The room was empty when Lizzie appeared. There was no outward sign that Will had been there, yet she could hear strange sounds from below. She quickly left the room and descended the stairs. There she heard tell-tale giveaway signs as to her friends location. The crashing and smashing came from the library. It scared Lizzie more than she care to admit. She stood outside the heavy door and the sounds soon stopped. In slow cautious movements she gently is the door open. The sight that greeted her would stay with her until her dying breath. The chairs overturned, one broken in the most unfixable way, the desk and its contents in pieces and scattered across the room, books from the bottom shelves torn, tattered and thrown about. And lastly the painting, the painting of the view from the libraries very window, destroyed. Shock was a word not nearly strong enough for the emotion Lizzie was feeling in that moment. With careful steps she crossed the threshold.

Despite knowing without question that the room was occupied, she had yet to spot Will. Collecting books from the floor as she wandered through, first editions with pages torn and spines broken. It was nearly enough to make her cry. A part of her was too afraid of what would cause such a rage in her darling friend.

"Will?" She called out , although her voice was little more than a loud whisper.

"Will?!….I…..I mean…. What?!" she rounded the upturned comfortable chair to catch a glimpse of the man, sat knees up to his chin on the floor. All thought of the room forgotten the blank far off look in his usually bright eyes sent her into immediate action.

"Oh Will" in a heartbeat she was on the floor in front of him "Will what is it? Are you ill? Is it Richard? You said he was returning home?" No reaction came her way. " Is it Georgiana?" that gained her flicker " You said you had a bad feeling? Oh Will, tell me I didn't steer you wrong when I encourage you to go join her!" This definitely got a reaction. He was on his feet in an instant, a pure and unadulterated rage clear on his face. Lizzie couldn't help but step back in fright. The previously untouched bookshelf behind him took the brunt of this anger this time. Volumes flying hard across the room. One particularly thick tomb crashed into the window, causing a small hairline crack to appear.

"WILL, STOP!" She yelled, stilling his hands and easing a copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet from his grasp. He let out a stifled sob. " Please, what has caused this?" She's gestured wildly at the room around her. " I've never seen you like this before" For the first time that evening Will appeared to actually see her.

" Lizzie?" It came out in a horse whisperer as he semi collapsed into her arms.

Frightened once again, but for entirely different reasons, she gently lowered him to the floor. She held him as every negative emotion seem to flow from him. He was unable to put his despair into words so didn't try. She held him, rocking slightly in what should hoped was a calming manner. Slowly he came back to himself. His emotions returned to his own control, and eventually the room fell into silence, it stayed this for quite some time.

" I never did tell you what Wickham did last year" his voice was indescribably tired.

Oh, how she wanted to answer. Wickham? Where did he come from in all this but she held her tongue, not absolutely confident in his mood.

" You remember how father had left him for living at Kympton?" She nodded.

" He didn't want it, thank goodness, so you gave him the price of the living, so he could study law. But that was years ago."

" Yes, but last year he came to me. He had spent £3000" At this she gasped. How could that much money be gone so fast she wondered " I know! He said wanted to living father left him. Can you believe it?" His temper began to rise again so Lizzie started up rocking him as she had before. He accepted her comfort, basked in it a little. " I sent him away. I told him I'd paid him a fair price and that was all he was going to get. I never told you because that was all there was to it. A single meeting not even 10 minuets long. I know how you dislike him, so I felt no need to mention it. Why sour one of our evenings with something so trivial. I thought he was really gone" He sat up, refusing to look at Lizzie but taking her hand in his own, clinging to it.

" I went to her Lizzie, I rode straight from London. Thank goodness I had. Ohh Lizzie, how I have failed Georgiana. Father would be so disappointed. I never shared any of this about Wickham with her you see. . She had such fond times with George, he always had time to play with her as a child. I didn't want to ruin those memories for her" He let out a ragged breath " When I arrived in Ramsgate... He was there, my God Lizzie, he convinced her they were in love. They were to elope to Gretna Green."

" Elope!?" she couldn't contain herself " She is but 15 years old, a child!"

" I made clear to him that were she to marry, without my consent, her £30,000 dowry would be withheld. Once he realised he wouldn't get her money, he ran. Georgiana is broken hearted. She truly believed herself in love. She still does, and that hurts her all the more" He finally looked at her, half expecting revulsion and reproach. His own dear sisters reputation was almost destroyed, but instead, she looked on him with kindness and care.

" Oh poor, poor Georgiana! The darling girl, to have one's heart shattered at such a young age! Will, all you can do is be there, let her speak when she needs to. It's not your job to fix this. I know you'll want to, but it's not something you can fix. She will need time to heal. Just be there, listen. Have Richard come you always say how close they. Surround her, protect her with love"

" I've let her down unforgivably"

" No! This isn't you. You are not responsible for another man's actions. He used Georgianas sweet nature, her innocence and her fond memories, he used them for his own means. That's not on you" she grabbed hold of his face. Forced him to look her in the eye. " I do not lie to you Will. You mean too much to me for that" she let him go, and once again they drifted into silence.

" Tell me of your sisters, we haven't spoken of them properly in a while" He looked to her, catching her questioning expression " A little normality" he explained.

" Alright. But on one condition we get up from this floor. We are neither of us children anymore and it's highly uncomfortable" She waited for no response, instead offering a supporting hand down to him. Which he took gladly. Casting an eye over the devastated room around them, he contemplated a moment.

" My study, I think" he decided, his tone still flat and tired, Lizzie's agreeing nod was all he needed to lead the way.

The study was warmer than the library had been, although not uncomfortably so. Will take up his standard seat at the desk while Lizzie sat in 'her' chair opposite. She watched him a moment. He sat leaning back in his chair, eyes shut. So this is what he needed, just to hear her talk. Since the death of his father he sometimes needed these passive distractions. He would just sit and listen, letting her very presence and voice settle and envelop him.

Closing her own eyes do avoid distraction she allowed thoughts to tumble from her mouth " Mary has redoubled her efforts on the piano. Though I fear it helps little. She's technically alright but the lack of passion, or any emotion really, shows. Yes and Kitty is out now, she seems to find it quite daunting. She seems lost without Lydia to follow. Of course Liddy is deeply upset about missing out when the rest of us get to go. She's already halfway to talking Mama into allowing her out into society already. I think she'll be joining us by the time she's 15, far too young for any young lady but doubly so for her, she's really rather spoilt. You see mother panders to her too much, and father simply ignores her. I sometimes feel she'll be the fall of the family. I know it sounds awful she's only 14 but nobody seems to reign her in. She's too selfish, impulsive. I worry for her and for us. Does that make me a terrible sister?" she opened her eyes as she asked the empty room. At some unknown point Will had gone.