Page 83 of The Cheapside Runners
“I assume…” he began, but she cut him off abruptly, even though he was probably about to agree with her sentiments. “Absolutely not! Not now! Not ever!”
“That seems harsh, Lizzy,” Jane said.
“It is what she deserves. She has never shown me any particular consideration, and I feel no need to show her anything. I did not hie off to London to make my living protecting spoilt rich girlsby choice!”
Jane looked stunned, while Elizabeth hoped Mr Bingley disappeared entirely and the next suitor was delayed, because Jane really needed to grow up a bit more before marriage.
“Considering that and what happened at the ball, I concede your point,” Jane replied morosely.
“That is good, because I will not be moved. For five years she has complained about my presence when I was at Longbourn and about my absence when I was not.”
“That leaves the problem of what to do with your father,”Darcy suggested.
“If we stay a month, or even another fortnight, we will miss Christmas and New Year at Longbourn,” Lydia pointed out.
“Will you rue missing it?” Darcy asked.
“Not really. We can do much better here on our own, I think.”
“So back to Mr Bennet.”
Elizabeth thought about it a bit. She had forgotten Christmas entirely.
She was still thinking about her father when Darcy had a suggestion.
“A lot depends on how our courtship proceeds.”
“How so?” Jane asked curiously.
“Most of the girls are underage and will be for years. Elizabeth, you have suggested your father is characterized by indolence and cruelty.”
“Not necessarily motivated by the latter, but it certainly can play a part in his actions.”
“It would be a shame for someone to go through a courtship, only to have it thwarted at the last moment by her father.”
“What do you suggest?”
“After we are married, I should be able to convince him to make Gardiner and myself their guardians… at least in certain matters. If nothing else, I can always bribe him.”
“No bribery necessary,” Lydia said. “Threatening him with telling our mother he is preventing courtships should do the trick.”
Everyone chuckled, and Elizabeth said, “It is nice to know your streak of cruelty is not entirely beat out of you Lydia.”
“It just needs to be directed properly, like you did with that deserter.”
“What you do with your father depends on whether we marry or not, and it is too soon to tell. Could we put it off?” Darcy asked.
“That should be easy,” Jane replied. “I will write slightly different letters to each of my parents. My father will ignore his, and my mother’s will keep her off our backs. I think I can easily arrange for a month or six weeks without upsetting anyone too awfully much.”
“That should be long enough,” Elizabeth said.
“Papa will be dancing in the streets,” Kitty said, and nobody chastised or disagreed with her. “I think Mama will be relieved to skip the Christmas celebrations, and the servants certainly will.
Elizabeth was happy to see one of the younger sisters thinking about the servants. Perhaps, they would be fine in the end, but she shuddered to think of what a near run thing it had been.
Alicia Weatherby asked rather timidly if they were also welcome to stay, and with the appropriate response, they set out to write to their own parents at the same time. The Weatherbys were kind, sensible, and not wealthy enough to sponsor the girls for a season, so no objection was expected.
Jane set about writing her letters, so Elizabeth and Darcy told the other girls to find something else to do. There was mending from the orphanage to be done, lessons to be learnt, lunch to be ordered, and Elizabeth even had a few old bonnets that Lydia and Kitty could use to teach Georgiana how to refresh them.
