Page 8 of Saving Jane
“My child, I hope we have a husband for you very soon,”
Lydia’s face brightened. “A husband–I shall be the first of my sisters to marry! Will he be handsome and rich?”
“I do not know Lydia,” Mr Bennet replied. “He will just have to be breathing and willing to take you and your child.”
Lydia made a face. “I would like a handsome husband, but I don’t care for a babe. Who will look after a child for me? Will I have a wet nurse for the baby?”
“You may have a farmer for a husband Lydia. Or a shopkeeper,” Mr Bennet replied. “I have to find some man to take you before you begin to show.”
“A farmer! No! I will not marry a farmer!” Lydia insisted vehemently. “I would have to work like the tenant wives, and they are all old and tired all the time. Oh, Father you are cruel to say that you will marry me to a farmer!”
~~}{~~
Late in the day, just before supper, Elizabeth stepped into the room that Kitty had shared with Lydia where a battle between the sisters occurred as Lydia tried to claim several of Kitty’s gowns.
“If I have to marry, I need your gowns! I shall be poor and never have a new gown again!” Lydia argued.
“But my green gown is almost new, I cannot give it to you as well as the pink,” Kitty said.
“Lydia, shame on you!” Elizabeth scolded. “Jane has given you three of her best gowns. You do not need Kitty’s gowns.”
“Besides, you’ll be big as a house by spring and won’t be able to wear any of them!” Kitty teased.
“I shall not! I shall starve myself!”
“Catherine Bennet! Apologize and follow me, Mary and I will speak with you!” Elizabeth scolded Kitty.
“Who placed you over me Lizzy?” Kitty asked.
“Papa did or have you already forgotten?” Elizabeth replied before she left the room.
Lydia giggled. “I think I might be better off marrying a farmer than living under Lizzy’s thumb!”
Kitty giggled as well until she took time to think on Lydia’s words. When she went to find Elizabeth and Mary, Kitty left Lydia behind, sitting on their bed and humming a tune.
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Mr Phillips found three different farmers in nearby counties in want of a wife, but Mr Bennet wanted Lydia moved a good distance from Hertfordshire. The sisters were confined to the house except for walks on the grounds and fields of Longbourn. They were not allowed to walk into Meryton, and their Aunt Phillips was their onlysource of news.
“Maria Lucas has settled into the house beside the livery stable with her new husband and his father. The vicar called on them and got into a shouting match with Mr Taylor–he swears he will not set foot in Longbourn Chapel again as long as Blackstone is in the pulpit.”
“I wish I did not have to hear that man preach again,” Lydia said though no one commented.
“Now girls, let me venture up to your mother. I promise to tell her only good news,” Mrs Phillips said, though Jane and Elizabeth feared their mother elicited the bad news from her sister with fervour equal to Mrs Phillip’s telling.
One afternoon while Mrs Bennet and Lydia were napping together in Mrs Bennet’s bed, Mr Bennet called Jane and Elizabeth into his study. He had two letters on his desk and motioned to them.
“I have received a letter from Mr Gardiner this morning as well as one from a Mr Angus Hamilton of Bath. According to Mr Gardiner, he knows Hamilton from his business–the man has a large tavern along one of the main roads between London and Bath. And the man is a widower with no children.”
Mr Bennet picked up the second letter, “The man’s penmanship could use some improvement, but his letter is sensible–he is interested in a wife from a good family and will not see the unexpected guest as an impediment to their future happiness. He agrees to take Lydia for the price of the common license and two hundred pounds.”
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The following morning, Mr Bennet called his wife into his study after reading letters delivered that morning. Elizabeth was surprised to hear raised voices as their parents spent a full hour discussing some new letter that their father had received as well as Mr Hamilton’s proposal. When she left her husband, Mrs Bennet retired above stairs for the remainder of the morning, only returning to the family in the afternoon for tea.
After announcing Lydia’s impending marriage to Mr Hamilton of Bath, and unleashing Lydia’s enthusiasm for her pending nuptials, Mr Bennet called for Elizabeth’s attention.
“Your mother and I have spoken at length, and we have decided to send you to London to visit with the Gardiners until Christmas,” he told his second daughter. “It will lessen the noise in the house and according to your mother, ‘throw you into the path of rich, young men’.”
