An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 9

"It is too cold to be outside!"

Jane shivered and pulled her shawl a little tighter around her thin shoulders in an attempt to ward off the January weather.

"Only because you are dawdling!" Lizzy called over her shoulder. "Walk a little faster, Jane, and you shan't feel a chill!"

Jane did not entirely believe this, nursing a private suspicion that Lizzy was less inclined to feel the cold than she was, but she did as she was bid and hurried to catch up to her sister, closing the gap between them with a skip.

"I still do not see why you so desperately required my company on this particular walk into town. Did you not see how eager Kitty was to accompany you? Or Lydia?"

Lizzy laughed at the absurd suggestion she take either - or both - of the youngest Bennet sisters when she might instead have her favourite sister, Jane, to keep her company and said as much, slinging a companionable arm around Jane's thin shoulders and trying to rub a little warmth into her torso.

"I do not recall you being so difficult to persuade! Were you not complaining of a headache caused by too much time indoors?"

Jane sniffed, thinking she might prefer the headache if it meant she would still be able to feel all her toes. She stamped her feet and walked on, her eyes fixed on the frozen ground in front of them. She was paying such close attention to where she walked, determined to avoid any patch of ice that might send her skating, that she did not notice the stranger on the road ahead of them until Lizzy stiffened and removed her arm from Jane so that she might wave it in greeting.

"Colonel Fitzwilliam! Good morning!"

This was enough to raise Jane's head and she squinted into the distance making out the tall, broad-shouldered gentleman she had first met and danced with at the Twelfth Night assembly in Meryton. Surely this had been Lizzy's plan all along! By some magic, she must have known Colonel Fitzwilliam would happen to be walking along this very path at this very hour and it was that knowledge that had spurred her to take it and to insist on Jane's accompanying her. Lizzy's face was devoid of such scheming, though, her eyes clear and bright as they closed the small gap between themselves and the colonel, who obediently stopped to pass a word or two with them.

"Good morning, ladies!" He smiled, his voice so warm and welcoming that Jane was forced to look at him, unable to resist returning his smile.

I suppose I do not mind so very much crossing Colonel Fitzwilliam's path, she reasoned, although she objected to being manipulated into doing so if this chance meeting was not chance but orchestration, which charge she placed firmly at the feet of her sister

"Where are you off to?" Colonel Fitzwilliam asked. "May I be of any assistance? Accompany you somewhere? Or merely stand aside and let you pass?"

"This path is quite wide enough for us all," Lizzy protested. "We were just walking to Meryton, weren't we, Jane? I am sure neither of us would object to so gallant an escort if you have time to spare."

"At this precise moment, I do," the colonel said with a smile. "I have to be back at the barracks to meet a few soldiers returning from leave, but I can spare an hour for such a charming errand.

By some manoeuvring Jane was not aware of Lizzy managed to slip free of her and move so that Jane was forced to walk beside Colonel Fitzwilliam. It was the most natural thing in the world, then, to take the arm he offered her, and be grateful for it.

He talked easily, enquiring after the rest of their family, sharing a detail or two of his life at the barracks since last they had met.

"What a shame you have an appointment this afternoon," Lizzy sighed. "Or we would be duty-bound to invite you back to Longbourn with us. You know Papa has not yet let go of the hope of a decent game of chess, and I am sure Mama would be only too eager to have a guest for dinner."

"Alas, Miss Elizabeth, I must refuse your warm hospitality today. Perhaps another time."

"Perhaps tomorrow?" Lizzy pressed, eager not to let the matter drop until she had an answer in the affirmative. Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed, amused by her tenacity.

"Very well, Miss Elizabeth. Perhaps tomorrow. You must suggest it to your parents and gain their approval. Send word to the barracks and if all is in the affirmative, I shall come tomorrow."

Jane's cheeks reddened. It had been a long time since they had entertained a gentleman caller - Mr Collins did not count, for he had been a guest of an entirely different stripe - and even when Mr Bingley was still at Netherfield he rarely called at Longbourn, and had not dined there in months.

Mr Bingley. Jane sighed, as the spectre of the gentleman she had once considered a suitor swam before her mind's eye. How differently she had pictured their acquaintance from how it had turned out. She might not have been as quick to envision marriage as Mama had been, or even Lizzy, who had been convinced from the moment of their first meeting that Charles was in love with her. He might not love me, but he does care, Jane thought, sobering at the next turn her thoughts took. Or he did, at least. He could surely not care any longer, or there would have been word of his return. There would have been something. All Jane had received were two letters from Caroline Bingley, in answer to the half-dozen Jane had sent. The last and most recent had made it clear that Caroline Bingley had better things to do than reply to Janes missives with anything other than a perfunctory response, and had been all the discouragement Jane needed to keep from writing again. Mr Bingley was silent, gone, perhaps forever.

I was foolish to ever think he cared for me. Jane bit her lip. That much had been plain from the careful mention in both of Caroline's letters of other young ladies who had called or been called upon. All those elegant young ladies and not a single word to spare for Jane? Surely Mr Bingley's heart had changed if it was ever hers, to begin with.

"Oh, Miss Bennet, take care!"

Colonel Fitzwilliam's merry voice took on a note of caution too late for Jane to hear it. Her foot found the patch of ice his practised eye had been quick to notice and she slipped, first one and then the other of her feet sliding out from under her. She clung to the arm Colonel Fitzwilliam had offered her more tightly than she meant to but it was scarcely enough to keep her upright, until his quick reactions allowed his second arm to encircle her, steadying her before she fell further.

"Take care Miss Bennet!" he said a second time, his eyes dancing with laughter and concern. He removed his arm almost as soon as he had placed it around her, as soon as he could be sure that she stood under her own power once more. "Disaster averted!" he said, with a boyish grin. "Let's continue."

Jane smiled back, but the smile slipped when she took a step and a wrenching pain found her ankle. Wincing, she hung on Colonel Fitzwilliam a second time and both he and Lizzy turned to look at her with concern.

"What is it, Jane?"

"My ankle," Jane murmured. "I turned it. I do not think I shall be able to walk any further without help!"

She had intended her words for Lizzy's ear, an unspoken plea to abandon their visit to Meryton and return home to rest, but Colonel Fitzwilliam had heard and was quick to offer his assistance.

"Providential, then, that I am here to help. You must direct, Miss Elizabeth, and I shall help our invalid home."

Jane scarcely had time to notice what had happened before Colonel Fitzwilliam's capable arms had scooped her up entirely and he carried her as if she weighed no more than a feather.