All Hallow's Eve (21 page)

After several moments, Elizabeth whispered,
“
Thank you
,
”
before walking off in the direction of the meadow.
William allowed her to
advance
a few paces before following
her
.

~%~

Though their
early training session did take place
, Elizabeth’s disposition was strikingly subdue
d
,
and her humo
u
r was nonexistent
.
W
illiam’s frame of mind was not faring any better.
They both were relieved to see the other gentlemen from Netherfield arrive a little earlier than usual
,
soon followed by the Bennet clan,
as
greetings
provided a break
to their uncomfortable silence.
After Elizabeth
excused herself and
walked
off
to
ward
her family to greet them, Richard asked with a chuckle,
“
Why the long faces, Cousin?
Did
the
two
of you
argue again?
”

William flashed
him
a look
so
filled with anger
that when he
walked off toward the stream to refresh himself
, a
ll three young gentlemen followed him.

“
What happened?
”
Bingley asked.

“
Tonight at Lucas Lodge,
Mr. Bennet will announc
e
that
in six weeks,
Elizabeth and I will be married.
”
William said in a furious tone.
They watched as he
splashed
his face and neck
with cool water from the stream
, and then turned back to them.

“
But, Cousin...
”
Lord Reginald
asked
,
“
Is this not welcome news?
Have you changed your mind regarding the lady?
”

“
No, I have not, Reginald, and under
any
other circumstances I would be
more than
delighted
to share this news
with everyone I me
e
t
, but
as it is
...
”
William stood and
took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing,
“
one of Bingley’s
kind
neighbour
s saw us walking alone as I made certain
th
at
Elizabeth
was safely returned to Longbourn
.
This
lady
has
taken it upon herself
to
spread
vicious rumo
u
r
s
,
and
I am certain
that
you can imagine
that they
are
not
at all
complimentary towards
Elizabeth
.
”

“
Well,
that
explains it, then!
”
c
ried Bingley.

“
Explains what?
”
demanded William.

“
Caroline’s comment just before we departed Netherfield—which I absolutely refuse to repeat, so do not ask me what it was!
But
,
if you do not wish the rumo
u
r to reach the
ton
, perhaps I should return to Netherfield
and convince them not
to
go to London after all!
This would not have happened at all
if
my sister had not delayed their trip another day.
”

“
No, let them go, Bingley!
”
Richard exclaimed,
“
It will reach London whether by them, their servants, or another route.
If they stay here, we risk their lives.
”

Distractedly, William pac
ed
for several minutes
.
His tone
reflected his discourag
e
ment
when he finally
br
o
k
e
the silence
that weighed
heavily
upon them all
.
“
Of course,
Mr. Bennet
has
insisted that we marry.
Elizabeth accepted
this
fate with all the
enthusiasm
that one
c
ould
expect from
a woman
who has been sentenced to
marry
a man
whom
she
despise
s
and
with whom she
can
only anticipate
a life filled with misery and despair
.
”
He sighed, looking back through the trees toward the meadow, where he knew his beloved Elizabeth stood.
“
I
can only hope that
she
will
someday
recover
from this
and
come
to
recognize
that
I
truly do care for her
.
”

Chapter 6

“
So, Bingley
,
you did not attend the village meeting last night.
D
id you
decide
at the last moment
to stay at home and
have a quiet evening
alone, now that
your family
has removed
to London?
”
Mr. Bennet asked as Jane chose practice weapons for their lesson.

“
Actually, no
,
sir,
they have not yet journeyed to
Town
.
Apparently
as they were readying to leave, my sister Caroline was not feeling well
,
and
so Hurst
felt it best not to proceed at that time.
When we departed Netherfield this morning,
my brother
was awaiting news
regarding
Caroline’s disposition
.
I
f she
is feeling
well enough, they w
i
l
l
leav
e
t
his morning
.
”

For some reason,
Mr. Bennet’s wry smile and raised eyebrow made Bingley
think
that he
doubted
that
Caroline
would feel well enough.

Bingley hesitated before continuing.
“
I
meant
to join you at the meeting,
Mr. Bennet,
but I sat down whil
st
waiting for it to be time to leave, and I fell asleep.
”
He colo
u
red slightly.

Mr. Bennet chuckled.
“
Ah, am I pushing you gentlemen too hard, then?
”

Bingley became
flustered
.
“
I did not mean to give you that impression, sir, though I do admit to sleeping quite well since we began training.
It is just that I am unused to...
”

Mr. Bennet placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder.
“
Do not trouble yourself so, Bingley!
I did not interpret your comment as a complaint.
”

Jane returned
to claim her student
, and all went about the business of the day.

~%~

Since Tuesday was their usual day for receiving visitors, t
he
ladies
returned home
after lunc
heon
to
make the
mselves available
to
any
neighbour
s
who
might
happen to come
call
ing
.

As
Elizabeth
sat at the dressing table arranging her hair,
Mrs. Bennet
knocked upon
her
bedchamber door and entered.

“
Lizzy,
your father explained to me what has occurred.
I am certain that with
all
the
stories
circulating
throughout the
neighbour
hood
, we shall have many guests at Longbourn
to
day.
I wished to
forewarn
you that, while I feel it is your
father’s
right to announce your engagement and I will not mention it
directly
to any of our visitors today, I
will
allude to it in my comments
in order to guide the gossip towards something more respectable
.
”

Elizabeth blushed deeply.
“
Thank you for giving me notice
.
”
She hesitated a moment
.
“
Mama?
I know we have spoken of this
matter several times
in the past, but
I must ask again—
are
you absolutely
certain
that Mary’s dreams of how you and my
younger
sisters must behave in public were a warning
, and not just a dream
?
”

“
Yes, my dear, I am.
You know as well as I do
of
how blessed Mary is!
W
hen
Mary’s
dreams are a communication from the Otherworld
,
they have certain qualities that a
normal
dre
am would
not have
.
T
hey
have never failed us
o
n any other subject.
”

“
But, it has been so long
,
perhaps it is time to begin the
tedious
transition
again,
returning your outward
temperaments
to what they truly are
within
?
”

“
Though it does seem to be going on for a long time, we cannot.
I am very glad that
,
since they were so young when we began,
Kitty and Lydia
have not lost
sight of the fact that it is
pretenc
e
and
have
not truly take
n
on the traits that they display to most others.
I, too, am
weary
of behaving in such a manner
as I have these past two years
.
I must admit that
it has been a relief that
,
during
the past few days
,
there was little ne
ed of it.
”

“
Mama
,
I often feel so very guilty
—
today
especially.
”

“
Please do not, Lizzy.
Mary’s vision informed her that all this would be required in order to
help
save you from a horrible fate.
Through o
ur love for you
,
we have willingly put on this display and
will
continue to do so until Mary is told that it is no longer necessary to help you.
Think of it this way, if you prefer
—
i
f
we
end it
too soon, then our sacrifice
during
these years was for nothing.
I am convinced that there will be need of it
for
a
very
little time
in the future
.
”

Understanding dawned upon Elizabeth’s countenance.
“
You
believe
that
the coming of the
Olc
is the reason?
That through your altered
behaviour
, you or my sisters may learn something that may help?
”

Mrs. Bennet nodded.
“
I do.
”

“
Then I am glad that I will soon be able to
do
something to bring this to a
conclusion
.
”

Mrs. Bennet shook her head and sighed.
“
I am not
,
since
it will
require
that
you
should be
exposed to
great
danger for
this
deception to end
!
”
Elizabeth could almost see her mother
’s
negative
thoughts being
pushed
aside
—much like Jane did on a regular basis
.
S
miling
at her
daughter
,
Mrs. Bennet
caressed her cheek
.
“
I
am
very happy that you have such a good man to watch over you, Lizzy.
I am confident that you will be very happy with William.
”

Elizabeth met her mother’s gaze
with
a
furrowed
brow
.
“
I hope you are right, Mama.
If only
I
could be as certain as
you are!
”

~%~

Elizabeth
had
thought of William often
since they had met
, and
though she wished to
turn her thoughts to another subject
. T
oday was
especially difficult
with all of her mother’s posturing
to the many
neighbour
s who had come to
“
visit
”
with the ladies
of Longbourn
,
ma
king
little effort to hide that their main purpose was to
glean
the latest
news
so that they could be first to pass along a
some little
tidbit
.

Up until
a few days ago, she
could
not
at all
understand why her
reflections were
of
William
whenever he
r mind
was unoccupied.
After the
Sanun
, she reasoned that this occurred
as a result of
sorting through the tempest of emotions that were associated with
the gentleman
—the
drastic
changes
in his disposition between their past meetings and present
were confusing and required
deep
contemplation.
B
ut after what
had
happened in the meadow the previous morning, she was no
longer
certain
as to her true motives for William
’s
occupying her mind
so regularly
.

Thi
s afternoon was the first that s
he had
spent
apart
from
him
since the
Sanun
, and Elizabeth was surprised to
realize
that she
actually
missed
William
and was looking forward to seeing him tonight at Lucas Lodge.

Elizabeth
was excessively tired today, having
barely
slept the previous
night;
no matter
how
she
had
tried
to prevent it
,
t
he
tranquility needed to fall asleep
had been
disrupted
as
her mind
revisited
the scene from
the meadow
that morning
over and over
again
.
E
ven
t
hough she had bathed
when she returned home
and changed her clothing,
the memory of
William’s delicious
scent would not
allow her to rest
.
S
he
could
not dismiss the
way
the
powerful,
chiseled planes of his
muscles
had
felt
as
her hand
had
briefly
explored his chest
or t
he way he had pressed her palm against
his beating
heart.
T
he memory o
f his breath against her skin
tortured her
.
She
flushed as
the
feel
ing
of his body pressed against hers
replayed in her thoughts
,
and
she
could not
forget the way it felt to have his lips touch hers
—
her
first kiss.