Dear Readers, I am posting this chapter a little late than I thought I would be, I was buried under a pile of assignments and essays and had to prepare for some pretty important tests, college life sucks sometimes. I hope, you will be kind enough to ignore any unintentional mistakes and enjoy reading this chapter. I am always happy to hear from my readers and am always open to your suggestions about my writing. Happy Reading!

The credit for betaing this chapter goes to the wonderful Dr-Lizzie.

Chapter IV - The Uncle

- Lambton -

Bennet, doesn't clearly remember how he reached his friend's house in Lambton. All he remembers is packing his bags and spending the next seven hours in a haze in the carriage with a young Irish family travelling north. He doesn't recall whether it was day or night when he followed William Lucas from the travelling post to his modest house he just remembers sitting beside the fire side and Lucas pouring him a cup of tea;

"Did I really father a child?" He, finally asked finding the quietness stifling

"Yes, a young woman I became acquainted with after joining my new position, She is a young energetic thing who has found herself in a prickle", Father Lucas said finally addressing the elephant in the room,

"What, do you mean by that? Found herself in a prickle!",

"She is with child"

Bennet had read that in Lucas's letter but was trying hard to come to terms with the circumstances he found now himself aligned too. The disbelief and shock that he had actually fathered a child out of his youthful folly eighteen years ago, the frustration about what could he now do for this young woman who was now in a similar situation to her abandoned mother and the gargantuan guilt of taking advantage of a naïve innocent girl.

"What am I going to do?" He finally asked looking at Lucas like a man who does not know what he wants anymore and can't face his reality,

Father Lucas said a silent prayer in his head and firmly said,

"I can't answer this for you Bennet, this is one of those times where you must decide for yourself, you are at crossroads my friend now it all rests on you." Because Lucas knew that though, what he said was harsh for a man who had lived the same existence for the past fifteen years, compassion would not help now as it would only provide a momentary escape from a difficult situation, there would be time for self-flagellation later,

Bennet covered his face by his hands anguished, unable to meet eyes with his oldest friend naye, his brother; He finally mumbled in a voice that didn't seem his own;

"Someone must have taken advantage of her, a fatherless girl with no protection, I must take her with me to Meryton, Yes, I would tell them she is a poor widow and a relation of Mrs. Hill"

"You, can't keep her with you Bennet, You must find the poor girl a home, maybe a husband, Don't lose your head now with your guilt, you must be rational now! " Lucas chastised,

"What one must and what one wants to do always remains a conundrum, doesn't it Lucas?", Bennet gave a rueful half smile to his friend,

How did he not notice the similarity in their tempers before? Lucas, had found himself asking this question every hour, since the past three days; the haunting green eyes simmering with intelligence, the slight build, he must have questioned himself, Maybe, Eliza, would have had not to face this humiliation then, the guilt never goes way does it?

And, here he was telling Bennet to let go of the past and try to find a suitable solution for the girl. He finally decided he must have not paid attention to her family name after all it was not unnatural for the church orphans to be called by their first name. Yes, that's what must have happened,

He, finally stepped out of his memories and took a look at his now grief wrought friend who was now standing and looking at his garden from the sole window in the room, and said,

"I never had your talent for nurturing things; patience was never my strong suit, laboring under the sun to produce some thorny roses always seemed worthless to me,

You must not take my example with your daughter, Bennet you must not allow her anger towards this you to sour your relationship", Lucas, pleaded with his friend;

Bennet was silent for a few minutes and said,

"Do you know I can name every single plant in your pitiful garden by their Binomial Nomenclature, but I didn't even ask you for her name?

I am a wretch and you call me a nurturer! Out of all things that you can say about me, you chose this!"

To, which Lucas, calmly replied feeling Bennet's agitation,

"You, are not to be blamed Brother, sometimes we need to brace ourselves before we face important things, it does not mean that you are a wretch it just means that you don't want to make mistakes."

Bennet was just opening his mouth to contradict Lucas again, when his friend said softly,

"Her name's Elizabeth Francis Bennet, she was named after your mother",

Father Bennet was still not fully convinced but was curious to know more and somehow managed to ask,

"You say she is in Meryton Home for Destitute Girls what happened to her mother?" he asked, remembering teaching Francis the word "mother" and then learning about how different their mothers had been, One, a military wife who came to the Americas with her husband and never left and the other a young wife who was lost at childbirth,

"She left her there, ran away with the cook's son, I don't exactly know what happened, the sisters might know more, but from what I have seen with my experience with the boys, these girls leave their children with us when they are either unable to feed them or have to take difficult decisions about their life",

"Abandoned, by both her parents, I don't know how I will be able to look in to her eyes",

Bennet said that and moved to see to the fireplace, despite the room being very warm,

Lucas understanding the need for giving some privacy to his friend gently directed Bennet and said,

"You must be tired from your journey Bennet, I should ask someone to get you something to eat, sleep on this tonight Brother, we don't have much time, the Sisters don't want her there any longer than they have to, I held them off saying she was your long lost niece."

Elizabeth Bennet, had not broken down again, since that fateful day, Oh she was not free of her misery, who would be in her situation? But, she had finally decided that allowing other people see your weaknesses was only going to make them more likely to exploit you, It was better to simply keep quiet about your troubles,

Oh, but had she not felt, finally understood when someone who had seen much more of life, than her wanted to know her, maybe, It was not her fault, maybe, she was a foolish little girl who didn't know anything,

Yes, she was a foolish girl, is that not how she had gotten to her present situation? By, trusting a two-faced snake, maybe Sister Mary, was right after all, all women carried the curse of Eve, had she not lost herself to a charming snake?",

Yes, maybe people just pretended to care for you, but as you started letting them in to your secrets, they shed their skins and you would realize that you never really knew them,

No, not all people had Jane not been kind? Sneaking in to her room and bringing her meals, but, all people were not Jane, sweet, kind, trusting Jane with a fool for a friend,

Father Lucas had now found her an uncle, a priest from what she heard,

Sister Kitty was so pleased by the news that she had finally allowed Elizabeth to come down for meals, trusting her to keep her mouth shut,

She, remembered how after Dr. Jones, had finished checking her and called Sister Kitty outside, and the exclamation that followed,

"With child, is this one of her silly pranks?",

When, she was assured it was not, she marched right back in to the room and said

"I always knew you were going to turn up like this, with that half heathen mother and your unfeminine pursuits, I can finally turn you out, no more pity for the motherless child, anyways, you are not a child anymore are you?, I should have done it the day your mother ran away with cook's son",

Even, Sister Mary seem shocked by what had come out of her companion's mouth,

"It was not my fault", Elizabeth said staring right in to her eyes,

"It was not my fault, he would not let me go, I tried…

God knows, I tried",

She didn't remember whether Father Lucas, was present here since beginning or had entered the room when she was distracted, but she didn't remember being as thankful to anyone as she had been to him that day, when he sat on that old blue stool beside her bed, held her hand and said,

"I believe you",

"You believe her", Sister Mary asked,

"Yes, I believe her",

"You, might believe her, but this girl has been only been trouble, all the time I have known her", Sister Kitty said haughtily,

Father Lucas looked at her face and maybe, he was less confident now, but his hold on her hand still didn't loosen,

"Sister, Elizabeth Bennet, can be trouble sometimes but, I think she is wise enough to not cause this sort of trouble", Sister Mary at last stated, as if this concluded the argument,

"Even if that was not the case, Christian charity demands we have some compassion", Father Lucas gently pleaded with Sister Kitty,

"Let, her be locked in this room, I don't want her mixing with other girls, we will decide on her situation after supper",

Father Lucas, had somehow between that day and now found her this uncle, who had been his long time friend, maybe she should wise up and not trust him so much, she had seen two seemingly nice men abruptly change their face twice now in her life, or maybe she should take one last chance, she could always run away later.