Chapter One Hundred and Twelve
Mr. Bennet was usually delighted to receive letters from Lizzy, but this one did not make him at all happy. He scowled as he read it again, wondering if there was a polite way to say, “Absolutely not!”
Dearest Papa,
I write to ask a favour. I wondered if you might spare Lydia for a month or so, to visit us here at Pemberley. Georgiana has been rather – well, rather blue of late, and I thought a visit from irrepressible Lydia might cheer her.
I know Lydia is your pupil now, and I am sorry to deprive you of her company, but you would be doing us a very great favour.
If you believe Kitty would feel slighted at being excluded, please do let her know that she is welcome as well. I do not wish to cause any ill feelings between the two of them.
Please do write and let me know. We will send a carriage for her, of course.
With all my affection,
Lizzy
Mr. Bennet growled under his breath. First, Mr. Darcy lured away his Lizzy, and now Lizzy wanted to take Lydia! It was beyond unreasonable.
He went to find his wife. “Look here, Fanny,” he told her. “Lizzy wants to take Lydia away from us!”
Mrs. Bennet took the letter and read it. She looked at her husband and raised her brows. “It is only for a month, Thomas.”
“A month! And then it will become two months, and then three! No, no, I will not have it!”
“Not so very long ago, you would have been everything delighted to have Lydia a hundred and fifty miles away,” she observed.
“But not now,” he snapped. “Now she is a very promising pupil, and I do not wish to lose her.”
“As it happens,” Mrs. Bennet said. “Kitty is making no progress whatever on embroidery, and she confided to me that she thought she might wish to do more reading.”
“Reading? Kitty? I do not believe you.”
“Ask her yourself; I think she would welcome your instruction, particularly if Lydia will be gone. There would be no need for the two girls to compete with one another, which is a good thing, as you must know.”
Mr. Bennet resigned himself to the inevitable and went to find Kitty.
Mrs. Bennet watched him go and then recalled the letter she had not yet opened.
Dear Mama,
Well, here we are in London! Rochester House, like Netherfield, has been kept fully staffed while Robby was on the Continent, so it has taken very little effort on my part to get settled in.
Robby is becoming quite well-known in the art world here in London, and we spend a good amount of time going to galleries and dining with other art collectors.
I am doing well, I think, in learning about art, and I find that I even have opinions!
But I do not like London, and that is the plain truth of it.
It is dirty and noisy, and – well, it just smells terrible.
I miss the country, but will never say so to Robby.
We see the Gardiners frequently, and I very much enjoy spending time with my little cousins! I think I may confide in you, Mama, that I believe I may be in the family way! It is too soon to know for certain, of course, but I have good reason to think it is so, and Aunt Madeleine agrees with me!
Your loving daughter,
Mary
Mrs. Bennet had tears of joy in her eyes by the time she finished reading.