Chapter 2. Lydia’s Unexpected Visitor #2
“If I have to marry, I need your gowns! I shall be poor and never have a new gown again!” Lydia argued.
“But my green gown is almost new, I cannot give it to you as well as the pink,” Kitty said.
“Lydia, shame on you!” Elizabeth scolded. “Jane has given you three of her best gowns. You do not need Kitty’s gowns.”
“Besides, you’ll be big as a house by spring and won’t be able to wear any of them!” Kitty teased.
“I shall not! I shall starve myself!”
“Catherine Bennet! Apologize and follow me, Mary and I will speak with you!” Elizabeth scolded Kitty.
“Who placed you over me Lizzy?” Kitty asked.
“Papa did or have you already forgotten?” Elizabeth replied before she left the room.
Lydia giggled. “I think I might be better off marrying a farmer than living under Lizzy’s thumb!”
Kitty giggled as well until she took time to think on Lydia’s words. When she went to find Elizabeth and Mary, Kitty left Lydia behind, sitting on their bed and humming a tune.
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Mr Phillips found three different farmers in nearby counties in want of a wife, but Mr Bennet wanted Lydia moved a good distance from Hertfordshire.
The sisters were confined to the house except for walks on the grounds and fields of Longbourn.
They were not allowed to walk into Meryton, and their Aunt Phillips was their only source of news.
“Maria Lucas has settled into the house beside the livery stable with her new husband and his father. The vicar called on them and got into a shouting match with Mr Taylor–he swears he will not set foot in Longbourn Chapel again as long as Blackstone is in the pulpit.”
“I wish I did not have to hear that man preach again,” Lydia said though no one commented.
“Now girls, let me venture up to your mother. I promise to tell her only good news,” Mrs Phillips said, though Jane and Elizabeth feared their mother elicited the bad news from her sister with fervour equal to Mrs Phillip’s telling.
One afternoon while Mrs Bennet and Lydia were napping together in Mrs Bennet’s bed, Mr Bennet called Jane and Elizabeth into his study. He had two letters on his desk and motioned to them.
“I have received a letter from Mr Gardiner this morning as well as one from a Mr Angus Hamilton of Bath. According to Mr Gardiner, he knows Hamilton from his business–the man has a large tavern along one of the main roads between London and Bath. And the man is a widower with no children.”
Mr Bennet picked up the second letter, “The man’s penmanship could use some improvement, but his letter is sensible–he is interested in a wife from a good family and will not see the unexpected guest as an impediment to their future happiness.
He agrees to take Lydia for the price of the common license and two hundred pounds. ”
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The following morning, Mr Bennet called his wife into his study after reading letters delivered that morning.
Elizabeth was surprised to hear raised voices as their parents spent a full hour discussing some new letter that their father had received as well as Mr Hamilton’s proposal.
When she left her husband, Mrs Bennet retired above stairs for the remainder of the morning, only returning to the family in the afternoon for tea.
After announcing Lydia’s impending marriage to Mr Hamilton of Bath, and unleashing Lydia’s enthusiasm for her pending nuptials, Mr Bennet called for Elizabeth’s attention.
“Your mother and I have spoken at length, and we have decided to send you to London to visit with the Gardiners until Christmas,” he told his second daughter. “It will lessen the noise in the house and according to your mother, ‘throw you into the path of rich, young men’.”
“London?” asked Elizabeth, glancing at her mother who had not recovered her colour. “Why do you want me to go to London in the autumn Mamma? The season is over and there are no parties or balls with young men looking for wives.”
Mrs Bennet did not reply though Kitty sighed and said, “I wish I could see London!”
“I sent an express to your uncle this morning and we shall hear his answer Wednesday. I expect you will travel to town Thursday.”
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When Uncle Gardiner’s response arrived on Wednesday morning, it included the invitation for Elizabeth to come to Grace Church Street.
The remainder of the day, the sisters set to mending any stockings that Elizabeth would need and then packing her trunk.
Following a cold supper, the Bennet family retired quietly.
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Early Thursday morning, Mr Hill guided the family carriage into Meryton where Elizabeth left with the first post coach to London. By the afternoon, she was safely delivered to Grace Church Street where their aunt and uncle gave her tea before asking Elizabeth of the recent occurrences at Longbourn.
“Did your father tell you why he sent you to London?” Uncle Gardiner asked.
“He said that he wanted to lessen the noise in the house for his sake and for Mamma’s nerves.
And Mamma believes the streets of London are filled by rich young men looking for a wife,” Elizabeth replied.
“But I think Papa will soon send for me–he will tire of writing his business letters with me in town.”
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The first days passed slowly for Elizabeth–other than reading and walking in the park with her cousins she sewed a new dress for her cousin Emily and a shirt for baby Henry.
Then she attempted to sew a shirt for young Edward, her aunt and uncle’s eldest child, but the shirt did not fit.
The second time, her aunt helped her measure and cut new cloth, and she sewed a suitable shirt for her cousin by the end of the next day.
Then Elizabeth pulled apart the first shirt and sewed a rag bag to hold scraps in the bench where Aunt Gardiner kept her sewing needles, threads and cloth.
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It was a full week after her arrival in town before a letter from Mr Bennet arrived for Mr Gardiner with the plans for Lydia’s marriage; the details were complete, and the settlement documents signed.
The bride was to travel with her father and meet her husband that very day for the wedding with a new gown made from the blue muslin that was to be Mary’s gown.
A second letter from Jane arrived and through bitter tears, Elizabeth read of her youngest sister’s departure from Longbourn.
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Dear Lizzy,
I am sorry to say that Lydia sees the whole affair as an adventure, and she does not understand why there have been no parties in farewell.
Our mother is inconsolable and blames herself for Lydia’s fall.
We have packed her clothing, spoken to her clearly again and again but she does not care for any of our advice.
Sir William and Lady Lucas blame Lydia for Maria’s downfall, but they cannot speak of it in public without drawing attention to their daughter’s ‘elopement’ to East Bourn.
The vicar preached about the sin of fornication again this Sunday and we did not invite him to dinner this week.
Father promised that he will write to Mr and Mrs Gardiner again upon his return.
With sadness and resignation in my heart, I remain your loving sister. Jane
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It was ten days before another letter came from Mr Bennet and the most pertinent paragraphs contained important information.
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Lydia is now Mrs Angus Hamilton. The man has a busy tavern and prosperous future, but he welcomed Lydia’s dowry of two hundred pounds–a paltry sum to bribe the man to take my daughter and her unexpected visitor.
They were married by common license in the church so he will have to keep her.
She was laughing when I left, and I only hope her happiness lasts.
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