Page 4 of Not Without Me, Miss Elizabeth

"Meryton does very well, Papa, save for one unlooked-for addition."

Mr. Bennet lifted his eyes from his book, and Elizabeth knew she had secured his attention., "How very mysterious."

"Mysterious indeed, Papa. I saw a number of redcoats on my walk into town with Charlotte, and my aunt Phillips tells me a militia is to be stationed just outside Meryton this summer."

"A militia, at Meryton? That is strange," said Mr. Bennet, raising a brow at his daughter before his gaze wandered, inevitably, back to his page.

"So I thought as well. What can have brought them here, do you suppose, Papa?"

"I could not say, my dear, but I daresay they have their reasons." And with that, his head bent once more to his reading.

"Charlotte and I thought much the same," Elizabeth said, wandering a few steps about the room, lost in thought.

"Hm," was all the reply she received, her father once more entirely absorbed in his book.

After a length of companionable silence, she withdrew, and rather than return to the parlour, went up to her own room to arrange her purchases and change out of her walking dress.

A knock came at her door. "Come in," she called, and Jane entered, closing the door softly behind her before settling upon the edge of the bed, watching her sister sort through her parcels at the writing desk.

"It is a curious thing, is it not, Lizzy, that the militia should come to Meryton? The wars with Bonaparte are over, and I have heard nothing of any trouble worsening in the East."

"No more have I, Jane. I confess I find it altogether singular that we should have a militia stationed so near us."

"You are uneasy about it; I can see as much. What is it that troubles you?" Janes asked, with a look of concern upon her brow.

Elizabeth set down the length of ribbon she had been winding and looked up. Jane, as ever, read her better than she could have explained herself. "I hardly know how to name it. Relief, I think, in part, and yet some disquiet besides."

"But why disquiet, Lizzy? What is there in a regiment's arrival to trouble you so?"

"It is not the officers I fear will misbehave, though I do not doubt some among them will fail of perfect gentility. It is rather the men who have alreadyseen battle that weigh on my mind. I have read of soldiers returning from the Continent much altered, not in body only, but in spirit; wounds that leave no mark to be seen, and yet do not heal so readily as we might wish. I cannot like the thought of sending such men to fight again, nor of training new recruits to follow after them."

"Surely it cannot be so very bad,” Jane reasoned. “War, I imagine, is a dreadful thing, but it has been some years now since the fighting ended. Surely those who suffered by it are recovered."

"You are all goodness, Jane, and it is much to your credit that you have never troubled yourself with Papa's volumes on the subject. I have been rather too curious for my own peace of mind, and have read whatever I could find concerning the war and its aftermath. If these men are indeed being prepared to sail for battles in the East, I confess it troubles me, both for the new recruits, and for any battle-worn soldier who might come to make his home among us."

"Have you spoken to Papa of it?" Jane asked.

Elizabeth shook her head, "I have, but he does not appear troubled."

"Then perhaps it is not so very much to fear. If Papa does not consider it a danger to Meryton, surely we need not either." Jane said thoughtfully.

Although, Elizabeth still felt an uneasiness about it, unconsciously biting her bottom lip in thought, "I do not know, Jane."

Jane pushed her sister further, "What can you have read, to leave you with such an impression?"

Elizabeth looked to Jane with a frank expression, "Things I would rather not repeat, for I should not wish to distress you. I will only say that I believe even the best of men may be grievously wounded by war, and that men who have been hurt do not always leave others unhurt in turn."

"Can it truly be so very bad?" Jane asked softly.

"It may be. I cannot say for certain. If Papa is not troubled, then perhaps I ought not to be either, and yet I cannot entirely help it."

"But if, as you say, they are training men for battles so far away, then surely those recruits must be new to soldiering altogether. Those who already fought Bonaparte would have no need of further training."

Elizabeth knew her eldest sister was attempting to bring her solace, and she appreciated the effort, but was not entirely convinced at Jane’s reasoning, "Perhaps. I cannot be certain."

"I think we ought not to distress ourselves overmuch, Lizzy. We know that any man is capable of good or ill, and I am persuaded the regiment coming to Meryton will be composed chiefly of good men, under a colonel mindful of his duty toward them. I am sure all will be well."

"Jane, you are goodness itself." Elizabeth rose and crossed the room to embrace her sister, who laughed and returned the embrace warmly.