Chapter Eighty-Seven
The door to Kitty and Lydia’s room was open when Elizabeth walked past. It was sheer happenstance that she did so at the exact moment that Lydia said, “I suppose I shall live off my dowry. Jane and Elizabeth are giving theirs up, as they do not need the money, so there would be more than enough to live on.”
“And I shall live with you,” Georgiana agreed, fervently. “Now that I understand what it is that men want…”
Elizabeth did not wait to hear more. She crept downstairs and found her mother. When she repeated what she had overheard, Mrs. Bennet shook her head and went upstairs and into Kitty and Lydia’s room.
“Mama!” Lydia exclaimed. “We were just saying –“
“Yes, I know, Lydia,” Mrs. Bennet said. “And I think perhaps I should correct some possible misapprehensions.”
She settled herself down on Kitty’s bed and looked at the three troubled young faces before her. “I suppose you have all decided never to have anything to do with men; is that it?”
Georgiana flushed and looked down. Kitty and Lydia looked at one another and then at their mother in silence.
“Very well. Listen to me, you three. You have been through a terrible experience, one that I dearly wish had never happened, not only because it was so very frightening and painful, particularly for dear Georgiana, but also because it has given you a false idea of men.”
“False?” Lydia repeated, bitterly. “First, Jane and Lizzy warn us about the militia men, and then we find one of them on top of Georgiana, trying to – to – and you say it is a false idea?”
“Some men are animals, plain and simple,” Mrs. Bennet said. “That is the sad truth of it. But tell me, Georgiana, can you imagine your brother doing such a violent thing?”
Georgiana looked up. “No, of course not!” she replied, indignantly.
“No, of course not,” Mrs. Bennet repeated. “For he is a gentleman. Can we imagine Mr. Bingley doing such a thing?”
“No,” Kitty said. “For he is everything kind and good.”
Georgiana added, “Do you know, he was in tears when I returned to Netherfield! Such a sweet man!”
Lydia said, “But then how are we to know which men are animals and which are gentlemen?”
“There is no easy answer, I am sorry to say,” Mrs. Bennet replied.
“That is why it is important to learn as much as you can about a man before becoming fond of him, let alone marrying him! Listen to him, learn about him. Have him investigated, if possible! Does he keep a mistress? Does he gamble? And pay attention to how he treats servants and animals. Servants in particular, for they know a good deal more than we think.”
Georgiana nodded.
“But there is that other thing,” Lydia said.
“Other thing?”
“You know, the thing that he puts in you – surely that hurts!”
“Only the first few times, Lydia, and sometimes not even then, if the man is careful.”
“And then?”
“Oh, and then it can be quite pleasurable for both men and women!” Mrs. Bennet spoke energetically, her face reddening.
“Really, Mama?” Kitty asked. “You are not just telling us this so that we will get married, are you?”
“No, Kitty, not at all. How do you think I ended up with five children?”
“Because you did it five times?” Lydia asked.
Mrs. Bennet laughed hard. “Lydia, it was hundreds of times! And it was every bit as enjoyable for me as it was for your father! And that, I think, should be the end of this discussion.” With that, she rose, leaving the girls to discuss what they had heard.
For Kitty and Lydia, their mother’s frank discussion had entirely relieved their fears.
For Georgiana, however, it was not quite so simple.
She had experienced the weight of a man’s body on hers, the frantic fumbling of fingers on her clothing, the insistent pressure of a tongue in her mouth…
and none of that was so easily dismissed from her mind.