The Guest | F. Darcy

Epilogue: Lady Marshall and the Separated Couple

Note: I made it the last chapter of this series because I wanted to show the Pemberly setting in the last book of the series. Thank you for putting up with me. I would be posting the last book soon

The letter was forgotten by the morning. All she remembered was to get some sleep (that never came) and rush to Lady Marshall's bed-chamber as soon as she woke up. It was not the first time she did that, and she doesn't remember the first time she did that. All she remembered was that every morning before breakfast, she would enter Lady Marshall's chamber and talk for hours with her. 

"Aunt Ellen," she exclaimed, as soon as she saw the condition the older lady was in. Lady Marshall had lost the healthy glow that made her look way younger than she was, her skin had paled to a horrid white, and even her shiny ocean eyes had leaked. She was awake and reading something. "What happened?"

The old noble smiled weakly and reached out a hand to Adele. "Dear 'dele, come here, little one."

Adele wasted no time. The women squeezed each other in an embrace, Adele did it carefully, while Ellen did it as best as she could.

"What happened, Lady Marshall? And please, I beg you, don't tell me that you're just under the weather."

Lady Marshall laughed lightly and coughed, "My dear, I am fine."

Adele pinched her lips together and looked disapprovingly at the woman, "I have eyes, you know. I could see when someone is fine and when someone is not. And I am a trained healer myself madam, do not mock my abilities."

The older woman sent a smile her way, "I am sure a little rest is all I need."

"Let me check," Adele insisted and, before Ellen could refuse, got to work. She checked her thoroughly, even after knowing that the healer Ellen must have appointed for herself was better than herself. She just needed to reassure herself that her friend was fine and see if she could do anything to make her feel better.

"Why are you still in London? Even after your illness?"

"Best healers live in London," Ellen replied in a way that was supposed to make her feel silly, but it didn't.

"Well, my lady," she taunted, "your best healers forgot to tell you how good the countryside could do your health. You need clearer air than London and some time outdoors. The cooping up is making you worse than you ought to be."

Lady Marshall made a face. "Oh dear, they did tell me that but I did not want to leave London."

"Why?"

"Derbyshire is too far from the Gardiners and you. And I don't like being there alone. The only person to keep me company is dear Georgiana and, god love her soul, could only come meet me once every two weeks. I would die of boredom if not of this illness if I live in Derbyshire."

Adele sighed loudly. "I am sending one of the footmen to the Marshall Manor. Ask your maids to pack everything you need."

"Why?"

"Because we are leaving for the Manor in a week."

As much as Darcy wanted to meet Adele, the first thing he did when he came to town was go to Bingley. He had been worried about him. Not one letter came for the entirety of his stay in Kent and that worried him. Bingley was a man who maintained daily or at least weekly correspondence and a silence on Darcy's part never discouraged him. So it was very alarming that not one letter came in for 3 weeks. 

"Charles," he greeted the man in the office room of his residence. 

"Darcy," the man replied but lacked the usual warmth. His face was paler and melancholic. Bingley was one of the few men who had a very readable face and what Darcy read in them that day, he did not like. Bingley truly did love Miss Jane and, from what Adele said (or yelled), Miss Jane was as much in love with him. 

He felt a deep pang in his chest, painfully. He truly regretted what he had done. He had taken the happiness out of Bingley's life and even lied to Adele about it. He hesitated now. Should he be seeking out Adele now, when she clearly ran from him?

Adele wrote a letter to Jane that she was in town and the Gardiners, informing the couple about her whereabouts. Lady Marshall insisted that she uses one of the footmen for the delivery.

 A letter came back with him, from Aunt Gardiner, inviting her to visit them. Adele didn't mind and the old woman in the residence insisted that she goes and 'leave her alone to her misery for an evening'. So she replied back and again pained the footman to take the letter to the Gardiners.

She was here for a week before she leaves for Marshall Manor and while she wanted most of it to be spent in taking care of her aunt, she wanted to visit Jane in the left part of it. She needed to make sure her sister was fine.  and the left-out part, where she could do neither of the two, she wanted to allow herself to wallow in her own misery.

After all, that was how all her wounds have healed in the past, she had licked them herself.