An End to Estrangement - A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Part 14

The calm that had reigned undisturbed over the Longbourn parlour was shattered with Mr Bennet's announcement, and it did not seem likely to resume any time soon, for depending on who one spoke to, their home was poised to invaded or graced by the presence of a visitor.

Mary did her best to remain invisible, a skill she had honed during many years growing up under the same roof as four prickly sisters and a mother who seemed to be perpetually disappointed in her.

"Mary!"

Mrs Bennet must be a magician, for she sensed Mary's presence without even turning around.

"Do not just stand there, lurking in the shadows like some sort of unhelpful sprite! Make yourself useful, for your father's guest -"

"He is a guest of the family, dear," Mr Bennet said, wearily. "The whole family, yours as well."

Mrs Bennet sniffed, not deigning to acknowledge her husband's words with anything more.

"Here." She thrust a workbasket overflowing with scraps and bobbins at Mary, barely pausing to check she had hold of it before letting go. "Get rid of this."

"Get rid of it?" Mary frowned.

"Hide it! Put it anywhere that man is not likely to find it!"

"Here," Jane said, her own arms laden with cushions that were to be stored out of sight. She nudged Mary to the door. "There is space in my room where we might stow our goods."

"Yes, rooms!" Mrs Bennet wailed, turning and grabbing a tight hold of Kitty who was not quick enough to avoid her grip. "Where shall he sleep?"

"In a bed, like any other man," Mr Bennet remarked calmly. "The blue room is made up, isn't it?"

Kitty's head bobbed from her bother to her father as if she was observing a duel.

"The blue room?" Mrs Bennet shook her head. "It is hardly grand enough for -"

"For our cousin?" Mr Bennet scoffed. "I did not suggest housing him in the stables! The blue room is quite comfortable enough for your brother and sister-in-law when they come, I am sure it will suit one bachelor curate just as well."

"Is Mr Collins a curate?" Lydia asked, from her position lounging on the sofa. Quite how she had succeeded in avoiding being swept into the chaos that had swallowed her sisters, Mary did not know, but she certainly seemed unafraid of drawing attention to her laziness.

"Yes," Mr Bennet replied, glancing over the top of his eye-glasses at his youngest daughters. "And he shall one day inherit this house, Lydia, so perhaps you might refrain from putting your feet all over the furniture while he is here."

"Lydia!" Mrs Bennet relinquished her hold on Kitty and turned to pull Lydia into her in a bone-crushing embrace. "Do not fret, my dearest girl! That vile man will not turn us from our home!"

"He won't do it yet, certainly," Mr Bennet remarked, his eyebrows rising as he watched Kitty massage the pinch mark her mother's vice-like grip had left on her forearm. "Unless any of you is planning to murder me in my sleep?"

Mrs Bennet looked as if she might rise to the challenge if her husband continued to infuriate her in this moment of trial. Her gaze lit on Mary, who was a far safer target for her anger.

"Mary! Why are you still standing there gawping at us? Follow Jane's example and take that basket out of the way, we do not have time to dawdle! Mr Collins arrival is imminent!"

Mary skipped to attention, hurrying after Jane upstairs and relieved to be safe from her mother's notice while attending to her designated chore.

"Lizzy!" Jane exclaimed, as she pushed open the door to her room and found her sister sitting cross-legged in the centre of the bed. She urged Mary into the room, before closing the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"Hiding," Lizzy said, with a mischievous smile. "I see you both have also made good your escape. Well done." Her smile dipped a little. "Is Mama very upset?"

There was a muffled wail from downstairs, and each sister grimaced in turn.

"She is a little anxious, I think," Mary conceded, passing Jane the basket, which she held for a moment of indecision before shoving it unceremoniously under the bed.

"A little anxious?" Lizzy laughed, leaning back on the bed and kicking out her feet. "You do possess something of a talent for downplaying things, Mary. Next, you will suggest that Mr Bingley only showed a passing admiration for our dear sister at the Meryton Assembly!"

Jane coloured, shoving Lizzy's feet off the edge of the bed and clearing enough space that she and Mary might join her in sitting.

"I wish you would stop mentioning that!" she muttered, busying herself in adjusting a loose curl.

"Three times, Jane! He danced with you three times, and I dare say he would happily have done so even more, had it not been considered a little ostentatious to ask!"

"I notice you did not dance much," Jane countered, eager to shift the sisterly beam of attention off herself and selecting Elizabeth as the nearest target. For this, Mary was relieved. She had not danced at Meryton, although she rarely did, but she could not recall ever having enjoyed an assembly as much as she had this one.

"We cannot all be as graceful as you," Lizzy retorted, sticking out her tongue. "Or win the notice of strangers." She turned to Mary, who was too slow to wipe the smile from her features. "You see, Mary! You are smiling at the mere memory of speaking to - what was his name? Mr Edgeworth?"

"Egerton," Mary said, wishing her cheeks would not glow hot when she was under scrutiny. Lizzy would surely notice, and remark on it. She had surely feigned forgetting Mr Egerton's name surely to trick Mary into voicing it. Bracing herself for teasing, she was a little surprised when it did not come, and at length glanced up, surprised to see a wistful, faraway look in her sister's eyes.

"Well, he seemed a very pleasant gentleman," Lizzy said, smoothing an invisible crease in her skirts. "Now, if you will excuse me, I suppose I have evaded more than my fair share of helping Mama make the house ready. I had better go and at least be deemed presentable before our guest's arrival."

She hauled herself to her feet and trotted to the door, pausing to pull a face at her sisters, who both laughed. When the door closed behind her, Mary turned to Jane, whose own face bore a strange, wistful expression that suggested she, too, was not entirely present but lost in memories.

"Do you like Mr Bingley, Jane?"

"Hmm?" Jane straightened, blinking a little as she struggled to make sense of the question she had only half-heard.

"Mr Bingley," Mary prompted. "He did seem very taken with you."

"Oh, you must not listen to anything Elizabeth said," Jane said, laughing. "She does it only to tease me. You know what she is like!"

"But -" Mary bit her lip, unsure how to phrase her next question or what good it would do her to know the answer. "If you did like him, how would you begin to know whether he cared for you? If he did not invite you to dance, I mean," Mary paused long enough to see a curious frown crease Jane's forehead and shrugged off any answer before it was offered. "Never mind! Come along, I suppose we cannot hide up here either, for there is still so much to do!"

Sliding off the bed, she hurried towards the door and downstairs before Jane could press her any further on her question, or discover the real reason behind her asking it.