Page 15 of Miss Bennet's Dragon
Jane grabbed my hand. “Must you go? I feel so much better having you here.”
Privately, I was worried to leave. But I could not invite myself.
After a long silence, Mrs. Hurst said, “Youmuststay, Miss Elizabeth.”
And so, a servant was dispatched to Longbourn to tell Papa and Mamma the events and to bring back a supply of clothes.
I left Jane with the sisters and asked directions until I found the housekeeper. I wished to speak with the Scottish maid and thank her again.
“That washerwoman has been dismissed,” the housekeeper said.
“Dismissed? Whatever for?”
“She struck Mr. Jones, ma’am.”
“AfterIstruck him.”
The housekeeper’s expression conveyed that reprehensible behavior by gentry was no excuse for disorder amongst her staff.
I was disappointed, and concerned that the Scottish woman had lost her position. But as Mrs. Hill already retained the woman for Longbourn’s wash days, I could address that at home where I had more influence.
I returned to Jane’s room. The sisters had left, and Jane was sweetly asleep, watched with maternal care by the young housemaid. Reassured, I went exploring to find my hosts.
The breakfast parlor had been cleared, but there were voices behind a closed door. I approached and heard Miss Bingley speaking in scathing tones.
“You observed her, Mr. Darcy, I amsure.”
I was reaching for the door handle, but I hesitated, wondering whom they discussed.
“To scrabble about in the bushes after draca!” Miss Bingley continued. “And to walk three miles, or five miles, or whatever it was, above her ankles in dirt! She seems obsessed with some country-girl display of roughness.”
“I have seen only her affection and care for her ill sister,” came Bingley’s voice. “I find that very pleasing.” His defense was mortifying proof of whom they mocked.
“I am afraid, Mr. Darcy,” observed Miss Bingley in a wicked whisper, and I realized she was inches away, opposite the door I had almost touched, “that this endless grubbiness has rather affected your admiration of her fine eyes.”
“Not at all,” his haughty baritone replied, “they were brightened by—”
I fled to the hallway, then, afraid my steps had been heard, I ran out the front door.
The day shone, bright and pure, the air crisp from the rains. My arms locked over my chest and hammering heart. Humiliation and fury whirled in confused, painful alternation.
The foliage rustled, and the lindworm emerged to sit by my feet, tilting her head with concern. Had her hindquarters not been so lizard-like, I think she would have wagged her tail in sympathy.
“Go away,” I whispered, and she slunk to her kennel.
Entering a room with those people was impossible. But I had accepted their invitation. Should I walk home, to abandon Jane and provide fresh fodder for their disdain?
I did have defenders. Mr. Bingley had been kind. And Mr. Darcy… well, Mr. Darcy’s opinion was hard to make out.
But Miss Bingley was as clear as the daylight on my face. She was a hurtful, conceited woman. I suspected her sister was no better.
That convinced me, though. I would not abandon Jane to a nest of vipers. I wiped my eyes and marched back in. I passed the breakfast parlor and flung open the next pair of doors—apparently with vigor, for the lone butler within bowed hastily then eyed me with extreme trepidation. After my altercation with Mr. Jones, stories of the mad Bennet girl must be flying.
Informed that the Bingleys had moved to the drawing room, I made my way there, but I arrived resolved to be polite. Decorum is the armor of gentry, and I was a gentleman’s daughter.
“Miss Eliza!” cried Miss Bingley with a wide smile. It seemed contempt had promoted our acquaintance to intimate friendship. I returned the smile, savoring my dislike, and she continued, “Jane is such a dear, even with a headache. I do so detest being ill myself. We were just settling for a game of loo. Will you join us?” She gestured to the seat beside her.
Armored or not, I was not prepared to sit beside Miss Bingley and gossip between hands. “Thank you, but I must return to my sister shortly. A book will serve for my amusement.”
