Chapter 1. Mrs Bennet’s Distress #2
Now he remembered the conversation at the dining table that morning. “Your Mamma is going to dress Mary in a new gown to catch Mr Lucas’s eye.”
“And Jane and I shall style her hair in a different manner.”
Mr Bennet grinned again, “Now if I can find some reason to make Lydia and Kitty remain at home, Mary can work her magic upon Mr Lucas after the fox hunt and be engaged before Christmas.”
“Papa! I think she does admire him. Would there be anything wrong with her attachment to him?”
“No, but I believe Sir William is not ready to make the match yet. Young men cannot bring young wives into households where there is limited room and a large number of brothers and sisters. Lucas Lodge is not as large as Longbourn.”
“Now take your notes and write my business letters,” he told his daughter. “I shall sign them at tea and post them this afternoon.”
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Dismissed, Elizabeth found her way into the parlour where Jane sewed a hem for Lydia while Kitty and Lydia pretended to refresh a bonnet while talking of the young men from the assembly.
“Where are Mamma and Mary?” she asked as she opened the writing desk for paper, pen and ink.
“They took the carriage into Meryton to shop for material to sew a new gown for Mary,” Jane informed her sisters.
Hearing her eldest sister speak of their mother’s attention to the middle sister, Lydia complained, “A new gown on Mary? That will be like hanging curtains in the stable!”
“Lydia!” Elizabeth exclaimed. Putting down her writing materials, she walked over to the table and took Lydia by the shoulders. “Mary is your sister. She gave you that green ribbon you wear in your hair today! Why would you say something so unkind?”
“It is true enough,” Lydia said. “A new dress is not going to make John Lucas notice plain Mary Bennet. She will not smile or flirt with any of the men.”
“Where you and Maria Lucas flirt with every man and kiss them when you think no one is watching,” Jane said from the other side of the room.
“Kiss?” Elizabeth asked with great astonishment. She released Lydia and saw her youngest sister grin.
“What is the concern if I kiss some boys? Maria and I think it is fun.”
“Are you engaged?” Elizabeth asked but Lydia only laughed.
“Oh engaged! La! I want to have fun and kissing boys is a great deal of fun!” Lydia replied.
“And Kitty, if you would drink more punch, you would kiss the boys too, but you are always worried about what others think. That is why I have become such good friends with Maria–she enjoys the punch, and we think a party without you would be great fun.”
The sisters sat in silence for a time as Elizabeth returned to the desk to quickly write the two business letters for her father.
As she finished the last one, she looked up and noticed that Jane had stopped sewing to watch Kitty and Lydia who were conducting a silent conversation across the table mouthing their words and snickering at each other.
Setting the letters to the side to dry, Elizabeth returned the ink, pens and unused paper to their proper locations in the desk. Rising from her chair, she watched as Jane dropped the gown she had been hemming on top of the bonnet in front of Lydia.
“I do not think I shall finish this hem for you Lydia. If you wish to wear a new gown, you can finish the hem yourself.”
Turning to Elizabeth, Jane asked, “Shall we take a turn through the gardens? The sun is out, and the ground is dry.”
“But I hate to sew!” Lydia whined. “Your stitches are the best!”
“I shall save my stitches for Mary’s new gown.”
“Kitty, finish my hem for me,” Lydia pleaded.
Glancing at Jane and Elizabeth, Kitty stood up from the table. “I believe I shall walk with Jane and Lizzy. If I am not good enough for your company at a party, you do not need my stitching in the parlour.”
“But Lizzy! Jane! Kitty! I cannot do it myself!”
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“Lydia, whatever did you do to this gown?” Mrs Bennet fussed that evening. “These last stitches are horrible!”
As she worked to pull out the uneven stitches, Mrs Bennet noticed that her older daughters were quiet as Lydia smirked.
“I knew I could get someone to finish the hem for me,” Lydia whispered to Kitty.
Setting her mouth in a firm line, Mrs Bennet called her youngest child to her side. “This is not suitable stitching; it would pull out and drag across the floor at the next assembly. As soon as I have pulled this out, you can redo it.”
“But Mamma, I don’t want to sew! Make Jane or Mary do it. They are the best seamstresses! Make them sew my gown!”
“Tell Mamma what you are good at Lydia,” Kitty teased. “She would be very interested to know.”
“Hush Kitty!” Lydia scowled. Mrs Bennet looked up and saw that her three oldest daughters focused on the fashion magazine, as though selecting the pattern for Mary’s new gown while Kitty and Lydia exchanged frowns and mouthed words.
Kitty made kissing noises, and Lydia threw a ball of yarn at her next sister.
“Of what are you girls fussing?”
“Nothing Mamma,” Lydia said though the look she threatened Kitty made her sister look away and grow silent.
To capture her youngest daughter’s attention, Mrs Bennet said, “Lydia.”
“Yes Mamma,” her youngest daughter replied as though nothing had passed between her and her next sister.
“What are you hiding?”
Looking offended, she replied, “I am hiding nothing! I have done nothing wrong.”
Now all four of her sisters stared at the youngest and Mrs Bennet frowned at her favourite child–not something that Lydia was used to seeing.
“Jane, tell me what Lydia is hiding,” Mrs Bennet commanded.
“No! Jane! Say nothing!” Lydia shouted. “I shall never forgive you if you say anything!”
Mrs Bennet rose from her chair and took Lydia by the arm. “Be silent!”
“I shall not!” Lydia cried. “They hate me! They tell lies about me all the time!”
“Child what is wrong with you?” Mrs Bennet asked.
“My sisters are jealous of me! They know I am the prettiest girl and men like me best.”
Mrs Bennet was unable to speak, not knowing what to think or do about her youngest daughter’s outburst.
Jane stepped close to her mother and whispered into her ear. Suddenly Mrs Bennet wavered on her feet and Jane helped her mother to a nearby chair while Lydia rose from her seat and fled the room.
“What has Lydia done?” Mary asked Elizabeth.
Kitty leaned close and said, “She and Maria Lucas were kissing Freddie Taylor and Tom Barstow last night at the assembly.”
“When?” Mary asked. “I tried to keep an eye on her all night.”
“We cannot watch Lydia all the time,” Elizabeth replied, appalled to hear what her youngest sister had done. “Now, Mamma will be sick with worry over this.”
“We are ruined! The son of a blacksmith and the son of a shop owner! What shall we do? All my daughters are ruined!”
Mrs Bennet’s voice grew louder and louder until Mr Bennet came to the parlour.
“Cease this caterwauling! How is a man to have time to think with such noises within his house?” he demanded to know. When his wife managed to stop crying, he noted the absence of his youngest daughter and asked his eldest daughter.
“I do not know where Lydia fled Papa, she ran out of the room when...” Jane could not finish the story.
“Tell me,” Mr Bennet ordered his daughter. Mrs Bennet began crying quietly as Jane explained Lydia’s actions at the assembly ball the night before.
“And who saw your sister and Miss Lucas kissing these two young men?” Mr Bennet asked.
Jane blushed. “Everyone in the refreshment room at the time Papa; myself, Lady Lucas, and Mr Blackstone.”
“The parson saw this public display?” Mr Bennet asked and when Jane nodded, her father sat down beside his wife and took her hand.
“The parson will preach sermons for the next month on immorality.”
Mrs Bennet said, “I thought there were a few smirks in town today when Mary and I were shopping for the muslin for her new gown, but I did not pay them close attention.”
“Lady Lucas will not say anything to anyone,” Elizabeth said to bolster her mother and sister. “She will take Maria in hand.”
“But Mr Blackstone will tell a few ladies who will tell everyone in their acquaintance,” Mr Bennet said. “The whole of Meryton will know that Lydia was kissing young men at the assembly as though she were a...”
“Mr Bennet!” his wife admonished him.
He took her hand and sighed, “My dear, we were wrong to let her out into society so young. Now she is ruined.”
Mrs Bennet began crying again and Elizabeth asked, “Father, I know she shouldn’t have kissed those boys but how is she ruined? It was just a kiss.”
“Good young women do not kiss anyone except their fiancé after the engagement is announced,” Mary replied. “And perhaps...”
“No Mary, say no more,” Mr Bennet ordered.
After a moment’s thought, he looked at his eldest daughters.
“Jane, Mary and Kitty; I want you to find Lydia and bring her here to the parlour. Elizabeth, find Mrs Hill, tell her to bring a pot of tea and some spirits to the parlour and then to keep all the maids in the kitchen until we are done.”
“Yes Papa,” the girls agreed and scattered through the house to find Lydia. Elizabeth returned with the pot of tea and the spirits first. She was shocked as her father gave his wife a small cup of whiskey and he poured the tea for himself.
Jane and Mary brought Lydia to the parlour and Elizabeth hurried upstairs to find Kitty who was staring out the window at the road.
“Come Kitty, Papa wants to speak to us all.”
Sighing with great exaggeration, Kitty replied, “Lydia will get another lecture and new bonnet. Mamma always buys Lydia a new bonnet after Father lectures her.”
Once Elizabeth closed the parlour door, Mr Bennet stood up and moved in front of the window. Elizabeth knew that he did this to keep his daughters from seeing his face and knowing who he was looking at while he talked to them.
“Lydia, your mother and I have heard that you were kissing two boys at the assembly ball last evening. You were seen by Lady Lucas, and by the parson, Mr Blackstone.”
“It was just a couple kisses,” Lydia said. “We did not have the chance to do more.”
“And exactly what do you mean by more?” Mr Bennet asked as his wife sat her teacup of spirits on the table beside the sofa.
Lydia sighed. “I am doing nothing wrong–I just want to have some fun. I have felt ill in the morning every day this week and wanted to enjoy myself last evening.”
As she considered her youngest child’s words, Mrs Bennet grew concerned, attempted to rise but then fainted back into the chair.
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