***WARNING***

This story has been pulled for publication on Amazon for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. What follows below is the newly re-written first chapter, which remains as a "teaser". Under the terms of publication, I cannot leave more than a small portion of the story up for free.

Almost from the moment I began posting this story I have had problems assigning a title, and I really don't know why. I chose "Betrayed by Forgotten Fears" when I only had the first few chapters written and that seemed to be the way it was going. I never liked the title, but once it was posted, I was pretty much stuck with it.

The edited story will be published under the name "Found in the Snow – A Pride and Prejudice Variation" It was going to be "A Girl in the Snow" but someone had already taken that title. If all goes as planned, the Kindle book will be available by February 14, 2019, and possibly earlier.

I appreciated having the comments to help guide me as I did the revisions. This site is such a blessing, as are all of you. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 1: Discovery in the Snow

"Lizzy, you will be careful on your walk today, will you not?" Lady Helena Mosse said as she saw her great-niece was within a few bites of finishing breakfast. "It is still snowy and cold out there this morning. Madeline would never forgive me, and I would never forgive myself, if anything happened to you while you are under my charge."

Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Lizzy to family and friends, looked affectionately at her great-aunt. While Lady Helena was only related by marriage, being the mother of her maternal uncle's wife, Lizzy felt as great a kinship to her as to any of her relatives by blood.

"I will do my best Lady Helena," she replied. "I would not want you to reconsider your invitation and send me packing back to Hertfordshire. I may love my family estate of Longbourn, but I am finding I love Mossyrock and the beauties of Derbyshire even more, not to mention your good company. I cannot even find the words to express my gratitude for the chance to live here with you for a time."

"My dear Lizzy, I feel the same about having you here with me. My daughter was correct to recommend this course. I did not realize how starved I have been for intelligent company since my beloved Abraham passed away two years ago. Visiting Madeline and Edward in London helped, but having you in my home as a constant companion is even better. I am starting to feel alive again, even if I will always miss him."

Lizzy just nodded in response. Having never fallen in love, she had no experience to compare to Lady Helena's sorrow when Abraham Mosse, her husband for nearly fifty years, fell ill during an outbreak of influenza and died. Lady Helena had also fallen ill at the time, but not as severely. She recovered in body, but her spirits had remained low after his death. Without her husband for company, she had felt as if she was merely drifting aimlessly through life.

Lady Helena, the daughter of an earl, made a match society considered beneath her as her husband was a landowner of neither great note nor title. While Mr. Mosse was moderately wealthy, and he ran his family's estate well, it was simply not the match expected of her. Secure in her choice and her love for her suitor, Lady Helena ignored the disapproval of her family. Never did she regret that choice or the mild estrangement from her parents and brother that resulted. Lady Helena and her husband worked together to make Mossyrock profitable and, much later, to raise the daughter borne more than a decade into their marriage.

When Lady Helena's daughter chose to marry a man in trade, her parents, after satisfying themselves of his good nature and character, made no objections. Mr. Edward Gardiner loved her daughter and to Lady Helena that was worth more than any title or country house. Of course, it helped that Mr. Gardiner had the bearing and manners of a true gentleman. He was a successful businessman now and Lady Helena knew he would do well by Mossyrock when he and Madeline inherited it on her death.

Absent any catastrophic event, the Gardiners were not likely to inherit soon. Lady Helena might be nearly seventy, but she was strong and healthy with an equally strong and healthy mind. Mens sana in corpore sano had long been her motto and she took care to nurture both. Still, her low spirits had worried Madeline during her mother's last visit. She suggested that Lizzy, whose father educated her as he would have done a son had the Bennets been so fortunate to have one, would make a good companion, the more so because the younger woman needed a chance to escape from her own mother's foolish and overbearing behavior. Agreeing that the company of her great-niece by marriage would provide exactly the stimulation she craved, the invitation was tendered when Lady Helena joined the Gardiners at Longbourn for Christmas. Three weeks later Lizzy and Lady Helena traveled back to Mossyrock together. It was a beneficial arrangement for them both.

Nineteen-year old Lizzy reminded the older woman of herself in younger days, while Lady Helena took the place of a grandmother, wise and respected, to the younger woman. No matter how happy or well-entertained Lizzy might be, however, she still needed to walk. And to be able to walk in the snow at sunrise gave her great joy. Well-fortified with a hot breakfast, she now prepared to wrap herself in the warm winter clothing her Aunt Madeline had given her for Christmas and head out into the snow-covered lane where the morning light was slowly blossoming. With another promise to be careful, she left the breakfast room behind.

As she walked along the lane, Lizzy gloried in the beauty all around her. The strengthening light tinted the snow-covered branches of the trees a delicate pink and gold to match the stronger colors staining the sky with its scattering of puffy clouds. Despite the regular crunch of her footsteps, the air held the special hush that only comes when a layer of snow blankets the world.

Picking her way around an icy patch, Lizzy marveled at the difference traveling a little over a hundred miles north and partway into the mountains could make to the climate. Her home in Hertfordshire rarely had more than a dusting of snow, but here on the edge of the Peak District, they had seen several snowfalls since her arrival in early January. Lizzy felt extremely grateful for the warm, sturdy boots and heavy winter wraps. Of course, having grown up here, her aunt was well aware of the local weather as well as knowing her niece would need the relief of frequent walks no matter how cold or snowy the weather might be.

While true at home, relief might not be the correct word here. Lizzy was not engaged in any onerous tasks nor was the company she had here difficult or demanding. In fact, Lady Helena made far better company than anyone at Longbourn including her beloved sister, Jane. Although Longbourn was not a tiny estate, with her parents and four sisters at home it often seemed extremely cramped to Lizzy. She was known for being cheerful and outgoing in company, but Lizzy could only stand to be around other people for so long and then she needed to escape to the company of her own thoughts. Her father was much the same way, but while he chose to hide from the chaos in his study with his books, she walked the countryside. She knew every path around Longbourn and the neighboring estates. Now she was learning the paths around Mossyrock.

The lane followed the borders of Mossyrock's lands, passing three of the tenant houses, turning to wind through a wooded section before meeting up with another lane that connected to the narrow drive leading back to the house. It was not a particularly long walk by Lizzy's standards, being only a little more than two miles in total, but it provided both exercise and a variety of landscape and wildlife to look at. Lizzy had nearly walked the length of the woods, completing more than two thirds of her jaunt, when she came upon a girl stumbling through the trees.

She appeared to be younger than Lizzy, probably fourteen or fifteen years of age, and wore a sodden riding habit that did not look like it would have been warm enough even if not soaking wet. Her hair, which must have originally been styled, hung in sodden hanks around her pale face, too wet to show its true color. Despite her shock at the sight, Lizzy ran to offer help.

"What happened, Miss?" she asked. "Have you fallen from your horse?"

"Too dark. She slipped, threw me. Oh, please, do not let him find me!" the girl gasped before collapsing in a shivering heap.

"Who are you, Miss? Miss?" Lizzy gently shook the girl's shoulder, but she no longer seemed to be conscious. She could hear a worrisome wheeze to the girl's breathing.

Lizzy looked around and considered what to do. She saw no sign of a horse in the direction from which the girl had come. She was too wet and the weather too cold for Lizzy to leave her there and find help. A sudden memory came to Lizzy of seeing one of her father's tenants carry an injured helper home across his shoulders. That seemed the best way to manage the unconscious girl. Kneeling, and then gently tugging her into position, Lizzy succeeded in hoisting the girl across her shoulders. The damp habit hung down Lizzy's back and her dress was soaked from where she had knelt in the snow. If she did not get back to the house soon, she would be as cold and wet as the girl. Picking her way even more carefully than before, so as not to fall or drop her burden, Lizzy trudged towards the drive and the quickest way to return to the house.

~o~

"Do you know who she is, Lady Helena?" Lizzy asked. The girl lay tucked up in bed wearing one of Lizzy's nightrails. She might be dry now, but she still shivered and wheezed. Even more worrying, she had not yet regained full consciousness, although she had woken enough as they changed her to moan and once again cry out, "Do not let him find me!"

Lady Helena looked carefully at the girl. "There is something familiar about her, a resemblance that tickles at my memory, but I cannot say what that resemblance is or to whom. You know I do not go out and visit much anymore. And the memory feels like something very old, maybe older than the girl." She offered Lizzy a cloth-wrapped brick from a basket near the fire. "Here, tuck this warm brick in by her side while I get another one. She looks too young to be out in company, so I probably would not have seen her anyway unless I happened to be visiting in her family's home. Here is the next brick. We need to get her temperature up. The hot bath helped, but not enough."

"Perhaps the apothecary will know who she is. We know from her clothes she is probably a gentleman's daughter or at least very wealthy."

Lady Helena nodded as she offered Lizzy another brick to be tucked among the bedclothes. "Yes, someone will be worried about her."

"I wonder who the man is that she did not wish to find her? She seemed so frightened."

"We will have no way of knowing until she wakes up, Lizzy. I hope she does wake up. The poor girl was so badly chilled, and I do not like the sound of that wheeze as she breathes. I hope the Mr. Rooth can do something for her."

"Do you have another brick ready? I can tuck it in here by her hands."

"Here it is. Perhaps another blanket would help as well."

A servant came into the room leading a man who appeared to be in his late twenties. He carried an apothecary's case of beautifully carved light wood. He put down the case on a side table and, walking swiftly to the bedside, placed his hand on the girl's forehead to check her temperature. He shook his head in dismay.

"She has a very high fever Lady Helena. What happened to her?"

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Mr. Rooth. My great-niece found the girl on the path in the woods, soaked through and barely conscious. She was dressed well in expensive riding clothes and has some bruises consistent with falling from a horse. She probably comes from one of the families around here. Do you know who she is?"

"I have never seen her before, although that is not surprising since I have only recently returned to this area after my time away training. I will ask around to see if anyone is missing their daughter. She looks about fourteen, so she is probably not out yet."

"It might be best not to ask around, sir, although listening would be helpful. The words she said before she collapsed were "please do not let him find me" which makes me think someone might be looking that should not learn she is here. She sounded very afraid. Plus, her reputation might suffer if she becomes an object of speculation," Lizzy said.

The apothecary looked seriously at Lizzy. "That is true enough. Well, first we must worry about helping her survive. Her reputation is secondary to that. You are Lady Helena's great-niece I take it."

"Oh, yes. Lizzy, this is Mr. Rooth, the apothecary. Mr. Rooth, my great-niece, Elizabeth Bennet."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Bennet, even if the circumstances are not the best. Now, if you will allow me, I will see what we can do to help her."

Lady Helena and Lizzy stood by and waited while the apothecary examined the patient. His look of concern deepened.

"She is very ill indeed," he said finally. "I believe it is more than simple exposure, although the cold and damp have exacerbated whatever illness she already suffered. If she is to have any chance, she will require dedicated nursing. Do you have someone who can look after her?"

"I will do it," Lizzy said, stepping forward. "I want to see her well again."

Lady Helena gave her approval and the doctor proceeded to instruct Lizzy on all the various steps he wished her to take. He provided draughts to help reduce the fever and control the cough. He instructed Lizzy and a maid on the use of a mustard plaster on her chest to break up the congestion. They would need to watch constantly and make sure the fever did not rage too high. Knowing the girl's life was at stake gave Lizzy enough incentive to put all her thoughts into providing the same nursing she would give her own sisters in such a case.

~o~

Lizzy spent many hours with the mystery girl over the next days, wiping her down with a cool cloth or ice chips when the fever was high and making her comfortable when chills wracked her body. With great care and persistence, Lizzy got her to swallow the prescribed draughts and a fair amount of broth and weak tea during the times she could be roused enough to take them safely. Several times the girl seemed to be struggling to awaken, while other times she was simply struggling to keep breathing.

When her temperature stabilized and her breathing eased, Lizzy talked to the girl soothingly or read to her, hoping to catch her attention and give her a reason to keep trying. Even though she had the assistance of two of the maids, Lizzy did not like to leave her self-appointed charge alone. She dozed in a chair next to the bed while one the maids took over, in order to be there if anything changed. When Lady Helena insisted Lizzy return to her own bed and rest, she did so, but only for a short time before worry brought her back to the girl's bedside.

A little over a week passed while the unknown girl's life hung in the balance. Finally, though, the scales seemed to tip in her favor. She had not yet fully awakened, at least not enough to speak with them, but the fever broke and did not return, the wheezing and the coughing eased a little and she finally fell into a restful sleep. As long as proper care was taken, and she had no new setbacks, it appeared the girl would recover.

Thanks again to all of you. I look forward to seeing you in another story - soon! (Hint- I have one in the works :oD)