Chapter Four #3
Jane finally tore her eyes from the note she held delicately with the tips of her fingers. “Oh, yes – if Lizzy and I are to switch places and be convincing in our impressions of one another… might we have a little more time?”
“Why, certainly! I had merely thought you may wish to rejoin the party, and your friends. You will not see the Campbells for quite a while when they depart for Ireland with the Dixons.”
Jane pressed her lips together, her gaze averted, and Elizabeth could again sense what her sister was feeling. “You need not shun Miss Campbell out of allegiance to me, Jane; she has been your friend these ten years.”
“It is not only that ,” Jane said, looking between Elizabeth and their aunt with a trace of panic.
“It has been shocking to see her behave so unkindly to you, Lizzy, but I also fear that Mr. Dixon may continue to pay you that sort of singular attention which causes my friend’s ire, and I would not have you made uncomfortable.
Besides, it saddens me that Diana should still wish to marry him, after witnessing such unfaithful behavior on his part.
She ought to direct her vexation at him, and not at you.
She does not think much of herself, but I think her deserving of better treatment than that.
I am very sorry for how she has reacted. ”
“You are perfectly angelic,” Elizabeth said, resting a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Now I am quite sure I shall require a period of dedicated study if I am to emulate such goodness, for I am a far more wicked creature.”
Lady Gresham chortled softly. “You shall have to adopt some of Lizzy’s prickliness, dear Jane.
It may serve you well in dealing with Miss Campbell – this is hardly the first time that love and courtship have soured a formerly sweet friendship.
But I give you leave to remain at the dower house a few more days, if it is any comfort.
Of course you wish to grow better acquainted, which was my first object in inviting you both here.
But at the end of the week, I should like you both to return to the manor, for I do have a great many diversions planned, which ought to gratify the pair of you above everyone.
So long as you both do not neglect your cousin Selina, I will be satisfied.
I shall look in on you tomorrow and inquire after your progress in becoming more intimately acquainted.
You will certainly have to convince me , if you stand any chance of fooling your parents. ”
Lady Gresham’s encouragement was a balm to Jane’s spirits; when their aunt departed, she managed to read her letter from Mr. Churchill without much distress, and then promised Elizabeth that she would put him from her mind entirely.
They devoted the rest of the week to sharing every particular of their lives at home, their habits and preferences, and every possible detail on how they would be expected to behave.
Jane composed a list of every pertinent piece of information she could recall about the principal personages of Highbury, and Elizabeth did likewise in illustrating the foremost characters of Meryton.
The sisters studied one another like scholars at university.
They took notes in their diaries and made a vow of secrecy between themselves, they quizzed one another every evening at supper, and they often sent themselves into fits of giggles as they mimicked each other’s subtle mannerisms. Each day Lady Gresham visited, and the sisters refused to reveal who was Jane and who was Elizabeth, taking heart from their aunt’s inability to distinguish them.
On the last evening before they would return to the manor, recovered from their supposed illness, Jane summoned the courage to allow Elizabeth to apply Mrs. Hill’s special soap to her hair, shading it darker.
She would require a few more applications of the piney smelling decoction before her golden tresses were the same chestnut brown as Elizabeth’s hair generally was, but the initial difference was already considerable.
Jane bore the drastic alteration to her appearance with equanimity, even seeming to admire the change as an improvement, but then the sisters were met with one final obstacle. “Oh dear, Lizzy! My ears have been pierced, and yours have not been.”
Elizabeth instinctively brought her hands up to her bare lobes and shook her head emphatically. “No. No, I cannot.”
“I might arrive at Longbourn as you, having acquired earrings – a gift from Lady Gresham, I might say. But you, Lizzy, could hardly explain Jane returning to Highbury without the earrings Jane has always worn – our grandmother’s delicate little pearl drops. She will notice!”
Several glasses of wine later, Elizabeth consented, and Jane retrieved the sharpest sewing needle she could find.
She was calm and methodical, making sure that the placement was even and that her efforts did not inflict more pain than necessary, but Elizabeth taught Jane several new obscenities that night, to Jane’s horrified amusement.
By morning, Elizabeth had recovered enough to laugh about the harrowing experience, declaring that after enduring such an indignity, none of the gentlemen at the manor could possibly vex her with their snobbery.
They rejoined the house party in a state of perfect sisterly harmony, intending to cherish their final week together, and all the delightful entertainments Lady Gresham had planned.
Jane and Elizabeth had come a long way in feeling as though they were one, their lives and identities entwined and blurred together. As fond as they had grown of one another, they were each loath for the week to end, and yet each eager for what would follow.