{"id":2144,"date":"2017-12-18T08:12:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T13:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/?p=2144"},"modified":"2021-12-17T12:26:42","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T17:26:42","slug":"chapter-9-spring-sentiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/readingroom\/chapter-9-spring-sentiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 9 A Spring Sentiment"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I love Colonel Fitzwilliam in this series. I really, really do! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>

XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Chapter 9 - A Spring Sentiment, a Pride and Prejudice Variation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When the express reporting Mr. Gardiner\u2019s accident reached Fenley Cottage, it predictably sent Mrs. Bennet into near hysterics. \u201cMy brother is dead! How cruel to lose my husband and brother in one year! Must I endure the death of everyone I love?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Jane ignored her mother\u2019s antics and paid the exhausted rider and directed him around to the back to find refreshment in the kitchen. As her mother continued to rant and rave, Jane managed to pry the missive from her flailing hands to read it for herself. Her eyes misted up as her aunt\u2019s shaky hand detailed there had been a ghastly carriage accident and that her uncle had several severe fractures in his right leg and was unconscious.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cMother, Uncle Gardiner has not left us.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cBut he will; oh, he will! He will never wake; I\u2019m sure of it.\u201d Fanny Bennet continued to cry until she suddenly stopped and sat up from the newly ordered fainting couch in the sitting room. \u201cI must away to my sister Phillips!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cNo, Mama. Lydia!\u201d Jane shouted up the stairs to her youngest sister, who was spending more and more time in her bedroom. The youngest Bennet sister appeared atop the stairs and plodded down each step with a sour look on her face. <\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cWhat is it now? I was trying to rest.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>

Jane looked her sister up and down suspiciously, wondering where all of Lydia\u2019s abundant energy had disappeared to, then clucked her tongue. \u201cWe must ready the carriage. Uncle Edward has had an accident.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cLa, we will just be in the way.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cNonsense, our aunt could very much use our help. Prepare your trunk, and I shall pack mine and mother\u2019s.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cOhh, I couldn\u2019t possibly go. My nerves cannot bear to see him die! You must go Jane and represent the family. Do as you must. And be sure to let Mr. Bingley know you have arrived. It\u2019s such a pity he had to rush off to London for business again.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>

Lydia flounced into the sitting room and lounged on the overstuffed armchair with her legs dangling over the side. \u201cI shan\u2019t go either; someone must stay home with poor Mama.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>

White-hot anger spread through Jane\u2019s body as her hand involuntarily crumpled her aunt\u2019s message. Seething with rage, all Jane Bennet could do was breathe in and out before she curtsied and took the stairs to her room. Where she could not trust her tongue, she resolved to keep it out of use. As she packed her gowns and personal effects, she chastised herself for not standing up to her mother and younger sister. In her mind, all of the reprimands and harsh criticisms those two women needed to hear played over and over, and Jane hated herself for never wishing to rock the boat. Mr. Bingley hadn\u2019t left for London on business. She had sent him away when he hinted at his boredom to avoid further embarrassing displays. And his sister! The way Caroline Bingley appeared to inspect every inch of the cottage and her younger sister\u2019s illnesses, Jane didn\u2019t know what Caroline\u2019s game was, but she agreed with Elizabeth that she was not a woman to be trusted. <\/span><\/span><\/p>

The fury of her anger had made short work of her labor, and within the hour her trunk was packed and the carriage ready. Her mother and sister did not even deign to step outside and wish her farewell, and as the carriage rolled away towards London, Jane Bennet suspected today was the first day of finding her own future. <\/span><\/span><\/p>

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