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Wickham’s scheme to have the Bennet’s guards relax worked, at least partially.

Over the following weeks until the day that they all decamped for Hertfordshire, thus making the lie that Wickham told álvarez partially true, Biggs noted that he never saw that same waif again and there was no one that he could tell, young or old, that was paying any particular attention to the Bennets.

Since the near miss of catching the youth outside the warehouse, none of the guards, all on high alert, had detected anyone following them to any of the places or events that their charges had attended.

Lady Sarah Bennet, Duchess of Hertfordshire could not have felt more contented.

She had received a letter from Jane, expressing similar sentiments to the one from Marie.

The felicity that her daughter was finding in her marriage to the Honourable Mr. Richard Fitzwilliam was plainly evident from the joy that sprung from her words.

The Countess of Matlock had been Sarah Bennet’s good friend for many years, and now the Duchess had grown very close to her friend’s sister-in-law, Lady Anne Darcy, and counted the other sister-in-law, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, an intimate as well.

The mistress of Bennet House had just instructed the housekeeper to have the family packed for their removal to Hertfordshire as she sat in the east parlour that was the recipient of the morning sun, which was at a premium in the winter.

She thought back to what Lady Catherine had related when she and her daughter Anne had returned from Rosings Park ten days earlier.

The Duchess, her sister Rose Bennet, the Duchess of Bedford, Lady Catherine and Lady Anne were all taking tea together at de Bourgh House, and Lady Catherine seemed to be amused about something.

“What amuses you so, Catherine?” her sister Anne asked.

“It is my, no Anne’s, parson,” she said with mirth.

“Now you have to share the story, Catherine,” Rose Bennet instructed, always one who had loved humorous stories.

“The cleric who has the living at Hunsford is not the smartest man in the world, but neither is he deficient. He is very deferential to anyone above him in rank, truly an out and out sycophantic to Anne and me. He informed Anne and I that he had received an invitation to visit the estate, named Longriver, that was entailed on him in Herefordshire, but he was considering responding in the negative due to some disagreement between his late father and the current master of the estate.”

Anne Darcy, seeing the quizzical look on her friend’s countenance, nodded her head.

“Yes, Sarah. This is the family that my William thought so below him and assumed was your own. Not only do the shires and the estate names resemble one another, but they too carry the family name ‘Benet’ but theirs is with one ‘n’ not two as is in your family name,” she said with a wide smile, illuminating her son’s mistake.

“You met the eldest former Benet daughter, now Harriet Forster who is married to Richard’s friend, the one who stood up for him. ” Lady Sarah nodded in remembrance.

Lady Catherine continued her tale, “Anne advised him that he should let bygones be bygones and offer an olive branch. She allowed him a month to be away from his parish, and I added that he should set an example for his parishioners and marry. I also pointed out that he could further heal the breach by marrying one of his cousins, thus securing the family’s future and removing anxiety that they would be turned out of their home on the death of the father.

” Lady Catherine paused to take a breath, “I did feel that he should marry, when he was so inclined, but what I said to him was said in jest. I should have taken his character more into consideration as he decided to follow my advice as if it were a command from God Himself.”

“He did not!” Rose Bennet gasped in amused surprise.

“He most certainly did,” Catherine agreed, trying to contain her mirth.

“We just welcomed his new wife, Mrs. Miranda Benet Collins, to Hunsford.

Being the oldest, unmarried daughter, Collins proposed to her after knowing her for barely a week.

Evidently, she decided that marrying him was a price that she could bear in order to secure the future of her mother and younger sisters.

“The mother, a very kind and sensible woman to hear tell, was very concerned about the future as the father is a little indolent and had not prepared for the future as he should have, and she did not want to be a burden on her married daughters or relatives. Miranda, who loves her mother dearly, saw the opportunity to relegate her mother’s worries to the past and so accepted him.

“She will be the making of him. We already saw a difference when we met with them. He is still respectful, but not sycophantic. If he strays, then a look or touch from his wife redirects his attention. Anne and I believe that the improvements bode well for his parishioners and his life in general. We, the weaker sex? I think not!” Catherine laughed with her friends.

“How many men would be useless without a strong woman behind them?”

“Very true, Catherine,” Lady Sarah agreed. “You may have been jesting with him, but it seems that your joke has improved the lives of quite a few!”

“I agree with Sarah, sister,” added Lady Anne. “It has worked out well for all concerned and who knows, the Collinses may yet find felicity in their marriage.”

“You could have the right of it Anne; only time will tell.” Catherine nodded once in support of her words.

Lady Sarah returned to the present as she thought about how sometimes the most unlikely couples came together.

She could not help think about her middle daughter and the possibility that she may have started to develop tender feelings for William Darcy.

Something that not too many months ago had seemed to be an impossibility!

The Duchess had not missed how their cousin watched Elizabeth with evident adoration in his eyes.

As perceptive as her daughter was, Sarah Bennet was sure that Lizzy had not noticed the way that she was viewed by Fitzwilliam Darcy.

The subject of her mother’s thoughts, Lady Elizabeth Bennet, was relaxing in her sitting room while the family’s trunks were being packed for a return to Longbourn to attend the ball to be held at Netherfield on fifteenth day of February in honour of the betrothal of her friend and cousin.

She was very excited; her sisters and their husbands would be attending the ball.

It would be the first time that they would see their sisters since they were married.

Elizabeth could not fully understand the way that her feelings for her cousin by marriage, Fitzwilliam Darcy, had changed.

‘ Who would have thought that we would become friends? Certainly not I, ’ she admitted to herself.

‘ After the words that I flung at him, by rights he should have hated me. Instead, he has addressed the deficiencies in his behaviour and has become such a better man. Yes, I took a long and hard look at the way that I treat people that I felt had wronged me and I too have made changes. Would I have been able to forgive one who spoke to me in the fashion that I spoke to him? I do not know the answer to that. ’ She sighed, hoping that she would have been able to react the way that her cousin had.

‘ Yes, his behaviour was horrendous, and he had deserved being humiliated, but am I the one to judge others? It shows the depth of his character that he was able to both forgive me, as well as address and correct the reproofs that I laid at his door. That is in the past now, and we have both leaned from our mistakes. Aunt Anne must have the right of it, he was always this man, he only needed a jolt to shock him enough to see it for himself. The real question is, how do I feel about him now that I have seen the man that he is, not the one I assumed him to be?’

‘ I do consider him a friend now; and he is my cousin.

Do I feel more for him than as a cousin and friend?

Can I say such so fast? If I am honest, he is one of the most handsome men that I am acquainted with, but it goes much deeper than that.

I have seen for myself with his interactions with ours and other servants that what Aunt Anne, Richard, and others said about him being the best master is nothing but the truth.

Even when he does not know that he is being observed he treats his servants with respect and kindness.

‘I know that he has a charitable heart. He made a very large bequest to fund New Haven House after we all went to visit Haven House for the first time. He wanted to remain anonymous stating that his aim was to help, not just to receive accolades for his donation. I only know about it as I was reviewing the books, and I saw the bank draft before Aunt Maddie deposited it. Ten Thousand Pounds! That is one year of Pemberley’s reported income!

‘I also appreciated his dry wit when he allowed himself to be comfortable with his company, and how loquacious he can be once he feels so with his company. It was not aloofness that I saw but shyness, just like Georgie used to be. We enjoy many of the same books, and when we debate, he respects my opinions and does not dismiss them just because of my gender. How many men would accept being trounced at chess by a lady and take it in stride like he has? When we play, he plays to win. He has never been condescending or allowing me to beat him just to placate me, ’ Elizabeth sighed.

The man he was again highlighting the error and speed at which she would sketch characters in the past.