Remember the Past... - Chapter Five

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Read the previous chapter here...

The ladies of Longborn soon waited upon those of Netherfield, where they proved happy for Mrs Nicholls, the Housekeeper, to provide a tour of the grand house.

It had taken little more than carefully prompting Mama into speculation about what Miss Bingley might have changed since the last party to lease it, and an innocent comment from Jane about not having visited Netherfield in almost ten years, except for charity to the estate's tenants. Miss Bingley, eager to show her own superiority, happily sent Mama and the younger sisters off in the Housekeeper's wake, while she and Mrs Hurst engaged Jane in conversation. Lydia resolved to do something very nice for Jane later; enduring the superior sisters with such serenity could be no easy trial.

Lizzy engaged Mrs Nicholls with questions about the house's history, while Lydia distracted Mama. These tactics left Kitty and Mary free to examine the decorations in closer detail, though what they hoped to find, Lydia could not fathom.

Jane retired upstairs with a headache as soon as they returned to Longborn, and Mary and Kitty spent the rest of the day with Kitty's sketchbook, heads bent in discussion. Lizzy vanished in Jane's wake, either to tend to her or act as confidant, and Lydia, left to her own devices, requested a footman to accompany her on a tenant visit to Miss Morris. Passing the Hermitage showed that Mrs Black was absent, likely visiting her twin, as she did most days when Longborn was not scheduled to have visitors, which was all to the better.

The pair had lived in the shadow of Netherfield all of their lives, and while Mary would doubtless find answers in some book or other, Lydia preferred to talk to people. The sisters had long served not only as mentors, but as confidants for the Bennet girls, when matters weighted on them that they felt unable to share. It was rare that Lydia could not unburden herself to Kitty, but there were times that she was very aware that her family viewed her as carefree and high-spirited.

More often than not this was an accurate summation of Lydia's character, but there were days when the cares of the world refused to be free of Lydia, and on those days, she sought out Mrs Black.

Mrs Black's gift was a little like Jane's, and a little not. Lydia often thought that Mrs Black was what her two eldest sisters might have been, if they were merged into a single being: warm yet cynical, open yet watchful. Where Jane's kindness and gentle disposition made her almost impossible to dislike, and her willingness to see the good in everyone helped her to make friends, Mrs Black had a kind of openess that encouraged the confiding of secrets.

The old woman was careful with her ability, using it to gather knowledge of those who inhabited or inquired about leasing Netherfield, while Miss Morris, who had one of the most persuasive tongues Lydia had ever encountered, did her best to encourage unsuitable or dangerous potential occupants to turn their eyes elsewhere. Lydia considered it a very good thing that the elderly twins were comfortable in their situation, and not inclined to go to the Dark. She fancied that if anyone possessed the power to conquor the British Empire, it would be them.

Fortunately, Mrs Black proclaimed the business of Conquest to involve far too much in the way of paperwork, and Miss Morris declared herself content with the company she kept, and no desire to add more than she must. They welcomed Lydia - and her basket of tea-leaves and shortbread - readily enough, ushering her into the small house. Well, small by Lydia's standards; it was one of the larger tenant dwellings, a respectable cottage not unlike a parsonage, and even a small office for Mr Morris to work in.

Miss Morris led her into the kitchen, moving the kettle over the fire to boil. "Troubled thoughts, my dear?"

There was little point trying to hide the emotions that Lydia was sure were writ large upon her face. "I don't remember matters being so very complicated last time."

The tea-leaves were used, retrieved from the tea-pot and carefully re-dried before being packed into charity baskets. Used tea-leaves had less flavour, and a slight bitter aftertaste, but tea was tea, and better than the willowbark tea the apocathary prescribed whenever one of them was ill. Miss Morris made no complaint as she sipped hers. "You were younger, then, Dear One. A child of five lacks the experiences that shape the concerns of a young lady of sixteen."

Lydia sighed, "And even now I lack the perspective of Jane's three-and-twenty, I suppose. Do you think I worry over nothing?

Mrs Black shook her head, hair as white as new snow. "No, my dear. You are too wise to the evils of the world to dismiss them. It is merely that you have more to consider now, as a young Gentlewoman out in society, than you did as children still in the schoolroom."

There were times when Lydia wondered if she was ready to be out.

Oh, she would miss the dancing, and the attention young men paid to her, but for all Mama's proclamations that she would be among the first of the sisters to have a man offer for her, Lydia did not feel equal to being the mistress of an estate. She supposed that she must, eventually, for how else would she see the world but as a married woman of means? Or as an officer's wife, she supposed, but officers were given little choice where they went and when, and those who could afford it often left their families at home.

Mrs Black smiled and patted her hand sympathetically, as if she had heard all that Lydia had not said. "One problem at a time, my dear. Fate willing, you will have your whole life ahead of you to decide what you will be."

That caught Lydia's attention. "I know you don't actually give prophecies, but the omens... have you discerned anything from them?"

The twins shook their head in eerie synchronisation. "Only that when Netherfield awakes again, it will be the last time. Whether that is for good or ill... we will have to wait and find out."

Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley returned the visit to Longbourn the next day, though they gave little indication, upon returning to Netherfield, that they cared to further the acquaintance with anyone but Jane. "Oh, Mr Darcy, you will hardly credit it! The mother is intolerable, and the younger sisters hardly worth knowing!"

Darcy sipped his tea, murmured something non-committal, and did his best to return to a book from Netherfield's rather scant collection. Mrs Annsley wrote that Georgiana was healing well from the disaster of the summer at Ramsgate. Fitzwilliam had yet to reply to his carefully-worded message inviting him to join Darcy at Netherfield, but he had mentioned training new recruits, and the Army tended to hand out mail on a weekly basis, rather than as it arrived.

Bingley, who seemed to think that Darcy had brought Miss Bingley's diatribe upon himself by an earlier comment about Miss Elizabeth Bennet, hid an amused smile at his friend's discomfort behind his paper. "And what of the elder sisters, Caroline? You could find no such fault with Miss Bennet, I am sure."

Caroline waved a dismissive hand, "Oh, Louisa and I should be quite happy to further our acquantance with Miss Jane Bennet, of course. She is a lovely personality; there could be no fault in such an acquantance."

That was not precisely what Charles had asked, but other than Miss Bennet's tendency to smile too much, Darcy could think of no objection to the lady that did not sound entirely mean-spirited. The Netherfield party was often in company with the Bennets as a natural consequence of being the two largest estates in the area, and while there had been few opportunities for dancing, Charles had often partnered Miss Bennet at dinner or cards. His preference for her was quite obvious, so Darcy did his best to withold judgement. Either Miss Bennet would be one of the many ladies Bingley fell in and out of love with in a month, or she would leave a lasting impression, and marriage to a gentlewoman was hardly a degradation for his friend.

Besides, how could Darcy inform Bingley of his concerns about the family, when those concerns were rooted less in the Bennets' want of propriety - which he had expounded upon - and more in how rapidly his opinion of Miss Elizabeth Bennet had changed. No sooner had he proclaimed that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began noticing the fierce intelligence in her expressive eyes. Every time he noted a flaw - in her form, her manner, in any aspect of her! - than something pushed him to find something pleasing to counter it.

Netherfield was a Dark Estate, that much had been instantly clear, but what of Longbourn? Was Miss Elizabeth some siren-like spirit, sent to distract him?

There was to be a party at Lucas Lodge tonight, to which some senior officers of the Militia that planned to lodge in Meryton over the winter, were also to attend. Darcy would be able to observe further there.

Colonel Jasper Fitzwilliam spent a good quarter of an hour laughing over his cousin's letter.

Ah, poor Darcy! The fellow had taken his duty very much to heart, both the supernatural and mundane. Darcy possessed the ability to see through disguises to a person's true nature, but developing the ability so young had stunted his social growth, and he struggled to discern the motivations behind the disguise, and floundered on the rare occasions when there was no disguise to see past.

Perhaps there was something supernatural about this Miss Elizabeth Bennet's charms, but Jasper thought it far more likely that Darcy had finally encountered a young woman who refused to be blinded by his wealth and pedigree, and possessed the kind of beauty and charm that was not agumented by artifice.

Well, it was not entirely Darcy's fault. They had been twelve and thirteen when their powers developed the same day Georgiana was born - not that they had known it at the time - but even whatever Higher Power bestowed their abilities waited until the recipient was capable of walking under their own power, and the then-boys had been unbalanced, their triad incomplete, for several years. If only his aunt, Lady Anne Darcy, had been successful in one of the many failed pregnancies that came between her two living children! Perhaps she might not have pushed herself so hard to give Uncle Darcy a second child. Perhaps she would have lived to mentor them as she had wished.

The three cousins made a good team, regardless. Fitzwillaim could root out the danger faster than a pig with truffles - a comparison Darcy's cousin was careful not to voice out loud - and then Jasper's charisma and ability to invent and adapt strategies in the blink of an eye led to their high success rate in such battles, and Georgiana was brought in to heal the aftermath.

It was harder, as adults. Darcy had responsibilities at Pemberley, and Jasper had fought in more than one battle on the Continent, necessitating long absences. Georgiana was not yet out, which limited her ability to travel as freely as her brother did, even before that wretched business at Ramsgate.

Still, he was due for an extended leave, once training finished in a few weeks, and Bingley had brought his sisters and brother-in-law with him, which was sure to worsen whatever paranormal pandemonium the poor fellow had stumbled into this time. Putting the letter aside and clearing his throat as his batman poked a concerned head into the room, Colonel Fitzwilliam sat down to write a few letters of his own.

Natasja Rose is the author of two Austen Variations and twenty-nine non-Austen books of various genres, two of which are being adapted as scripts for a mini-series.

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