Elizabeth walked to Lady Anne’s sitting room after leaving the breakfast parlor with only a cursory glance to her plate. Had it not been for the peppermint tea Jane recommended, her stomach might have felt a bit more uneasy.
Lady Anne had waited until the men left the room to ask Anne and Elizabeth to join her before they might decide to walk the grounds. Her countenance betrayed her cheerful tone and as Elizabeth gained the stairs, she began to worry.
She turned at Anne’s voice and linked arms with the young woman and they hastened upstairs for the meeting with Lady Anne.
“I cannot imagine why my aunt wishes to see us privately can you Lizzy?”
Elizabeth shook her head and patted Anne’s hand. Mr. Darcy had been quiet the evening before, after the ball was finished. She imagined him to be out of sorts after entertaining what seemed the whole of Derbyshire. But now she wondered if his distraction and quiet signaled something worse.
Lady Anne’s sitting room was one of the grandest rooms in all of Pemberley. There were fine furnishings, and lovely paper on the walls, but the abundance of family portraits of all sizes held Elizabeth’s attention. She felt as though the whole of the Darcy family was present and waiting to find her an acceptable addition to their esteemed line.
Anne, having come to Pemberley as often as her mother would allow, was drawn to her favorite display and cradled the painting of she and Georgiana when they were quite young.
“I miss her more each day.” The words seemed torn from Anne’s heart and she kissed the painting gently and placed it lovingly upon the table cluttered with trinkets and ribbons that belonged to her favorite cousin.
Lady Anne sat quietly awaiting her guests to settle themselves before her. She wondered how her news might affect Anne. Surely, the girl was in no hurry to return to Rosings. Lovely as the old house was, living with Lady Catherine could take the joy from the air before a person might begin to smile or exclaim over all that was good in the day.
Lady Anne recalled growing up with the beast for a sister. There was the constant chatter for attention, the need to prove herself worthy above all others and the most inappropriate habit of attaching herself to every young gentleman who might call whether he was interested in Catty or not.
She would not think of it now. She must share the letter with the two young women before her. “Elizabeth, Anne, please do sit with me for a time. I have news to impart that will cause all of us great regret. It cannot be avoided, I fear.”
Elizabeth sat and longed desperately to fling open the two large windows across the room. No matter how she might try to attain a measure of comfort the air inside Pemberley seemed to lay about her as a heavy woolen shawl.
Lady Anne lowered her lashes and kept the smile in her eyes hidden. She knew Elizabeth Bennet Darcy was increasing. That, or the poor woman was overcome with the duties of the great house. She knew that could not be the case, for Elizabeth had been a quick study and would be quite capable of running Pemberley before much longer.
Anne spoke up, her nerves getting the best of her. “What news is there?”
Lady Anne decided the time had come for she would be unable to continue her delay. “During the ball, a footman arrived with an express. The Viscount and William met him and we discussed the news at length in the library. There was no need to ruin the evening, you see.”
Elizabeth glanced at Anne and wondered what news could have ruined the ball.
Anne looked expectantly at her aunt. “An express was it? At that late an hour? I cannot imagine there was good news contained within its pages.”
Lady Anne sipped her tea wishing there was some other article of news, some distraction, anything other than what she must tell.
She produced the offending letter, holding it as though she wished it might sprout wings and fly far from Pemberley. Alas, it did not, but moments later Elizabeth Bennet Darcy would flee the private sitting room.
“Tis only a letter from Catty. I do believe she is not feeling well…”
Anne rose from her seat and held out a hand for the letter. Surprised by her niece’s forward behavior, Lady Anne relented and allowed the young woman to read it for herself.
Anne glanced at the missive, the hand indeed was that of her mother, there was no doubt. She moved slowly across the room hoping for a quiet moment. Lady Anne and Elizabeth sat watching Anne ready to go to her should she require their support.
Elizabeth turned to Lady Anne, one brow raised in the manner she often employed.
“Tis nothing we might do my dear Elizabeth. The choice is in Anne’s hands now.”
Elizabeth found she was most unhappy to know Lady Catherine meant to have her daughter back and had concocted a preposterous scheme to that end. She did not believe for moment the old lady was ill, for she’d appeared quite hale and hearty when she’d thwarted Elizabeth’s attempts at escape from Rosings.
Her aim was to keep Anne at Pemberley as long as she might without a care for Lady Catherine and her sermons on the merits of a good daughter.
Anne turned, her lashes wet and her hand trembling with the burden of the letter. “Aunt, do you believe it to be true? My mother has need of me?”
Lady Anne tried to hide the concern in her eyes and took the young woman into a soft embrace. “I could not say, my dear. For many years, she has preyed upon anyone who thought her to be weak when she certainly was not. I would caution against believing such a tale. Yet she is my sister. As much as she has done to harm this family, perhaps she now wishes to mend the rift between you. “
Anne turned, heartened by her aunt’s words and approached her friend. Dear sweet Elizabeth would understand, she knew it.
But Elizabeth held her breath for a moment, the memory of the terrible time at Rosings clouding her mind. She could not find, though she searched mightily, a reason powerful nor compelling enough for Anne to risk her freedom for that woman again.
Her heart broken as she glanced up into her dear friend’s eyes, Elizabeth rose and left the room before she might send Anne away with a feckless farewell.
Anne stood, her arms out, as Elizabeth hurried past with her face buried in her hands. Lady Anne rose and went to Anne, her voice whispering softly against the warmth of the young woman’s brow.
“Fear not. She is a confusion of wishes and dreams, of hopes that might never come to be. She will have recovered before you depart.”
Lady Anne knew her sweet Elizabeth was increasing in that moment, for there was no other explanation for her sudden departure.
“Oh, Aunt, I hope I have not lost the dearest friend I have yet again. Georgiana first, and now Elizabeth. I cannot bear it.”
Lady Anne walked her to her rooms and ordered her to freshen up and consider her choices. “Your Henry has said he will see you safely to Rosings. But you must write to us, promise me now you understand the reason I ask it.”
Anne turned, her blue eyes rimmed with the red of crying in one degree or another over the past half hour. “I shall, every day, a letter for each of you. I will walk to Hunsford myself,” she paused thinking fondly of Elizabeth, “to see them posted. And I will not stay should Mother be anything other than her letter claims.”
Lady Anne set her niece’s maids to work on packing her things, the lovely dresses and trunks of clothing they had got in London.
Anne allowed but one item to remain at Pemberley, surprising her aunt herself as she stood and gazed upon it for what seemed an eternity.
“Elizabeth will know I shall return should my wedding dress remain at Pemberley.”
They left her room with the perfect dress, adorned with tiny rosebuds and sweet pearls at the neckline, displayed carefully so as not to wrinkle the skirts.