A/N - This chapter is unedited. Please let me know if you see any issues or where you think the story might drag.

Let me know if you continue to see any issues with consistency, language/usage, or just too much information. This story will be published on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited at some point once it is finished (new target: September 10?).

Chapter 34

Mrs Gardiner was intrigued by having her sister overhear Elizabeth's honest opinion. Mrs Bennet had been writing to the Gardiners lately, and her letters were nearly entirely about her work with the tenants. That lady expressed no interest in anyone in the Gardiner family, which seemed odd, given that she had not seen the Gardiner family frequently since the Bennets broke with the Darcys. The Gardiners had not visited the Bennets for Christmas the last two years, and communication between them had also been limited. Mr Bennet had refused to write to his brother after Gardiner wrote a scathing letter after she was informed by the Darcys what Bennet had done, and Mrs Bennet was never much of a correspondent.

The Gardiners finally decided they would invite Elizabeth and Darcy to visit while Mrs Bennet was in the house. Gardiner would keep his sister in the study while his niece and wife settled in the drawing room, leading Mrs Bennet into a connecting room shortly after. Darcy would remain with his wife, where he and Mrs Gardiner would persuade Elizabeth to speak of her feelings about her mother. Mrs Bennet would be warned ahead of time to keep quiet, and both Gardiners believed that if that lady truly wanted to reestablish her relationship with her daughter, she should be willing to listen and stay calm.

When Gardiner shared the plan with Darcy, that gentleman expressed some concerns. "I am uncertain that all of this is worth the potential risks, Gardiner," Darcy warned. "I worry what will happen if Mrs Bennet cannot be persuaded to keep quiet and intrude upon where we are sitting with Mrs Gardiner. I fear Elizabeth will be angry at you both for tricking her."

Gardiner agreed that this was a possibility but believed he could warn Mrs Bennet of the potential harm she would cause by not listening to what her daughter had to say. He thought he could persuade her to remain silent throughout but would make a final decision once he had spoken with his sister. Darcy remained concerned but allowed himself to be convinced. Gardiner would send a note when all was prepared.

Only a few days later, Jane gave birth to a beautiful little girl who looked much like her mother. In the first few days of her life, she was more vocal than her quiet, unassuming mother, who followed every one of the midwife's strictures about remaining in a quiet, dark room for days following the birth. Jane was rather ill with a fever for a day or two but quickly recovered. Mrs Bennet travelled to London a sennight later and paid her first call upon her eldest daughter.

Elizabeth briefly met with her mother outside Jane's home during this call. Elizabeth entered her carriage just as her mother exited the Gardiners, and they both paused. It was only a moment, but for that moment, their eyes locked with each other, and Elizabeth finally offered a brief nod of recognition, although not a word was said between the two. Mrs Bennet noted her daughter's uncertainty in recognising her and spent much of her visit with Jane contemplating its reasons.

Never a bright woman, Mrs Bennet did not recognise that the letters between her and Elizabeth indicated a problem. She was merely pleased that her daughter was writing to her at all, and it did not occur to her that her correspondents were troubled by what they perceived as a lack of interest in their lives. She thought the infrequency of Elizabeth's letters indicated her busy schedule, not a lack of desire to write. Therefore, when she arrived back at the Gardiners, she recounted the story of seeing Elizabeth with shock and feelings of ill-use.

"I cannot believe that stubborn girl barely recognised me, and even that slight acknowledgement seemed to be pulled from her," Mrs Bennet complained to her sister and brother. "I did not say a word of it to Jane because she is still recovering from the birth and her illness, but, Brother, how dare Lizzy believe she is so far above me now that she cannot be bothered to speak to me on the street."

"Sister," her brother said to placate her, "she is far above you now, but regardless of that, you have treated Lizzy very poorly, not just since her marriage to Mr Darcy, but for years. Lizzy may have forgiven you for years of slights and verbal attacks, but that does not mean she is ready to be in your company again. You have only been exchanging letters for a short time, and those letters have done little to make Lizzy feel more positive toward you. She has been very troubled by your letters and the lack of interest you have shown in her or her life since you began writing. Your letters only include accounts of how you spend your days, and you never bother to ask Lizzy or Kitty about what they are doing."

"Why should I ask?" Mrs Bennet stated. "If they want to tell me, they may. I do not understand why Lizzy would still be upset with me when I have apologised."

"Do you truly believe that?" Mrs Gardiner queried. "Franny, Lizzy wants nothing to do with you. A mere apology does not make the years of your abuse disappear, nor does it help Lizzy overcome a year and a half of your stubbornly refusing to acknowledge her. You have never congratulated her on her marriage or son and have expressed no interest in him. Do you even know his name? Do you know anything of your daughter's life?"

"I can read about what Lizzy is doing in the newspaper," Mrs Bennet informed her hosts. "My sister and I read the society pages daily in Meryton and speak of how well our little Lizzy is doing. The town is quite proud of her success and place in the first circles. I am surprised we have not been invited to pay a call on her at Darcy House, but I suppose, as her mother, I do not need to wait for an invitation. Shall we call tomorrow morning?"

Mrs Gardiner stood and stepped away from her guest, scarcely able to believe her lack of understanding. After a moment, she turned to face her guest again and spoke sternly: "Franny, you would be denied entry to Darcy House should you attempt to call on your daughter there. Did you not just hear me say that Lizzy wants little to do with you? She is not ready to see you, and I am uncertain she will ever be if this is your attitude. Your lack of interest in her life, settling for what you can read in the newspaper, is why Lizzy does not believe your apologies. That you think you can just walk back into her life means that you do not understand how you have hurt your daughter and are likely to continue in the same way you always have. Do you realise that your dismissive treatment of your daughter hurts her and is why she does not want to see you?"

"What do you mean she does not want to see me?" Mrs Bennet screeched. "I apologised for my poor treatment; what else can she want from me?"

"She wants a mother's love, Franny, something I am beginning to believe you cannot give her," Gardiner said. "But it will be well, as my wife and her Aunt Matlock have fulfilled that role for the last two years and have acted as grandparents to her child. They will continue to fulfil that role while Lord Matlock and I will act as father and grandfather to the Darcys. Lizzy would have liked you to have been a part of her life, but I am afraid you will never understand.

"Darcy and I had hatched a rough idea that my wife had added to that was designed to allow you to hear exactly what her complaints against you were from Lizzy herself. I had hoped that I would have been able to persuade you to keep silent while she voiced her concerns over accepting you back into her life, for I thought that, were you to hear from Lizzy herself, you might begin to understand the depth of the hurt you have caused her. However, this conversation has caused me to see why that plan would never have worked. You would have been unable to keep silent, and I am afraid Lizzy will not be willing to see you. The Darcys plan to return to Pemberley in just a few days — they only remained in town so long because Jane was with child, and Elizabeth did not want to leave until she was sure her sister would be well. I will send a note this afternoon that our plan will not work, and Darcy will pack his family up and depart for the north at the beginning of next week. And you, my dear sister, will definitely not visit Darcy House. I would hate to see you turned away, but that is exactly what will happen should you pay a call uninvited. The butler and footmen have all been instructed very specifically not to allow entrance to anyone with the surname Bennet."

Mrs Bennet gasped and burst into tears at this knowledge. The Gardiners merely ignored her theatrical response to the facts — Mr Gardiner rose and walked to his study to write the note to Darcy. Mrs Gardiner continued to sit with Mrs Bennet, although she did little to comfort Mrs Bennet, choosing to wait until the storm of tears subsided.

"I do not understand," Mrs Bennet whimpered. "Why would Lizzy not want to see me?"

"Do you recall the letters you wrote to her? The ones where you accused her of being ungrateful and obstinate, where you accused her of ruining her other sister's lives through her 'selfish actions' in requiring Mr Bennet to repay the money Mr Darcy graciously lent to your family to prevent your husband's being thrown in Marshalsea? You accused her of forcing Mr Darcy to marry her through a compromise and told her that her husband should have married Jane since she was far prettier. You repeatedly told Lizzy her husband would be sure to stray because no man would tolerate such a hoyden for long. You said all of these things and more to your daughter, which you wrote to her in letters you sent to her at Pemberley. I know this because her husband kept those letters and shared them with mine when they discussed the matter. I heard you say equally terrible things to her while she still lived in Longbourn. It was so much worse after Mr Collins' proposal and Lizzy's letters then were full of her misery. She may not have reacted outwardly to all your words, but she felt every one of them," Mrs Gardiner said. Her voice was quiet but extremely sharp, and Mrs Bennet felt the sting of her sister's words.

"I truly said and wrote all those things?" Mrs Bennet asked in a small voice.

"Yes," Mrs Gardiner replied, angry with her sister-in-law's ignorance. "Every word and some far worse. We asked Lizzy to visit us in London so often to get her away from you; I noticed how you treated her almost as soon as I entered the family, and Lizzy was only eight when I married Edward. You have always treated Lizzy poorly."

Mrs Bennet's face fell. "I did not realise," she stuttered.

"Then you are far more foolish than I ever gave you credit for," Mrs Gardiner snapped, as angry as she had ever been. "I assumed you behaved the way you did all those years because you truly did not like Lizzy, for whatever reason, but to realise that you did it all those years and were completely unaware of how you mistreated her makes you a complete fool, in my opinion." With that said, Mrs Gardiner exited the room, leaving her sister-in-law alone.

It was some time before Mrs Bennet moved from where she sat on the couch. In all the years she had known her, she had never heard Madeline Gardiner raise her voice or be anything less than perfectly kind to another person. And she had not done either of these things in this case either. Nonetheless, Mrs Bennet felt like she had been slapped across the face and did not know how to respond.

After some time passed, Mrs Bennet stood and walked to the bedroom assigned to her, undressing herself before lying down on the bed. Unused to such contemplations, she eventually fell asleep. Both Mr and Mrs Gardiner sought her out that afternoon and evening, although a maid reported that the lady was in her room and requested a tea tray shortly before dinner.

The Gardiners had looked at each other but had not spoken again of what had transpired that afternoon. Gardiner had written his note to Darcy informing him of what was said, and Mrs Gardiner had written to her niece with the scant details of their conversation. That lady decided it was best not to say too much but chose to express in just a few words the overall gist of the conversation. She also gave her niece permission to cease corresponding with her mother, as it appeared that Mrs Bennet would never learn her lesson. While she might have learned to be kind to the tenants of Longbourn, she had not yet learned to treat her daughters, or at least her second daughter, with kindness or to recognise her true worth.

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