Notes: Character death
When Miss Elizabeth Bennet refused to marry her cousin, the heir to the estate, and the pinnacle of all Mrs. Bennet's hopes and dreams, something snapped. When her husband upheld her intransigent daughter's refusal, Mrs. Bennet had had enough!
She would rid herself of that girl if it was the last thing she did. Never again would she suffer her impertinent tongue.
When she saw her ungrateful daughter approach, she grabbed a fire poker and ran out to meet her, to stop her, to return her to wherever she came from.
As she swung the fire poker at her daughter, screaming invectives, she somehow missed and stumbled forward.
"Mother, stop it!" she heard, but she paid the words no heed.
She swung again, and now saw her daughter moving nimbly out of the way.
"You filthy cretin," she gasped. "All these years I've cared for you, house you, fed you, and now when you can finally repay me, you refuse to oblige me? How dare you! Obstinate, headstrong girl!"
In a blind fury, she swung the poker again, but lower, and this time she connected and heard the satisfying crack of something breaking.
Her daughter cried out, but there was no stopping Mrs. Bennet. This would be mercy. She would finish the wounded thing on the ground quickly.
As she lifted the poker for one final hit, she heard a sound and felt a searing pain in her head. Mrs. Bennet fell to the ground, hearing somewhere far off her horrified husband's cries. Then she heard no more.
Mr. Darcy, who had accompanied Mis Elizabeth home, and had only just come from the stables, lowered the bloody rock he still held in his hand. When he heard her sobbing, he fell to his knees and cradled his love in his arms.
"Forgive me, please forgive me," he said. "I saw no other way of saving you, my love."