Page 42 of The Countess and Her Sister

Rebecca sighed, her eyes landing on Henry Tilney again.

She pressed her lips together in a thin line and then stood and moved to Elizabeth’s other side, her back to the rest of their companions.

She leaned closer to Elizabeth and dropped her voice so that only her sister could hear.

“I shall not end an old maid, Lizzy, because I am not a maid. Thus, my spinsterhood is inevitable.”

Elizabeth stiffened with shock, but took care to mitigate her strong reaction for fear of drawing attention to their hushed conversation. “What? When – and who? And why did you never tell me?”

“I thought about confiding in you many times, but I was afraid you would be angry with me. My secret could make a scandal for you, and for everyone connected with me. It is why I have filled my diary with so many strange and ominous drawings to distract anyone who may discover it – nobody has ever read the great secrets it contained, though somebody tore out a particularly relevant page.”

“The drawing of the heart with the crow perched atop it, devoured by flames – I thought it a fine representation of your pretensions to the macabre. I shall confess I read the back of the page before I framed it, but it merely told of how Sir William Lucas came for the horse I stole, and he brought his son, who looked like your favorite cousin…. Oh! Do you know, I said the very same of Henry Tilney to Jane when we first met him!”

Rebecca gave a sad smile. “The house was in uproar, with my father gone little more than a fortnight, and then Robert lost, and Jane so ill. Mamma was quite beside herself. She wished to behave as if everything were normal, and she invited them to stay the night and dine with us. That was the night I felt the sweats coming on, and by morning both our guests were as ill as I was. Mamma was terrified, but she would not turn them out, for they were in no condition to travel.”

Elizabeth nodded forlornly at the memory of Sam Lucas.

She and Jane had both fancied him in their younger days, though he was all too aware of his fine looks and his mother’s aspirations for him.

Elizabeth had supposed at the time that Same Lucas had been sent along with his father knowing that there would be two eligible ladies at Matlock House.

“I thought I was going to die,” Rebecca murmured.

“That is the why of it. He looked so much like Henry, whom I had always been attached to, ever since we were children. The Gardiners were still waiting on the rest of their ships to arrive in England with the cure, but your aunt had a little bit left of her remedy – she had saved some reserve for her own family, should the need arise. She treated Jane, and nobody had to ask why she had not given any aid to Robert. Her stores were dwindling, and she feared you would take ill from remaining at Jane’s side, but she offered Sam and I a half-portion, and Sir William Lucas, too.

I felt a little stronger – enough to get out of my bed and into his – but I was still so frightened, and I wanted something… something lovely at the end.”

Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s face. “I never knew – about my aunt.”

Rebecca squeezed her hand. “Mamma took you in out of gratitude for saving my life, and because she saw your goodness, of course. But Robert died, and we just… never spoke of it.”

“And Sam….” Elizabeth shook her head in confusion.

“I have always blamed myself for his death. He had the same chance as me, but perhaps it was the… the exertions of our activities that night. I am very sorry for it. You have all laughed at my penchant for the macabre, but I have carried this awful secret….”

Elizabeth’s heart twisted with guilt. “If it had been that … but you survived. It cannot be your fault. Is this why you would punish yourself by pushing away a man who adores you?”

Rebecca looked down into her lap “I deflect my cousin’s attentions because if I accept them, I shall either have to live with a lie between us, or tell him the truth and face his contempt and disgust.”

“But what if there is a third possibility – what if he loves you anyway?”

“There is too great a risk in telling anybody – I really ought to burn my old diary, especially with your sisters coming to live at Matlock.”

“You cannot have admired him all your life and still believe he would ruin you. And if you do not wish to take my advice, perhaps you should speak to Georgiana about it.” Elizabeth offered her sister an encouraging smile.

Georgiana, of all people, must convince Rebecca that such folly could be forgiven.

“Lizzy,” Lady Augusta cried. “What are you talking of? What is Rebecca telling you? Good Heavens, are you crying, my child?”

Rebecca’s countenance instantly brightened as she looked over at her mother.

“Lizzy has been lamenting that Darcy is not here, and I am of the opinion that we ought to walk down to the stream and relieve Lizzy’s suffering.

Besides, I wonder if any of the Bennet sisters would agree to wager five pounds that they cannot push Richard into the stream. ”

Lydia looked up with alacrity. “I shall do it!” Then she hedged a glance at her aunt, who only laughed and shook her head.

Elizabeth studied her sister, seeing the turmoil beneath Rebecca’s veneer of mirth; she wondered if it had always been there. Perhaps Rebecca truly thought herself a wicked creature, and did not know how much she had saved Elizabeth and Jane.

The rest of their party all agreed that they would join the gentlemen at the stream, and as they walked outdoors together, the sight of Mr. Darcy in his shirtsleeves filled Elizabeth with a wicked impulse. She fell in step beside Rebecca and whispered, “What was it like?”

Rebecca’s eyes sparkled as she comprehended Elizabeth’s meaning. She waggled her eyebrows. “Perhaps I ought to think of marrying, for it was delightful.”

Elizabeth felt a wave of heat surge through her as she walked down to the stream and met with Mr. Darcy, certain the turn of her thoughts must be evident on her face.

It was perhaps fortunate that the guests at Matlock were not staying the night, for Elizabeth was nearly carried away by her wickedness when she and Mr. Darcy managed to sneak away and steal a kiss at yet another new location.

It was not so fortunate for Richard, who faced a ride back to Pemberley in a snug old suit of late brother’s clothes, after his dunking in the stream.

Their large party was reunited again a few nights later, when Jane hosted a dinner party at Matlock Hall.

Just as Mr. Darcy had done at Pemberley, Jane invited many of her prominent neighbors in addition to her usual set of friends.

She had also included all her sisters in the invitation.

Though Jane and Elizabeth did not wish to bring their youngest sisters out for at least a year, they agreed that they ought to give the girls a taste of what they had to look forward to if they flourished at Matlock.

Lady Gardiner remained close to Kitty and Lydia all evening, and consequently the young ladies acquitted themselves tolerably well, for the Bennets were known to many of the neighbors already.

Jane was congratulated for her prudence in taking the Bennet girls in hand – apparently Fanny Bennet was not terribly well liked in the neighborhood.

The evening progressed as gaily as any of their parties – better than some, for it passed without incident.

There was, however, an uneasy moment at the end of the evening, when Lydia let it slip that Mrs. Bennet had opened her home to a traveling noblewoman who had fallen ill on her journey.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her party were welcomed as guests at Montrose, and Elizabeth did not believe for a moment that the old dragon was ill, nor that she had any other destination in mind on her journey north.

***

Elizabeth took a deep breath as she entered the Bennet residence. On the exterior, Montrose was a charming, ivy-covered manor house. Inside dwelt the woman she had long ago come to despise, and now had come to reason with.

Mary was pleasant, if wary of some looming confrontation; Kitty and Lydia were much as they ever were, mostly unchanged by the events that had fractured their family, and eager to make the move to Matlock.

They sat on either side of Captain Tilney, unabashedly fawning over him.

He smiled boldly at Elizabeth, as if unafraid of what she might tell the Bennets.

Elizabeth spent a quarter hour attempting to speak of idle things with her sisters, Mrs. Bennet, and the shameless captain.

It was impossible that such an endeavor should be pleasant, despite the subject of their conversation tending toward young Thomas’s development.

Mrs. Bennet took every opportunity to jab at Elizabeth and Jane, and lament being deprived the company of her only grandchild.

She bitterly complained that she was not also to take residence in her daughter's home, and would face such a cruel punishment in her loneliness.

When Elizabeth could bear no more of this talk, she asked to speak privately with Mrs. Bennet, who begrudgingly led her into the adjoining parlor.

Elizabeth closed the door and sat down by the window.

“I have come today to speak to you about your guests. Both Lady Catherine and Captain Tilney have behaved poorly toward Jane when we were recently in London, and I must put you on your guard, especially as pertains to the captain.”

“Poor Lady Catherine has taken ill while traveling, and since her own kinfolk are determined to neglect her, I have taken her in while she recovers – Jane ought to thank me for showing her relation by marriage such a kindness! And the captain is a perfectly affable young man. Your sisters like him very well, and he has been exceedingly attentive to them! I hope Jane will allow him to call on the girls at Matlock.”