A Spring Sentiment: A Pride and Prejudice Novella Variation (Seasons of Serendipity Book 2) by Elizabeth Ann West

as large and elite as this one could quickly become dangerous grounds for maidens. She trusted Lady Matlock with her safety, but for the past two nights, she had not enjoyed the particular attentions of Lord Bergamote, a man of French ancestry staying with relations in Southern England, and she suspected that William had enjoyed those attentions even less so.
    Rolling onto her side away from the door, she closed her eyes. Taking calming breaths, she willed the powders to begin working. After what felt like an eternity, she finally drifted off to sleep.
    When Elizabeth woke hours later, the room was dark, and she cried out from fear of not knowing where she was. Her head still ached, but it was mostly a dull pain. Rubbing her eyes, she adjusted her vision to the darkened room and began to panic. She remembered where she was and threw the bed curtains to the side. How they had become closed, she didn’t know, because she hadn’t closed them. Stumbling around to light a candle, she called for Becky, but no answer came.
    Finally lighting a candle, Elizabeth realized she was in her chemise and she hurriedly found her evening gown still laid out on the chair. Lady Matlock would be so furious with her if she had missed such an important dinner due to an inept servant. The disapproval from everyone she could imagine made her flustered, and she knocked the stack of books on her bureau while trying to reign in her unruly curls and wash her face off at the same time. She wasn’t sure how she was going to secure the dress in the back and hoped Becky returned soon. The crash must have alerted others she was awake because her bedroom door opened a swift moment later and Mary rushed in.
    “Lizzie, what on earth are you doing?”
    “What does is appear that I am doing? I’m trying to hurry and dress for dinner! I’m so late!”
    Mary clucked her tongue and gently pulled the hair brush from Elizabeth’s hand. “It’s eleven o’clock in the evening. I was just retiring when I heard the crash, and I worried you had fallen out of bed.”
    “I missed dinner?” Elizabeth cried, thoroughly panicked now. This was just like Netherfield all over again. She pressed her fingers to her head and cursed the plague of migraines that she inherited from Grandmother Bennet.
    “Sssh, ssssh, it’s all been resolved. When your maid told Mr. Darcy’s valet you were ill, he asked me to see to you. You were writhing in pain, even as you slept, so Becky and I helped you undress as you did not wake. I made my report to Mr. Darcy and he decided that you were not to be disturbed.”
    “Oh, that’s far worse!” Elizabeth began to pound her fists on her head, both to stop the buzzing and in complete frustration. Her first attempt and she had failed to be strong enough to play hostess.
    Mary looked at Elizabeth with confusion. Her older sister was behaving most oddly, and she wasn’t used to seeing the woman she looked up to so vulnerable. “Would you stop that caterwauling?” Shocked by the most impressive imitation of her father’s favorite refrain, Elizabeth opened her teary eyes to look at Mary. “Have you completely lost your senses? Mr. Darcy was so caring and thoughtful to make sure you were attended and left to recover.”
    “Yet I have failed him! I keep trying to learn it all, but every day I am more and more confused. Just trying to remember the names of the maids who maintain the fireplaces over the maids who clean the linens and then there’s the footmen for each room, and the menus, and the activities planned for each day. . .”
    “Elizabeth Rose Bennet, you have gone over the moon. Get back into that bed this instant.” Mary strong armed her sister to guide her to the bed and helped her out of the partially donned evening gown. “Lady Matlock is merely exposing you to what you will undoubtedly experience at Pemberley. You are not expected to run Matlock after only three days of instruction, nor will you be expected to run