Chapter Sixty-Two
Walking down the road between Longbourn and Netherfield, Kitty and Lydia were laughing at how easily they had escaped from Longbourn. “Once Mr. Bingley was there, Jane never noticed us!” Lydia said, gleefully.
“And then Lizzy went into Papa’s study with Mr. Darcy, and Mary and Mama were busy with wedding plans, and we just slipped away!” Kitty added, laughing. “Not that we want to do anything bad,” she added, more soberly.
“No, it’s just a relief to not be watched all the time!” Lydia agreed.
“Exactly!” Kitty said. “And perhaps…hold on, do you hear that?”
They paused to listen. Lydia shook her head. “I do not hear anything.”
“Maybe I imagined it. No, wait, there it is again. Did you hear it?”
“I heard something, probably just an animal in the woods.” Lydia was impatient to be off.
“No,” Kitty insisted. “It sounded like a girl.”
“What would a girl be doing in the woods?”
“Perhaps she is hurt; we should go and look.”
“Very well; but it is likely just an animal, and we will be running for our lives!”
Kitty just shook her head at her younger sister’s dramatics, and she led the way into the woods.
They both stopped and gasped in horror upon seeing a man and a young woman fighting in the midst of the trees. He had pushed her down onto the ground and was on top of her, trying to open his trousers, as she tried, futilely, to push him off.
“This is just what Jane was talking about! He is trying to put his – his thing in her!” Lydia hissed.
“Lord, it is Georgiana!” Kitty exclaimed. “I am certain of it! That is her pelisse! What are we to do?”
“Why, stop him, of course,” Lydia said, matter-of-factly. She picked up a large rock and advanced toward the struggling couple. Kitty watched in horrified fascination as Lydia raised her arm and brought the rock down upon the man’s head.