Because Lydia was Mrs. Bennet’s favorite, her mother was prepared to forgive and forget and to chalk up all her actions to youthful indiscretion. However, there was still an underlying anger because she had been made to suffer unnecessarily, and Lizzy, not Lydia, was to bear the brunt of it.
“Lizzy, I do not like your tone of voice when speaking of Lydia. I would think that you, of all people, would be more sympathetic to your sister. With Wickham being so very bad, her heart will be broken because there is no one to love her.”
“No one to love her!” Lizzy answered in an exasperated voice, and she thought about how everyone had sprung into action in order to keep their sister from ruining her life. But Jane cautioned Lizzy with a look. Although most of their mother’s episodes of nerves were theater, Jane knew that this event had greatly upset her.
“But why
“Because you have no one to love you either. It did not have to be that way. You could have had Mr. Collins, but you lost him to Charlotte Lucas. And now Mr. Peterson won’t have you. According to his letter, he has made an offer of marriage to his cousin, Miss Gayle. I knew something like this would happen. With you running around on holiday in Derbyshire, I knew Mr. Peterson would not wait. But, Lizzy, you must do your part in finding a husband. You cannot rely on Jane to carry you through.”
Lizzy stood up. If she remained in the breakfast room a moment longer, she might say something to her mother that she would come to regret, and Jane followed her upstairs.
“Obviously, Mama opened a personal letter addressed to me and learned that Mr. Peterson ‘will not have me,’” Lizzy said, throwing herself back onto the bed pillows. “Jane, I am so tired of all this drama. First it was Mr. Darcy and Miss Montford and now Lydia and Wickham. It really is getting to be too much.”
“Well, you might have to put up with all this drama a little longer because Uncle Gardiner’s carriage has just turned into the drive.”
As expected, Lydia’s entrance was as dramatic as a Shakespearean tragedy. She had not cried during the long journey to Longbourn, but now that she was at home and had a friendlier audience than her father and uncle, she renewed her copious weeping even before the front door had closed behind her. The emotionally spent sixteen-year-old girl had to be assisted to her room by her mother, Aunt Gardiner, and Kitty, and while Mr. Gardiner went to the kitchen in search of a meal, Mr. Bennet summoned Jane and Lizzy into the library. He quickly summarized for his daughters the events that had taken place in Brighton.
“There is no doubt Wickham intended to lure Lydia away from the Forsters. By his own admission, he had no intention of marrying her, so his sole purpose was her seduction. I do not understand it,” their father said, shaking his head. “The streets of Brighton were teeming with handsome young women. He could have approached any of them, but instead, he picked Lydia. It does not make any sense to me.
“The other thing that has puzzled me greatly is Mr. Darcy’s involvement in this whole affair. Colonel Forster told me that Mr. Darcy’s presence was invaluable as Lydia was in a near constant state of hysteria, and no one, not even his wife, could get her to calm down until Mr. Darcy offered to speak to her. Ten minutes later, he came downstairs and not another peep was to be heard from her until she saw your uncle and me.”
“Did he give a reason for his actions?” Lizzy asked.
“Yes, he said that he has known Wickham since he was a boy on the Pemberley estate and knew him to be capable of the most immoral behavior. He felt that if he had made known Wickham’s character, this could never have happened. Although it would have been a relief to take the weight of all that guilt off my shoulders and to have put it on his, I could not do it. It was my dereliction of duty as a father that was the true cause of all this unhappiness.
“Mr. Darcy remained in town for another two days and offered the services of his solicitor, but when I tried to thank him, he was embarrassed and said I owed him nothing. The man is an absolute cipher—as stoic a fellow as I have ever met.”
“What will happen to Wickham?” Jane asked.
“According to Colonel Forster, because of Mr. Darcy’s intervention, from a military point of view, Wickham has not actually done anything wrong, so he will not be brought up on charges. Other than withholding his last month’s pay and being forced out of the militia, the only thing Colonel Forster can do is leave him to his fellow officers. Because Wickham owes debts of honor to so many of them, he will be lucky to get out of Brighton alive. Additionally, the colonel sent an aide around to the shops and public houses to find out how much Wickham owed them. His debts are significant, and the colonel is confident he will end up spending some time in debtors’ prison unless some benefactor comes forward, an unlikely scenario.”
Turning his full attention to Lizzy, Mr. Bennet continued, “I believe the family owes you a debt of gratitude, my dear.” Lizzy’s heart started racing at the thought of what Mr. Darcy might have shared. “Mr. Darcy said that because you have been such a good friend to his sister, he felt obligated to do all he could to prevent Wickham from succeeding.”
“Is that the only reason he gave?”
“Yes, what other reason could there be?”
“I can’t think of any,” and Lizzy felt her eyes filling up with tears.
Her father came over and hugged her. “I know why you are crying. But no harm has been done, and in a week or two, I will have forgiven Lydia, as well as myself. And all will be as it was.”
Lizzy nodded, “Yes, all will be as it was.”
Despite her grief, Lydia’s appetite remained unaffected, and Mrs. Hill received word that a tray should be prepared for her and brought up to her room. When Lizzy saw how her sister’s inexcusable actions were being rewarded, instead of punished, she went to her room and shut the door. She did not want to speak to anyone—not even Jane.
When Jane checked on her an hour later, she found Lizzy sitting in the window seat reading a novel. Jane knew that her sister could be brought low by events, but she always got up, dusted herself off, and moved forward.
“While you were sleeping, an express rider came from London with a letter for you.” Because the expensive stationery had a
After taking the post from Jane, Lizzy sat with it on her lap unopened. “If this is another letter from F. Darcy, I think I shall scream,” and she broke through the seal.
When Lizzy had finished the letter, she started crying in big heartfelt sobs, and tears poured down her face. Jane had to think that Mr. Darcy had changed his mind, and his courtship with Miss Montford would go forward. But when Jane read the contents of the letter, she realized that Lizzy was crying as a means of releasing all the emotions she had kept in check for so long. Mr. Darcy had declared in simple, but elegant, language that he loved her, and because of that, everything that lay hidden had burst out into the open. Her tears flowed in happiness and relief. When she had composed herself, Lizzy read aloud the closing lines of Mr. Darcy’s letter:
“Jane, he loves me, and there is nothing to keep him from me.” After wiping her tears, she continued, “We are not anticipating any volcanic eruptions or earthquakes, are we?”
Jane smiled at her sister. “No, Lizzy, there will be no acts of God to keep Mr. Darcy from you, and since Gaius and Lucius are in Scotland, there will be no local calamities, either.”
Chapter 48
John Lucas came by early in the afternoon to say that the wedding of Charlotte and Mr. Collins would take place in the village church on Friday at 10:00.
