An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 10

Lizzy ran ahead of Colonel Fitzwilliam and Jane, bursting through the doors of Longbourn with a breathless cry.

"Jane is hurt!"

"Do not screech so, Lydia! My head -" Mrs Bennet peered out from beneath her bonnet, pulled low over her greying curls as the universal indicator that Mama has a headache, and realised to her surprise that it was not her youngest daughter creating such a kerfuffle, but calm, self-assured Elizabeth. This out-of-character entrance, preceding by only a few moments a tall, uniformed figure carrying the prone Jane, caused all thoughts of Mrs Bennet's headache to vanish, as the concerned matriarch launched herself energetically from her chair, sacrificing it to Jane and demanding to know all that had happened.

"It is nothing," Jane protested, feebly. "I only turned my ankle."

"And Colonel Fitzwilliam carried her all the way here!" Lizzy declared, with a triumphant smile. She shook his hand heartily. "We are ever so grateful to you."

"It was only what anyone would do." Colonel Fitzwilliam blushed, straightening and backing away from the injured Jane as her sisters and Mama swarmed over her, removing her bonnet and shawl and clucking between themselves over the best course of action.

"If you think that, you are ill-acquainted with Meryton," Lizzy declared, determined that the colonel ought not to escape Longbourn before he had been properly thanked. "Do sit down a moment, won't you, Colonel Fitzwilliam? You must have some refreshments -"

"Thank you, Miss Elizabeth you are very kind, but such hospitality is quite unnecessary."

Colonel Fitzwilliam shot her a handsome, boyish smile, looking both like and unlike the cousin Lizzy had all but forgotten. Her smile faltered, and she turned instead to Jane, seeing an opportunity to enquire for herself after her sister' wellbeing, as Mrs Bennet was consoled by Kitty, who had grown sensible in the absence of Mary. Lydia flew to Colonel Fitzwilliam's side, demanding chapter and verse on all that had happened and making myriad exclamations about how romantic it was.

"I should hardly say romantic, Lydia," Jane grimaced, as Kitty examined the injured foot. Fearing to be overheard and misunderstood, Jane glanced past Lizzy towards the colonel, who did not seem to have heard a word. "That is not to say I am not grateful."

"We are all grateful, Colonel Fitzwilliam!" Mrs Bennet recalled herself at last and, noting the presence of a genuine hero amongst them, was eager to keep him there just as long as she might contrive to. "Lydia, do not crowd the poor man. Here, Colonel Fitzwilliam, you must sit by the fire and warm up for I am sure you are quite as cold as poor Jane is, and weary, too, for carrying such a burden back from Meryton."

"It was not quite Meryton," Colonel Fitzwilliam protested. "And Jane - Miss Bennet - is hardly a burden."

Lizzy could scarcely contain a smile at the warmth she detected in his voice, not daring to turn and look at him for fear her expression would betray her thoughts. She had nursed only the vaguest, most fleeting of hopes for Colonel Fitzwilliam and her sister, borne out of a glimpse she had caught of his expression when first he was introduced to Jane at the Twelfth Night assembly. It was not that she had discarded Charles Bingley, she had told herself, but Charles Bingley was not here. Worse, he showed little enough sign of ever returning, if what Lizzy had managed to extract from Jane regarding his sister's letters was accurate. And why should Jane sit around and wait for him? Practical, pragmatic Elizabeth had stumbled on an altogether better arrangement, and it seemed, after today, as if Providence approved of her plan. Not only approve, but conspired to help!

"As long as you are home, Miss Bennet, I shall entrust you to your family and bid you all farewell."

"You must come to dinner!" Mrs Bennet blurted out, a moment before Colonel Fitzwilliam reached the door. "We said as much and have not yet acted upon it."

"You are kind, Mrs Bennet, but I have an obligation at the barracks this evening."

"Tomorrow, then!" Mrs Bennet countered. "Or Thursday. Or -" She beamed at him, looking momentarily two decades more youthful. "Whatever evening suits you. Dear Colonel Fitzwilliam, had we not already planned to have you to dinner? Now the matter becomes all the more urgent, for we are indebted to you for bringing our dear Jane home safely to us."

"There is no debt, Mrs Bennet!" Colonel Fitzwilliam insisted. It seemed as if the whole room waited with bated breath until the cheerful, boyish smile Lizzy had first so admired in him returned. "But I am certainly not about to refuse so generous an offer. Shall we say tomorrow evening? If it is not too much trouble."

"It is no trouble at all!" Mrs Bennet insisted. "Lizzy, do go and see the colonel out, won't you? Kitty, perhaps you could run down for some rags and a bowl of water from the kitchen, and I shall dress Jane's foot." She sat down, importantly, to examine the poor foot, and Jane shot a longsuffering glance at her sister, silently pleading with her not to abandon her to Mrs Bennet's ministrations for long.

"It is this way, Colonel Fitzwilliam," Lizzy said, angling him easily towards the door.

"I am capable of retracing my steps, Miss Elizabeth, you need not fear." Colonel Fitzwilliam chuckled. "I should have been a sorry sight on the battlefield if I was not even capable of finding my way to the door of a house."

"You must allow me to thank you once more," Lizzy said, ignoring his comment but returning his smile. "For helping my sister and I. Without you we would have been quite in peril!"

"Without me, I wager Miss Bennet would not have turned her ankle, to begin with." His smile faltered, allowing the shadow of guilt to travel across his handsome face. "I fear I prompted her to walk too quickly, without care. If anyone is to blame for her misfortune, then, it is I. Please do take care to give her my apology, in that case."

"As if I should think of such a thing!" Lizzy teased. "No, for it was not your fault, and you have already gone out of your way to assist us."

The clock in Mr Bennet's study chimed at the very moment they passed it, and the sound seemed to recall Colonel Fitzwilliam to himself, for her glanced at his fob watch, blanching as he made out the time. He hurried towards the door, bidding Elizabeth a hasty goodbye.

"Forgive me, Miss Elizabeth! I am late and must be on my way if I hope to be back to the barracks before a certain appointment." He removed his hat and bowed himself back across the threshold. "Goodbye!"

"Until tomorrow evening, Colonel Fitzwilliam! Until dinner!" Lizzy called, waving at him as he hastened down the driveway they had but recently hurried up.

"Yes, until tomorrow. Good day, Miss Elizabeth!"