{"id":2411,"date":"2018-05-02T06:58:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T10:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/?p=2411"},"modified":"2021-12-17T12:26:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T17:26:54","slug":"chapter-4-a-summer-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/readingroom\/chapter-4-a-summer-shame\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 4 A Summer Shame"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I know… it’s been a spell. But! We I need to get back into this series so I can write more episodes in it, so a posting we will go! Happy Reading!\u00a0<\/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 4 - A Summer Shame, 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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The summer humidity punished all who remained indoors. Most mornings, both Kitty and Georgiana escaped to the cool shade of Winslow’s Woods as soon as they were able. The two trooped their way to the well-worn path Kitty knew from the times she accompanied Elizabeth on her walks. <\/span><\/span><\/p>

Slung over Kitty’s shoulder rested the hand-sewn bag Georgiana presented as a birthday gift. For her stories, the younger lady had explained. Along the way, the two friends laughed and congratulated themselves on once again rising for the day before Mrs. Bennet.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Please do not mistake me, Kitty. I am touched your mother would extend an invitation to me. It is certainly more appealing than a summer of lessons; I cannot believe my brother agreed!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Kitty bit her lip, knowing Wickham was still running to ground in London, she didn’t want to tell Georgiana she was probably in Meryton for her own safety. Jane had given Kitty explicit instructions never to mention Lydia or Mr. Wickham to Georgiana but never gave a reason why. Still, the most mischievous Bennet sister didn’t wish to hurt her friend. “If we have to discuss lace trims one more time or go to the modiste so you can describe what they’re wearing in London, I might scream!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Georgiana giggled as she leaped over the babbling brook which divided the Longbourn lands from the old Winslow estate, playing a light game of hopscotch with the stones. Her daringness to use her longer legs to skip some of the usual stones served her ill as one foot missed and went right into the brook with a splash. Kitty called out, worried Georgiana was hurt, but the younger Darcy merely lifted her soggy shoe and frowned. “I always hated these shoes, but please, let’s stay here until they dry?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Kitty nodded. She reached out for a steadying hand from Georgiana as she followed, not skipping steps. Carrying her manuscript, the last thing she desired was to have an aquatic accident.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The girls found the flattish stones they used as an impromptu seating area. Kitty wasted no time in pulling out her journal, ink, and quill. Georgiana accepted the pen knife and extra quill to start mending it for Kitty when the present one dulled. “What do you think we should have happened to the evil Mr. Boggins? I thought a horse accident, but how about a house fire?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Georgiana wrinkled her nose, “A fire is too tragic. Can’t he be accused of a crime and thrown in jail?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Kitty sat, thoughtful for a moment and began scribbling. Georgiana leaned to peer over her shoulder and read as the words were scratched. “Ooh, he’s accused of starting a fire. Brilliant!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The girls worked on the story for over an hour when Georgiana had a serious question to ask. “Kitty, what if your husband doesn’t like your writing? What will you do?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Without stopping, Catherine Bennet confessed a truth she had not told any of her sisters. “I do not plan to wed.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Shocked, Georgiana had never considered not getting married. It was a future as certain for her as the sun rising tomorrow. “I see, you’re jesting with me. Of course, you will get married.” Georgiana reached down to pluck a wild bloom from the forest floor. A small gap in the canopy above allowed for a patch of weeds and flowers to line just where the deeper buried rocks covered in slippery moss started.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“No, I shall not.” Kitty finished her last sentence and blew on the ink. Satisfied it was dry, she glanced up at the high sun and reasoned they would be missed soon. “I cannot think of a single marriage that is happy, can you? Why should I marry when I will have more than enough means to survive and can continue my writing?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“But\u2014” A twig snap caught the immediate attention of both girls and Mr. Collins, leading a pack of sniffing dogs, came thundering out of the bushes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Confound it! You’re not the stag.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Both ladies jumped from the rocks, and Georgiana giggled as Mr. Collins’ hounds began to sniff her feet. They tickled her ankles.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“What are you two doing out here, Cousin Catherine? This is not your land any longer; you should not be flitting about doing, doing, what is it you are up to? I ought to march you back home to your mother this instant!” Mr. Collins yelling started the dogs off in a barking frenzy and this made Georgiana take a step back.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Kitty put her hands on her hips and glared right back at her cousin. The same cousin that threw them out of their family home in the dead of winter after the sudden death of her father. “Miss Darcy and I are not on your property. I am quite educated on the boundaries of my family’s ancestral lands, though it appears you, sir, are not. You are hunting on land which does not belong to you.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Collins looked around him, then shook his head and began to pale. “Miss Darcy, you say, as in niece of the supreme Lady Catherine de Bourgh?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Georgiana curtsied, and Collins licked his lips which made Kitty uneasy. “We will be going now, Mr. Collins. Send my regard to Mrs. Collins.” Kitty curtsied and after shoving her journal into her bag, linked arms with Georgiana and started in the opposite direction away from Mr. Collins, further into the woods.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Kitty,” Georgiana whispered, “we’re going the wrong way.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“I know,” she whispered back, “but I don’t want to go past Mr. Collins. We will head this way and turn left, finding the main road.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The girls marched for a half hour towards what Kitty thought should be the main road; only no such road produced itself. The forest became darker and darker as the trees intensified in thickness. After an hour, Georgiana started to worry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Kitty, I think we are lost. Shouldn’t we turn back?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Unnerved, but stubborn, Kitty was adamant they would find the main road. She cast an eye over her shoulder to tell Georgiana they must keep going when she lost her footing and tumbled over a fallen log.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Kitty!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Owwww. I’m alright; I’m alright” Kitty spat out the bits of detritus that had stuck to her lips when her face had hit the dirt. “Help me up?” She reached a hand up for Georgiana and instead, pulled the girl right down into the dirt with her.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Georgiana screamed, and Kitty took a fistful of leaves and threw it on top of Georgiana’s lavender gown. “What! Why ever did you do that for?”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Because the first rule of sisterhood is you never go home with only one of you dirty and unkempt. Mama will never punish both of us.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Georgiana squealed as Kitty picked up another handful of dirt to help her new sister play the part most convincingly. Georgiana, not to be left out of the fun, grabbed a handful of loose soil. The sound of a horse made them both hush, and from their forest floor vantage, they saw a clearing ahead where a carriage walked by.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“The road!” Georgiana exclaimed as she jumped to her feet. She turned to gape at Kitty, still filthy on the ground, then down at her frock. “My brother would kill me if he caught me in public in such a state!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Well, I suppose we better not tell him!” Kitty said, lifting herself up and getting a head start on Georgiana. With no other choice, the youngest of the Darcy clan followed her guide and couldn’t help but smile. She had no idea how angry Mrs. Bennet was going to be, but at long last, she had a sister\u2014even if it meant getting filthy to find one!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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