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.She assured Elizabeth that he knew nothing of their acquaintance.The only news she relayed about her daughter was that her employers had baptized her Elizabeth Anne, but they called her Bethany.She also communicated that Mrs Darcy was with child.Elizabeth worried that a baby of their own could jeopardize the treatment of Bethany; but decided she would trust Mr Darcy to be honourable.Mrs Reynolds seemed to know her news might cause anxiety.She spent much of the letter reassuring Lizzy of Mr Darcy’s scrupulous commitment to obligations.Later when she received the letters from Mrs Reynolds, Jamie and Bronwyn telling her of Anne’s death, Elizabeth had sobbed.To add to her pain, Bronwyn had written that Lady Hughes had died giving birth the same day as Mrs Darcy.Elizabeth was unsure why she felt such despair at the news.Anne had betrayed her, but that no longer seemed important.All she could feel was sorrow for her daughter and the other little ones being denied a mother, Mr Darcy and Lord Hughes for losing their wives, but mostly for all the women who died trying to give the gift of life to another being.Even Mary Wollstonecraft, who had moved Elizabeth so with her words about the rights of women, had paid the ultimate price while delivering her daughter.The day after Elizabeth learned of Anne Darcy’s death, she was befriended by another.She often walked early in the morning both as an antidote to sleeplessness and to contemplate her most personal thoughts in private.This morning as she climbed Oakham Mount, she was unable to shake memories of the past and the woman and the man who had stolen her life.As she reached the crest, there he stood like a sentinel—the ugliest dog she had ever seen.He was huge and appeared to have some Irish Wolfhound in him—but his body was much more powerful.Sir Walter had kept several of the breed when she was younger.Elizabeth laughed as she speculated about this dog’s parentage.Her favourite scenario was that he was the result of one of Sir Walter’s Wolfhounds getting out and visiting the gaming den on the far side of Meryton.Years before, her Uncle Philips had been the source of the information that dog fighting and bull-baiting took place there.Her father, when she questioned him, had told her the dogs of choice for those sports were Old English Bulldogs.Somehow the characteristics of the two breeds did not blend, but instead seemed to exist as though the animal had been stitched together with pieces of several dogs.The short hair of the Bulldog would stop abruptly to make way for patches of the long wiry hair of the Wolfhound.The beast was brindled and had obviously been in numerous fights.Half his right ear was missing, and his left eye drooped from another injury.Though frightening looking, Elizabeth was drawn to him.Instinctively she knew he was destined to protect her, and they seemed to immediately accept each other as fellow outsiders.She laid out her blanket and sat to watch the sun rise over the meadow as she did most mornings.He lay down on the blanket beside her and put his head in her lap.Her hand was drawn to caress his mangled ear.She named him Caliban.Though she had sworn she would never think of The Tempest again, one look at the dog’s deformities and the wisdom in his eyes—and she believed him to be a sign from above.Surely, he was sent to teach her to survive a life deferred as Caliban had taught Prospero.PART TWOHERTFORDSHIRE,SEPTEMBER 181123 WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE, SWEET LOVE“I am violently in love with your sister and will most surely die if I am not allowed to marry her.You must tell me if I am out of place to think I could be so favoured.She is, after all, a gentleman’s daughter, and I am but a steward’s son.”Lizzy tried not to laugh as she watched this man nearly three times her size desperately wringing his hands at the thought of speaking to her father.He was so quietly confident in most matters, but obviously not in the realm of the heart.When they had met, more than four years earlier, he had been very tall and lanky.Now he was massive… a veritable door off the hinges.Once transformed, she had begun calling him Little John because he reminded her of Robin Hood’s boon companion—both physically and in his loyalty to her family.She took his hands to calm him.“You have nothing to fear from Papa.”The big man shook his head with doubt.“He has every right to send me packing when I petition him.”She had been expecting this development between John and her sister Kitty for some time.They were well suited, and seemed to have a deep attachment and affection.“I am certain he will agree.You must know my parents already think of you as a son, and it surprises me you have not heard Mama speculating about when you would ask.” Elizabeth Bennet gave Little John a mischievous look and a poke as she prepared to mimic her mother.“Who do you think she is encouraging when she says?—’it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a thriving business, must be in want of a wife’.Besides, my family hangs on to our claims of being landed gentry by a thread… and an entailed thread at that.I do not think being a steward’s son is that different from being a country lawyer’s son… and look at my Uncle Gardiner.He is the wealthiest and most admired member of our family.”“I am pleased you approve.Your good opinion is as important as that of my father and my aunt.”Her friend would never know how honoured she was that the woman who had held her, comforted her and helped her through childbirth would become a part of her family.“Little John, I do have one request.Kitty just turned sixteen.Would you be willing to wait a year?”“Of course… We have talked, and this is our wish as well.I want time to finish the house and find additional buyers for our bricks [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]