Chapter 5 Fleeing With Lydia
The two sisters sat pressed closely together in the mail coach, sharing the narrow seat with two other passengers. They had been upon the road for nearly half an hour when Lydia spoke. “Lizzy, I believe Mr. Wickham is angry with me.”
“Indeed? What leads you to think so, Liddie?”
“He is in the habit of leaving me a note each day tucked away in the fence. There is a place where he and I leave notes for one another.”
“And he did not leave you one today?”
“No. I looked in our secret place, and there was no note. I am sorry for it. Perhaps I should not have refused his kiss. Perhaps I wounded his feelings.”
Elizabeth felt her teeth press together, though she said nothing at first, for she scarcely knew how to answer a sister too young to understand the danger she described so lightly.
She glanced at the other passengers, whose eyes were closed, and wondered whether they slept.
Leaning close to Lydia’s ear, she spoke in a low voice.
“Mr. Wickham assaulted the butcher’s daughter.”
“Do you mean Sadie? That cannot be true, Lizzy. Sadie is quite thin and ugly, with no conversation. There is nothing in her that could attract a handsome man like Wickham. It is a lie.”
Elizabeth pressed the girl’s hand to caution her. “Lydia, I shall tell you all, but you must keep your voice down.”
“I will be quiet, only tell me what you heard and who told you.”
“Mrs. Hill told me of it. Sadie is greatly distressed. She did not give him permission to touch her. He forced himself upon her.”
Lydia sat in silence for some moments, then said, “Do you suppose he could have done that to me?”
“I fear that he could have done so. He appears to me to be a man who takes what he wants and cares nothing for what a woman says.”
Lydia considered this. “Then I am glad that I refused him.”
They continued to speak in whispers until long after dark had fallen, and Lydia at last fell asleep against Elizabeth’s shoulder. She did not awaken again until they reached London.
Lydia stood upon the road, shivering beside her sister, while Elizabeth hired a hackney. Before long, they stood together at their uncle’s door, both chilled from the journey.
“Miss Elizabeth, come in out of the cold,” said a servant. “And who is this with you?”
“James, this is my youngest sister, Lydia. We have our trunks with us, and I have this letter for my uncle.”
She drew the letter from her reticule, and the sisters were shown into the green salon, where the family sat of an evening. Aunt Madeline rose in surprise at the sight of them.
“Lizzy. Lydia. Come in, my girls. I trust that all is well with your parents?”
“Yes, Aunt Maddie. My parents are well. Jane has fallen ill with the influenza, and Mamma fears for Lydia’s health.”
Mrs. Gardiner’s eyes traveled over her youngest niece. “Lydia, how are you feeling? Is there cause for your mamma’s concern?”
“A little girl died of the influenza three years ago,” Lydia replied. “Mamma is anxious for my sake.”
Mrs. Gardiner’s expression darkened. “Lizzy, is Jane very ill? Does your mother fear the worst?”
“No, Aunt Maddie. We have no such fears, for Jane is strong. Mamma only wished to remove Lydia from danger.”
Her Uncle Edward entered, Mrs. Bennet’s letter in his hand. Elizabeth rose and embraced him.
“Uncle, it is so good to see you.”
Lydia followed and embraced him as well, and they soon sat together while tea was brought in and they exchanged news. When Lydia began to yawn, Mrs. Gardiner took both of her nieces upstairs.
“Aunt Maddie, when you have settled Lydia, please return to my room. I should like to speak with you before I retire.”
“Of course, my dear.”
Elizabeth waited, having no wish to prepare for bed until she had spoken with her aunt and uncle. She drew Mr. Wickham’s note from her reticule and laid it upon a small table. Nearly twenty minutes later, Mrs. Gardiner returned.
“I beg your pardon for keeping you waiting, Lizzy, but your sister was quite taken with the toys I purchased for little Edward. They are kept in the spare chamber where she will sleep. Yet perhaps I ought to keep Edward apart from you both until we are certain of your health.”
Elizabeth gestured to the chair opposite her. “Aunt, allow me to explain.”
She handed her the note and watched as her aunt read through the short missive. When she had finished, she turned it over, finding the reverse blank.
“Who is G. W., and who is my dear girl?”
“G. W. is Lieutenant Wickham, who is eight and twenty if he is a day, and my dear girl is our own Lydia.”
Mrs. Gardiner’s expression reflected the revulsion Elizabeth had hoped to see. Elizabeth then related all that had occurred at Longbourn.
“I came here in hopes that our uncle might place Lydia in school. Papa has enough income to pay the tuition if he would but exert himself. As for Jane, she is as good as lost if she becomes Mr. Goulding’s third wife.
He is at least sixty, though he looks nearer seventy, and his manner of life is written plainly upon his face. ”
“Lizzy, you wish to speak with your uncle.”
“Yes, please. My mother intends that I remain with you for a week, but in light of all that has happened, I wish to remain with you for some weeks, for my mother will be very angry with me.”
“I sometimes wonder at your mother’s judgment.”
“She is intelligent, Aunt, but driven by a determination to see all her daughters married. She considers only wealth, and never the moral or spiritual worth of the man.”
Mrs. Gardiner rose. “Come with me to the green salon. The fire still burns there. I shall give this note to your uncle and relate the most pressing details, and then we shall both return to you.”
“Thank you, Aunt Maddie. I know we impose upon you, but I did not know where else to turn. Aunt Phillips is no better than my mother, and Uncle Phillips, though kind, cannot stand against either sister.”
Elizabeth waited nearly an hour before her relations returned. Edward Gardiner seated himself beside his niece.
“I have written a letter to your father and informed him that Lydia will be placed in an academy here in London. I expect the tuition for the year to be sent by express no later than next week, and I shall send the letter by my own footman. Would you wish to send any message to Jane?”
As Elizabeth considered his question, he added, “Your father has more than enough means to see that child properly educated. There is no need for his income to be squandered on fripperies while his daughters fall into ruin.”
Elizabeth began to weep. “Thank you, Uncle Edward. What you do not yet know is that this same Wickham assaulted the butcher’s daughter. They now wait to see whether she conceives. But for chance alone, my sister might be in the same situation.”
Mr. Gardiner handed her his handkerchief. “I am grieved that matters should be reduced to this. But now, Lizzy, tell me of Jane. She is feigning illness?”
“Yes. When I saw her near to fainting at the prospect of becoming Mr. Goulding’s third wife, I told Mamma that I feared she had fallen ill. Mary sits with her and keeps both Mamma and the apothecary away, though the deception cannot last.”
Mr. Gardiner replied. “Do not trouble yourself, Lizzy. My coachman and groom will travel with me into Kent tomorrow, but I shall hire a coach before I leave and will send my footman and the stable boy to collect my niece.”
Elizabeth embraced him. “Thank you, uncle. I shall run up and write a note to Jane. That one member of a family is capable of destroying the rest is a bitter truth.”
“I lay the blame upon your father. He has not restrained my sister, and she now governs the household.”