolutely adore them."

"I do hope so. I wanted to make sure they would fell comfortable here. I'm sure they will miss their parents and something to cuddle, or play with, is always helpful."

"I don't know that they will really miss their parents all that much. Are the Wickhams coming with them to drop them off?"

"No, Lydia said Clinton Hall was out of the way of their journey. Their maid is bringing them and then is going to visit her mother I think."

"Unbelievable! She isn't going to see her children for a whole month and she can't go out of her way to see them here herself!"

"You know how Lydia is, how can you be surprised?" Jane laughed. "She has never wanted to be troubled with inconvenience."

"That is a good point."

Jane took Kitty around to the other room she had prepared for the children. Afterward they took their tea in the parlor. Jane of course asked how Kitty was dealing with the loss of Mr. Cadogan. Kitty was truthful and explained how she was feeling. As Kitty took her last sip of her now cooled tea, she heard the sound of a carriage approaching.

"Who could that be? I'm not expecting anyone." Jane asked, standing quickly.

"Mr. Bingley?" Kitty offered.

"No, he took just her horse this morning."

Kitty and Jane went quickly to the front door to see if they could discover who was arriving. The carriage was unrecognizable to both of the sisters and they had to wait until it got closer. As the carriage began to slow down, Albert's head appeared out the window.

"Oh, it's Sarah, Beth and Albert." Kitty said enthusiastically.

"I wasn't expecting them until Friday!" Jane said quickly, panicking.

"Yes, I thought they weren't supposed to come until then."

"I haven't planned for them for dinner. What am I going to do?"

"Lets just smile and welcome them and then we will figure something out, ok?" Kitty loved Jane, but sometimes she allowed herself to get flustered over the smallest things. Kitty did her best to keep her calm, but sometimes, the nerves won.

"Good idea." Jane smiled, but Kitty could still see the anxiety in her face.

"Aunt Kitty!" Sarah cried as she climbed out of the carriage. She ran the stairs and threw her arms around Kitty's waist. The two other children quickly followed suit and Kitty was surrounded.

"I missed you." Beth looked up and smiled.

"I've missed you all as well." Kitty smiled. "Sarah, Beth, Albert," she said touching each of their heads respectively, "this is your Aunt Jane."

"Hello children, I am so glad you've come to visit." Jane smiled.

"Aunt Jane, mother asked me to give you this note." Sarah said, quickly bobbing a curtsey.

Jane smiled, nodded and opened the letter.

Dear Jane,

Once again thank you so much for taking the children for the month. Wickham and I will greatly appreciate the time away. I know we agreed on Friday as the day the children would arrive, but the children were so excited to come, we thought we'd leave a couple of days early. I hope you are ready for them, I'm sure they will prove to be a handful. My children may write to me if they wish, but while I am away I will not be returning the correspondence. Feel free to do whatever you wish with them and spare no punishment. Be firm with them or they will be uncontrollable. Thank you again.

Lydia Wickham

"Typical Lydia." Jane sighed.

Beth pulled at the bottom of Kitty's dress. "The house is so big." she whispered.

"Yes my dear, shall we go inside?"

Beth nodded her head, in awe of her house. The children entered the house timidly, almost as if they thought their footsteps would break something. Kitty pushed them as if to assure them everything would be ok. As they came into the entrance hall Charles and Edward thundered down the steps to discover who the strange voices belonged to. Their faces brightened as they realized it was their cousins.

"Hello, I am Charles and this is my brother Edward but he's still to little to talk." he said, smiling at the three strange children.

"I am Sarah and this is Beth and Albert." she smiled.

"Charles, Edward, would you like to come with me and show the children their rooms? And while we do that, Jane, you can talk with cook about dinner." Kitty suggested.

"Very good idea Kitty. Boys go and help you Aunt and get to know your cousins." Jane smiled.

"Yes mother." Charles nodded obediently. "Follow me please."

Kitty and Jane laughed at Charles' behavior and then headed in opposite directions. Sarah and Beth squealed when they saw their dolls, they were both incredibly excited. Sarah named her doll immediately, while Beth sat and twirled her dolls hair between her fingers. Albert loved his toy boat as well and soon, Charles and Edward had brought their toys into his room to play. Kitty was satisfied that the children were getting along and went to see if she could help Jane.

Everything was going wonderfully, the Wickham children were no trouble at all and Charles and Edward loved having the extra playmates. After a week of being at Clinton Hall, Kitty began to feel ill. Jane of course called for the doctor immediately and was reassured when he said it was nothing serious. He instructed that Kitty to keep to her bed and drink plenty and eat a lot of broth. Kitty would miss the company of her nieces and nephews, but they promised to visit her in her room.

Although initially Kitty didn't mind the quiet, after being around the children so often, Kitty was beginning to miss the excitement. She quickly ran out of things to do and could only stop for so long. Since she had nothing else to do, Kitty decided to catch up on her letter writing. First she wrote to Mary and Lizzy and finally a much needed letter to Georgiana.

Dearest Georgiana,

I hope you have been well in the past couple of months. I hope everything is alright with Mr. Burton. I am writing to inform you that I will not be attending Sophie's wedding. I really did want to come, but two things are preventing my attendance. First, I know that Mr. Cadogan will be there and I don't know that I can bear to see him. Even after two months I can't manage to stop thinking about him, and I don't know that I could stand him ignoring me. But even that I may have overlooked, but I now find myself quite ill. I am confined to my bed as of now, but don't fret, the doctor said it wasn't anything to worry about. Do tell Sophie and Mr. Dison that I wish them every happiness. I will of course write her, but do tell them that when they are married. I hope I shall see you soon, do not worry about me, I will be fine in a couple of weeks.

Your Friend

Kitty Bennet

Sophie's wedding was a week away, and although Kitty wanted to go, she was glad to have an excuse to stay home. She feared that seeing Mr. Cadogan would be to much, and she would spend the majority of the day fighting back tears. Yes, it would be better this way, despite the longing she had to see his face, just one more time.