A Most Natural Consequence (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Ramsgate

Lizzy,” called her mother from where she sprawled on the sofa. “It must be near to three o’clock. Why do you not walk the pier and find your sisters?”

Elizabeth Bennet looked up from reviewing her journal, considering what to write to her father about Ramsgate.

He had escorted her mother, Kitty, Lydia, and herself here three weeks ago then promptly left.

Her mother had fretted for months that Kitty needed the sea air for her lungs and that her own nerves were so frayed she must be at death’s door.

Mrs Bennet had finally carried her point, and once their father settled them in their lodgings in Sion Hill, he returned to Longbourn to enjoy the quiet.

Hopefully, at the end of September, he would return for them. But he might enjoy the silence at home too much to make it a priority.

“You might know where your daughters are if you attended them along the promenade,” Elizabeth hinted as she put away her writing supplies.

Mrs Bennet waved her hand as though pushing away Elizabeth’s concerns. “I am too weary, my dear. And they are not far; it does not differ from walking to Meryton.”

Although Ramsgate with its walks, pier, and High Street was perfectly respectable, and the girls were together, it was not the same as walking into the nearest market town where they were known. “You still ought to accompany them.”

“I am suffering from a nervous complaint,” her mother cried, before popping another candy into her mouth. “You came to Ramsgate to care for Kitty, did you not? Be a good girl and find your sisters.”

Her mother’s illness had vanished as soon as Mr Bennet’s carriage was out of sight.

When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous, but there was nothing to try her patience here.

Mrs Bennet wanted only to lounge about and have nothing and no one to vex her.

She spent her days gossiping, sleeping late, and dressing for the evening activities.

Elizabeth huffed as she left to find Kitty and Lydia.

Coming to Ramsgate was a mistake. Her mother had convinced their father that she and Kitty needed to visit the seaside for their health, and, of course, Lydia would not be left behind.

Elizabeth had only joined them at the last moment, for Kitty’s sake.

Her mother was typically out of temper and Lydia would seek her own amusements, so Elizabeth wanted to be near to care for Kitty. But while the fatigue of the journey had weakened her, soon breathing the sea air had removed Kitty’s cough and invigorated her strength.

And now both her younger sisters were free to spend the rest of the summer vain, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled.

Joining her mother and sisters had been impulsive, and at first, her only pleasure was that at least there was a circulating library in Sion Hill where they rented lodgings.

She could walk down Cliff Street and escape her family’s fretting, complaining, flirting, and gossiping.

Had she not met new friends, her summer in Ramsgate would have been lonely.

“Miss Bennet,” a soft voice called from behind her as she passed the library.

She turned to see Georgiana Darcy and her companion Mrs Younge coming through the nearby door.

The library had apartments over it let to a select number of elegant boarders.

Elizabeth understood they were accommodated in a very desirable manner and, given what she knew of Georgiana’s fortune, it was a fitting location for her.

“How is your mother?” Mrs Younge asked civilly after looking behind Elizabeth and noting with disapproval she was alone. Her mother was rarely seen before dinner. “Has she tried the bathing machines yet?”

“Sea-bathing has not, apparently, been found to be necessary. My mother’s complaint has been remedied by simply breathing in the salt air.

” Being out of her father’s presence was all that was needed to improve her mother’s temper.

Lounging the day away and visiting the assembly rooms had done wonders for her.

Mrs Younge looked at her charge, who smiled as she thought of something to say.

Elizabeth had only known her for a fortnight, but shy Georgiana was now more at ease around her.

She was tall, full-formed and fair, and about the same age as Lydia.

A friend of her mother’s introduced them to a neighbour of theirs, who then introduced the Bennets to Georgiana.

Such was the way of any watering place, with an always shifting collection of new and old acquaintances.

“Will you be at the concert tomorrow, Miss Bennet?” Georgiana asked.

Georgiana was just out of the schoolroom and willing to make friends, so long as her new acquaintances did most of the talking.

“I will make a point of it if you will be there,” Elizabeth said.

“Although, you must tell me if the performer is any good. From what you told me of your own talents, I can trust your judgment.”

“It is a concert for the benefit of someone patronised by a friend of my aunt’s,” said Georgiana. “I know nothing of the performer.”

“Lizzy! Miss Darcy!”

Lydia and Kitty ran up the street, accompanied by their newest friend, Mr Wickham. He was a law student with a most gentlemanlike appearance and was a great favourite in Ramsgate.

“Look who we found at the pier,” cried Lydia. “When I told him we will pass your lodgings,” she said to Georgiana, “he insisted he accompany us.”

Georgiana blushed prettily as Wickham took her hand. “I wanted to see all of you, of course, but Miss Darcy has the longest claim on my acquaintance.”

Mrs Younge stepped aside to look through the circulating library’s window. Elizabeth smiled to herself. She was allowing her young charge the freedom to believe she was talking to a young man alone. Georgiana brightened under his attention.

“I remember you saying you grew up in the same parish as Miss Darcy,” Elizabeth said to him when Georgiana stayed silent.

“The same park, as a matter of fact,” he answered. “But when I was last there, she was scarcely ten.” He gave Georgiana a charming smile. “Do you remember how I used to save a seat for both you and your doll when I was in the library with your father?”

“You were always so kind to me,” Georgiana said with a glow in her eyes.

“What luck he came to Ramsgate, not three days after you arrived,” Lydia said, linking an arm through Wickham’s.

“I am, indeed, a lucky man, to have such beauty before me,” Wickham said, passing an appreciative eye over all of them.

Georgiana, Kitty, and Lydia all blushed and giggled, and even Elizabeth felt some heat in her cheeks. Before he had been at Ramsgate a week, Lydia declared him to be the perfect man. Kitty enjoyed his gallantry, but Georgiana appeared quite ready to be fallen in love with by her childhood friend.

“But I am not the only friend you have in Ramsgate,” he said to Georgiana. “The Bennet ladies seem to have taken it upon themselves to look after you and adore you.”

“Oh yes,” said Lydia while Kitty nodded. “We might as well call her another Miss Bennet for how often we are together.”

The young people were pleased with each other from the first. On each side there was much to attract, and their acquaintance soon promised as early an intimacy as good manners would warrant.

Lydia and Kitty had told her to call them by their names, and Georgiana was immediately drawn in to their merriment.

Elizabeth knew Mrs Younge did not approve of their lack of fortune and connexions.

She got the impression the Darcy name meant a great deal in some circles, and the Bennets’ connexions were nothing to Georgiana’s.

But Mrs Younge could not argue that a fortnight with them had not made Georgiana more comfortable with conversation.

“Will you be at the concert?” Georgiana asked Wickham with a hopeful smile. “You said last week when I mentioned my playing that you are fond of music.”

“That depends,” he said in a serious tone. Wickham met each of their eyes before saying, “There is no point in my attending unless each and every one of you is there.”

They all cried out at his teasing and then promised they would attend. Georgiana grinned and said, “I am so glad. My brother will be here by then, and he is excessively fond of music too.”

He paled, and Mrs Younge turned back from the window. “Your brother is coming?” asked her companion in a raised voice. “He said nothing of this to me.”

Georgiana drew back. “I had been writing to him of all the friends I made, and Fitzwilliam said he would visit sooner than he planned. He sent a brief letter this morning to say he is coming tonight.”

Mrs Younge and Wickham shared a look, at the same time as Kitty and Lydia attacked Georgiana with questions about her brother: was he single, was he handsome, was he rich? While she answered as diplomatically as she could, Elizabeth heard Mrs Younge and Wickham talk in hushed tones.

“No, it is too soon.”

“You have been distracted,” she retorted. “Too much time spent with every pretty—” Mrs Younge broke off when she noticed Elizabeth watching. She told Georgiana they were wanted at their friends’ in Prospect Row. They all parted with promises to see one another at the concert tomorrow.

Wickham followed, but Lydia said, “Where are you going? You said you would accompany us once we collected Lizzy.”

“Forgive me, my dear Miss Lydia,” Wickham said. “Lead the way.”

Elizabeth frowned to herself. Lydia’s forwardness was unbecoming.

She might become even more imprudent with a flirtatious companion such as Wickham, here in Ramsgate, away from her father and where the temptations must be greater than at home.

But with so many wealthier women like Georgiana about, Lydia may learn her own insignificance the hard way.