Page 15 of A Life Diverted
“C ome now, Little One, why are you wandering around at night like this?” the man with the blurry face asked.
“What you do in Papa’s swudy?” Ellie asked. She did not know why she had woken and was wandering around the house. “It late now, why you here?” she demanded, her arms akimbo like she had seen Mama do when she was angry with someone.
“Are you sure you are awake and not walking in your sleep?” he enquired.
“Why you silly? I awake. I looking for faeries and pixies. I sure they come into the house at night,” Ellie explained.
“I have seen them,” he claimed. “There is a magic potion you must drink, and then you will be able to see all of them, even the faerie queen who is flying right there.” He pointed behind Ellie.
“Queen here?” Ellie exclaimed excitedly.
“You cannot be loud, or you will scare her and the rest of them away. Do you not want to see them?”
Ellie nodded emphatically as she placed her one forefinger over her lips.
“Come with me, and I will make the potion which will allow you to see all of them. You must remain quiet. Now give me your hand.” He reached out his one hand, and the girl took it without hesitation.
Soon they were in the kitchens, a place Mama and Papa had told her she was not allowed to enter without one of them escorting her.
But if this kind man were to make her a magic potion, surely Mama and Papa would understand?
He led Ellie to the table where she had seen the scullery maids sit and drink tea.
“Now stand here and do not move or make a sound. You do not want to frighten the faeries away, do you?”
She stood quite still and said not a word.
At last, she was to see some faeries and pixies.
Not even Dawy and Bawny telling her not to go in the kitchens gave her pause.
She was only sorry her brothers could not have some magic potion so they too could see the magical creatures.
Ellie looked on as he entered the pantry and heard him climb up on a chair within.
She watched as he returned with a bottle, brown, with what looked like dark liquid inside.
Ellie was fascinated as he poured a good measure into a glass and added water, sugar, and some other ingredients she did not recognise.
“Now you need to drink every last drop; otherwise you will not see them. Even if it tastes bitter, drink it all, unless you never want to see them. This is your only chance.”
“I dwink it all,” Ellie promised.
Suddenly Ellie was not in her house anymore but in the box. Her Mama and Papa had sent her away and given her away to other people. It was because she was bad, always hid away, and went into the kitchen…
Elizabeth sat up in her bed, in a cold sweat.
That was the most vivid nightmare she had ever had, and although she could not see the man’s face, she felt like she should know him.
Like it was whenever she had these strange and haunting dreams, they faded when she woke, and to protect herself, she excised them from her memories.
They were not real. She had a mama and papa, and they had always been her parents. She remembered no others. These were just bad dreams, things her imagination had conjured up.
Jane pulled her into a hug. “Lizzy, did you have one of those scary dreams again?” Jane enquired as she rubbed her sister’s back.
She nodded. Elizabeth never liked to talk about her dreams. From what she could remember—and thankfully it was not much—the dreams all seemed to be the same, or at least very similar, and they always unsettled her. She knew not what or when, but there must have been something very bad in her past.
“Yes, but waking up with you next to me always makes me feel better,” Elizabeth replied in a soft voice. She was fighting to restore her equanimity.
It was shortly after she arrived at Longbourn when she first started having nightmares.
Waking up in the nursery, she had never been alone.
When Janie was ten, she had moved into her own bedchamber—the one they now shared—and although she missed Janie, Miss Weasley, the night nurse, James, and Mary were there.
Before she left the nursery, Lydia and Henry had arrived.
Like Jane before her, at ten Elizabeth was given her own bedchamber. The first time she had one of the horrid dreams and she woke alone, she had screamed, waking the whole household. The next day, Mama had moved her into the same bedchamber with Janie.
“Lizzy, we need some more sleep. Do not forget all of us Bennets are riding out tomorrow. We need our strength, Sister dearest.”
Jane’s rubbing her back helped, as it always did. Soon enough the last vestiges of the nightmare faded from Elizabeth’s consciousness. “Thank you for being the best big sister a girl could want.” She hugged Jane, and they laid down again and soon enough, fell asleep.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
David Wendell agreed to accompany his cousin and William Darcy to see the estate this Bingley fellow was considering leasing. David had as much experience with estates as either Richard or William.
His father had been training him to manage his inheritance from the day he had completed his studies at Cambridge, and for the last few years, David had taken a more active role in the running of Willowmere.
He was still to meet a woman who made him want to pursue her.
Given that the Wendell estate earned between six and seven thousand pounds per annum, he was much luckier than both Richard and William.
He was not seen as prime marriage material by the members of polite society, and hence he was not hunted like his cousins were.
He was deemed good enough for poorly dowered and untitled women, even though his connections were as good as his cousins.
David was not at all sorry that he was not hunted.
Thankfully, unlike Richard and William, Bingley’s sister did not view him as a worthy match for herself.
Yes, he was heir to an estate, but the Wendells did not keep a house in Town, and he was not in possession of his estate like the other two.
She had not been happy when Andrew Fitzwilliam had been claimed by another.
The fact that Richard Fitzwilliam was the only one of that family she had met—and only because of his connection to her brother—never seemed to enter into her thoughts.
David remembered how his eldest cousin used to be hunted like a prize stag. At least Andrew did not have to suffer that any longer as he had removed himself from the marriage mart when he had married Lady Emily Carrington, the daughter of the Earl of Holder, in April of the previous year.
The Wendell heir had been in London being hosted by Richard at Fitzwilliam House—the former de Bourgh House—on Berkeley Square from about a fortnight before the selection of Giana Darcy’s companion and the uncovering of George Wickham’s plan.
Although he did not actively dislike Bingley, David did not seek out his company.
He found him too puppy-like and disliked his weakness in not checking his younger sister.
In addition, Bingley’s capriciousness, especially as far as ladies went, troubled David.
Bingley had a habit of falling in love with a lady, raising her expectations, and then losing interest and moving on to the next one.
He was not a rake per se , but it was not honourable behaviour.
David had to admit, if only to himself, that part of his objection to the way Bingley behaved with women was how he would have felt if Ellie had still been alive and someone had treated her in that cavalier fashion.
Even though she would not have fit his physical type—he sought out pretty, willowy blonde ladies with blue eyes—in David’s mind, it did not make Bingley’s behaviour less dishonourable.
He was surprised William Darcy accepted a friend who behaved in that fashion. Also a mystery was how it was that William abhorred the huntresses of the Ton , while at the same time he tolerated the shrew who was Miss Caroline Bingley.
Now they were on their way to an estate in Hertfordshire named Netherfield Park.
The four men had elected to ride so they would be able to look at the estate’s land.
They had no idea if there would be horses available for them to use, which had decided their mode of transport.
To make sure the horses would not be overly exerted, they did not gallop, keeping to a mid-canter.
Even so, it would not take them much longer than two hours’ of riding, with an hour rest, to arrive at the estate.
As he often did when he rode, David wondered how much Ellie would have loved riding. Before she had been stolen away on that fateful night of the thirtieth of January 1794, and murdered sometime later, the little sprite had loved to see the horses and ponies at Willowmere.
Not a few times, she convinced Father to place her in front of him as he rode his stallion slowly, all the time holding Ellie tightly so that she could not wiggle away from him.
Even though Ellie had been dead for at least seventeen years, it was still very upsetting to think of his wonderful, full of life little sister.
If he ever got his hands on the bastard who had done this…
David stopped the dark thoughts. Mother still believed Ellie was alive, and none of them ever attempted to convince her otherwise.
For the final hour of the ride, David guided his horse next to Richard’s, and the cousins spoke of their estates while William rode next to Bingley.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In the few months since Wickham had joined the militia, he had found it both better and worse than he had expected.
Worse because he could not shirk his duty. Colonel Forster flogged any man who failed to complete his assigned tasks. The threat of flogging was enough to deter Wickham from trying to avoid his duties, even when it meant remaining awake at night.