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Cathy and Lydia nodded their understanding.

As soon as they did, the Duke indicated that the footman should open the door.

He stepped out first and handed the three youngest Bennet sisters out before assisting his wife to alight.

“We thank you for welcoming us to the estate. It is my pleasure to present Her Grace, Lady Elizabeth Chamberlain, and her younger sisters, Miss Mary Bennet, Miss Catherine, and Miss Lydia,” Hertfordshire boomed.

Mr and Mrs Chetting, you may release the servants to their duties. ”

Jane had been holding her breath. It was a great relief to her when she saw that none of her half-sisters—she had not expected the youngest three to be present—looked at her or said anything to unmask her and reveal why she was in service at the estate.

As she followed her fellow maids back inside the house, she wondered why she had ever thought herself better in looks than any of her sisters.

They were all beauties in their own rights, with both inner and outer beauty.

She answered her own question. She had blindly accepted what her late mother used to tell her as fact when almost none of it was true.

While Archy led her to the master suite, Elizabeth left her sisters with Mrs Chetting to show them to their own suites. As she and her husband walked along the corridor to their apartments, Jane was dusting some items on a table in the hall.

Seeing the Duke and Duchess approaching her, Jane was thankful for the fact she still remembered how to wear a mask of serenity. She sank into a deep curtsy. “Your Graces,” she greeted with her head down, as was expected. Jane’s breathing was shallow as she waited for some sort of response.

“My maid will need some assistance with my unpacking. Will you…” Elizabeth stated making out as if she did not know the maid’s name.

“Jane, Your Grace, Jane Millar.”

“Jane, will you come to my chamber and assist my maid with anything she needs, in say, five minutes?” Elizabeth requested with an even voice.

“Of course, Your Grace,” Jane responded. She waited until Their Graces had entered their suite before she moved a muscle. She had no idea why she had been summoned; however, she could only be grateful her half-sister had not revealed the connection between them.

Betsy had been cleaning in the same hallway and had frozen when the Duke and Duchess had stopped where Jane was cleaning.

If that was not enough, Her Grace had told Jane to come assist her lady’s maid in her chambers.

“How lucky you are to be so singled out by the Duchess. I am green with envy. This could lead to you being trained as a lady’s maid.

Mayhap they will take you with them,” her friend chattered excitedly.

“I suppose so,” was Jane’s tepid response. Her Grace had not said anything to raise suspicion. Now the question was, why was she being summoned?

While the other maid returned to where she was cleaning, Jane smoothed out her uniform, as much as she was able, and when five minutes was reached, she made her way into the servants’ corridor and knocked on the door leading to the mistress’s side of the master suite.

Lettie Jennings, who knew who Jane was, opened the door and showed her into the private sitting room between the bedchambers. Lettie pulled the door closed behind Miss Millar.

Jane began to sink into a curtsy when she saw the Duke and Duchess standing before her. “Miss Millar, Jane, stop; we are in private,” Elizabeth stated.

“But I am not worthy,” Jane whispered. Some tears fell unbidden. Jane could not understand that the same sister she attempted to harm, seriously or worse, seemed to have compassion for her.

“Is redemption not one of the central tenets of our Christian faith?” Elizabeth asked.

“It is, but I thought I had foregone that possibility when I followed my late mother and attempted to harm you for no good reason,” Jane sobbed. “I am so sorry, Your Grace; I am so sorry.”

The last thing Jane expected was to be pulled into a hug by her sister.

“Jane, you are as worthy of true forgiveness and the chance to start again as anyone. We know from the regular reports we have received that you are not the selfish, vain, vapid woman you once were. You have accepted your penance without complaint, and done everything Mrs Chetting has asked of you.”

As this tenderness was so wholly unexpected, Jane’s sobbing became great wracking sobs as she stood there enfolded in her half-sister’s arms.

Elizabeth moved them slowly until they reached the settee, and she drew Jane to sit down next to her, all the while enfolded in her arms. Knowing that Jane needed this release, Elizabeth waited while Jane allowed the pent-up emotions to pour out of her.

Hertfordshire looked at his wife questioningly and inclined his head to the door leading to the bedchamber they would use—they never slept apart—to see if Lizzy needed time alone with Jane.

She nodded, and he slipped out into the bedchamber, softly pulling the door closed.

It took almost a quarter hour, but eventually Jane’s crying lessened and finally ceased. “I was so very awful; how can you show me any clemency? I do not deserve it,” Jane asserted as she dried her eyes, her head down.

“Jane Millar, you have done what few are able to do; you have amended your character. You are as worthy, or more so, than any other to have another chance to be a good person. From what we now know, you have fully repented of your bad choices and the way you used to be. If you are saying you are beyond redemption, then you are saying that Jesus died for no reason, and we all know that to be wrong. That is not what you believe, is it?” Elizabeth challenged.

“Of course, I do know that the Son of God died for our salvation; I just thought…”

“Well put those thoughts out of your mind. Do you know Archy and I both wanted you to remain in service for at least one year?”

Jane shook her head.

“We wanted to be sure all of the late Fanny Bennet’s influence was cast out of you.

We can see that it has already occurred, so leaving you here for another six or seven months would be cruel punishment without any good reason.

” Elizabeth paused to allow her words to sink in.

“This is what I suggest. We let it be known that you will be training as a lady’s maid with Lettie…

my maid. That means you will move to a chamber on your own like the other personal servants, and when we leave in a fortnight, you will come with us.

None of your sisters will share the truth with the servants here; it is up to you who, or if you do, tell about why you were here. ”

“I will work with your maid each day to learn more skills,” Jane vowed.

“No, silly, you will be at leisure. We cannot have every meal here,” Elizabeth’s arm swept around the large sitting room, “but when we do, you will eat with us.”

“I am not sure I remember how to do nothing,” Jane admitted. She paused as she cogitated. “If I am allowed, I do have one request.”

Elizabeth indicated Jane should continue.

“Betsy Walker, the maid who has been my friend and with whom I shared a chamber, is an orphan, and has no family left alive. Would it be asking too much if she can come with us when we leave? If it is possible, I want to make sure I do not lose Betsy’s friendship.”

It impressed Elizabeth that the request had been to help another. “Of course, Miss Walker may return with us, if she so chooses.”

“What will I do when we travel back to England?” Jane enquired.

“There will be time enough for that. Right now, I am happy to have an older sister again.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Jane replied as some more tears leaked from her eyes, these ones tears of joy.

“In private only, at least while we are here, it is Lizzy.”

“Thank you, Lizzy.” Jane hugged her half-sister as tightly as she was able to. She had not expected any reward for making the changes she needed to make, but it seemed she would be rewarded regardless.

Jane collected Betsy to help pack for her move within the house.

She swore her to secrecy and told her friend the whole of her history, not omitting anything which was unflattering to herself.

Betsy did not judge her or remonstrate with Jane for not telling her before.

When her friend told her she could come with her if she chose to do so, Betsy accepted with alacrity.

Not long after Jane moved, the housekeeper told Betsy to move to a personal servant chamber next to Miss Millar.

It was a luxury for both to sleep on a larger bed with a proper, albeit an older, mattress. That first day, Jane and Betsy ate the best meal that either of them had eaten since beginning to work at Greenfield.