Thank you again! Enjoy!
Elizabeth woke up on Friday morning well-rested, she dressed herself and went into Jane´s room. Jane felt better, she still had a sore throat and could swallow only broth, but the fever didn´t come back and she slept through the night. Being aware of Lizzy´s need to walk, she send her away and told her to return after breaking her fast.
The walk to Oakham Mount and back did wonders. Lizzy felt refreshed, full of energy, the day ahead would surely bring again a lot of callers and she was ready to face them. The dining room was empty, Mr. Bennet broke his fast very early and was, as usual, already in his book room. Mrs. Bennet and the three younger girls were not yet up. While she had her tea and ate her toast, Elizabeth mused about her newly acquired knowledge of her sisters. She had some ideas how to change the situation, but would need Jane´s help, the cooperation of Mary and Kitty, and, and this was the tricky part, Mrs. Bennet´s permission. First, she had to speak to Jane.
On her way to her sister´s room, she once again was intercepted by Mrs. Hill.
"Miss Lizzy, do you have time to meet with me, preferably in the mistress study?"
"Certainly, Mrs. Hill, let´s talk straight away, before I go up to see Jane."
The second morning in a row they sat across from each other in the study and Mrs. Hill shared information gathered through the servant´s grapevine.
"Miss Lizzy, you know I don´t like gossip and especially if it´s gossip widespread through servants, but I have to tell you what happened yesterday at Netherfield. Mr. Darcy somehow learned about Miss Jane´s treatment by the Bingley sisters and asked Mrs. Nichols how Miss Jane fared. Mrs. Nichols answered him truthfully and he immediately gave instructions to pack his things and leave Netherfield."
"That arrogant man, he left for London? And did he take the whole Bingley party with him? Leaving like thieves in the night, without taking on responsibility!" Lizzy interrupted the housekeeper.
"No Miss Lizzy, as he went into Mr. Bingley´s study to take his leave, Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst returned from Meryton. The four of them had words, in Miss Bingley´s case loud words, and as a result Mr. Darcy severed the friendship with Mr. Bingley and threatened to give them all the cut if Mr. Bingley or somebody from his family ever approached him."
"Does he despise us so much, that he would cut his friend because Mr. Bingley wanted to do the right thing and make amends for what his sisters did?" Elizabeth interjected anew.
"Miss Lizzy, you are jumping to conclusions. Mr. Darcy did not leave for London. And I didn´t tell you anything about Mr. Bingley making amends. According to Mrs. Nichols Mr. Darcy left because Mr. Bingley could not be moved to acknowledge the wrongdoings of his sisters, especially Miss Bingley, both in relation to your sister and the servants."
Lizzy was stunned. The arrogant, prideful man, who did not talk to the gentry here and stoked around the rooms, who insulted her before even being introduced, would cut his friend because of how they treat their servants. Then she remembered something.
"If he didn´t left for London, where did he go to?"
"The Inn in Meryton."
"The Inn? And Mr. Roberts did not turn him away?"
"Mrs. Nichols sent young Roberts to secure a room for Mr. Darcy and to tell his father to be polite and that an explanation would follow."
"Mrs. Nichols seems to..." Elizabeth paused.
"Respect Mr. Darcy? Yes, I believe she does. Miss Lizzy, it is possible that Mr. Darcy will call. I wanted you to know what happened at Netherfield so you would be forewarned."
"Thank you, Mrs. Hill. I will be prepared, if he really calls."
After that the housekeeper went on with her duties and Lizzy repaired to Jane´s room. Her sister was awake and alone and Lizzy decided to talk to her before something else could prevent her from doing it.
"Janie, would you like to tell me what occurred on Tuesday or would you prefer to speak about it later? I have to admit that I probably know most of it, so if you want to wait, we wait."
"Later, please." Jane whispered and looked down at her hands.
"Janie, you did nothing wrong. Please believe me. But I came to your room with the intent to ask for your help."
"Of course, Lizzy, how can I help you?" Jane asked as loud as her throat would allowed it.
"For the last three days I observed a lot of things in our family. Things, which disturb me. Let us skip our parents, I have not enough strength to talk about them and not enough power to change something, perhaps with uncle Gardiner´s and uncle Philipps´ help, but even then I am not sure of the outcome. But we can help the next younger two, Mary and Kitty." and Lizzy proceeded to recount everything she noticed and realised in the last days.
Jane listened very carefully, and was shocked to have missed so much. Just as Lizzy, she also recognised the unhealthy relationship between Kitty and Lydia, and in the past she presumably would have looked for misunderstandings and excuses, after her experience at the hands of the Bingley sisters however she promised herself to see the world for what it was. In regard to Mary she was at a loss. For her whole life her mother put her always in the centre of attention, she just did not know what it felt to be invisible or to have no one beside you.
"Lizzy, what can we do? I admit that talking to Mama would be useless, talking to Papa would provoke a biting remark about silly girls. Talking to Lydia would just make it worse for Kitty."
Elizabeth sat there with an open mouth and stared at Jane, her Jane, the nice Jane, the "I-only-think-the-very-best-of-people" Jane. And then she laughed.
"Janie, I am so happy for you. I never thought this day would come, and I am sorry that you had to go through such an ordeal, but you are marvellous! My idea was it to separate Kitty and Lydia, and to take Mary and Kitty under our wings. For the second part we only need to spend more time with them, either the four of us together or in any kind of combination. The first part is the problem thou, Kitty and Lydia share a room, which means that every night Kitty would be exposed to Lydia. If we could manage to bring them to exchange rooms, preferably on the initiative of Lydia, so Mary could at least for a time sleep in Lydia´s room or Mary and Kitty would share a room, it might create the necessary distance between Kitty and Lydia. Will you help me? Please take into consideration that in order to achieve our goal we will need to bend the truth a little. Lydia and/or Mother must be convinced it was their idea and only they have any kind of benefit."
Jane did not hesitate.
"You can count on me, Lizzy. I will help our sisters!"
"Oh Janie, thank you! By the way, for some time now I wanted to ask if you know what happened to Mother? Lydia must have been two, so you were around nine. Do you know anything?"
Jane became silent for a few moments.
"Lizzy, you don´t remember?" she asked. "Mama was expecting."