Page 8 of Eavesdroppers Never Hear
She frowned at him for a moment, but as he sat in stony silence watching her intently, the last thing she did before entering the house was a small semi-curtsey with a bow of her head. He had no idea if she was being polite, giving him a message, or simply stumbling on the stairs.
~~~~~
Once the ladies entered Longbourn, Darcy said, “Time to go.”
Bingley nodded, and they walked the horses carefully around the path back to the drive When they reached it, Bingley looked over to his friend in a manner that suggested a race.
Darcy thought it a fine idea, or at least not terrible (which would be an improvement for the day they were having).
They leaned forward and wiggled around to ensure their saddles were well set.
As they prepared to race, Bingley observed, “Well, that was a right cockup. What should we do?”
Darcy leaned down a bit in preparation for the race, then stared intently at his friend,
“You can do as you choose, Bingley. As for myself…I intend to marry Miss Elizabeth Bennet!”
Then he kicked his horse into a run and the race was on.
5.Anamnesis
The Bennet sisters found the following days trying in different ways.
Jane found herself markedly more ill than she supposed. Casting up her accounts from the back of a horse, barely a hundred yards onto Longbourn property, was embarrassing enough, and it was repeated a dozen times before Friday (thankfully without the horse). She could not remember a cold turning quite so nasty. In addition, her illness turned into a fever that kept Elizabeth up all night tending to her, thus adding a load of guilt to her embarrassment and disappointment with the Netherfield tenants.
It took an event that to the untrained eye could easily pass as a screaming fit, for Elizabeth to ensure that only herself and Mrs Hill were allowed in Jane’s room. It finally took a rare example of her father putting his foot down to at least ensure she had one refuge in the house. She suspected he did it more to cut down on the number of loud arguments than any desire to protect Jane, but Elizabeth would take what she could get.
The young lady found her nights consumed with Jane, and her days with her mother’s complaints—which were long, loud, vigorous, and (to be honest) repetitious. After all, there were only so many ways to say, ‘You should have stayed a week so your sister could entrap the lunkhead?’
The lack of variation in the complaints in no way reduced Mrs Bennet’s need to express them in the strongest possible terms. The only saving grace was that the matron was of the firmest opinion it was Elizabeth who dragged her poor beleaguered sister from the happy hunting ground of Netherfield, and her second daughter made no attempt to correct the record. She was accustomed to her mother’s antics,and she preferred the lady never learn the full story and Jane’s part in it.
Her two youngest sisters would have been similarly annoying on the same topic had they not entertained entirely different (though still repetitious) raptures about the officers. According to them, the officers were all a gentleman should be, and no amount of arguing could entice them to add the suffix ‘except solvent.’ Trying to convince them that most officers were poor as rats or they would not be militia officers, was a fool’s endeavour. Even Mrs Bennet, who had once fancied a red coat herself, but stumbled upon the good sense to capture a gentleman instead, remembered the excitement of youth, and had no qualms about reliving the experience through her youngest daughters.
Jane’s ill-advised sojourn to Netherfield began on Tuesday and her ignominious return was Wednesday. By Friday, Jane’s fever was down to manageable levels, and she could keep broth, tea, and toast down.
In the world of Jane Bennet, that was practically good as new.
~~~~~
On Friday, Elizabeth was attending her mother in the drawing room at her insistence, primarily so the matron could chastise her, and once again ask her how Jane could keep Mr Bingley’s attentions. Both questions had been answered many times, and regardless of how much or how little Mrs Bennet changed the wording, the answer was still just as unsatisfactory.
Just as Mrs Bennet was winding herself up for another chastisement, Elizabeth was half-startled to hear Mary say, “Parents should be careful to set their children examples of industry, sobriety, and every virtue which they would recommend to them.”
Mrs Bennet was stopped momentarily in her tracks.
Elizabeth stared at her sister in wonder. “That is… both erudite and appropriate, Mary. Where is it from?”
“Fordyce, of course.”
“Has he any other pearls of wisdom? I admit I seldom listen when you quote him.”
“He is not all bad, Lizzy.”
“I never said he was… but I will admit to thinking it occasionally,” she said with a cheeky grin, hoping to interject some levity in the day.
Marry shrugged, clearly feeling the sentiment was neither new nor unexpected, but much to Elizabeth’s surprise, she gave a slight smile.
“Has he anything else useful?”
