Mr Darcy's Christmas Carol

Part 3

"Kitty, stop that!"

"Mama! This is so unfair! Make her stop!"

"Girls, have you no compassion on my nerves? And where is your sister? Elizabeth? Elizabeth!"

Lizzy had successfully managed to find a moment of sanctuary hiding in the window seat behind the drapes, ignoring the chaos that surrounded her by sheer force of will. Her concentration was fixed on her book with such intensity that the fingers that clasped tight hold of it turned white with effort. She had read the page before her twice, she knew, yet she could not recall a single word of its contents, so distracted was she by the bickering of her sisters. And Mama, she thought, with a glower that could rival that usually seen upon the countenance of a certain gentleman who had absented himself quite abruptly from Hertfordshire, and whom she had no cause to miss. Why then must he plague me by invading my memories at every opportunity? she thought, grimly pulling the curtain aside to reveal her hiding place.

"What is it, Mama?" she asked, setting her book aside and hopping down from the windowsill to be of whatever assistance Mrs Bennet required this time.

"Oh! Lizzy! There you are." Mrs Bennet sighed.

"Were you hiding in there this whole time?" Lydia asked, incredulous.

"What on earth for?" Kitty echoed, peering over Elizabeth's shoulder. "It does not look at all comfortable a seat...."

"She was spying!" Lydia said, triumphantly.

"Well, I do think that an unkind trick -"

"GIRLS!" Mrs Bennet sank into a chair, beckoning Elizabeth closer with a plump arm. "Lizzy, where is Jane? I hoped she might be with you, walking somewhere."

"It is raining, Mama," Elizabeth said, patiently. "And you know Jane has not been at all well these past few days." She bit her lip. "In fact, this morning she seems worse. I really do think we might consider sending for a doctor."

"A doctor?" Mrs Bennet's eyes flew open. "And how, pray, would we pay for him?"

"Mama, Jane is very unwell -"

"Jane is tired, and perhaps a little lovesick -"

This provoked a smothered giggle from her two sisters that Elizabeth successfully silenced with one sharp look.

"And what if she is? She has borne a dreadful disappointment." Lizzy folded her arms stiffly across her front. "I still think you were wrong to encourage her in such an attachment when this was always likely to be the case."

"How could I have known Mr Bingley would be so cruel as to abandon poor Jane? I was certain he felt an affection for her..." Mrs Bennet hesitated, appearing on the brink of tears herself. While Jane's tears were a jar to Elizabeth's own heart, her mother's were not to be borne for entirely different reasons.

"Mama -"

"I only wish for my daughters to be happily and successfully married, is that such a bad thing?" Mrs Bennet let out a wail, and Lizzy turned away, hoping to hide the irritation that flickered across her face.

"Oh, I see you turn away from me, Elizabeth, as if you despair of my feelings, which are so deep, so genuine -"

Mrs Bennet's words descended into an indecipherable sniffle, and Elizabeth took a step nearer, laying what she hoped was a conciliatory hand on her mother's shoulder.

"You must not cry, Mama," she said. "Truly, Mr Bingley is the least of our concerns. Jane's health worries me greatly, though, and I do hope you will consider sending for a doctor."