The Sisters’ Holiday (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

Prologue

Barton Cottage, Somersetshire

Dear Cousin Lizzy,

I am sorry it has been so long since my last letter.

How altered you shall discover me, all my joy turned to utter misery.

Willoughby, who I had thought by now to call husband, has left Devonshire most suddenly, with no plans to return for perhaps a year.

All my hopes were dashed in an instant, extinguished forever, and without any explanation but the cruel dismissal of his aunt at Allenham.

It is worse, for I do not suffer alone. Elinor will not confess it, but Mamma is certain that she pines for Edward still.

I once dismissed her feelings as less than what I feel for Willoughby, but I understand now the misery contained in all her looks, and I know not how she can comport herself so well, for I am incapable of any equanimity.

The wretched Miss Steeles are still at Barton Park, though at present I wish them to the very devil.

I scarcely noticed them when first they came, for my every thought was of Willoughby.

When he went away, they were all false pity and preening platitudes, smirking at my devastation.

I have made little endeavor to be pleasant company when we are obliged to see them, and after today I hardly know how I shall face them without flying into a violent rage.

I have had an abysmal day, Lizzy, and if I do not tell somebody of it, I am sure I shall run mad.

We were summoned to Barton Park for another dismal afternoon of tedious chatter and weak tea.

The weather was fine and we all went outdoors, walking about in pairs, playing lawn games, or lurking in the hedge maze (Margaret!

Bah!) I was fleeing another onslaught of Mrs. Jennings’s impertinent insinuations when I came around the side of the manor and heard the Steele sisters whispering together in the garden.

Normally, I should have little interest in any of their inanities, but I heard them mention Edward!

Our Edward! Naturally, I listened from behind a shrubbery, and how I regret it!

I discovered that Miss Lucy Steele, with her beady little eyes and her simpering giggles, has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years!

If that is not shocking enough, she has come into Devonshire not to see Mrs. Jennings, but with the express purpose of tormenting Elinor for it!

Apparently she heard too much praise of my dearest sister from Edward, and means to inflict her revenge.

I told Elinor, of course – and Lizzy, she already knew! The little hellcat forced the confidence on Elinor and swore her to secrecy, and Elinor is too generous to believe the shrew did so with any ill intent. Even so, she is utterly heartbroken, and I am very sorry she should be so disconsolate.

I will do what I can for her, despite my own despair, but a letter from you and Jane would be a balm to her, I am sure.

All my love,

Marianne Dashwood

***

Longbourn, Hertfordshire

30 November, 1811

Dear Marianne and Elinor,

I send you Jane’s love, but as I have the pen and she is all the way across the room, I shall take the liberty of telling you that Jane shares your heartache.

Mr. Bingley left Netherfield quite abruptly a few days after giving a ball and raising Jane’s expectations – as well as those of all the neighborhood.

Miss Bingley, as vicious a creature as Miss Lucy Steele, I daresay, wrote to Jane to inform her that their whole party have little intention of ever returning.

If anybody can condole with you, it is Jane, who is weeping for you both even now.

I am not quite so heartbroken over the news that the charming Mr. Wickham is to marry Miss King; perhaps my attachment was not what my sister and poor cousins have felt.

But my devotion to you both is steadfast, and I have spoken to my father about a scheme that may cheer us all.

Come to us for Christmas! You are all invited of course; it will be our first Christmas without Uncle Gardiner, and we should be glad to have family amongst us.

We may be a bit too crammed in, but we will make merry as best we can.

How I long to embrace you all, and tease you into better cheer, for my heart aches for you.

Do give the plan some consideration, for it has been far too long since we were last together at Norland.

All my love (and Jane’s),

Elizabeth Bennet

***

Barton Cottage, Somersetshire

6 December, 1811

Dear Lizzy,

I cannot say how pleased Elinor and I were by your letter. An escape from so many painful reminders is just the thing! And of course we shall commiserate with poor Jane – how horrid of Mr. Bingley to abandon her! I begin to think the entire male species is without any proper feeling.

Mamma and Margaret send their love – Mamma is eager to visit the home of her youth. We shall spare you all the burden of so many people at Longbourn, for we are to travel with Mrs. Jennings, who intends to let a house near Meryton for a fortnight.

After this, she means to take us to London, Lizzy!

We spoke of it the evening before I received your letter.

Her daughter Mrs. Palmer is at Barton presently.

She plans to take a house in town with her husband and will host the Miss Steeles, and Elinor and I will stay with Mrs. Jennings in town after our visit to Longbourn for Christmas.

I shall see Willoughby! I know everything shall be put right between us at last in London, though I fear the holiday will do little for Elinor.

Lucy Steele is certain we shall see much of Edward, and I believe Elinor rather dreads meeting with him now that she knows of his engagement.

Perhaps Edward shall come to his senses!

And at least our sojourn in Meryton will offer some respite from the triumphant crowing of Lucy Steele, whom I know means to torment Elinor every chance she gets.

You and I shall spend a happy fortnight cajoling our poor, wounded sisters into better cheer. Mamma shall write once we have sorted out all the particulars of our journey north; Mrs. Jennings has already sent some inquiries about houses for let. I cannot wait to embrace you all!

Yours fondly,

Marianne Dashwood