Chapter 10

F or those in the sitting room, Elizabeth's plaintive wailing told them Jane was no longer suffering. Gardiner pulled his wife into the circle of his arms as she cried quietly on his shoulder.

They were not alone in the sitting room. Mr Phillips had remained after his wife had made a brief visit to her niece earlier in the afternoon. Like her younger sister, Hattie did not do well with impending death, especially not when it was one of her most loved nieces.

Messrs Darcy and Bingley had chosen to sit with the Bennet family members and Mr Jones. Darcy's heart went out to Miss Elizabeth as soon as he heard her lamentations. He was all too familiar with such scenes after first his mother, and then his father had passed away. He wished he could be the one to comfort Miss Elizabeth, but he remained in his chair sending her all of the sympathy he could muster.

Bingley stood, and with a steely look in the eye, he wordlessly left the sitting room. He marched to his younger sister's suite in the family wing, banged on the door to the bedchamber once, and then threw the door open.

Miss Bingley screeched with fear, thinking she was about to be murdered in her bed. When the taper was lit in the fire, and candles lighted as well, as the haze of sleep cleared, she was able to see it was not some brigand come to murder her, but rather her brother .

"What is the meaning of this behaviour?" Miss Bingley demanded. "How dare you burst into my bedchamber in this infamous manner?"

"Get out of bed, get dressed, and pack," Bingley growled with ice in his voice. "I told you if Miss Bennet, my fiancée, passed away, you would be out of my house immediately. After you claimed her illness was feigned and a ploy, she is no longer living! Is she feigning that? Is that a ploy to entrap me?" As he spoke, Bingley felt his fury build at the heartless woman before him.

Seeing the unalloyed rage building in her brother, Caroline Bingley made the intelligent choice, for once in her life. "W-where a-am I t-to g-go?" she squeaked.

"To the Red Lion Inn in Meryton. There you will remain until I have worked out everything I need to with my solicitor in London. It will be some days until I travel to Town, at least until after my fiancée is laid to rest."

It was the second time her brother had used the word fiancée. Was he addlepated? "Of what do you speak, you were not engaged to Miss Bennet."

"In fact I was, but that is neither here nor there. If you are not ready to leave in an hour, it will not matter. You are leaving my house by the time sixty minutes have passed, and never will I tolerate your presence in my company again. Now I suggest you pack your belongings. I have paid for a sennight to begin with, as I know not when the interment will be. Once I have met with my solicitor and everything is decided, after that, you will be on your own. I have assigned your maid to other tasks, and unless you are able to afford to pay her wages, do not bother ringing for Kindle. She will not come. If you have spent all of your allowance, do not look to me to advance you anything. By now all of the shops in London have been notified I will not pay for any of your future purchases." Bingley turned on his heel and stalked out of the bedchamber.

Miss Bingley sat and stared at the open door long after her brother had walked out of her suite. This could not be happening to her, yet she had seen nothing but resolve in her brother's bearing. She could not believe Charles would deprive her of her maid, so she rang, rang again, and again. No one answered her.

By the time the end of the hour approached, she had packed two of her trunks, after a fashion, but had not managed to dress herself yet. Some of her brother's footmen took the trunks while another escorted her to the entrance hall, where her brother stood, the look on his face as implacable as it had been an hour earlier.

"But Charles, I have not been dressed yet," Miss Bingley spluttered.

"Then I suggest you wear your heavy coat and gloves. If not, the coach ride to the inn will be rather cold," Bingley stated dispassionately.

The butler assisted the lady into her coat and as soon as it was buttoned, and her gloves on her hands, the door opened, and Caroline Bingley was unceremoniously pushed out of the house and into the waiting equipage.

She was sure in a day or two, Charles would get over his pique, and then all would be well again.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The Gardiner parents and Phillips joined Elizabeth in the bedchamber. They did not want her to be alone in her vigil over Jane's body. There was no question she would agree to leave her late sister's side and go to sleep, and none of them thought to try and gainsay her. They let her be, even knowing she had not slumbered in two days.

Mrs Nichols supervised two maids as they made sure the body would be ready to be moved to Longbourn once the sun rose in the morning. The two men took themselves back to the sitting room when it came time to wash and change the earthly remains of Jane Bennet. Elizabeth and her aunt assisted with what had to be done. Once Jane's body was washed, her hair had been brushed, and a light blue dress, one of Jane's favourites, was in place, the men were called back into the chamber.

With all that needed to be done completed, the absolute exhaustion of far too many hours with no sleep hit Elizabeth. She leaned forward to rest her head on her arms on the bed, one hand gripping one of her late sister's cold ones, and closed her eyes. Elizabeth had not meant to fall asleep, but she fell into a deep and fitful slumber.

Gardiner looked at his wife. "Should we move her to the bed in the other bedchamber in this suite?" he asked.

"No, Lizzy will wake, and even if she does not, she will not be sanguine with not being next to Jane's mortal remains. We should leave her be," Madeline opined. Neither her husband nor her brother-in-law gainsaid her.

When Jones came to see if Miss Lizzy, Miss Bennet now, needed a sleeping draught, he was pleased to see she was asleep, even if she was seated in an armchair with her head on the bed. If she did not rest, she would be the next Bennet sister to become ill.

While she was sleeping in the sitting position, Elizabeth dreamed of her Janey. Her dream showed her events over the years when she and Jane had been together. Walking up to Oakham Mount, spending time in Gracechurch Street, teasing one another, and in each part of the dream, they got older. The last image she saw was her watching Janey as she was pulled into a bright light, and no matter what she did, Elizabeth could not reach her. The light was extinguished and then she was alone.

Elizabeth had been sleeping for some hours already, and the sun was beginning to rise, when Madeline noted her niece crying in her sleep. "Lizzy. Lizzy dear, it is time to wake up," Madeline said next to Lizzy's ear while she rubbed her back.

The image of the dream disappeared, and Elizabeth heard Aunt Maddie's voice and felt the soothing rubbing of her back. Could it be she dreamed Jane's death, and her most beloved sister was still alive? That illusion was shattered as soon as her eyes fluttered open, and Elizabeth saw Jane's lifeless body lying next to where her head had been resting on the bed, her one hand still holding one of her dead sister's. Everything from the previous night came rushing back to her. It was no dream; Jane was in heaven.

It was then Elizabeth noticed the weak light in the cracks in the curtains. She looked at the clock on the mantle, it was past half after eight in the morning. Rather than staying awake to be with Jane's body, Elizabeth had slept for more than six hours. She looked at her aunt and uncles reproachfully. "You knew I wanted to remain awake to watch over Jane," she remonstrated.

"I told them not to wake you under any circumstances," Jones informed Miss Bennet.

Elizabeth had not noticed Mr Jones was still present. She turned towards him. "Why?" was all she asked.

"For the simple reason, Miss Bennet, that if you did not get some sleep, you would have made yourself ill, and how would you help anyone if you are infirm yourself?" Jones challenged.

"I know I am Miss Bennet now, but how I wish I were not," Elizabeth sighed. "I suppose you all agreed with Mr Jones?" She looked at her aunt and uncles.

"He is right, Lizzy," Gardiner stated firmly. "You were looking rather wan. By the time you fell asleep, there was nothing you could have done to stop it. Had Jones not insisted you be allowed to sleep, I would have."

"As would I have," Madeline agreed.

"And that makes four of us," Phillips added.

She knew they were all correct. In her head Elizabeth could hear Janey's voice telling her she needed her sleep. She raised her hands in surrender. "Please accept my apologies for my irritation. You were only doing what was best for me. Thank you for not moving me away from Janey's side."

Madeline gave her husband an ‘I told you so' look.

"Have my parents and younger sisters been informed?" Elizabeth enquired. "My anger with my parents aside, they need to be told."

"No, they are as yet unaware," Gardiner responded. He saw his brother's questioning look. "Later," Gardiner mouthed to Phillips. "Will you write a note, or should I. They need to know before the body is moved to Longbourn."

"I will write the missive," Elizabeth decided. She saw the looks from her Gardiner aunt and uncle. "I will not remonstrate with them. There will be more than enough time for that later. Besides, I have much on which to cogitate before I speak to my parents." She looked at the remains of her sister. "Unlike Jane, I have time available to me."

Elizabeth sat herself at the escritoire in the sitting room. Before she wrote the letter, she edged it with black ink. As soon as it was dry, she wrote.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The Hills had just entered the kitchen when they heard a clatter as Cook dropped a pan on the floor. It was followed by a cry of sadness. The couple rushed towards cook and froze in place when they saw the black edged letter in Cook's hand. A Netherfield Park groom was standing cap in hand at the door, his eyes to the floor.

Tears began to run down Mrs Hill's cheeks as her normally unflappable husband's eyes looked suspiciously moist. They had all been prepared for this eventuality, but the reality was no easier because of their foreknowledge. Hill looked at the lad and cleared his throat .

The groom looked up and saw the butler's questioning look. "Me master tol' me ta wait ‘ere in case there be an answer," the lad said.

Hill turned to Cook who was still staring at what she held in her hand as if it would change to something else. It did not. He gently reached out and took the note from her hand and saw the direction was in Miss Lizzy's script. Knowing the master was in his study, Hill made directly for that room. He knocked once on the thick oak door.

"Come," Bennet called out. He saw Hill and then his world came to a sudden halt when he noticed the black edged letter in the butler's hand. His hand was shaking when he extended it to accept the news he had hoped never to read in his life time. A parent was not supposed to bury a child.

With great trepidation he broke the seal and read the words Lizzy had penned.

18 October 1810

Father, Mother, and Sisters,

It is my sad duty to inform you that your daughter and sister passed away not long after midnight. Jane is with God now.

Her remains are ready to be brought home to Longbourn as soon as you send the undertaker to move the body.

I am not alone here, Aunt Maddie, Uncle Edward, Uncle Frank, and my four young cousins are with me. That is not to mention the residents of this estate, who, for the most part, have been most welcoming, helpful, and sympathetic.

Uncle Frank is leaving soon to return home to inform Aunt Hattie of the tragedy, but the Gardiners will remain here with me until arrangements to transport Jane's mortal vessel to Longbourn have been made.

In great sadness, your daughter and sister,

Elizabeth

As much as Bennet did not want to hear his wife wailing and making this about herself as well, he knew he could not delay telling her their eldest had been called home to God.

First he wrote a note to be given to the waiting groom, telling those at Netherfield Park that he would shortly go to see Mr Kettering, the undertaker, and then inform them when to expect him and his carriage as soon as he knew the information.

Like he had the day he had informed his wife of the dire illness, which he realised had been about four and twenty hours earlier, even though it felt like a lifetime ago, Bennet entered his wife's chambers. Thanks to a sleeping draught she had imbibed the previous night, waking her was not easy, but eventually he succeeded.

Without a word, he handed his wife the missive. The instant she saw the edging, Fanny Bennet began to wail. "This cannot be! Jane was too beautiful to die! NO ! This cannot be! This cannot be! This cannot be! This cannot be!"

"If there was a way to wish the truth away, believe me when I tell you I would do just that, but nothing will change the facts. Between us, we killed our eldest daughter," Bennet stated with much self-recrimination. With all of her false histrionics, his wife fainted dead away. On his way to his daughters' chambers, Bennet sent Sarah downstairs to summon Mrs Hill and his wife's salts. He found it ironic that, for once, she actually needed the things.

As soon as Mrs Hill arrived, Bennet made his way to Mary's bedchamber. He found her sitting in bed crying quietly. He should have known as soon as she heard her mother's howling, his middle daughter would know what had occurred. It was another error he made in underestimating Mary. She was intelligent, possibly not quite at Lizzy's level, but not far off.

Mary looked up at her father with her large, moist hazel coloured eyes. "Jane is gone?" When her father nodded, Mary grabbed one of her pillows to cry into it so that she would not attract attention.

Bennet desired to comfort Mary, but he did not know how. Instead he slipped out of her chamber and went to wake his two youngest daughters. They too had been wakened by the caterwauling emanating from their mother's chambers. Both looked at him fearfully, suspecting what the news was, but not wanting it to be real.

"Our Jane passed in the small hours of the morning," he stated simply.

Tears coursed down his daughters cheeks. "C-can w-we s-see h-her?" Kitty managed.

"I am to ride to see Mr Kettering to arrange for Jane's remains to be brought to Longbourn. She will be laid in repose in the larger parlour," Bennet explained to his daughters. He could see a question forming on Lydia's lips. "Lizzy was with her until the end, and she will come home when the body is moved here."

By the time Bennet came downstairs, the staff and servants were already preparing the house for mourning. Very few attempted to disguise their tears. Hill, with the assistance of the footman, was running black fabric around the outside of the front door, and Bennet was sure there would be black fabric on the gate posts by the time he returned from seeing Mr Kettering. After the undertaker, he would have to go see Mr Pierce. The old vicar had christened Jane and now he would bury her.

Lizzy had not laid blame at his or her mother's feet in her letter, but Bennet had no doubt it would not be of long duration before she made her opinion known.