Friendship: Pride and Prejudice Variation by E A Batten

Author:E A Batten [Batten, E A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Purchased, Read, Truly ghastly Mrs Bennet, bad Bingley, Darcy duel/fight
Goodreads: 35832773
Published: 2017-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

Darcy had hoped to be away from Rosings early on Saturday morning. He did not want Elizabeth to be too fatigued from the journey that evening, when she, Jane and the Gardiners would dine at Darcy House. He wanted Elizabeth to have plenty of time to rest. In the end, it was approaching midmorning by the time they had said their farewells.

While Darcy, Georgiana and Elizabeth were bidding farewell to Lady Catherine, a note arrived from Dr Morgan requesting to speak with the Lady. The tone of the missive did not give the Lady any comfort, so she requested that her family remain with her. Elizabeth had made to leave the room, after all she was only being courted by Mr Darcy and was not a member of the family, but Lady Catherine had stopped her retreat with a request that she remain.

The next half an hour proved very difficult for Lady Catherine. Dr Morgan had thoroughly examined Miss de Bourgh and his diagnosis was not good. He informed Lady Catherine, as gently as he could, that her daughter’s addiction to laudanum was minor compared to her other ailments.

When Dr Morgan had questioned Mrs Jenkinson and the Rosings housekeeper, Mrs Snell, he had learnt of the illnesses his patient had suffered as a young girl which had left her body weakened and her heart damaged. The ever-changing physicians employed by Lady Catherine, with their constantly changing treatments and remedies, had not improved Miss de Bourgh’s health but only worsened it and the weakness now encompassed her heart. So distressed was her state that he intended to only slightly reduce the amount of laudanum ingested by his patient for the nonce, and with a special diet he hoped for an improvement in her wellbeing. Dr Morgan did not believe in giving the family false hope and so when Darcy asked if his cousin would recover, Morgan gave a negative reply.

“I am afraid the young lady’s chances of recovering are exceedingly slim,” he replied gravely. “As to how long Miss de Bourgh will remain with you, I cannot say. It may be weeks, months or even a year. Even when the body is failing, a person’s will to live is a strong defender of life.”

Lady Catherine remained stalwart while she thanked the doctor. Elizabeth could see that Lady Catherine was close to breaking down and so she asked a shocked Georgiana to find her aunt’s maid. Georgiana removed herself from the room with all speed. Elizabeth took hold of Lady Catherine’s hand and placed a handkerchief in it. That one small act of kindness was enough that Lady Catherine broke down and wept for her daughter.

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