Chapter 13

T he next day, not long after breaking their fasts and with Charlotte's arrival, the four Bennets and one Lucas made their way upstairs to the chamber which had been shared by Jane and Elizabeth.

The morning meal had only been attended by the four sisters. Their father was taking his comestibles on a tray, and since her mad dash back to her chambers the previous day, other than some wailing when someone passed her chamber, no one had heard from the mistress of the estate.

As the first chamber on the first floor was the aforementioned lady's, the five younger ladies were treated to the sounds of moaning and lamenting when they passed that particular door.

In order to have some peace and quiet, after everyone else entered her bedchamber, Elizabeth pushed the door closed. It was the first time she had entered the room since requesting to be able to sleep in Mary's chamber. As she looked around the room, Elizabeth saw Jane in everything. The light blue ribbons draped over the mirror attached to the dresser, Jane's brush on the dresser, the box of her hair pins…and on and on. It took all of her strength not to run from the room.

Seeing how Elizabeth was being affected by all of the memories of Jane in the chamber, Mary and Charlotte took charge of the packing. To say sorting through Jane's worldly possessions did not cause tears to flow among the other four and not just Elizabeth, would have been a lie.

At one point, Mary asked their maid, Sarah, to have some trunks brought to the bedchamber. First, each one of them chose items which were special to them, which they would keep for themselves to have a piece of Jane close at hand. Mary and Kitty chose some gowns and day dresses for themselves, Lydia who loved to pull apart and remake bonnets, claimed two of Jane's. She did not articulate it to the others, but those were two bonnets she would never redo. They would always be as Jane had left them.

Although she claimed it was too much, Charlotte, who was the same height as Jane and of a similar build, chose two day dresses for herself. That left Elizabeth .

Even though gowns and dresses could be altered for length—Elizabeth was considerably shorter than her dearest sister had been—her bosom was quite a bit more buxom than Jane's, thereby remaking gowns or dresses over to fit her, an impossibility. Elizabeth chose a cashmere pelisse the Gardiners had given Jane for Christmas two years previously. She also would keep Jane's brushes and hair pins. The most important part of her sister she retained was in her heart. Until she joined Jane in His Kingdom, they would be together in her thoughts and dreams.

Thoughts of her heart made her think of Mr Darcy—and caused her to put her hand into her pocket to feel his handkerchief—who was at this moment on his way to London with Mr Bingley. The latter had sent a note, decipherable between the blots, to inform her that he and the former would be in Town for a few days, but if she felt she needed to escape to Netherfield Park, she would be welcome to do so. Elizabeth smiled when she thought of Mr Bingley's words of approbation regarding her slap delivered to his younger sister.

She did not enjoy violence and had always thought there were better, more rational ways to solve differences than by some physical altercation. Except in this case, Elizabeth could not feel badly that she had left her handprint on the shrew's face .

The rest of Jane's worldly possessions were sorted into various trunks. One was for the servants, another to be distributed among the tenants, and the final ones would be delivered to Mr Pierce to be given to the needy of his parish. Elizabeth remembered the old vicar's visit the previous evening. His words had been comforting, but there was no missing the sadness in his eyes. The melancholy had been reflected in Mrs Pierce's countenance as well.

Mr Pierce and his wife had never been blessed with children, so the Bennets and others in the parish had become the warm couple's surrogate sons and daughters. Due to that, Elizabeth was sure the clergyman was taking Jane's passing as hard as any other.

Once Hill had directed the footman and groom to take the three trunks from the bedchamber, Kitty and Lydia took the items they were keeping to their own chamber, Elizabeth, Mary, and Charlotte stood looking at the half empty room. The latter could see that the sisters did not know what to do next.

"Jane would not have wanted life to stop because she is gone. Mary, you are moving in here with Eliza, are you not?" Charlotte took charge. Mary nodded. "Then let us go and bring your belongings into this room. There is no time like the present."

Elizabeth and Mary agreed gratefully. They both understood that Charlotte was helping them move forward.

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

Bennet was not proud of the fact he was hiding himself away from the righteous anger he was sure his second…no, his eldest…daughter now, would direct at him.

At least he was in his study and had not locked himself in his bedchamber like his wife had done. At the church service and then the graveside prayers before the interment, Bennet had experienced the disdain of many men in the neighbourhood. Seeing that he felt he deserved to be seen in such a way, he had stood and watched his late daughter's coffin being lowered into the cold, hard ground. He was certain Jane was in heaven. If there was ever one who deserved to spend eternity there, it was her.

He freely acknowledged it was too late for Jane, but he would never again allow his indolence to stop him from his duties as a father and landlord. In that vein, rather than wait for some undetermined point in the future, Bennet pulled a sheet of paper from the stack on his desk and wrote a long overdue letter to his distant cousin.

24 October 1810

Longbourn, Hertfordshire

Mr Collins,

It is with great sadness that I inform you that the illness I referred to in my last has claimed the life of my eldest daughter. Her name was Jane Lydia Bennet, and she was two and twenty summers old.

As a clergyman I am sure you will understand the Bennets will be in mourning, and therefore I must defer your visit here indefinitely.

I appreciate your intention to heal the breach in our family; it is an honourable and laudable one. That being said, please allow us the time we need to recover from this tragedy of immeasurable proportions. My prayer for you is that you never know the pain of watching one of your children being consigned to their place of eternal slumber. Before we can have a reconciliation with one not of our intimate family circle, we have much to repair within it first.

Trusting you will accept my words in the spirit they were meant.

Sincerely,

Thomas Bennet

Bennet reread his words and was satisfied. He folded the page, sealed it, and then wrote the direction. It would go out with the post on the morrow, there was no reason to send this one express.

He sat with his elbows on the desk, his head in his hands as he felt the crushing guilt for what he had not done. There was nothing Lizzy would be able to say to him which would make him feel worse than he already did.

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

Bingley's solicitor raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure about this, Mr Bingley?" the man verified.

"Yes, Mr Marchant. I am as sure as I could ever be," Bingley confirmed. "Is there something in my father's will which would disallow what I am doing? In my reading of it, I did not see anything, but that is why you are the solicitor, and I am not."

"No Mr Bingley, you have not misread the terms of the will. Are you prepared that as soon as you sign this document, and I witness it, it will become irrevocable?" the solicitor asked.

"Yes, I am aware." Bingley read over the new dispensation of his sister's dowry one more time. He was happy with what he read, so he signed all four copies of the document and then slid them across the desk to Mr Marchant. The solicitor signed the document, and then for good measure had his clerk sign as a witness as well.

It was done. The youngest Bingley's future was set. It was just as well he had sent instructions ahead a few days before he and Darcy travelled to London. That way, he had to spend only a minimum amount of time with the solicitor. From there, Bingley went to Bond Street to visit the shops where his younger sister was wont to spend money like water. His man of business had paid off each amount owing, but now Bingley had a document for the proprietors of each shop to sign. Boiled down, it said he would not pay another penny of expense incurred by Miss Caroline Bingley, and if they extended her credit, it had to be collected from her.

Once he had completed that part of his self-imposed task, it was time to return to Darcy House and change for dinner.

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

"Did you achieve all you intended to today?" Darcy asked after the first remove.

"I did…" Bingley related what had been done. "Did you speak to your aunt?"

"Indeed," Darcy responded. "If your sister dares to show her face in society, she will not be well pleased with the results. It could not have been better. Ladies Cowper and Jersey were visiting when I passed the information to my aunt, and the Duchess of Bedford arrived in the middle of the telling. I am not sure which of the ladies were more outraged. Hence it will not only be Aunt Elaine who makes sure your sister will have every door in society slammed shut in her face."

"It is no less than she deserves," Bingley barked. "How does Miss Darcy?"

"She is a little better than when I travelled to Netherfield Park," Darcy reported. "The new companion, Mrs Annesley, has assisted Giana greatly, as have my family." Knowing he could trust Bingley with his life, on the ride into Town, Darcy had revealed to his friend why his sister was suffering.

"You should have allowed Fitzwilliam to run that bloody libertine through," Bingley opined.

"As much as I would like to see Wickham punished one day, I do not want Richard to hang for it. Could you imagine my sister's guilt if that occurred? We have seen enough suffering of late without needing more."

"Now that the funeral is past us, what do you think Miss Bennet will do? "

"I know not, Bingley, but I cannot blame her for the anger she feels at her parents. Unlike she did with Miss Bingley, slapping her parents is not an option. From what I can tell Miss Elizabeth…" Darcy noted Bingley's raised eyebrows, "Miss Bennet would be a fearsome foe. I will be forever grateful to your late fiancée for softening her sister's attitude towards me which made her willing to accept my apologies."

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

Wickham was greatly frustrated. If he had known before he enlisted in the regiment what he knew now, he would have never signed the documents. He could not resign for two years. If he deserted during a time of war, even in the damned militia, he would face a firing squad. The only option would be to purchase his way out, and that cost five hundred pounds.

That he was not able to gain credit was at the root of Wickham's vexation. Only once it was too late, he found out the Colonel had forbade the merchants to issue credit to any of his soldiers or officers, without his in person permission. If that was not bad enough, the man had warned all the parents of young girls and advised them to guard their virtue, and to be very sceptical about promises made without a visit to their father.

As soon as he was in uniform, Wickham had been on the lookout for the two Bennet flirts Denny had told him about. If he could not have credit, he would console himself with a tumble with the unsuspecting lightskirts. Just his luck, Denny had informed him later the day after joining the regiment, that one of the Bennet sisters had passed away, so the family was in deep mourning, and even worse, the two Wickham would have liked to meet were no longer out .

He could not even go to their estate to ingratiate himself with them. Only the Colonel was welcomed there. Any others who had wanted to had already paid their respects at the funeral .

The only option was Miss Bingley and her twenty thousand pounds. As soon as he married her, he would have the funds to purchase an early release from the militia. If only Denny had explained the restrictions with a free commission. Never mind, he could not go back and change the past, so he had to work on his plan.

Much to his delight, Wickham had discovered the woman was a resident of the inn. There was talk of a falling out with her brother. He had not bothered to ask about any of the other residents of Netherfield Park. In furtherance of his plan, he made sure he was present this evening for dinner. For a few pennies, a serving wench had shared the woman ate in the dining area with the rest of the guests.

He watched her as she ate her dinner, her nose in the air, a pinched look on her face which looked for all the world as if she smelt a bad odour in the room. She was not the most comely woman he had ever seen, and she was older than he preferred, in fact he guessed she was in her middle twenties like Karen. He suffered bedding the latter, so this one and her twenty thousand pounds would not be a problem for him. Even though she had attempted to cover the angry red and purple handprint on her one cheek with powder, it was still visible.

It would have been nice to meet the spitfire who had left her mark on Miss Bingley's cheek. There was no possibility of that as it was one of the Miss Bennets who were in mourning. What a pity, a woman with that kind of spirit would have been interesting to tame.

His thoughts returned to his quarry. If he could not charm Miss Bingley into his bed, then Wickham would compromise her in the most public way so there was no choice. He wondered if the brother would add another ten thousand to make sure there would be no scandal. Could he gain thirty thousand pounds while causing Darcy pain as he had intended to do when he had targeted little Georgiana? He smiled. Yes, Darcy would pay as he would not want word of his being thrown over for another man to be spread in society. That would be the sweetest outcome of all.

He would observe her for another day and then make his approach. Wickham could smell the money in which he would soon be rolling.