Years of difficulties had at the very least taught me to focus on what was important, but I knew that I would be chastising myself for failing to protect Elizabeth at my leisure for the rest of my life, and if she died or did not recover, I would never be whole again. However, all of that could come later.

Jane organized the pandemonium like a General, and for that I was grateful as I could not have done it, or anything at all that did not involve caring for Elizabeth. I was happy as I left the room to see that everyone else in the room was snapping-to with Jane's instructions. What a double and triple fool Bingley and I were, to abandon such a woman. Lydia was still a bit high strung, but fortunately Richard was there to keep her from killing Collins, and since she was only trying to complete my unfinished business, I could not be critical of her. I was not sure I would have been distressed by his death anyway, since every Bennet I cared about was now under my protection, such as it was; but I did not want Elizabeth distressed, nor did I want any of her choices taken away by me. I had done that one time too many.

All of these thoughts took only seconds, and as I carried her in and laid her gently on her bed, Jane followed me into the room, followed by Catherine and Lydia with the bandages and things Jane demanded.

I alone knew what was about to be revealed, and did not feel I had the strength to reveal it to more than one Bennet sister at a time, so I gently said, "Ladies, I am afraid I cannot tell you all now, but I know things about your sister that you do not. I also know a considerable amount about injuries from my time tending them on my estate, and I believe I must be the one to tend your sisters. I am not a doctor, but I am the closest we have. I ask that all of you except Jane leave the room now. I will ask you to trust me and trust your eldest sister to do the best for Elizabeth."

I worried about Lydia as she was so angry a vein was still pulsing on the side of the neck, but Jane looked at her until she calmed down.

Jane said, "Go help with Miss de Bourgh. Fitzwilliam and I will do as we must."

With that declaration, she was laying down her authority as eldest sister, and master of this house. With use of my given name for the first time in their presence, she was telling them we had reached some type of understanding that they were not privy to. Both girls were smart enough to work it out immediately, and said, "All right, Jane. We will trust you Mr. Darcy."

Without another word, they left, knowing the importance of our task, and I was content to know that I could trust both to do what needed to be done. I now faced Jane and spoke softly.

"Jane, you will be shocked by what you see, and I ask that you defer asking me how I know about it until later. I have been your sister's confidant this past week, so prepare yourself."

She nodded, so I leaned down to the bed where Elizabeth was lying without making a sound or moving. I had checked her breathing and even listened to her heart when I laid her down, so I knew she was alive but hanging on by a thread.

I gently inspected the wound on her scalp, and then rolled her on her side to examine her arm. The dress was in the way and I cursed how long it would take to get off without further injury, but then I saw a cleverly hidden slit in the side of the dress and knew what to do. I reached inside and extracted her knife, which I knew to be the sharpest knife in the house, and probably the sharpest knife in Kent. Jane gasped at the action but said not a word as I sliced her dress cleanly down a seam and removed the sleeve. Then I simply used the knife to cut all the buttons off the back in one slash, cut the rest of the bodice in pieces, and pulled the rest of the dress off her so I could inspect for any other injuries. I needed to examine everything for injury, so her stays got the same treatment.

Jane saw the scars on her back first, something I had yet to see before, followed by those on her legs. Everything obviously became clear for her at once, and I was certain she knew all of the story that was important. I would have time to tell her the rest later. I was most proud of Jane, as she flinched only a moment, took in the scars at a glance, and then calmly walked around the bed to help with her arm which was still bleeding. Like me, she would cry later, but not when she was needed.

I heard a knock on the door, and Lydia's voice saying, "Jane. Mr. Darcy. Mrs. Hewes is here with laudanum. We have put more bed linens right outside the door. You will need them. I will not allow anyone else in the room. Miss de Bourgh is attended by her mother, the Colonel, Miss Darcy and Kitty. Mr. Darcy, your sister is fine except for her understandable concern over Miss de Bourgh. The footmen are not back from Rosings yet. I will be sitting here if you need anything, and Mrs. Hewes is here as well."

I had already started cleaning and examining the wounds carefully, a little at a time; checking for broken bones or other maladies as I went. The linens they brought from the kitchen would suffice for the moment, but not for long. Soon we would have to be cleaning them with the gin my aunt had called for, and bandaging them properly.

I glanced at Jane staring at the scars. She shuddered a moment, as she helped me with the cleaning, then said in a remarkably steady voice, "Lydia, I need you to put the absolutely severest clamp on your temper, and I warn you it will be nearly impossible to contain, and then come in here."

I looked at her in shock, not at all prepared to deal with Miss Lydia, but much like Elizabeth, when Jane Bennet made a decision, there was little point in debate.

Lydia came in, and Jane showed her what we were dealing with. The vein once again started pulsing on her neck, and I wondered at the wisdom of sharing this with her right at this time, but she stared at the scars as if memorizing them for a later accounting, shuddered several times and then squared her shoulders and said, "He is a dead man! Now tell me what to do."

I had already as much as decided that the Bennet sisters were to be under my protection, and at that moment, I decided that to the best of my ability they would be my sisters. If Elizabeth survived, and I managed to convince her to have me, they would be my sisters in fact. If either of those should not come to pass, they would still be my sisters, in word and deed, if not in law. I now thought the hardest thing about getting them married would be finding men worthy of them, not the other way round.

Working slowly and carefully, I showed the sisters everything I knew about cleaning and dressing wounds, and Elizabeth was cleaned up and bandaged by the time the doctor came from Hunsford with a breathless Mary.

Jane asked Mary go trade places with Catherine, apparently deciding that there were to be no more secrets between the sisters, and after a huddled conference with the sisters, she showed them Elizabeth's legs just so they would know what they were dealing with.

The doctor performed his own examination and made his own suggestions, but asserted that Jane and I had done everything that could be done. She remained unconscious, so when the footmen arrived with the strongest gin in Kent, we used it to clean and dress the wounds with a salve the doctor brought while he went upstairs to do the same for Anne.

Once the sisters were engaged in caring for Elizabeth, and I was convinced they knew what they were about, I went above-stairs to check on my cousin Anne. I might have felt guilty about abandoning her to her fate, but I knew that my cousins Richard knew as much about wound care as I, and in fact, probably more. Not everyone in the army was as knowledgeable as we were, and much of the care for wounded men was little more effective than giving them to a witch-doctor. Richard had learned that early and come to me to study the things I had learned, and we both read and learned together until we thought we could make good doctors if it came right down to it.

Anne did not have the monstrous wound to her head that Elizabeth had, nor had she lost consciousness before the laudanum was administered, and we believed that to be a good sign. We cleaned and dressed her wounds the same as Elizabeth's, and now it was time to wait.

Now was the time to wait… endlessly… impatiently… fearfully. Now began the worst time of my life. Worse than waiting for my mother to die. Worse than waiting for my father to die. In fact, I could imagine a worse ordeal, but my fate had been sealed. I would wait for the love of my life to recover, and then I would see if she would have me… on any terms she would care to name.