Chapter Four #2
The reply was a raising of eyebrows from her husband. He then said, “Lizzy, if you particularly prefer the carriage, you might have it.”
“No. No. I shall not be moved upon this matter,” Mrs. Bennet said.
“Lizzy will go on horseback. It will do her good to practise with the animal. It is ridiculous how she lets her nonsensical anxiety about riding keep her from an exercise that is as healthful as it is respectable. Particularly when she insists that she is brave enough to face anything.”
“I do not notice you going to many places on horseback,” Mr. Bennet replied.
“Oh, very well!” Elizabeth exclaimed with some annoyance. “Enough, Mama. I am not so afraid that I cannot ride a horse if necessary. I shall take Nelly.”
Her mother smiled quite benignly, and Elizabeth had a sense that she had been rather played for the fool. But it was better for the farm if it could keep the carriage horses for the day.
Once settled into the saddle, Elizabeth hurried Nelly along at a pace faster than she was comfortable with, hoping to reach Netherfield before the rain began, and she suspected that part of why she had let her mother convince her to take the horse was that she did hope to see Mr. Darcy in his domestic circle before she came home.
Elizabeth was decidedly curious and even a little nervous to meet Mr. Darcy’s child, despite little Miss Emily Darcy only being three years of age.
To distract herself, Elizabeth tried to settle in her mind as to whether there was any connection between Mr. Bingley and Georgiana.
Her best guess, from how Georgiana spoke about Mr. Bingley, was that her friend was aware of him as a man that she might one day marry, and she did not find the prospect repellent, but she also had no affection for him at present.
However, Georgiana was a shy girl. She was likely to hide her deepest feelings out of a sense that she could not let them be seen. Elizabeth had no confidence upon the matter.
Only half a mile from Netherfield, the heavens opened in a great gush, as though God were dumping a decanter of water on England.
Hoping to avoid a complete soaking, Elizabeth urged Nelly into a fast canter, but they managed only another hundred yards before thunder and lightning cracked loudly directly above her.
The lightning struck the top of a glorious old oak just inside Netherfield’s park.
From the first, Nelly, the calmer of the two riding horses shared by the women of the family, had not been happy to have Elizabeth on her back.
This wise horse had long ago learned that Elizabeth was not much of a horsewoman and that she too sharply pulled on the reins when she wished to slow, held them incorrectly at all times, and rode in an awkward and stiff manner.
The thunder and lightning coming from almost directly on top of them startled the horse, and when she bolted, Elizabeth lost her grip and fell, hitting the ground with a painful jolt.
Elizabeth did not move at first, having been knocked half senseless and wholly lost her breath.
A puddle formed around her as the rain soaked through her coat, the contact with the ground freezing her to the bone. Her head hurt, but not much; she did not think she had hit it.
The fall had only knocked the air out of her lungs.
Was anything broken?
Pain radiated up from her right foot, but at least it gave her a happy confidence that she had not harmed her spine. That was an excellent silver lining to accompany the discomfort.
Elizabeth experimentally rotated her ankle; it went all the way round but with a sharp twinge at a certain point. She shook out her arm. The elbow hurt but moved through a wide range of motion.
She would catch her death of cold if she stayed on the ground until someone wandered by.
It took another wet, freezing minute before Elizabeth forced her body upright, encouraging herself with cheerful oaths about never sitting on the back of one of those ornery animals again.
Nelly was still there, standing dolefully in the rain and looking at Elizabeth with what she thought were concerned eyes.
The loyalty of the animal, by staying near her, touched Elizabeth, and she retracted a small number of the angry thoughts directed in her mind towards all that was equine.
But when Elizabeth managed to haul herself to her feet and limp towards the horse, Nelly shied away and refused to let her grasp the bridle.
Elizabeth held no resentment towards the animal for this. Had she been in Nelly’s position, she would not have allowed Elizabeth even this close.
Rather than making a useless effort to get back into the saddle without the help of a servant or mounting block, Elizabeth pulled a loose slat out of the fence that ran alongside the road and used it to support herself as she hobbled towards Netherfield, followed at a mistrustful distance by Nelly.
The short walk to Netherfield House proved to be far longer than usual when Elizabeth could barely support herself on one leg.
To her relief, when she had made it part way through the park, she was seen by a servant, and Georgiana herself hurried out carrying a big umbrella and followed by two footmen.
“Lizzy! What happened to you?”
Elizabeth let out a long sigh. “My horse was startled by thunder and I fell.”
“That huge lightning strike half an hour ago? You are soaked!”
“And muddy,” Elizabeth agreed.
“Come inside! You will become ill. Why ever did you not take the carriage?” Georgiana took Elizabeth’s arm and helped support her across the walk up to the grand entrance to the house, while a groom came out from the stables to grab Nelly.
She did not, Elizabeth noted without resentment, shy away from him.
“That,” Elizabeth replied, “is an excellent question. But whatever the reason was, it was without any doubt a mistake.”
Georgiana laughed, though her face remained concerned as Elizabeth leaned heavily on her. “We shall call a physician to look at your ankle.”
“Just send for Mr. Jones, the local apothecary. But it is not necessary. I am reasonably confident it is not broken. I could not have managed to walk half a mile on it if it were.”
And then she was inside.
Blessed, glorious warmth.
A little girl whose face looked remarkably like Mr. Darcy’s stood in the entrance hall watching, but as soon as Elizabeth turned to smile at her, she immediately ran and hid behind a door, making Elizabeth laugh.
The servants stripped Elizabeth of her coat, and Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley exclaimed in delighted horror at her appearance. Georgiana made the decision that Elizabeth must receive fresh clothes and that she would offer one of her gowns to her.
By pulling herself up the staircase by the banister rail, Elizabeth managed to reach the upper floor, and Georgiana took her to her room to be dressed by her maid.
The servant stripped all of Elizabeth’s soaked clothes off and rubbed her fiercely with a towel before putting her in a dry chemise of Georgiana’s and then a gown that was slightly too large for her frame while also being finer than anything she owned.
After a few minutes, little Miss Emily Darcy crept in.
“Do close the door,” Georgiana said to her niece. “Lizzy is still quite cold.”
After the girl shut it, rather harder than she ought, Elizabeth smiled at her. “Pleased to meet you. I am Miss Elizabeth. I believe you are Miss Emily.”
The little girl stared with beautiful large eyes at her, then hurried to hide behind Georgiana. After a few seconds, she peeked out from behind her aunt’s skirts and smiled with a wide, heart-melting grin at Elizabeth, who grinned back.
Georgiana apologised a third time, saying, “I am so sorry to see how hard that fall was. And you were coming to see me! I did not mean to cause you to be injured.”
Elizabeth laughed. “It was my mistake in allowing myself to be prodded into taking the horse by my mother. And, I shall happily endure a sprained ankle for the joy of seeing you.”
“Why is Miss Elizabeth hurt?” little Emily asked.
“Because I fell off my horse.”
Without pause the child continued, “Why did you fall off your horse?”
“Because the thunder startled poor Nelly, and she bolted and I lost my seat.”
“Why didn’t you hold on more tightly?”
Elizabeth laughed at the question. “Because I ought not to ride a horse at all.”
“Why shouldn’t you ride a horse at all?”
“Because I am not very good at managing them.”
The girl considered this with some gravity. And then she said, “Papa always says that a skill at riding a horse is a most important talent in anyone, woman or man.”
There Mr. Darcy went again, judging her, and he was not even there.
Georgiana laughed at her niece and kissed her on the top of her head. “I like Lizzy well enough. Even if she cannot ride a horse with any skill. Perhaps my brother and I can help you learn to keep a better seat.”
“I imagine you to be as talented at riding as at playing the pianoforte.”
“Oh no! I am not so talented at riding. I would not lead a fox hunt from a side saddle, like Lady Hart, but I can keep a good seat.”
“For my part,” Elizabeth replied, “I have determined to never sit upon a horse again.”
Emily laughed loudly at that and then said in a lisping imitation of an adult manner, “That’s so droll.”
Elizabeth could not help it; she giggled.
This seemed to cause what reserve Emily still had to disappear, and she sat on Georgiana’s bed next to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s injuries were more than just a sprained ankle.
Her whole side, from ankle to shoulder, was turning black and blue, and she found it nearly impossible to make herself stand from the bed so that the maid could fit the gown over her head.
Her banged elbow did not wish to extend, and it hurt when she did straighten it with the maid’s help.
A tray of steaming tea, with one pot filled with willow bark, was delivered. Georgiana’s room was kept warm and toasty, and Elizabeth began to feel tolerably relaxed, though still decidedly in pain.