Page 52 of A Most Favourable Match

“Lord Grantchester has many social commitments,” Elizabeth demurred, not meeting her aunt’s eye. “It would be hard for him to leave right now. I do not think a brief separation should make any real difference right now.”

“Ah well, it was only a thought. Thank you, Dr Groves. We will take your advice, and hopefully my niece will let herself be persuaded. Now, may I offer you some tea before you leave? Edward passes on his regards, by the way, and bids me tell you he is doing well and minding his diet…”

Mrs Gardiner and Dr Groves descended the stairs together, slipping into a discussion of an attack of indigestion suffered by Mr Gardiner after a surfeit of veal last year. As their voices trailed away, Elizabeth slipped into Jane’s bedroom, alarmed to find her sister weeping silently into her pillow.

“Jane, what is the matter? Dr Groves told me that he could find nothing wrong with you that could not be remedied by a change of scenery and air.”

“Dr Groves and Aunt Gardiner want me to leave London, but I cannot. I don’t know why, but I feel my heart will break if I go.”

“Because of Lord Grantchester?” Elizabeth suggested sympathetically, but Jane only wept harder.

“No, not at all. Lord Grantchester does not matter now. He cannot matter. I do not want to tell Mother everything that has happened, but I will have to, and Iknow she will be so angry.”

“I will do it,” Elizabeth declared. “Tell me what I should say, and Mother may rail at me instead of you. I will not even let her into the bedroom until you are well again.”

Jane was unconsoled by this offer and seemed unusually fretful and impulsive. “I don’t know why, but I must stay in London, Lizzy. You must help me stay. Do speak to Aunt Gardiner and tell her there is no need to send me home.”

“I do not know, Jane,” Elizabeth replied, unable to mask her doubt. “I am inclined to agree that it might be best, even if only for a short time. When your health improves, you could come back again.”

“I do not think my health will improve if I leave now,” Jane returned dully. “I do not know why any of this is happening or how to stop it.”

Even in the depths of her concern for Jane, Elizabeth could not help but think with renewed fury of Mr Darcy. He was the reason that Lord Grantchester was seeking to break his engagement and why Jane was now so ill with worry and unhappiness. It was all his fault, and she wished she could charge him with his wrongdoings to his face.

However, that had not done any good on previous occasions, had it? It might only prompt Mr Darcy to propose to her more definitely next time. That was not to be borne. The very thought of it caused butterflies in her stomach and a rushing of her blood.

“Are you very angry with me?” Jane asked timidly. “Your face looks so fierce all of a sudden, Lizzy.”

Immediately changing her expression, Elizabeth shook her head. She could not share any of her present inner thoughts with her sister, or anyone else. “I am not angry at you at all, Jane, although I admit I am furious at certain other people.”

“Do not blame Lord Grantchester,” Jane urged, leaping to the conclusion that he was the object of Elizabeth’s ire. “He has not done anything so very wrong, you know. You have seen his letter. He believes he is acting for the best.”

“I will try, for your sake,” Elizabeth promised.

∞∞∞

“You have a letter, Lizzy,” Mrs Gardiner called from the drawing room as Elizabeth returned from a walk in a nearby park the following morning. “It is in the hall.”

Thanking her aunt, Elizabeth went to the tray on the sideboard and smiled with pleasure to see Charlotte’s handwriting. A nice, cosy letter from a good friend was just what she needed to distract her mind from Jane’s present difficulties, and Elizabeth hoped it would contain plenty of entertaining news and gossip. She broke the seal and began reading the letter as she walked through to join Mrs Gardiner.

“Oh, my!” Elizabeth gasped almost as soon as she entered the room. She sank into the nearest chair,lightheaded with shock at what she had read.

“What is it, Lizzy?” asked Mrs Gardiner, immediately jumping up and coming to her side, with another letter in her hand. “Is there bad news from Longbourn? Your mother mentions nothing of concern in her latest letter to me. What has happened?”

“No, my family is well, as far as I know. My letter is from Charlotte Lucas. You know my friend Charlotte… She… Oh, I cannot believe it!”

Her aunt waited for Elizabeth to gather her thoughts, her expression quizzical. Before she spoke, Elizabeth reread the first page of the letter again to be sure that her eyes had not somehow deceived her.

But there was no denying it. The awful news was written there in black and white, all the more unmistakable for Charlotte’s clear handwriting and practical style of communication. “Charlotte is going to marry Mr Collins!” Elizabeth said with dismay. “I cannot understand it.”

“Your father’s cousin, the young clergyman?” inquired her aunt, far less shocked than Elizabeth, perhaps by virtue of knowing Mr Collins only by reputation. “Dear me. Your mother will be a little disappointed that none of her younger daughters found his favour, although with Jane so well established, the future of Longbourn has been less in her thoughts than formerly.”

“Yes. Mary might have suited Mr Collins, if he had looked in her direction, but Charlotte?! How could she? Charlotte is so clever, and Mr Collins is so…well, he is not clever at all. Far from it, I am afraid. He talks so oddly and cannot understand other people. Father locks the library door and hides from him now.”

Mrs Gardiner listened patiently to Elizabeth’s outpourings, although with a slight smile and limited sympathy. “My dear Lizzy, it is clear that Mr Collins could not have been a suitable husband for you, but that does not mean he cannot be a suitable husband for Charlotte Lucas. We all have differences in temperament, situation, and values, and you must allow for those. If you value Charlotte’s friendship, I would urge you to temper your reactions before you reply.”

Elizabeth struggled with her instinctive reactions and her aunt’s reasonable point of view. She admired such calm rationality and pragmatism, but could not help recalling Mr Collins’ embarrassing proposal to her in Longbourn’s boot room. How could any woman accept such an offer from such a man?

“I shall write back tomorrow with congratulations, Aunt. Right now, I am only shocked. How could she? I cannot believe she will be tolerably happy as his wife.”