Chapter One
Living in Hertfordshire proved to provide low marriage prospects for any young woman whether of fortune of wealth or fortune of appearance, therefore it was quite the news when an eligible young man returned to his residence at Netherfield Park.
“Jane, I think you are very well on your way to becoming Mrs. Charles Bingley, stop denying that fact,” Elizabeth said as she walked alongside her sister in the garden that morning. The trees had lost most of their leaves and were proudly bare for the onset of the coming winter.
“Oh, Lizzy, do not say such things, for I do not know in what direction Mr. Bingley’s affections lie. It could very well be that we are nothing more than good acquaintances, and that is to be the end of the matter.”
Elizabeth eyed her sister Jane, knowing very well indeed which direction Mr. Bingley's affections lay, anyone who had seen them together thus far knew very well that Mr. Charles Bingley had great affection for her dear sister. But Jane was such a good sort of person, never to believe more than what was just on the surface. Unlike Elizabeth, who was prone to digging deeper into what people might be actually thinking when they spoke words that often masked their true intentions.
But this particular courtship had all happened so suddenly and made Elizabeth quite content to see it happen in such a happy manner. It was at the assembly in Meryton that Mr. Bingley had attended with his sisters, as well as the rude and arrogant Mr. Darcy that Mr. Bingley had first laid eyes upon Jane. Since then, it had been quite known, thankfully to her mother Mrs. Bennet, that Mr. Bingley had paid attention to Jane most of all and had not stopped his attentions toward her since that moment. Indeed, the entire Bennet household was in uproar because of the matter. Mrs. Bennet desired nothing else than to see her five daughters successfully married.
“This just arrived for you, Miss.” The maid handed Jane a letter as she walked in the garden with Elizabeth.
Jane eagerly opened it as soon as she and Elizabeth were alone. “It is from Caroline Bingley, asking if I will dine with them tomorrow.”
“Oh, see there. That is a good sign of Mr. Bingley’s affections,” Lizzy teased.
So, the next day, which turned out to be a substantial gloomy day of November, Jane endured a downpour of cold rain on her way to Netherfield. Jane arrived very ill indeed and soon found herself in bed with a cold as an overnight guest of Netherfield Park.
Elizabeth took it upon herself to go to Netherfield Park from Longbourn in order to check on her sister and was invited to stay to look after her. However, after a day and half, Elizabeth too found herself ill, having caught Jane’s cold. Now she herself was laid in bed in a bedroom at Netherfield Park being looked after by a servant.
“Oh, please do not fuss. I will be fine. I just need water. How is my sister Jane?” Elizabeth asked the servant as she sat up in bed.
“She is better today. She is eating more than just broth,” the servant replied.
“That is good news,” Elizabeth said lying back against the pillows feeling the exhaustion as soon as she sat up.
“Would you like me to take a message to her, Miss?”
“No, let her rest. And thank you so much for this. I feel like such a fool for catching my sister’s cold,” Elizabeth said flushed in the cheeks, but one could not tell if it was from fever or embarrassment.
“Not to worry, Miss. I will return after a few hours to check on you. It is time for the dinner service downstairs. I will bring you broth later,” the servant said with a curtsy and walked out.
Elizabeth sighed. She could only imagine what the proud Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst would be saying about her at dinner. Elizabeth knew that she was only there at the good nature of Charles Bingley, and not due to his sisters or the vain Mr. Darcy. They must be so happy to have something to gossip about, and she and her sister Jane’s unexpected visit would do them just as well.
***
Elizabeth Bennet would not be wrong to think such things of her hosts. At the very moment that she lay in bed lamenting over her misfortunes of being stuck in such a place, Caroline Bingley was walking around the parlor in a stately manner.
“How inconvenient it is to not have one’s home to oneself,” she said with a pout.
“No doubt that this is a scheme that is going particularly well for the Bennet’s, however. I am sure it is quite the excitement for them,” Louisa Hurst snidely said to her sister with a giggle.
“Excitement? Why, how could you say such things? No one would want to be ill,” Charles Bingley said defending the Bennet sisters… and his Jane.
“Yes, perhaps not, but schemes might be all that a family of five sisters have in order to make an agreeable match, Bingley, and that is the material point your sisters are trying to make,” Darcy said rolling his eyes at his friend’s ease of gullibility. He admired the good nature of his friend, but also regarded it as his greatest weakness. It was a weakness that made Darcy keep watch over his friend, even if his friend was not aware of it. Darcy was very proud of the fact that he had secretly pushed away a scheming mother after Bingley’s fortune for her daughter, just a year before arriving at Netherfield. And the year before that, a scheming widow, who in Bingley’s presence was always all politeness, but as soon as he was turned, was all willful smiles toward the other eligible bachelors in the room. Since his friend could not see the woman’s true nature, Darcy made it a point to take him away with him on a trip to Paris for nearly six months, and in that time the widow trapped another bachelor, sparing Darcy from having to protect his friend further.
“More wine here,” Mr. Hurst said with a slur that was not appropriate before dinner, but that everyone seemed to overlook because of his status.
“Dinner is served,” a servant announced coming into the parlor.
“It is about time. I thought we would have to wait all night. Is this how things are done in the country? Country manners and country timing, I could never get used to it,” Caroline mumbled as she walked arm and arm with her sister out of the parlor, who agreed with a nod.
The night went on as ever at Netherfield. Dinner was followed by another visit to the parlor for brandy and socializing. Louisa played the piano and Caroline tried to start conversation with Darcy, which went nowhere after his one-word responses, much to her dismay. Then all retired to bed after Mr. Bingley made sure that the servants had been attentive to the Bennet sisters in every way possible. If it was not deemed inappropriate, Charles would be at Jane’s side patting her forehead with a cold, wet cloth if he could.
***
But even at the late hour, there was still stirring in the grand house. Elizabeth cracked open the door of her temporary room and peeked out. Seeing no one she tiptoed out in her thin white nightshift across the hall to Jane’s door. She slowly opened the door and stepped in.
“Elizabeth, what are you doing here?” Jane said.
“I am sorry, Jane, did I wake you?” Elizabeth said sitting down at her side. She pressed the back of her hand on Jane’s cheek and forehead. “You are not as warm as before.”
“No, I think I am fine now, Lizzy, but you… You should not be out of bed. You only just came down with my illness last night. The floor is cold, and you walked across it barefoot? You must be mad with fever.” Jane smiled at her.
Elizabeth let out a slight giggle. “I must confess, I do not feel well at all. My head aches and my chest hurts when I breathe.” Then she let out a slight laugh. “Listen to me I sound like Mother.”
Jane laughed. “Lizzy, you are flushed red. I beg you to go back to your bed.”
“I will, I just had to check on you. I have been worried. You had broth?” Lizzy said looking at the bedside table to see a bowl of broth and a bowl with wet cloth.
“Yes, yes, Lizzy, I am fine and well taken care of. I beg you to go back to your bed and sleep,” Jane said.
“Alright, I shall. Goodnight, Jane,” Lizzy said as she gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then she stood up and gave her sister a polite smile. She quietly opened the door and walked out, slowly closing it behind her as not to make any noise.
She turned and stared straight into the face of Mr. Darcy.
She gasped. “Mr. Darcy.”
“Miss Bennet, what in God’s name…” he said holding up the candle to her face.
Elizabeth clutched her fists under her chin, trying to conceal her body under her thin nightshift. “I was just checking on my sister Jane and…”
“And is she well?” he asked bluntly.
“Yes, she…”
“Then I must insist you return to your room, immediately. This is most inappropriate,” he said moving to her door and opening it. He stood there waiting for her to enter.
Elizabeth felt like a child being scorned. She flushed in embarrassment but hoped the fever would hide it.
“Goodnight, Mr. Darcy,” she said stepping in.
“Yes, do us both a favor and do not speak of this to anyone,” he said as he grabbed her door and closed it.
Elizabeth looked back at the door feeling frustrated at the proud and disagreeable man. Even to a sick woman he was still curt. Did he have no shame?
She climbed into bed, warming up her cold toes from the cold wooden floor. She cursed herself for not putting on her dressing gown at least over her nightshift. No doubt Mr. Darcy would think she was the type to be up to some sort of night seductions.
Oh, what he must think of the Bennet sisters, but what was he doing out of bed as well at this hour? Perhaps he was visiting Miss Bingley in the night and that was why he asked for her concealment of the hallway run in. Lizzy huffed – of course it would be just like people of their kind to speak all about appropriate connections and the like, only to be ill and secretive people doing illicit things behind closed doors.
***
Darcy was angry at the run in the hallway. What the hell was Elizabeth Bennet trying to do? Kill herself with the cold wooden floors under her bare feet, when she was in such a condition?
He realized that he should have taken the trouble to make sure that the fire was still burning in her room, to keep her warm after such a display. It was true that Darcy had taken a certain liking to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, one that he was still not able to explain, other than an admiration for her fine eyes.
Therefore, he did care about her wandering the halls in such a state of undress, which could make her more ill. But he had other matters on his mind in that moment. The reason he himself was out of bed in that moment was because he had only, minutes before, been roused by a servant. An urgent post had just come for him and Darcy went downstairs to pay the fee and accept the letter – which had specific directions that it was to be delivered into his hands personally and no one else. He could tell straight away from the writing that the letter was from his younger sister Georgiana. It must be an urgent matter and being in a panic, running into Elizabeth Bennet was an inconvenience that was only keeping him from easing his mind as to the contents of the letter.
He entered his room and set the candle down on his desk and tore open the seal.
“Dearest Brother, I am sorry to inconvenience you with such a letter, but I find that I must leave London immediately. You see, as I was walking from church service today with Mrs. Pruitt, I saw him. I know that you know of whom I speak of. Yes Fitzwilliam, it was Mr. Wickham. He saw me from across the street and nodded his hat at me and smiled. He meant to cross the street to me, but many carriages blocked his way. I quickly moved Mrs. Pruitt around the corner, as I could not tell my new chaperone why I was trying to avoid a gentleman such as he.
I do not know how he knows where to find me but given my past relations with him, I know that I must leave his reach. I am frightened my feelings might resurface. I feel that if I were to return to Pemberley on my own, he might follow me there. So, I plan to come to you as soon as may be at Netherfield Park.
Love, Georgiana
Darcy put the letter down. The anger inside of him boiled as he thought about the vile Mr. Wickham trying to track down his sister when he knew that she was not under Darcy’s direct attention. A new chaperone would not know of Georgiana’s past and it needed to stay that way. No, she could not go to Pemberley so she must come to Netherfield. There was no way around it.
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