Chapter 7
On arriving back at Longbourn to deliver their two nieces who had accompanied them, the Gardiners were to be hosted for the rest of that day and night so they could depart for London early the next morning.
Madeline had gone upstairs to look at new gowns which had been made for Jane and Lizzy from a bolt of fabric the Gardiners had gifted their nieces when they had come to collect Mary and Kitty.
She was just about to enter Lizzy’s bedchamber when she heard her youngest niece berating her next older one.
“Kitty, where are the gifts I told you to bring me?” Lydia demanded once Kitty and Mary had unpacked and neither had any gifts for her.
“Actually, Lydia, you can use your own allowance to purchase all of the things you want,” Kitty responded firmly. “Why is it that I should expend my money on you because you waste yours on fripperies and then always demand more?”
“How dare you speak to me that way? I will pinch you very hard,” Lydia threatened.
Jane and Lizzy joined her in the hallway and were about to intercede when Maddie shook her head. “If we need to, we will step in, but Kitty seems to have grown out from under Lydia’s shadow a lot. Let us see what she does.”
“Lydia, try to pinch me, and I will slap you,” Kitty responded.
“You will not dare! You know I will tell Mama you tried to hurt me for no reason, and then she will punish you,” Lydia screeched. “Now I will pinch…”
Just as they were about to enter the chamber Kitty and Lydia shared, Maddie and her two eldest nieces heard a resounding slap from the chamber Kitty and Lydia shared.
They stood near the door so they could see inside the room.
Lydia was in shock. She obviously never considered the possibility that Kitty would stand up to her, and more than that, defend herself.
Kitty was standing, looking angry, her arm back, ready to repeat the action if she needed to.
It took some moments, but Lydia regained her ability to move and make noise. The crocodile tears flowed, and she pushed past her aunt and older sisters, screeching for her mother at the top of her voice as she made her way down to the drawing room where Fanny was to be found.
“It was satisfying given how many times Lydia has pinched me in the past,” Kitty said with a little self-satisfied smile, which ran away from her face as soon as the sounds of her mother shrieking her name were heard. “Mama will punish me.”
“We heard everything. We will accompany you,” Maddie insisted as Jane and Lizzy nodded their heads.
“Mama will listen to me; you will not be punished when you are not at fault. Even if our mother attempts to dismiss what Lizzy and I say, she will not ignore Aunt Maddie,” Jane opined.
She liked to see the best in all things, but even for her, this was one case where the good and bad were clearly delineated.
Elizabeth looped her arm around Kitty’s. “We are with you,” she assured her second-to-youngest sister.
“Lizzy, come walk with me and allow Jane to be with Kitty,” Maddie instructed. “Go to the study and bring your father and Uncle Edward to the drawing room. They need to see this for themselves,” she instructed in sotto voce.
Elizabeth nodded, and as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, instead of turning towards the drawing room, she continued on to her papa’s study. At first, her father did not want to stir himself, but when Uncle Edward stood, Papa had no choice.
They arrived at the drawing room door in time to hear Fanny Bennet screaming at Kitty. “LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO MY DARLING GIRL! You have left a red mark and made Lydia cry,” Fanny insisted.
Fanny was the only one in or out of the drawing room who missed the sly look on Lydia’s face as she sniffed for effect and made like she was drying her long dry eyes.
“Mama, you must hit her even harder than she hit me,” she demanded through put-on sniffles with no tears.
Lydia looked gleeful as her mother stood.
“Yes, I agree…” Fanny closed her mouth with a clack when Maddie stood between her and Kitty. “Move, I need to punish my daughter!”
“Did you bother to ask Kitty what occurred?” Maddie asked without moving.
“Why should I? Lydia never lies,” Fanny asserted. “My darling girl is always honest…” Fanny ceased when everyone in the room other than Lydia began to laugh. “What is so amusing?”
“You, sister,” Maddie replied as she dried her eyes. “The one thing your favourite does not do is tell the truth.” She turned to her youngest niece. “Lydia, Jane, Lizzy, and I heard every word, so we know exactly why Kitty had to slap you. Will you be honest, or should we inform your mother?”
The smirk was wiped off Lydia’s face. She looked at her mother imploringly, begging to be saved like her mother always did for her.
“My Lydia would not…” Fanny stopped speaking.
She was not so sure of herself any longer.
How was she to refute what her sister-in-law Maddie said?
If it was just the dark-coloured Lizzy, she would have been able to ignore her, but Jane would never prevaricate, and neither would Maddie.
She knew Lydia was not always truthful, but she was her favourite.
“I still have to punish Kitty for striking Lydia.”
“Do you know that Kitty was defending herself because Lydia was about to pinch her, something she has done often? And do not say you do not know. I have been here when Kitty showed you bruises caused by Lydia, and you told Kitty she had been clumsy,” Maddie returned.
“I suppose she was clumsy when her arms were in the way of Lydia’s fingers when she was in the mood to inflict pain.
And why was that selfish child about to hurt her sister?
Because Kitty did not use all of her allowance to purchase items Lydia demanded before we departed for the north.
Fanny, you are turning Lydia into an overindulged brat!
Not only that, but she is ignorant as well. ”
“How dare you speak of my Lydia so?” Fanny demanded.
“Because,” Bennet said as he and Gardiner stepped into the drawing room, “every word our sister said is true. I have heard enough. Lydia, apologise to Kitty now!”
Lydia looked at her mother. She did not like how things were going.
“Do not look at your mother. I gave you an order, unless you would like me to revisit my decision never to punish any of you with corporal punishment, you will comply now.” Bennet stared at his youngest who looked away.
“Sorry, Kitty,” she spat out.
“Lydia, one more incident of bad behaviour and you will be returned to the nursery,” Bennet decided.
The colour drained from Lydia’s face. “Noooo, Papa, please not that.”
“That will depend on you. To begin with, Lydia, you will trade chambers with Mary, and Mary will share with Kitty in the large one,” Bennet ordered.
As much as she wanted to intercede on her favourite’s behalf, Fanny, although mean of understanding, recognised the look of resolution in her husband’s eyes and was aware that she would be risking her pin money if she attempted to gainsay him.
“Mama, you cannot allow me to be placed in the small chamber,” Lydia pleaded.
“We have to obey your father,” Fanny said barely above a whisper.
“And why, pray tell, should you, the youngest share the large chamber while Mary, who will be eighteen in a little more than a fortnight, has to be in the very small chamber?” Bennet enquired.
“Mama said it was because she is plain…” Lydia closed her mouth when everyone except her mother looked at her in anger.
“Then I posit that you and my sister are both blind,” Gardiner barked. “I have five very pretty nieces, and not one of them is plain.” Gardiner turned to his sister, who was looking away. “Fanny, do you and Lydia need spectacles? It seems you cannot see what all of us can see.”
Fanny kept her mouth closed. Soon, the Gardiners would be gone, and her husband would return to his study. Then she would put things to rights.
“Wife, if you think I will forget about my orders today, you are sorely mistaken. Go against me in this, and it will be a long time before you see an allowance from me again,” Bennet stated firmly.
Seeing the look in her husband’s eyes, Fanny knew he meant what he said. Why did he bestir himself from his study? Things were far better when he ignored them and allowed her to decide how to relate to her daughters. How was she to help Lydia now? Mr Bennet would not allow her to change things.
For her part, Lydia could not believe her mother had abandoned her so. Hardly a word in her defence, and then, after at best, a half-hearted objection to the indignities she was being subjected to, not another word! “Mama,” Lydia pleaded.
There was nothing Fanny wanted more than to make things right for her youngest, but she could not risk her pin money.
“I am not done with you, Lydia,” Bennet said as he looked at his youngest pointedly.
“If you keep behaving as you have, you will not come out at seventeen, never mind at fifteen like you were begging of your mother. For each infraction you will lose a quarter, not of allowance, but of time until your come out. Sixteen infractions will put your entry into society back until you reach your majority.”
Lydia was not as silly as she made herself out to be, so she had made the calculation even before her father said anything.
She had been sure that Mama would have been able to work on Papa to relax the coming out at seventeen for her, but now, she could be looking at four more years.
She would be an old maid by then. Lydia knew not how, but she would have to find a way around her father’s strictures.
One thing she was sure of: her mother would no longer support her because if she did, she would lose her pin money.
“Go pack, Lydia. As soon as Mary has removed her belongings, you will move into that chamber. Complain about it again, and to the nursery, you will go.” Bennet dared his youngest to try and contradict him.