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“You will have help,” Elizabeth said.

“I know. Everybody has been very kind. Mrs. Talbot says I must tell her what troubles me, and Charles assures me he will learn whatever is required. I believe them both.”

“But you still wish to know already.”

“Yes.” Jane smiled a little. “I should like to begin by being good at it.”

“You have had years of practice with Lydia.”

“Lydia would object to being called practice.”

“She is not here to prevent it.”

Jane’s smile widened. Elizabeth leaned nearer and took her hand.

“You need not know everything before you begin. Anna has made Mr. Darcy very useful without consulting him beforehand.”

“He is very fond of her.”

“He is.”

“I shall be glad when we have our own nursery settled at Alderbrook,” Jane said. “Not because I am unhappy here. Only because I should like to know it was ours, and that Charles might put things in the wrong place without feeling obliged to ask his friend’s pardon afterward.”

“He has not found that necessary here.”

“He tries not to be troublesome.”

“Mr. Darcy likes having him here.”

Jane looked at her with an expression which made Elizabeth attend closely to the workbag’s ribbon.

“He likes having us here,” Jane said.

Elizabeth did not attempt to contradict her. She had lately given Mr. Darcy a sufficient account of her own intentions. Jane need not be told every word of that conversation merely because she had observed its effect.

“Will you stay with me when it begins?” her sister asked.

Elizabeth looked up at once.

“Of course.”

“Mrs. Reynolds will be here, and Mama will wish to be useful, but I should like you beside me. I do not mean that you must do anything particular.”

“I shall stay.”

Jane’s fingers closed about hers. “Thank you.”

The request had been so simple that Elizabeth scarcely trusted herself to answer again. She had feared many things in making her preparations; she had not known how much it would matter to be asked to remain for the ordinary reason that her sister wanted her.

“You may become tired of me,” she said when she could speak lightly.

“I have not managed it in all these years.”

“Then I must endeavour to preserve the distinction.”

Mrs. Bennet arrived with a small cap which, she declared, had been quite unsuitable for any child until she changed the ribbon. She had found a better ribbon among her own things and wished Jane to see how much it improved the effect.

Elizabeth brought a chair for her mother, who sat down and displayed the cap. The alteration had been made neatly. Mama had been sewing upstairs for nearly an hour without requiring anybody to praise her for it.