Elizabeth Bennet in Disguise Read online

  Elizabeth Bennet in Disguise

  by

  Lilian Swift

  Copyright © 2018 by Lilian Swift

  A Pride and Prejudice Variation Novella

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are used fictitiously.

  Cover design by Cover Fresh Designs

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  “Hill! Hill! Where is that woman?” Mrs. Bennet collapsed on the yellow sofa in the sitting room. “Lizzy, fetch Hill right away. I need my smelling salts!”

  Before Elizabeth Bennet could turn toward the kitchen, her mother continued, “How could Mrs. Clark be invited to Lady Lucas’s soiree and not me? It’s bad enough Charlotte Lucas stole Mr. Collins from us and will be mistress of our home one day.” She sent Lizzy a dark look, “But now I am not even invited to their home!”

  Lizzy hurried to the kitchen. She was used to her mother having a regular attack of the vapors and sometimes attempted to reason her mother into a better humor, but it did not seem possible today. This was an instance where only Hill or her sister Jane could finesse their mother into a better mood.

  “Hill?” Lizzy burst into the kitchen.

  The older woman sat at the scrubbed kitchen table, her head in her hands, sobbing.

  “Whatever is the matter?” Lizzy sat down next to the servant. This was a singular occurrence indeed. The stalwart Hill, in tears. Sometimes she didn’t know how her family would manage without Hill’s competence and ability to do a hundred chores in one day.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Elizabeth.” Hill gulped back another sob. “I’ll be right as rain in a minute.”

  “No, you won’t.” Lizzy took the other woman’s hands in hers. “Can you tell me what is wrong? Perhaps I can help.”

  From the sitting room she could hear her mother crying out for Hill once more, but chose to ignore it. Right now, Hill seemed to be in genuine distress.

  “I don’t see how anyone can help.” Hill gave a dry, gulping sob. “It’s my niece.” Her middle-aged face crumpled and she looked like she was going to cry once more.

  “What about your niece?” Lizzy asked.

  “She’s missing!” Hill wailed.

  “She is working in ... Derbyshire, is she not?” Lizzy asked. As soon as she uttered the name of the region, her mind flashed to Mr. Darcy. Instantly she brushed away the image of his tall, distinguished figure. Ever since his humiliating proposal at Hunsford, she had determined never to think of that man again.

  Although ...

  She still felt discomfited at the way she had championed Wickham, allowing his charm to persuade her that Darcy had been entirely at fault in the dealings the two men had had in the past.

  Only after reading Darcy’s letter, had she realized how wrong she had been. But it was too late now ...

  With a start, she realized she had been thinking of Mr. Darcy instead of focusing on Hill.

  Hill nodded. “Yes, miss. Working at Pemberley, if you please.”

  Lizzy gave a start. “Pemberley?”

  “Yes indeed.” Hill wiped her eyes with a sodden handkerchief. “I thought it ever so funny that my niece was working for Mr. Darcy when he was a guest here – I’m sure he did not know that Sally’s aunt was your maid.”

  “Goodness,” Lizzy said faintly. “Why ever did you not tell me?”

  “I did not think you would be interested, miss,” Hill replied. “I didn’t think you liked the gentleman much.”

  “Oh.” Lizzy shifted in her chair. “Well, never mind that now. Tell me about Sally.”

  “She’s a good girl, she is.” Hill nodded. “A very good girl. That is why it’s so distressing.” A tear leaked out of her reddened eye. “She’s a housemaid there. Her mother – my sister – and her father have a smallholding up there, but not on the estate. They were that pleased she got a job at Pemberley, because the farm isn’t doing too well at the moment. And the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, told them she was coming along nicely.”

  “And?” Lizzy prompted after Hill fell silent.

  “And she’s missing!” Hill burst out. “We do not know where she has gone!”

  The servant stabbed her finger at a letter on the table. “Her mother wrote to me – we were lucky enough to learn to read and write. Sally was supposed to visit them on Sunday, her day off, and never arrived. When her mother sent a note to the house to inquire about her, thinking she might have been ill, Mrs. Reynolds replied, saying she had disappeared! And if she does not return sharpish, they will hire someone to take her place!”

  “But she cannot have simply vanished into thin air.” Lizzy stared at Hill.

  “But she has, miss!” Hill buried her face in her hands again. “White slavers.” Hill’s voice was muffled. “That’s what did for her, I’m sure of it.”

  “White slavers in Derbyshire?” Lizzy sounded doubtful. There would not be a port nearby.

  “What else could it be?”

  “Another position – perhaps a better one?” Lizzy suggested, not even wanting to think of the possibility of Hill’s niece being abducted and smuggled out of the country to await a fate worse than ... what? Would she be sold as a servant – or something much more dreadful? It did not bear thinking about.

  “No.” Hill shook her head. “Sally would not just disappear like this, even if she had found employment better to her liking. As far as I know she was happy at Pemberley. Said it was a grand old house and the staff were friendly.”

  “Perhaps ... a gentleman caller?” Lizzy tried to be delicate. “Did she have a sweetheart?”

  “No.” Hill sounded vehement. “Mrs. Reynolds does not allow the staff to keep company with each other. And there is not another grand house nearby where she might be stepping out with someone. Sally is a good girl.” Hill nodded vigorously. “She wouldn’t just up and leave her position like this – not for any reason.”

  “Hill!” Mrs. Bennet screeched the servant’s name. “Where are you? Where’s Lizzy? Why is no one attending me?” Her voice sounded closer.

  Hill looked alarmed as she stared at Lizzy.

  “Smelling salts,” Lizzy answered the unspoken question.

  Hill fetched them from a cupboard and handed the vial to Lizzy.

  “Coming, Mama.” Lizzy gave Hill a reassuring glance and left the kitchen.

  “Where were you? Where is Hill? I need Hill!” Mrs. Bennet still lay on the sofa.

  Had her mother ventured off the sofa and toward the kitchen? Or had she managed to project her voice so that it only seemed so?

  “Sorry, Mama,” Lizzy murmured, waving the vial under her mother’s nose.

  Mrs. Bennet gave a loud sniff, then sat up, her state of collapse obviously improving.

  “Go and fetch my sister. I must tell her about the insult I have just received from Lady Lucas.”

  “I am sure Lady Lucas did not deliberately—”

  “I would not put anything past that woman.” Mrs. Bennet straightened her shoulders. “Inviting Mrs. C
lark and not me!”

  “Perhaps your invitation was lost in the post,” Lizzy suggested.

  “Mama!” Lydia burst into the room, holding out an envelope. “I thought this was for me, but it is for you. Quite boring, too.” She gave the letter to their mother. Lizzy noticed the seal was broken. “Who wants to go to one of Lady Lucas’s soirees? All dire singing and no dancing. Remember last year, Lizzy? She had that dried up prune of an opera singer there who nobody had ever heard of, and her voice was so tiny, you could barely hear her at all. Perhaps that was just as well. I think opera is quite dull.”

  Mrs. Bennet snatched the envelope and scanned the closely written lines.

  “I am invited too! Ha! I must decide what to wear. Send Hill up, Lizzy.”

  “But the soiree is not until next week.” Lydia wore a puzzled frown.

  “Exactly!” Mrs. Bennet hurried up the stairs. “Hill!”

  Lizzy turned toward the kitchen once more, intent on talking to Hill before she sorted through Mrs. Bennet’s wardrobe.

  “Lydia! Jane said she will accompany us to Meryton.” Kitty skipped into the room. “Lizzy, would you like to come? We are hoping the officers will be there this afternoon.”

  “No, thank you.” Lizzy tried to smile at her younger sister, all the while thinking of the mysterious disappearance of Hill’s niece. “You two go – and mind Jane.”

  Lydia rolled her eyes. “If we do everything Jane tells us to do, we will not have any fun at all this afternoon.”

  “Lydia,” Lizzy held a warning note in her voice.

  “Oh, all right.” Lydia gave in sulkily. “Come on, Kitty.”

  The two scampered off. Lizzy was sorry she couldn’t help Jane keep an eye on them, but she was sure they would not come to any harm in Meryton - unlike the harm that may have already befallen Hill’s niece.

  “Lizzy.” Jane entered the room, looking like the quintessential English rose in a peach gown. “Are you sure you would not like to come with us?”

  “I’m sorry.” Lizzy shook her head. She glanced around the room, although they were the only two occupying it. “Something has happened. I will tell you about it later, but right now I need to speak to Hill.”

  “All right.” Jane looked at her in concern. “You are not in any trouble, are you?”

  “Of course not. But someone else may be.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Lizzy managed to have a quick word with Hill before the servant went upstairs to help Mrs. Bennet decide what to wear to the soiree next week.

  “What am I to do, Miss Elizabeth?” Hill asked. She’d dried her eyes and although her face looked red and blotchy, Lizzy was relieved to see that no more tears fell.

  “I will think on it,” Lizzy promised. “I am sure there is something we can do to find out what happened to her.”

  “All her mother says is that the staff say they saw her leave on her day off. They thought she was going to see her mother.”

  “And that’s the last they saw of her?” Lizzy asked.

  “Yes.” Hill wrung her hands. “It’s not as if she fell in love with a toff staying at the house and ran off with him.” Hill sucked in a breath. “That would be a wicked thing to do, because of course he would not marry her, and then what would become of her?”

  Before Lizzy could formulate an answer, the servant continued, “Besides, there have not been any guests there for a while. Mr. Darcy has not been there, and Miss Darcy is actually in need of a lady’s maid. The house has been very quiet, which the staff do not mind at times.”

  Lizzy nodded, knowing just how much work Hill did each day. What would it be like to be a housemaid in a huge house like Pemberley? She had heard Caroline Bingley talk of the estate when she and her sisters had been invited to Netherfield. To hear that lady, Pemberley was one of the grandest houses in the whole of England. There must be a lot of work involved in running such a large household.

  “Hill!” A sharp command from Mrs. Bennet from upstairs.

  “I must attend to your mother.” Hill wiped her eyes one last time and hurried out of the kitchen.

  Lizzy sank down at the table. What was to be done about Hill’s niece? How could she have simply vanished like that? Surely it was the responsibility of Mr. Darcy to have a concern for his staff’s welfare?

  But if he was not in Derbyshire – Lizzy did not know exactly where he was at the moment – how could he be apprised of the situation? And even if he was informed, would he care enough to do something about searching for Sally, Hill’s niece?

  Or would he surmise that the girl had run off to be with a beau?

  She knew if Hill had suddenly gone missing, her family would make enquiries and attempt to trace her. Hill had worked for them for so long, she was part of the family. But to Mr. Darcy, Sally was probably only one of many maids in his grand house, and he probably did not even know her name, let alone know what her daily duties were.

  Perhaps she was being a trifle unfair to Darcy, but surely something had to be done to find Sally?

  LIZZY RESOLVED TO CONFIDE in Jane when she and their sisters returned from Meryton.

  “I must talk to you.” Lizzy pulled Jane aside as soon as she entered the house.

  She had been turning over the mystery of Sally’s disappearance in her mind and now she was impatient to talk to someone about it. And who could be better than level-headed Jane?

  “All right.” Jane set down her reticule. They both watched as Lydia and Kitty ran upstairs to giggle about Denny, one of the officers they had apparently “accidentally” met that afternoon.

  Lizzy checked the morning room to make sure there was no one around. Mary was in the sitting room, sorting through her sheet music, and their mother was still upstairs, looking at her wardrobe with Hill. Papa had been ensconced in the library all day.

  She beckoned Jane to sit next to her on the sofa.

  “Lizzy, what is it? You look so serious.” Jane sank down next to her.

  “Oh, Jane, you’ll never guess what Hill told me today!”

  Lizzy informed her sister about the disappearance of Sally. When she had finished, Jane looked at her in consternation.

  “That is truly terrible, Lizzy. Surely there is something that can be done about this.”

  “I hope so,” Lizzy said thoughtfully.

  “We cannot leave that poor girl to her fate,” Jane continued. She sprang up from the sofa and paced the room. “Do you really think white slavers abducted her?”

  “White slavers? Ooh!” Lydia ran into the room, her eyes wide. “What about white slavers? What are you two talking about?”

  Lizzy and Jane shared a rueful glance.

  “I thought you were upstairs with Kitty,” Lizzy said.

  “I just came down for two apples. Kitty and I are hungry from walking to Meryton and back. Tell me about the white slavers,” Lydia demanded.

  “It is nothing,” Lizzy said hastily. She was sure Hill did not want it bandied about the neighborhood that her niece was the possible victim of such a heinous trade. And she knew Lydia was fond of gossiping.

  “Merely a novel from the circulating library,” Jane added. Lizzy hoped that their younger sister did not notice Jane’s wince at telling a fib.

  “Which book? What is it called?” Lydia’s eyes sparkled. “I must read it!”

  “It is very thrilling,” Lizzy told her. “In fact, it is so thrilling it is very popular and is borrowed constantly.”

  Lydia sucked in a deep breath, her face agog with curiosity. “Kitty!” she shouted. “We must go to the library right away!” She charged up the stairs.

  “Oh, Lizzy.” Jane sat down on the sofa. “What have we done?”

  “We have told a white lie, that is all,” Lizzy soothed. “And it is probably for the best.”

  “Now Lydia will stalk the books in the library until she finds the novel. But since there is not such a novel, she will be bitterly disappointed.”

  “We do not actually know that,” Lizzy po
inted out. “If she asks the librarian, perhaps they can give her a book that is similar to the one we invented. And if not—” Lizzy shrugged “—it will do her no harm to be among the written word for a while. She may even find another volume she enjoys.”

  Jane nodded.

  Lydia was not over fond of reading, unless it was salacious and sensational. However, novels of that description available in Meryton were few and far between.

  “But whatever can we do about Hill’s niece?” Jane worried her lower lip.

  “I have been thinking,” Lizzy said slowly. “Hill said Miss Darcy is in need of a lady’s maid.”

  “You think to send Hill for that position?” Jane furrowed her brow. “I do not think Mama can manage without her.”

  “Not Hill.” Lizzy paused. “Me.”

  “What!” Jane stared at her in shock. “No, you cannot, Lizzy. Please tell me you are funning.”

  “Indeed, I have never been more serious,” Lizzy returned. “It makes perfect sense, does it not? Who knows more about dressing a lady than someone with four sisters?”

  “But Lizzy ...” Jane’s voice trailed off. “You will never be able to pull it off. You will be discovered for sure, and then what will happen? People will think we are so poor that we had to send you out to earn a living.”

  “No, they won’t,” Lizzy replied with a bravado she didn’t quite feel. “If I am discovered, I can always say I did it for a lark.”

  Jane just looked at her.

  “All right. If I am discovered, I will come clean,” Lizzy replied. “That is probably best, anyway.”

  “But Mama and Papa will not let you do it.” Jane shook her head. “You know that.”

  “But what if they didn’t know?” Lizzy’s lips curved into a smile. “Do you really think Mama will think on it too much if I tell her my friend has invited me to her home for a few weeks?”

  “Which friend?”

  “A girl I knew long ago, but sadly her parents moved away. Now she is determined to make contact with her old friends, and thought it would be wonderful if I visited her.” There was a mischievous tone in Lizzy’s voice.

  When Jane didn’t say anything, Lizzy continued, “You know our mother would believe that – or want to believe it, at any rate.”