Page 10 of Not Without Me, Miss Elizabeth

CHAPTER 7

Still nursing her vexation at having encountered Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth went inside to search for her father, whom she found in his accustomed place, settled in his great chair before the study fire.

She knocked on his study door, before receiving an “Enter.” Once inside, she closed the door behind, and Mr. Bennet welcomed his favored daughter, "Ah, Lizzy. Good morning, my dear."

Elizabeth ignored the greeting and spoke directly to her purpose. "Papa, I have just had it from Mrs. Hill that Jenny Woodson is missing."

"Jenny Woodson?" Mr. Bennet repeated, sliding his spectacles down to stare at his daughter, whilst searching his memory.

"Yes, Papa, the Woodsons. The family farms beside the Garretts. They are a large family, you will recall; the boys have helped our own tenants at harvest, and the eldest daughter has lately taken a place at Netherfield, in the kitchen."

"Ah, yes,” Mr. Bennet began, “Nathaniel Woodson. I recall the family now. And, Jenny, well, I cannot quite recall her, but I do recall her father. You say the girl is missing?"

"Yes, Papa. She is lately missing; Mrs. Hill said as much. She is a good sort of sweet girl. I should think her no older than Lydia, certainly not above sixteen."

Mr. Bennet returned his spectacles to their normal position on his nose. "That is curious, and young indeed. How long has she been missing, Lizzy, do you know?"

"I could not say, Papa. Only that her father called upon the Garretts this morning, and Mrs. Hill tells me he was quite beside himself with worry."

"That is troubling news. And, what would you have me do then?” Her father knew she would demand some sort of action.

"Could you not call upon Sir William, and make inquiry?" Elizabeth's countenance betrayed real concern, and her father, marking it, found himself disposed to help. He was not a man given to hurried action in the general way of things, but a missing woman within his own neighbourhood was not a matter he could regard lightly.

“Very well, Lizzy, I shall call upon Sir William Lucas, and see what is to be done. Let us hope it is no more than a girl's foolishness, and that she is safely returned within the day."

"Thank you, Papa." Elizabeth crossed the room and kissed his cheek. For all his habitual indolence, she knew he would not neglect the matter, and that Sir William, as magistrate for the district, and charged as justice of the peace with the wellbeing of its people, would see a proper search undertaken.

***

She left her father’s study, satisfied that the matter would be looked into by Sir Lucus vis-a-vis her father’s prompting, and went upstairs to her bedroom to change out of her walking dress. Afterwards, she went back downstairs to enjoy what remained of the morning's breakfast before joining her mother and sisters in the family sitting room.

Upon eating a few errants pastries and a slice of ham, Elizabeth entered the sitting room just as Lydia was in the midst of some story to her sisters and their friend Maria Lucas.

"...and, would you credit it, there she was, arm in arm with a soldier! I own I was shocked at first, but how can I help being glad for her? She could hardly do better for herself," Lydia was saying, with evident satisfaction.

Kitty giggled. "But Lydia, do you not think Sarah rather young?"

"Whyever should I? She is scarcely a few months younger than myself."

"What is this you are speaking of, Lydia?" Elizabeth asked, walking over to one of their comfier settees; she noticed her mother and eldest sister, Jane, were absent from the room.

"Why, have you not heard? Sarah Lawson is engaged to a soldier!" Lydia said with an air about her.

Elizabeth was startled at the news. "Engaged? But she cannot be fifteen."

Lydia took up the story with all the self-importance of a woman twice her age, plainly delighted to be its teller. "Very nearly fifteen, and engaged all the same. I saw her myself, arm in arm with him, walking down the lane behind the tavern, looking so very pleased with themselves that I knew at once something was afoot. The soldier went off soon after, and I ran straight to Sarah to ask who her beau might be. She told me herself they were engaged!"

"I can scarcely credit it," Kitty said, sighing with delight.

"What a fine thing, to be engaged to a soldier!" Lydia added, and the two youngest sisters fell to giggling together over the notion.

"I cannot think it wise, for so young a girl," Mary observed, with her usual gravity.

"No, nor I," said Elizabeth. She knew well enough that Sarah and her widowed mother had struggled these several years since Mr. Lawson's death, and it did not surprise her that the girl should have thrown herself at the first man to offer her any attention.

But fourteen is a child,Elizabeth thought soberly.

"Does the soldier mean to wait until Sarah comes of age, before they marry?" Elizabeth asked, already certain of the answer, and liking it no better for having guessed it.